As the COVID-19 cripples world transportation, many areas will be severely affected…. these include Food, the opportunity to work & earn money, etc…… I would like our PM & her Government to engage the business sector/others and begin planning on methods to reduce the economic impact on the population:
- Banks, Credit Unions, etc. to reduce/suspend for a period of time, Loans/Mortgages/etc. payments
- Credit Card companies to do similar
- Food Importers, Supermarkets, etc. to NOT increase prices
and other transactions/processes that ordinary people have to bear daily. We are not asking to ‘wipe-off’ these agreements ……. just suspend them until (we hope) the virus is under-control and the World begins to get back to normal.
ks, BU commenter
The comment quoted connected with an online article Caribbean Banking Association Says It Can’t Be Business as Usual as Coronavirus Spreads the blogmaster read yesterday. The impact COVID-19 is having on the world spans the gamut – Italy on lock down to other countries at various stages of executing a containment strategy. Unfortunately it translates to the global economy projected to slip into a ‘recession’. This is not good news for Barbados given the current state of the local economy. There will be some more pain Barbadians have to endure bearing in mind it is a country already suffering from economic fatigue.
Why should the comment by ks be of interest to all of us?
We are observing local financial institutions mobilizing to protect the health of staff and customers. A good thing all agree. What we have not heard so far – is how financial institutions plan to react to rising unemployment because of the economic slowdown. Global commentators are ominously forecasting that this recession will be worse than 2008. How will financial institutions commit to foregoing revenue to support economies like Barbados about to crash and burn?
Many businesses in Barbados are experiencing a significant drop off in sales, especially in the hospitality sector. If Barbados has to move to stage 2 and 3 of the Covod-19 disaster plan the situation will get worse. The ‘haircut’ Barbadians had to suffer would have been in vain. Barbadian households and businesses will default on loans. The government does not have a Stabilization Fund like Trinidad and Tobago or the capacity to print money for stimulus like the USA. The greenback is still considered the world’s reserve currency.
The question for the financial institutions in Barbados is – What is the plan? We are in this together right?
@ David.
This is not going to be about passion but economic survival. Remember that practically all of the major retail businesses are now foreign owned. They will be looking to protect their interest first. I can tell you of one big one that is looking at the 40 hour week as of April 1st already.
That is why I agree with Hal, we are not spending enough time looking at the economic fallout. It is coming whether we like it or not so playing ostrich will not help.
@John A
This will be a battle between juggling public health priorities and understanding the dire economic state of the economy. You have mentioned Barbados does not have the means to match the one trillion dollar stimulus of the US. This is uncharted path being traveled.
Om Mantra
People can get stuck in minute local details without stepping back to see global picture
@ David and @ Vincent…
Gentlemen, you can’t be right in both instances of saying “… it is an evolving situation. There is no blueprint.”
The hallmark of any leader according any wonderful book be it from Sun Tzu or Archie Browne’s ‘The Myth of the Strong Leader…’ is preparing for the unexpected.
The higher up the leadership ladder you climb the more detailed must your preparation be.
It seems incongruous to me that coming off serious epidemic outbreaks in the last 15 years that any leader in our dependent economies would not have subject matter experts update their modelling on various possible “evolving situations”.
Barbados has never suffered an earthquake of devastating effect… So are you even suggesting that there are no detailed plans (blueprint) on how to act if such were to occur. I think not!
No govt can get a pass based on your assertion … that would be just pure incompetence to even suggest that.
“Know thy self, know thy enemy…. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
You have to model the unknowns as a leader and create a workable “blueprint” from that strategic ‘what if’ analysis.
That has been a foundational core of leadership since forever and with modern tech and immediacy of data/information there can be no excuse for being unprepared!
@Dee Word
There is no need to be unnecessarily prolix.
There is a plan, with reported cases we moved to stage 1 of the plan.
The point about blue print is that each country have different plants based on the our environment.
shoulda woulda coulda but….
Right now we are going to do the following…..
We will react to situations which we did not expect…..
Doan worry be happy.
@ John A
Money on the international capital markets is the cheapest it has ever been in modern history. The Mottley government has boxed itself in to a corner and cannot benefit from such cheap money. It has boxed itself in a corner.
It is the government’s fault either because of bad advice from its economic advisers, or it has ignored their advice. Nearly every leading central bank has reduced interest rates to near zero, while Barbados is still trapped paying White Oaks Bds$170000 a month for what looks like nothing. When are we going to get the full and final settlement with the external creditors?
It is all smoke and mirrors. The government is out of its league. Now we face the biggest unemployment rate since the abolition of slavery. We are on a precipice.
We need emergency legislation to curb unnecessary imports. Long haul tourism is a luxury, so the UK market will be shut off. No Overseas Bajans will be Gatherin’; defined benefit ((and defined contribution) pensions will be hard hit.
When is this government going to declare its emergency economic plans, bearing in mind the foreign-owned banks are not going to lend money unless forced to.
@ John A
@ David BU
Barbados does not need a one trillion dollar stimulus. The USA went that route last time. Do you recall who benefited from that stimulus? Do you recall who paid for it? We certainly do not have the market size of the USA nor the political clout to do that level of bluffing. It is pure Quantitative Easing. I do not think Barbados has a liquidity problem…..yet! Nor do we need one. Small countries by definition should be easier to manage.
Agreed Vincent.
It is important we fashion a solution that is relevant to our space.
BARBADOS A TIME OF REFUGE…
CORONA CRUISERS CARLISLE BAY – 18TH. MARCH 2020
Apparently the Government is being Not Being Paid for Berthing Space, they said it’s a Gesture of Good Will.
Images David Wyndoze
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260191978169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260191993169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260192208169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
BRIDGETOWN PORT FULL OF CRUISERS!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260193603169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260192093169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
AZURA
AIDA
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260193538169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
MARELLA EXPLORER
and MSC Preziosa
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158260194778169&set=pcb.10158260196993169&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/AboveBarbados/videos/644058566387884/
@ dpD at 10 59 AM
Do you read over what you write? How can one make a blue print of events which has not happened? And which is unknown? Stop playing the semantics game. It does not become you. You are being deliberately mischievous. David’s use of blue print is defined by its context.
Please stop also your use of axioms. You start with some ancient philosophers statement and by deductive logic came to a conclusion. Although logically rigorous,it makes no contact with reality. Please wheel and come again.
A note to all BU BLOOGERS, with respect to economy and financial controls, the bottom line is BARBADOS IS NOT AND CANNOT BE A PLAYER, case closed.
