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Election Day in St. George North

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Today the electorate of St. George North will vote for a member of parliament to fill the vacancy created by the ‘retirement’ of Gline Clarke. The blogmaster’s assessment is that it will be a straight contest between Floyd Reifer (DLP) and Toni Moore (BLP). Of the so-called third parties Grenville Phillips should retain third option in the number count. We can debate if Barbadians are ready for a third party or is this a case of the quality of the options presented. The blogmaster respectfully suggest the latter.

The result of the election will answer a few questions for political pundits.

  • Has the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) regain its standing as the credible alternative in the eyes of voters?
  • Despite managing the affairs of state in the most challenging period post independence, will the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) be able to convince the SGN electorate that it is the most competent to govern at this time?
  • Will Grenville Phillips increase his penetration of support in the constituency to forge the way for third parties in the future?
  • How large will the protest vote be which has been fomenting in a climate of austerity for the last 3 years?
  • Has the last 90 days of campaigning confirm the urgent need for electoral reform in Barbados?

So far by-election activities has been largely peaceful in keeping with Bajan tradition. Let us continue to make the country proud by delivering an uneventful event. The blogmaster’s vote will be cast for David Walrond, the agriculturist and community practitioner.

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895 responses to “Election Day in St. George North”

  1. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Mariposa
    November 14, 2020 3:08 PM

    “WB
    U don’t come here trying to school people on good and bad behaviour”

    Mariposa,
    You have too many massive problems to deal with before you reach me. i am a small, insignificant fish.

    By the time you get around to me, the massive problems thrown in your lap would have given you a pair of “goadies”.
    Go and find someone else to entangle with your misery.

  2. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “P.S. From reading the daily newspapers it appears the dysfunctional injustice system in being rapidly addressed.”

    we’ll know it’s been fully addressed when the elderly won’t be crying that they and their beneficiaries lost their estates and the judiciary refuses to address their cases..or the judges and lawyers set them up

    …when people can have their personal injury cases FINALLY CLOSED and settled ……when the judges hand down decisions instead of sitting on them for from 5 to 20 years or until everyone dies off…

    .when land disputes don’t take 60 years and never resolved…remember there are land dispute cases that TEETS REMOVED from the court system some were there from 1964….there are personal injury cases not resolved 15…10….7…years later….

    .when a defamation case don’t last 37 years in the court and still going…..then we know they are making an effort…

    until then, Donna… all you have seen so far is window dressing, the dude has only had the CJ job for a couple weeks now….

    the colonial clowns are more concerned about what black people are wearing to court instead of DISPENSING JUSTICE to the population…it’s an embarrassment…when it gets better you will know, i won’t hesitate to post about it, but until then….it’s an utter shame and disgrace..

  3. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    @ Enuff

    YOU CAN ADD WHEN GIVEN THE TOTAL PICTURETHAT I BENEFITED FROM A US$240,000 CLOSE TO HALF MILLION DOLLARS BARBADOS FORGIVABLE PPP LOAN FOR MY BUSINESS UNDER TRUMP DURING PANDEMIC.

    POSSIBILITY OF MORE TO COME UNDER BIDEN.

    WHAT THE FUCK HAS YOUR BLP PARTY DONE SIZEABLE FOR LOCAL BLACK BUSINESSES DURING THE PANDEMIC BESIDES LOCKDOWN, FINES AND JAILING BLACK BAJANS.

    CONTINUE TALKING SHITE AND IGNORE REALITY.

  4. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Boy! Sometimes I wonder if I am living in the same country you overseas people speak about!

    No! The unemployment rate was NEVER 30 %!

    Keep it real, nuh!

  5. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I have lived on this island for decades and I still love living here.

    We have problems. We are far from perfect but where you guys live have problems also.

    I need a break from you guys. All you do sometimes is bring me down.

  6. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Let your gardening raise you up..

  7. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    I pick the bits and pieces I find interesting.
    Ignore the hand to hand combat
    Do your own thing

  8. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Walter

    I am not sure I fully understand you. Do you mean the formal system is a Cabinet government, or that the present one is a Cabinet government. If the later, you clearly do not understand government.
    What we have is prime ministerial government. It is a one woman show, more presidential than even prime ministerial, and she is grossly incompetent at that. She dislikes details.
    The purpose of our system of government is that the Executive gets is power from the legislature and the legislature gets its power from the people. I suggest you talk to Ezra Alleyne about constitutionalism. You are clearly unfamiliar with it.
    Who designed the system? Is this the much talked about Westminster model? You do know a bit more about car engines. If it is not working you get it repaired. Until then it is a shell.
    How long do we have to wait for our judicial system to work? If the judicial system does not work, then the society does not work. Just ask Charles Herbert.