Inempt financial management over recent times, 15+ years, has shown Barbados has at best been just treading water, it’s now evolved to SINKING without any form of life jacket. Bajans have no input or controls left, sit back and watch the the world go by.
As the cruise ship business grinds to a temporary halt and vessels continue to be denied entry into several countries, Barbados could welcome more than 15 of them, bringing in thousands of crew members, which officials are hoping would help to provide some activity in the now struggling industry.
Despite the earnings associated with this, however, the island is said to be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars as the global cruise industry comes to a standstill for several weeks in an attempt to help stop the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus affecting the world.
Chairperson of the Bridgetown Port Senator Lisa Cummins explained that while Barbados was accepting some of the cruise ships that had been turned away from other destinations, it was also a homeport, which meant several cruises “originate and end here”.
However, without giving an exact figure, Cummins revealed that Government was sacrificing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and charges as it responded to a “humanitarian crisis” and deepen its partnership with cruise lines in the process.
“We had approximately 98 ship calls remaining for the season. We expected by way of mooring fees, berthing charges, that we would have been able to calculate probably around $3,300 per ship, depending on the larger vessels, coming in for the rest of the season,” said Cummins.
“We have for April alone about 158,000 passengers that were expected to disembark. That calculates into head tax revenue that has been loss. So we are talking about loss of berthing fees, loss of mooring fees as a result of the cancellation of the ships and with 158,000 passengers no longer coming here there is no head tax,” she said.
Cummins said: “We have had the ships come in because we are dealing with the humanitarian crisis. We have received a request from the ships under those circumstances for discounting berthing fees and we have allowed them to do that for one reason – because there are crew members remaining on those ships”.
She explained that the crew members had an opportunity to disembark the vessels and visit various locations and spend so that the now fighting tourism related businesses could still earn some revenue.
“That doesn’t mean that we are not bleeding because if ships aren’t coming passengers aren’t coming and we absolutely foregone hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue over the few weeks and we expect it to continue for a period we cannot specify,” she said.
Several cruise ships have been turned away from other ports in the region out of fear of the coronavirus.
While some of those ships that have docked in other countries have confirmed cases of coronavirus, local officials are giving the assurance that the ones off the coast of Barbados were free of the virus and only crew members were remaining on board.
The passengers are being flown to their respective countries on chartered flights as countries seek to get their residents home, officials said.
There were five chartered flights last night and another four on Tuesday, and officials are expecting those services to continue into next week as more ships come to the island.
There are currently seven ships docked in the waters of Barbados, four of which are in the Bridgetown Port and others off the Carlisle Bay area.
“As it stands, we expect between today and Monday just under about 11,000 passengers who we will be moving through the airport. We have a daily schedule and it changes rapidly. As it starts you will see ships in the Bridgetown Port, you will see ships in Carlisle Bay and you will see ships off shore as far north as Speightstown simply because we do not have a carrying capacity in the deep water harbour to accommodate all of them,” said Cummins.
She gave the assurance that ample testing was being carried out, stating “We now receive, every 12 hours from the ship, a medical report, which says to port health what is happening on the ship.”
In relation to cargo, Cummins said the Barbados Port was working closely with the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry to expedite critical supplies out of the Bridgetown Port.
Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds urged tourism industry officials “not to be fainthearted in this difficult time”.
Stating that the ships were not docked in Barbados by accident, Symmonds stressed that it was part of island’s efforts to deepen partnerships.
“Because of that spirited partnership we have been able to be in a position where those ships that are now forced to go through a period of down time for a month or two are saying to us ‘we would like to do that down time in Barbados, would you accommodate us?’ and the answer is yes,” said Symmonds.
“Each one of them that is anchored out there without any passengers on board, but with crew, and if we have 20 or 15 such ships and the average one is carrying 1,000 crew then you have between 15,000 and 20,000 people who need to be fed, watered, provided with some form of entertainment, relaxation and recreation,” he said.
Symmonds gave the assurance officials were still maintaining the “strictest levels of diligence” and surveillance at the Port. “We will continue to maintain that because we have to make sure that we protect our citizens as best as we possibly can.”
He said having the ships docked in Barbados’ waters was “a good thing, a useful thing and a helpful thing to our tourism sector.
“And it is something that others will watch us from a distance with a degree of envy about because that 15,000 to 20,000 must now be encouraged by way of creative packages to be moving themselves around this island to experience the experiences in the tourism product to be found in [several parishes],” he said. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
https://barbadostoday.bb/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IMG_5132-730×456.jpg
Wily,
The many DLP voters, DLP bureaucrats with their badges of honour on their nipples and their exams from the paper mill will not understand us.
In the end Miller, Wily and Tron will be right: The BBD must be devalued.The Barbadian way of distributing as much as possible wealth to the naive masses by excessively taxing the remaining top performers is over. The Barbadian way of distributing as much as possible to the naive masses by excessively taxing the remaining top performers is over.
They will scold us slave drivers instead of praising us as prophets. They will continue to insult us instead of admitting their categorical error.
A prophet has no honor in his own country.
Can we avoid the inclination to make this a political pow wow? We are here now. We have to deal with it.
David,
OK, noted, no “propaganda” for the next few days. But please note that BERT has failed through no fault of our government.
BERT was a mixture of massive tax increases, but without structural reform in the public sector and without devaluation of the BBD.
I say: There is no alternative to devaluing the BBD. We are currently not in a position to refinance foreign debt. Local productivity is not in a ratio of 1:2 to the US, but rather 1:4 or 1:5, and in terms of money supply even 1:7 to 1:10.
As patriots, we should therefore support our government in implementing the above measures as quietly as possible.
https://twitter.com/AirCanadaVac/status/1240412450593308672?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
@David March 19, 2020 11:59 AM
Unfortunately David Barbados had dealt itself a LOSING HAND, nothing left to deal.
To use one of your favorite sayings SAME OLD SAME OLD, there will be lots of knee jerk announcements, lots of good feel good statements but bottom line is BARBADOS can only REACT in a limited way.
Question, has Barbados got adequate body bags, adequate cold storage for bodies, adequate respirators etc. these are assessments and acquisitions being done in most countries.
THESE ARE THE TYPE OF PREPARATIONS BARBADOS NEEDS TO BE DOING, NOW.
@ Wily
London has temporary morgues on Hyde Park just in case. London is the epicentre in the UK – most Barbadians in the UK live in London. How many ICU beds do we have? How many ventilators? What ab out staff?
By the way, is there a CARICOM reaction? Are they sharing expertise?
LOL 😂 @ Vincent… Give me a lil credit for being a BETTER debater than ur post suggest.
Alas I will have to do some semantic parsing/debate riposte of ur commentary to show your glaring deficiencies.🙃
Work with me on this…an example I believe of an issue which afflicts most modern discourse: YOU interpreted WHAT you wanted without ANY relation to context and complete THOUGHT.
I said rather clearly that So are you even suggesting that there are no detailed plans (blueprint) on how to act if such were to occur. I think not!
Blueprint was a synonym for detailed PLAN which I also described in clear project management speak as “modelling unknowns” and “what ifs”.
You cannot be suggesting to me that your govt or corporate executive level management team did not have ‘blueprints’ of whatever trending ‘known unknowns’ were contemplated on the horizon of your day in the exec suite!
That’s what management HAS TO DO…and if u don’t then you don’t stay in that position for very long!
Yep, because David’s use of the term blueprint was aptly described by his context is the REASON I called him on it.
It would be impossible as I noted for his assertion to be valid.
I knew Col Bostic as a cadet eons ago seeing him at the Garrison twirling his mace and looking all drum major proper n thing… He went to war college in US or UK – I don’t recall – and fulfilled a career as a military officer…. Thus your argument seems to be that he would disavow a life time of training and MODELLING possible scenarios of the ‘war ahead’ in this very ‘war like’ scenario.
And this was the laugh line when you said “you start with some ancient philosophers statement and by deductive logic came to a conclusion.”
I very deliberately married the ancient philosopher to an Oxford prof of very current 2014 vintage (date of book published).
Come now Vincent… you are shrewder than that!
I showed quite explicitly I thought that whether one adored ancient (to use your term) leadership advice or modern analysis that it was crucial to be a strategic planner in order to be successful as a leader.
Or to coin another modern ‘philosopher’ to have a plan ‘blueprint’ for known unknown and a structure of a plan to deal with unknown unknowns, so opined Donald Rumsfeld.
Leadership has not changed at its core since ancient times bro… Although modern leaders or pundits would have us believe that!
So senor I wheeled…hopefully again ‘logically rigorous… [that makes] contact with reality”.
You certainly I hope can, in turn, ‘come again.”
BARBADOS ONLY HAVE TWO CASES IS THAT THE TRUTH????
XXXXXXX
Passenger from Barbados has COVID-19 in Canada
A traveller from Barbados is among three who tested positive for COVID-19 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Media reports from that community say the other passengers came from Spain and the United Kingdom. They are two women, age 44 and 62, and a 48-year-old man.
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/244484/passenger-barbados-covid-19-canada
BARBADOS ONLY HAVE TWO CASES IS THAT THE TRUTH????
Maybe, maybe not. The headline figure of two is simply for confirmed tests. Any epidemiologist would tell you that the milder cases would not present themselves for testing so that the virus could be existing undetected within the community for days or even weeks. Epi 101.
Not saying this is the case in Bim but given the lax approach I would be very surprised if there aren’t more cases.
A friend of mine who worked at Miami International said a plane came from Canada empty except with crew and flight attendants
Barbados is on a wing and a prey
@ Vincent
At this stage I agree that we don’t need a massive stimulus. What I want to see however is some loan protection legislated by government for the vulnerable. We at the minimum need a 90 day grace period.
@Baje March 19, 2020 1:19 PM
The person may have been infected when returning to Canada at the airport there or on the journey home between the airport and home.
There is no evidence that more than two people are infected in Barbados. According to medical history to date, it is rather unlikely that diseases with symptoms similar to those of influenza will spread as quickly in the tropics as in the subtropics or in the temperate zone.
I would also point out that in some countries the mortality rate is only 0.3% for the new disease. This is hardly higher than the flu.
The situation unfolding at hand is unprecedented in our times. The financial carnage when this is over, will make the great recession of 2008 looks like an economic boom.
@ John A
Yes we do need a massive stimulus, investing in infrastructure and I have said on numerous occasions, but knocking down a public building to build a park, but housing, leisure and recreational, including a small theme park on Culpepper Island. I have mentioned a number of projects previously, including the site of the Transport Board and Nelson Street and its environs.
This what the Mottley government should have done in May/June 2018, instead of defaulting on its debt. The Mottley government should have also printed money, not to pay salaries for top civil servants, but to keep ordinary people in jobs.
The only fundamental risk was asset price inflation and that could be managed. We also need, urgently, a Barbados-domiciled balance sheet bank. Now more so than ever.
@ Hal
Yes there will be a barage of cheap money out there for those that can qualify. Banks will offer those they deem safe everything they want. The big players will be sitting down on the sidelines waiting on safe stocks like Coca-Cola to hit a big enough discount to buy. 18 months from now they will all be saying how they made 20% return on Corana in a single year. The hard part about it is that not one of the people or counties that need this money the most will qualify for a single cent of it for reasons as you outlined.
The president will address the economic problems tomorrow, today is all about the medical problem. But all she is doing is giving a moral lecture, no policies have come from government. Why is Kerrie Symmonds there?
@David,
i am not surprised that she will be a part or the whole of the news conference later. now that the bad news has been delivered time to show face. MAM got this.
prior to this i had no problem with how she was dealing with the matter but events are moving fast and we are not pivoting quickly enuff. plus that Minister of Education has me exasperated. she know not what she is doing.
time that we should consider closing our borders and hunkering down until Covid 19 passes or until we see what we have to deal with.
i wish Bim well.
Well Antron that just about says s it all all rather than check out who they came in contact with where they stayed what tours they took. Go into spin hide your head in the sand like an osterich. Deny deny deny yup that’s a smart tourism plan
@ Hal.
We both know right now a massive stimulus is out of the question when this year we may well run a $500 billion dollar deficit. Plus any stimulus will require a portion of import related input and right now much of the world is on lock down.
What we could use though is targeted financial assistance in areas of import substitution and food production. That way instead of throwing millions at the economy like was done in 2008 in the USA, only to never have it reach those it was intended for, we have targeted distribution of assistance in critical areas like food production and solar energy.
If that is done we can slash our FX requirements for both of the above and that will help to soften the blow from falling tourism receipts.
After all a USD saved is a USD earned.
@Wily Coyote March 19, 2020 12:16 PM “Question, has Barbados got adequate body bags, adequate cold storage for bodies,”
Why the p-huc-k would anybody need to put a body in cold storage? Are you planning to have it for dinner later?