  9. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Hal Austin
    November 14, 2020 3:56 PM

    @Walter

    ” ..you clearly do not understand government.
    I suggest you talk to Ezra Alleyne about constitutionalism. You are clearly unfamiliar with it.
    If the judicial system does not work, then the society does not work. Just ask Charles Herbert.”

    Hal,
    Clearly, I do not understand government.
    I will speak with Ezra Alleyne about constitutionalism first thing tomorrow morning.
    Last thing tomorrow evening, I will ask Charles Herbert if it is true that if the judicial system does not work, then the society does not work.

    I appreciate you taking the time to offer me such brilliant suggestions..

  10. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Walter

    No problem. Never too old to learn. I am always willing to help. By the way, you have not answered my questions. Is our system modeled on the Westminster system? Who designed it?

  11. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Boy! Sometimes I wonder if I am living in the same country you overseas people speak about!

    No! The unemployment rate was NEVER 30 %!

    Keep it real, nuh!…(Quote)

    However, since the pandemic, the travel industry has been crippled, resulting in the closure of hotels and having an equally debilitating impact on restaurants and other tourism related businesses.

    This has resulted in a dramatic rise in unemployment, which is estimated to be around 40 per cent.

    Greenidge said: “This year we are at 72 871 as at September 25. The year not done yet. In terms of persons, it is about 31 635 individual claims, and NIS has paid out $114 million in claims already for the year. You see the link – unemployment [with] the tourism devastation. That is the sort of problem we have to be battling with.”…(Quote)

  12. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    BAJE

    “YES AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN I COLLECTED THE US$1200.
    I ALSO EARN US$96,000 ANNUALLY(BD$192,000) ………..
    SECONDLY MY TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS HAS QUADRUPLE DURING PANDEMIC………..

    YOU CAN ADD WHEN GIVEN THE TOTAL PICTURETHAT I BENEFITED FROM A US$240,000 CLOSE TO HALF MILLION DOLLARS BARBADOS FORGIVABLE PPP LOAN FOR MY BUSINESS UNDER TRUMP DURING PANDEMIC.
    POSSIBILITY OF MORE TO COME UNDER BIDEN.”

    Baje,
    All Barbadians are thrilled to hear you boasting and bragging about how well you and your business are doing. We sincerely wish you continued success.

    Many of your Barbadian brothers and sisters at home are experiencing financial difficulties right now and would really appreciate any assistance that you can offer in any form.

    For starters, can you contribute 10% of your earnings to assist a Barbadian household? We really do not mind if you brag and boast about any contribution you make. In fact, the bigger your contribution, the bigger you ought to boast.
    Any contribution you make will be greatly appreciated.

    PS: I am bored right now. If you cannot make a contribution, but choose to curse me instead, please don’t be stingy with the Bajan cusswords. Let them flow. I can do with the free entertainment.

  13. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Donna…it’s even more than i said, it’s 40%..i lost count.

    what bring down what, now it’s your turn to fix it and stop depressing yourself, or maybe you prefer it remain like that so you can moan somemore a few more years from now….steupps.

  14. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    When people were talking to these they acted as though someone was their enemy, so maybe you missed a lot of blogs, but some of us didn’t. It’s not an enviroment conducive to the progress and upward mobility of the African descendant.

    we have to hold these realities as truths…

    not here to convince anyone though..it is what it is..

  15. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    BAJE aka 3-degree
    I have really struck a nerve, the ego of a $96k US earning braggards is punctured. Spend some of that money on character building and counselling.🤣🤣

  16. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WAS NEVER 30% BEFORE THE PANDEMIC.

    AS I SAID BEFORE, THE PROBLEM IS OUR OVERDEPENDENCE OF TOURISM. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO FIX.

    I have never had a problem here that I didn’t get solved. Not at the hospital, not with a doctor, not with the courts, not with a lawyer. It took determination and persistence that is all. Bajans are intimidated by doctors and lawyers. That is the problem.

  17. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    And here’s the thing – my great grandparents from both sides had much more than than the average person by way of land and none of it has been seized by lawyers. It was distributed to heirs. Everybody got theirs with little difficulty. Just had to keep on top of it. Some people leave the matters in the lawyers hands and ask no questions for too long. Not me! I make myself a pest.

  18. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Hal Austin
    November 14, 2020 4:25 PM

    “@ Walter
    By the way, you have not answered my questions. Is our system modeled on the Westminster system? Who designed it?”

    Hal,
    You ask very hard questions.

    During my 4 years at cave Hill, I studied two courses in politics: “Introduction to Politics”, and “Government and Politics in the Caribbean.”

    I have not answered your questions because I do not know the answers. If you are giving out marks for answering these questions correctly, I accept my naught.