Stop being so backwards, and get into the 21st century now.
All suspected COVID19 deaths be cremated immediately, regardless of what people believe their holy books say.
Stupppssseee!!! Some people so backwards den!
My old mother…may she rest in peace used to say that she didn’t want anybody come peeping in her face when she was dead. She would say to all, “if you want to see me come now that i am alive and well and can see you and enjoy your company.” Don’t wait until i am dead to come see me…and when I can’t see you.
I would go further and say no funerals at all. Undertaker and crematoria operators only.
@Tronesh
Covid 19 is not like the flu. Yes it is a Corona virus like this flu but it is much more dangerous. Stop misleading the blog.
Higher reproduce rate ie more contagious, no vaccine, more severe illness., etc.
In England the Church of England has limited the number of people attending weddings to 5. I am not sure if that is 5 only, or 5 more in addition to the bride, groom [or bride/bride; groom/groom], the officiant, and 2 witnesses.
If life has sent us this very bitter lemon, I would suggest to those people who ought to be marrying [not me] and who were scared off because of the cost of holding a “proper wedding” that now is a good time to marry. Save yourself $5,000 to $100,000 you were otherwise planning to spend on an elaborate reception, very expensive Instagram worthy pretty clothes etc. Marry, quick and sweet and go long to you home and let the sweetness of the honeymoon begin.
Go into your marriage debt free.
Plus the death rate for Covid 19 is yet unknown but will probably be higher than seasonal flu which has a mortality rate of about 0.1%.
My parents married in 1940. Right in a time of a massive war and real-real hardship in Barbados. Between then they didn’t have 2 shillings to rub together. No photographs I was told, no fancy clothes, nothing so. The thing held together for more than 60 years and the successful raising of nuff, nuff children.
In hard times people have to pull together.
@ John A
I am talking about policy before the misguided defaulting on our debt and the giving of tax breaks to the wealthy and well to do. We need to cut out the vacuous rhetoric and concentrate e of positive policy-making.
My parents told me that they had a 16 x 10 two room “board” house without running water, electricity or nothing so. A wooden water barrell with a wooden cover which doubled as their dining table, a lantern, and a grass bed on the floor, and three rocks in the backyard between which a fire was made and the food cooked.
The marriage worked all right.
Look how many of us have spent nuff, nuff money on weddings, and the marriages [sometimes multiple marriages] did not last as long as a snowball in hell.
So I would say to young people who wish to marry, now is a good time.
@ Hal
Yes on that I definitely agree with you. Government needs to now come to the people with a clearly thought out policy on what steps will be taken say between now and October on this issue. This will also help to put the public’s mind at ease in terms of feeling someone has their back.
A start would be debt protection and possible tax waivers where possible. We however know these will be small as we just are not in a position to do much given our fiscal reality.
COVID-19 is spreading very quickly. This is no longer a regional issue—it is a challenge calling for a global response. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have been hit later than other regions from the pandemic and therefore have a chance to flatten the curve of contagion.
Efforts on multiple fronts to achieve this goal are underway. In addition to strengthening health policy responses, many countries in the region are taking measures of containment, including border closures, school closings, and other social distancing measures….(Quote)
Oh gawd the level of idiocy and hot air from too many on this blog continues to grow. Even in a time as serious as now, egofowlism trumps logical, robust contributions. Cut, paste, rumourmonger and chest beat reigns. It is enuff to make one vomit!! I must also say that I have, however, gain respect for some–Skinner, TheoGazerts included. But laaaawd! Few weeks ago MAM was emasculating the Minister of Health, now she’s accused of running from the media. Today she did the press conference and announced the new confirmed cases. Look out for a new twist and more vacillation. A know-it-all has reappeared seeking to paint Barbadian and Caribbean leaders as useless, when for months COVID has been discussed at the Caricom level. Can the same be said about the bright ones in his neck of the woods? A chest-beating journalist who never seems to do his research? This is why I don’t waste my time here. #toomanyamateursposingasexpertsonBU
@ John A
The president had an opportunity to address the nation today with a sound policy on health preparedness and on economic policy – to deal with the dual crisis. She failed. Her talk was a long, rambling moral lecture, even the announcement about self-isolation depended on workers taking the initiative and getting medical certificates on their own.
At a historical juncture when we need sound political leadership, we are left headless.
Continuing with your same condescending bs. We have a prime minister of Barbados. Theee is no president.
@Hants March 18, 2020 11:53 PM “The Hilary term came to an abrupt end tonight.”
Boy that was something else. i turn ogg the annoying “dings” of my phone at night.
Got up at 2 to pee and saw three messages that schools are closed effectively end of the day yesterday. Went back to sleep.
Retired teacher friend called at 7 to remind me that i am on full time grandmother duties.
I had promised long ago to teach Littlest Susie how to make pizza from scratch. I know, I know it is not a local dish. But which elementary school child does not like to knead dough. So the lessons began.
Hygiene: Wash your hands.
Physics: With granny’s help heat some water in the kettle.
Math: measure the flour, sugar, water and yeast. If we are only using half the quantity of flour, then what proportion of yeast do we need?
Home Economics: mix the flour, yeast warm water and sugar together.
Playtime: Knead the dough. Just like play dough. Which elementary aged children do not like to knead dough?
Math again: What time is it? How much time do we need to wait while the dough rises?
Physics again: Heat the oven.
Home Economics and Playtime again: Knead and roll out the dough. Put in pan. Add the toppings. granny puts it ii the oven
Etiquette: Plate the pizza. Eat and enjoy with your family at home.
“Covid 19 is not like the flu. Yes it is a Corona virus like this flu but it is much more dangerous. Stop misleading the blog.”
i am beginnning to think that stupidity is more infectious than the virus…you have a GLOBAL PANDEMIC…worldwide for those who are still not getting it, which means from the map i saw this morning,,,over 166 countries ACROSS CONTINENTS are INFECTED…and these clowns believe advertising an island with infections just like most other islands and across CONTINENTS…is the intelligent thing to do instead of impressing on people the need to stay away from each other in the SHORT TERM…..or SUFFER LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES.
but according to them their education system is so great.
@ Dullard March 19, 2020 2:45 PM
According to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/ there are 15,309 confirmed infections in Germany, but only 44 deaths. That is a rounded figure of just 0.2 percent! The mortality rate for a typical flu is slightly lower than 0.1 percent. If we assume that this country tests much more than all other European countries but still has a large number of unreported cases, we are approaching 0.1 percent for influenza.
Even if at the end of next year’s final statistics the death rate should be 0.2 or 0.3 percent, we must ask ourselves whether the markets are not overreacting.
Please bear in mind that we have a high number of unreported cases internationally. If you extrapolate German conditions to Italy, you will find an absolute infection rate of several hundred thousand or even several million cases in Italy.
I therefore conclude that the Barbadian Government is doing everything right. Of course, every death is regrettable, but we should recognise that Barbados must survive in economic terms.
The State Department is telling US citizens not to travel abroad.
@Tron March 18, 2020 11:01 PM “These are the same people who have promised us since 1966 that we would only have to work half as much as in Scandinavia.”
Where was this promised, or are you lying again as usual?
I worked so hard yesterday that i went to bed early-ish.
Spent the better part of the work day, climbing ladders [but my father climbed 14 foot ladders until he was well in his 90’s, and I am only nearly 70] taking down, laundering and rehanging curtains for the Air BNB place after the last guest left on Monday. Mopped floors, cleaned bathrooms and stoves, changed beds, unstuffed cushions, washed the covers and restuffed them. The guests who were supposed to arrive yesterday and next week have postponed, indefinitely. I am not too worried YET, because the place is fully paid for. Paid for bit by bit by finishing one apartment at a time, and renting it until all were finished. Not a method recommended by bankers, but advised by the old man who finished school at 11. It worked for us. Did more laundry at home. Cooked a hot meal.Washed up the dishes and myself. Cleaned the stove and mopped the floor.
Don’t know why according to people who do not know me why I am so lazy and incompetent.
Tired. Could not bother with the boys of BU. Went to bed early-ish.
Silly Woman March 19, 2020 2:36 PM
You showing PM attribut cannot believe people can be so ignorant, Bajans have to eat.
@Tron
COVID count in Barbados now 5 and ….
@Hal Austin March 19, 2020 5:10 AM “…it calls for mature leadership.”
And the mature leadership would be Halston Austin or one of his clones, right?
I have never claimed, and I never would, that entrepreneurs or employees in the tourism sector rest. On the contrary, I am talking about the hard work of “plantation”. Nobody knows better than me how the Barbadians work their a**** off in the offshore and tourism business.
Without question, Barbados is the premium island for international tourism because the Barbadians do their very best here. I have always recommended Barbados, still recommend the island and will recommend in the future.
If you have misunderstood, I apologize most sincerely.
@Wily Coyote March 19, 2020 9:11 AM “My prediction is this new head of PAHO SINCE Sept. 2019 will be relaced shortly, obviously not up to the job.”
Evidence please.
Maybe you would prefer a white guy like this one:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/investigations/article-ontario-emergency-room-chief-who-hired-no-women-for-16-years-resigns/
Or one like this one
https://nationalpost.com/news/city-of-toronto-fires-director-of-office-of-emergency-management-in-middle-of-covid-19-crisis
City of Toronto fires director of the office of emergency management, in the middle of the COVID19 crisis
@ Wily
Four out of five Chinese who caught coronavirus got it from someone who did not show any symptoms. Are we doing any modelling in Barbados?
I would say on the health side the government has done a decent job. It is on the financial side that I feel they need to be more proactive in term of policy implementation and the protection of the populace from predatory bankers and their archaic policies.
All countries will have to PRINT money to support their economy from collapsing. Budgets will have to be massively adjusted. Even then, massive unemployment in the private sector is going to occur. The government could absorb some of this labor with a massive work programme. The roads all over the place need rehabilitation.
@ Tron
The epidemic has not peaked yet so we do not know where the mortality rates will end up.
But yes the overall case fatality rate will not be much higher than flu in my view.
But that is not why there is so much concern.
The main worry is the morbidity side of the virus. There is higher incidence of severe disease and hospitalisation. For the at-risk groups, the rates of ICU admission is high and places severe strain on the health system. So even mortality is low, the excess burden on hospital beds will create massive problems. The resources devoted to civic 19 will cause higher mortality overall as resources are diverted from other conditions.
Just look at what is going on in Italy.
Will look after the grands at least 10 hours per day, 5 days a week, for an indefinite period, or as long as I am able.
The sun is rising at 6ish, so will start my field labour at sunrise, and work for a couple of hours, then do my granny duties. I still expect to get in about 12 hours a week of field labour. I will still take Sunday as rest day, although some Sundays i do field labour from about 4 p.m. to sunset.
Don’t know why people who don’t know us think that we are lazy and incompetent.
In short at nearly 70 I expect to continue doing 62 hours or more per week. Hal was talking about some youthful jokers in London who think that working 50 hours a week is hard work.
Stupssseee!!!
@ Dullard
Already doctors are having to play God by deciding who to allow ventilators, and who not – who will live and who will die. Has Friday nights at Oistin’s closed down? What about big public events?
@ Troon
The rate of ICU admission for Covid 19 in Italy is about 10%. Let that sink in for a moment.
One of every 10 confirmed cases in Italy ends up in an ICU ward and many require (invasive) mechanical ventilation. That is why there is so much talk about the availability of ventilators and ICU beds in UK and the US.
@ Dullard March 19, 2020 4:36 PM
You are absolutely right that the complications with the lungs are far more serious than with a typical flu infection and therefore an overloading of the intensive care unit is imminent – even if the mortality rate should be low in the end.
However, I would also like to point out that some flu variants have been much more severe than average in the past. Case study Afghanistan campaign of the British SAS in 2001: partial kidney failure, diarrhoea, aching limbs, chills, fever 40 degrees, weakness, hyperventilation etc. etc. I remember very clearly that the Ministry of Defence initially suspected a Taliban bioweapons attack. At the end, it was the flu. If something like this happens to you in the USA, Canada or Europe and you almost die from it, the doctors just shrug their shoulders.
@ Dullard
Doctors in the UK are now giving remote consultations. I had a long conversation with my doctor on the phone today. It is going to get worse before it gets better.
@Tron,
it is times like this that you should STFU
@Silly Woman
these are unprecedented times. altho you seem to understand the issues and appear to be quite robust, you ought to be still careful and take good care of yourself
These fool are only interested in locking up people for expressing their views instead of TRACKING THE PATTERN OF THE VIRUS….if you track the pattern you get a better understanding of the measures you have to take to protect yourself and everyone else.
The german leader just came out to explain what is ahead because she knows their CONTAGION has only just started…weeks behind Italy….this has been going on for months….spreading everywhere.
but when ya backward ya can only see backwardness…wannabe massas who will never be real massas.
@WURA-War-on-U March 19, 2020 3:51 PM “…instead of impressing on people the need to stay away from each other in the SHORT TERM”
WARU why you telling lies pun we again?
For weeks now the government has been using both traditional and social media to spread the messages of hand washing, social distancing etc. I doubt that there is a single bjan who has not received these messages.
Surely you know this, right?
@Hal Austin March 19, 2020 4:49 PM “Doctors in the UK are now giving remote consultations. I had a long conversation with my doctor on the phone today. It is going to get worse before it gets better.”
If you are a smoker [of anything] stop now.
If you are overweight, work on getting the excess off.
If typically you don’t exercise, with the consent of you health care provider., start now.
if you are on prescribed meds, as i am, take them on schedule.
Watch what you eat. Today I had yam, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, brocolli, dumplins [ie. stew food] with some salt fish gravy. I know that salt fish is not exactly a health food, but I threw some spinach and tomatoes which I grew myself into it. The youth had the pizza. Maybe i will have a piece of pizza for supper.
So why is the country still “OPEN FOR BUSINESS”….social distancing should also be for the frontline workers. with exceptions.
Besides, not enough people are practicing social distancing as you well know. Am sure you took a minivan wit in the last week.
Isn’t this a lovely vison though, i hope the cousins in the palace had a hand in this, i would be truly impressed with them and cousin Boris.
https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/coronavirus-urgent-appeal-for-brits-to-work-on-farms?fbclid=IwAR33viurLqjy-WiFEThHUwNVLsMztdh8YQQ0uh0tjia6d2VmOrJTD-dinmk
“Industry leaders have issued an urgent plea for British people to work on farms and help feed the nation amid a burgeoning labour shortage due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some 70,000 seasonal workers are usually required annually on British farms – with many coming from overseas. But travel restrictions and tighter border controls are having a significant effect on the number of people able to travel to the UK.
With the soft fruit harvest due to get fully under way next month, labour provider Hops Labour Solutions said seasonal workers were urgently needed to help pick and process fruit and vegetables on farms and in packhouses.
@Greene March 19, 2020 5:03 PM “…altho you seem to understand the issues and appear to be quite robust, you ought to be still careful and take good care of yourself.”
Yup. Unprecedented indeed.
Trying to take care of me in the same manner that I instructed Hal above.
Many close relatives in health care in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Barbados, nurses, administrators, physicians, lab technicians, so perhaps I am better versed than most. But I know that I am no better than anybody else. In Barbados a very close relative works primarily in intensive care at the QEH so COVID19 is not a joke nor a political football for me.
My Little Johnnie is a student in the great white north. Yesterday the landlord reminded that the rent is due in full as of April 1 as usual.
So I am aware.
I have to be aware.
“For weeks now the government has been using both traditional and social media to spread the messages of hand washing, social distancing etc. I doubt that there is a single bajan who has not received these messages.”
@ Simple Simon
I agree with you. The government and health authorities have fostered good practice by disseminating information pertaining to COVID-19 virus on a daily basis in the local print and electronic media, either through the GIS or on their own initiative.
There have been several panel discussions with medical experts on CBC-TV8, VOB, etc. On Tuesday evening, for example, there were 2 doctors on SLAM FM answering questions from the public and giving advice.
However, judging from some of the ridiculous assumptions,uninformed comments and conspiracy theories I’ve read so far, there are people who seem to have “not received these messages,” or they’re purposely ignoring them for reasons known only to them.
Additionally, I also agree with John A re: “…….on the health side the government has done a decent job. It is on the financial side that I feel they need to be more proactive in term of policy implementation and the protection of the populace from predatory bankers and their archaic policies.”
But, Simple Simon, surely by now you should have realized “telling lies’ is just one aspect of their daily agenda.
We have some old people on this blog whose objective every Rh day is to criticize everything done in Barbados. Can any country have enough of anything during a pandemic?
#stfudo
I don’t think at this stage we need to bother with closing borders as every one of our major markets have already done it. So the plane loads will automatically get lighter and the cruise ships have already stopped coming. I know our authorities are taking the temperature of everyone that is arriving by air already. The old and high risk have already been advised to stop travelling from their own authorities.
Furthermore shutdowns don’t work as is evident in Italy as of today. They have just surpassed China in terms of deaths. If total lockdowns are the answer why then has Italy the highest rate of total deaths?
Trump created chaos at airports this week with people returning home, when they were force to stand shoulder to shoulder for hours. After this massive level of exposure what was their solution? Take your temperature and send those with no temperature home when they reached the screening area. Morrow being if I had caught it from one of the thousands I stood shoulders to shoulders with just hours ago, as far as the USA was concerned I had no temperature so was good to enter their country one hour later.
Help me with the logic here please.
True Waru I took a mini van ONCE last week. But I was careful not go out at rush hour. I took a window seat so that I could breathe the fresh air and not my seat mate’s snot. I have never been keen on breathing other people’s snot. Took with me and used my hand sanitizer.
Social distancing does NOT mean starving to death in the “safety” of my home.
@SS
Many students are on May-May leases. Just checking, because my last who graduated a few years ago had a landlady who demanded April rent, when the lease required first and last….April being last had already been paid!!!!
@ David,
the old people on this blog are here every Ww ( Wrasse whole ) day because we have nothing else to do. lol
https://animal-world.com/encyclo/marine/wrasses/ClownWrasse.php
I meant some of the old people.
“I know our authorities are taking the temperature of everyone that is arriving by air already. ”
According to Silly, they have been taking the temperature of every visitor since February, even before Canada, so how did they miss the victim from Canada who was on vacation if she came into the island already infected, or is it as Canada is saying she got infected in Barbados…then there are all those people she came in contact with while on the island.
Observer interest is owing on that last months rent held in trust
Lol…at 0.0033%?
Technically yes. As a landlord, I precalculate the interest and deduct from last month at time it is paid.
There you go see every thing isn’t doom and gloom as some believe
*Furthermore shutdowns don’t work as is evident in Italy as of today. They have just surpassed China in terms of deaths. If total lockdowns are the answer why then has Italy the highest rate of total deaths? *
@JohnA
Because the effects take time to work. A better gauge of the efficacy of lock down would be China now.
They were where Italy is at now several weeks ago.
Note I am not saying that a lockdown provides all the answers but the only example we have of large scale containment so far is China.
读了这篇来自牙买加的屎坑的文章。
“超过160名巴巴多斯学生在西印度群岛大学莫纳校区的学生，大部分都被锁在宿舍里，因为牙买加的头两起COVID-19案件导致了广泛的恐慌。继周四下午决定由高等教育机构暂停所有课程后，一些学生表示希望返回巴巴多斯，因为校园内的基本用品开始减少…… “群众的歇斯底里”。
I had promised long ago to teach Littlest Susie how to make pizza from scratch. I know, I know it is not a local dish. But which elementary school child does not like to knead dough. So the lessons began.
Hygiene: Wash your hands.
Physics: With granny’s help heat some water in the kettle.
Math: measure the flour, sugar, water and yeast. If we are only using half the quantity of flour, then what proportion of yeast do we need?
Home Economics: mix the flour, yeast warm water and sugar together.
Playtime: Knead the dough. Just like play dough. Which elementary aged children do not like to knead dough?
Math again: What time is it? How much time do we need to wait while the dough rises?
Physics again: Heat the oven.
Home Economics and Playtime again: Knead and roll out the dough. Put in pan. Add the toppings. granny puts it ii the oven
Etiquette: Plate the pizza. Eat and enjoy with your family at home.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wuhlaus! I see you did the exact same lesson I did with my son!
@ Silly Woman and Donna hope wunna teach the children to make bakes.
China govt has resorted to controlling the news
Hard to belive anything the chinese govt is saying
Recently the chinese govt banned international media from reporting
Also beliving the Chinese after months of hiding the deadly outbreak of the virus is reckless thinking
The Chinese govt is to send positive numbers so that the greedy lap dog captalist would come back and regain some control of their wealth
Never mind that at present until their is a vaccine the deadly virus can resurfaced in its victims and restart the viciuos cycle of contamination
China needs to be placed in a full year of quarantine until it can get its enviromental and social moorings in the right place
@Hants March 19, 2020 8:13 PM “@ Silly Woman and Donna hope wunna teach the children to make bakes.”
Bare cooking lessons going on at my home for the next few weeks, God willing.
@NorthernObserver March 19, 2020 6:07 PM “@SS. Many students are on May-May leases. Just checking, because my last who graduated a few years ago had a landlady who demanded April rent, when the lease required first and last….April being last had already been paid!!!!”
Thanks. I know. I volunteered on a co-op housing board for 5 years. I know that the last month has been paid, but the youngster who is a citizen of the great white north may stay on for the rest of the year doing a bit of job hunting. So the April 2020 rent may roll over to December 2020 or later or until a well paid work is found, and other acomodation is found. Crossing my fingers. Aware that these are very,very difficult times. If no work is found may have to come home and live rent free with me until things improve.
My old man used to say “this too will pass”
Except that now, not one of us knows when this will pass.
@Hants March 19, 2020 6:10 PM @ David, the old people on this blog are here every Ww ( Wrasse whole ) day because we have nothing else to do. lol”
So true.
And we are social beings. We all like company. Even virtual company.
Got a communication from our GIS Thursday morning saying to avoid taking Ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) s for COVID19 as this medicine seemed to worsen symptoms. The communication also provided a list of adult and children’s medicines which contain ibuprofen. Also to avoid medicines containing aspirin.
@ Silly Woman March 19, 2020 11:37 PM
Warning first appeared in the Daily Mail, UK. about two days ago.
The frauds are falling, they tief from the people even when there is no need to. Those panama and paradise papers with the laundry lists of offshore accounts will see many, many of the world’s greedy pretenders locked away in a prison cell in the future, don’t worry that also includes the pretenders in the Caribbean.
https://mol.im/a/8126711?fbclid=IwAR25P9iNAp3bl-BznHDe5fSIkRlX34gYdFrtqGXkPCBtFLwgxoLdO84J3SU
“A glamorous Uzbek ‘princess’ with links to the British royals and London’s high society has been jailed for 13 years in a £1.7 billion corruption trial.
Gulnara Karimova, 46, daughter of former tyrannical Uzbekistan ruler Islam Karimov, was sentenced by a secret court in Tashkent.
A former billionaire, she was once believed to be the USSR’s richest woman and was a friend of Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent.”
Financial commentators in the USA are calling for the government to issue an order to suspend utility payments so that citizens can use available cash for food and rent etc.
Serious times.
That would be the sensible thing to do at this time and for about 3 months, morgages, rents and utility payments are not practical or feasible right now, let’s see what Barbados and the Caribbean do for their people in that regard.
Tough times ahead, expect to see unemployment figures skyrocket for any occupation associated with tourism from GAIA to the Friday night vendor in Oistins.
The PM’s economic address scheduled for today is must see television.
Is taxpayers money footing the corona victim bill
A recent article in Times states that health cost is astronomical costing as much as 34thousand dollars to treat the virus
If such is the shouldnt govt have been more wise in protecting the taxpayers money instead of catching at a few straws to protect the tourism industry
Seems like govt i.implemented a policy of penny wise and pound foolish
ALL countries including Barbados will have to review their TOTAL dependency on tourism and make the appropriate changes so there is no repeat in the future…am sure the more intelligent leaders have already started…
…tourism was never the beginning and end of life as the greedy made it out to be for the past couple hundred years.
…there will be some lessons learned for those who are OPEN TO NEW WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS to protect their populations from DISEASE/epidemics/contagion, POVERTY, BONDAGE and OPPRESSION..
Every government around the world affect by covid-2019 will have to act on two front: Health and Economics. Both will have to be shouldered by the government resorting to printing money. The USA fed is about to crank up the printing press. Capitalistic free-market is in a free fall right now. Only government socialism( bailout) will prevent its demise at this stage.
@ WURA-War-on-U March 20, 2020 9:50 AM
“ALL countries including Barbados will have to review their TOTAL dependency on tourism and make the appropriate changes so there is no repeat in the future…am sure the more intelligent leaders have already started..”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There go those grandiose plans for the likes of the Hyatt Lighthouse once promoted as the beacon of economic hope and salvation for Bridgetown.
Who is going to shell out a few hundred millions to build a park lane hotel on the Bajan monopoly investment board?
Mother Nature is certainly sending a ‘viral’ message to the world of humans getting to uppity for their own survival.
Oh, how the planet has started to breathe a sigh of environmental relief as a result of Covid (and his mutant cousins) applying the brakes on the human carbon footprints caused by greed and excessive materialism by taking too much from Pachamama.
Now where is our old BU blogger friend Pachamama (the archenemy of Hal Austin) who foresaw this dystopian event as a consequence of the excesses of capitalism?
But you must look on the bright side. Covid could be a blessing in disguise. At least agriculture has become the Bajan Cinderella overnight.
Even the Minister- a former guru in the travel agency business- has a plan in his back pocket to turn the agricultural ministry into the blue-eyed boy in the Queen of Bee’s Cabinet.
Our Can-Bajan friend “Hants” must be smiling all the way to the top of the class of Bajan patriots as the tide of agriculture is about to rise to float his boat of food security laden with a cargo of local foods he has been promoting on BU for years with as much enthusiasm as Carmet(t)a Fraser who ought to be considered for the status as the other national heroine.
“Mother Nature is certainly sending a ‘viral’ message to the world of humans getting to uppity for their own survival.
Now where is our old BU blogger friend Pachamama who foresaw this dystopian event as a consequence of the excesses of capitalism?”
I am actually giving Mia the benefit of the doubt and hope she can see what’s really going on here, we may get lucky and hear her addressing THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED HER, pay her salary and would much prefer hear what can be done for them WITH THEIR OWN MONEY…taxes etc…instead of hearing her promote, address or only see after the best interests of the business community.
and as long as the ministers and their supporters understand that every country impacted by the virus has to pick up the pieces and move into the 21st century, it is not only a Barbados alone phenomena….it’s time to open up to the people..the economic evolution should move along just fine in EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE as a collective..and not just a few…
@Miller
If What the minister claims does materialise with our agriculture that should make all Bajans stop and think how much FX we wasted over the last 10 years on produce we could have produced.
@John A
#tippingpoint
@ WURA-War-on-U March 20, 2020 6:23 PM
“I am actually giving Mia the benefit of the doubt and hope she can see what’s really going on here, we may get lucky and hear her addressing THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED HER, pay her salary and would much prefer hear what can be done for them WITH THEIR OWN MONEY…taxes etc…instead of hearing her promote, address or only see after the best interests of the business community.
and as long as the ministers and their supporters understand that every country impacted by the virus has to pick up the pieces and move into the 21st century, it is not only a Barbados alone phenomena….it’s time to open up to the people..the economic evolution should move along just fine in EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE as a collective..and not just a few…”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here is the greenest of the greatest of opportunities being offered to the MAM administration to take some of the pressure off the demand for foreign currency by allowing ordinary young Bajans (many enlisted in the army of permanent unemployment) to grow and process their own Bajan brands of Mary Jane along with a range of food crops to feed themselves and improve their own health without resorting to imported pharmaceuticals.
The same way the people of Amsterdam can make a good living from the ambush marketing tactics of exploiting the Jamaican icons through the sophisticated hawking of the byproducts from the ‘devil’ cannabis and its spin-off souvenirs and trinkets, why can’t young Bajans try their hands at another industry now that King Sugar is dead and tourism is no longer Queen?
What else does Barbados have to offer to a post Covid-19 world?
Why not the niche marketing of the natural goods and services of a people who have arrived at the stark realization that ‘God’ was never a Bajan and Covid is not the devil in disguise but an angel of light pointing the young to a future of real economic empowerment and healthier lifestyles in harmony with sometimes cruel Mother Nature and her fragile environment called gaia?
It’s time the so-called leaders of the brand called ‘Bajan’ step up to the plate and come up with policies to save the country from going under.
As it stands, Barbados has nothing to lose in charting a different course for its own economic and social survival. Not even the imperialist dogs now bitten by Covid-19 can dictate to you what you must do from 2020 and onwards.
“to grow and process their own Bajan brands of Mary Jane along with a range of food crops to feed themselves and improve their own health without resorting to imported pharmaceuticals.”
I am not impressed with Black Bajan leaders, they do nothing to upgrade the lives of and enrich their people whose votes they always beg, whose tax dollars pay their salaries..
the virus has rendered their Black people oppressing Cannabis Legislation that they rushed off and enacted, …OBSOLETE.
This was the evil plan to continue to criminalize, terrorize and harass the majority population and reduce them to slaves to foreign investors while she allow the criminals in the business community to prosper..
“Indigenous use of the plant is still outlawed as the government makes way for the pharmaceutical development and sale of drugs made from cannabis. CORVID-19 will impact on the medicinal cannabis industry’s development and as such the production of cannabis medication, and its availability for patients as planned by the powers that be.
Further to this the people of Barbados are denied natural access to the plant and its ability to assist in the fight against the virus. Will the government now accept that it should legalize the possession and cultivation of cannabis in reasonable amounts for all Barbadians? The Sacrament Cannabis Act will have to be amended. As it stands the cultivation and use of cannabis for sacramental purposes can only be done at a place of worship. Barbadians are being asked not to gather and as such schools, sporting activities, charitable events and churches have put a pause on their regular activities. Churches will conduct their affairs online for the most part while once again brothers and sisters of the Rastafari movement are denied the ability to practice their faith to the fullness because the government does not locate a Rastafari home as a place of worship
Another major area in which CORVID-19 is affecting the Barbadian society is the education of its young people. Long has the government of Barbados disregarded and disrespected the ability of homeschooling to seriously assist with the education of our nation’s children. As such no homeschooling department has ever been developed by the government of Barbados to assist parents wishing to educate their children at home. Homeschooling due to CORVID-19 and the resulting closure of schools will now have to be explored in its fullness. Parents who did not think they had the ability or time to homeschool will be put to the test, and believe you me, they will succeed. Will parents seeing the success of homeschooling revert to an educational system that has long failed them and further enslaved generations Barbadians?.”
The TnT central bank reduced the reserve requirement support commercial banks creating an ease for customers. The finance minister said banks have committed to giving moratoriums..
So BERT has been abandoned, or postponed. The president has just launched a fiscal stimulus, that is two years late. Better tlate than never, even if it too the coronavirus to trigger the change.
Black Bajan governments do not look out for the welfare of the present or future generations…and as long as they continue with their destructive and backward philosophy that generations of Black people are to be slaves to a tiny business community ….the majority population will never prosper or progress..
Now she feels so proud to have to go abegging AFTER THEY ALL ROBBED THE COUNTRY BLIND OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS…and got the nerve to tell herself that intelligent people are impressed….steuppsss.
no use giving any of them the benefit of the doubt, they are all a waste of precious oxygen.