    I suspect that when Dr. Ralph Gonzalves and Dr. Neville Duncan were covering those topics in class, I was looking through the window and wondering why I didn’t have a girlfriend. Remember, I was very young, and “fresh in milk”.

    Bajans have a saying: “Find me wrong, put me right”. I do not know the answers to your two questions, and I have the sneaky suspicion that no reader of BU can answer those questions neither.

    You are closer to Westminster and Whitehall than any of us, so as a public service, can you please provide us with the answers?

  19. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    There was only one time when I felt a little hopeless in Barbados. That was in the period of the last DLP administration that was the worst we have ever had. What made it difficult was that they wanted us to believe what they said, rather than what we saw with our own eyes. Freundel insisted that everything was still standing even when we could see that it was leaning worse than the tower of Pisa. That was what I found depressing. Problems can be addressed once you admit to them. Denial is depressing. I do not deny. I just do not exaggerate. I find it counterproductive. And therefore also depressing.

  20. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Walter

    Nice to know you went to Cave Hill. I do not even know where Cave Hill is. Is it near to Harvard? Or Jenkins? I, sadly, left school at age 12 or thereabouts. I educate myself by reading contributors to BU. Nor do I know about Bajan sayings. All I want are answers to the questions.
    Unfortunately, I did not have any doctors teaching me and I am familiar with the Bajan Condition, when facetiousness replaces serious debate. It is bluff masquerading as knowledge.
    We have come to the end of this discussion. Good luck.

  21. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    For starters, can you contribute 10% of your earnings to assist a Barbadian household? We really do not mind if you brag and boast about any contribution you make. In fact, the bigger your contribution, the bigger you ought to boast.
    Any contribution you make will be greatly appreciated.

    PS: I am bored right now. If you cannot make a contribution, but choose to curse me instead, please don’t be stingy with the Bajan cusswords. Let them flow. I can do with the free entertainment.

    Xxxxxxxxx
    @ Walter Blackman

    REALLY DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU A FORMER DLP WANNA BE POLITICIAN THINK..

    WHENEVER I AM ATTACKED IN THE FIRST INSTANCE I WILL RESPOND.

    I AM NOT HAL WHO WILL TURN OTHER CHEEK MOST TIMES WHILST OTHERS TALK SHIT..

    IF MORE BAJANS THOUGHT INDEPENDENTLY THEIR LIVES WOULD BE MUCH BETTER.

    NOW YOU CAN CONTINUE TO AMUSE YOUSELF LIKE YOUR FELLOW DLP MATES WHO FUCKED UP THE ISLAND.

  22. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Walter BlackmanNovember 14, 2020 3:14 PM
    “Hal,
    In Barbados, we have a Cabinet government (shared responsibility) led by a Prime Minister who is to be viewed as “first among equals” (primus inter pares). The Executive is not supposed to be hamstrung by checks and balances coming from the legislature. In fact, the system has been deliberately designed for the Executive to have its wishes granted via its electoral majority in the Lower House, and its built-in nominated majority in the Upper House (the Senate).”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Why then the ‘need’ to (a)buse the governance vehicle called Referendum?

    We should soon see how competent the ‘freewheeling’ Bajan Executive is in achieving its much vaunted promise of abolishing the Even Plus exam and the Monarchy in 2021.

    Hal (the Native Son) Austin’s observation remains relevant even in the penumbra of his hyperbole.

    The acid test (political/governance liquidity ratio) in any rating of the performance of a state which prides itself as adhering to the principles of Constitutional democracy is how efficient it dispenses JUSTICE to all of its citizens.

    How then would you rate Barbados when the amount of money a citizen possesses is the main factor which determines the speed of access to and the quality of Justice received?

    Every single day ‘ordinary’ people’s Constitutional right to a timely and fair trial is blatantly denied and deliberately abused.

    BTW, would you say that the writing off of hundreds of millions of VAT and other tax dollars extracted from hard-working taxpayers to line the pockets of a few blatant crooks hiding behind the veil of business is the hallmark of a competent Executive or deserving of a mark of “F” for failure?

    VAT is NOT a levy on business; only an administrative burden.

    It is a levy on the final consumers who have been robbed of their hard-earned money meant for the coffers of the State.

    If Barbados is not a state in need of serious ‘governance’ repair why aren’t these ‘business’ crooks or outlaws aka financiers of political parties being brought to Justice?

    As you have argued over time on the BU blogs- and rather convincingly so- the financial integrity (and survival) of the NIS is pivoted on its ‘Executive’s’ continuous success in collecting contributions from members, both workers and employers.

    Now would you say that the management of the Bajan workers lifeline is entitled to a “B”, “D” or “F”?

  23. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Hal Austin November 14, 2020 1:39 PM “I think in particular of one guy, who walked around the Ivy barefooted and usually unemployed, he came to Britain got a job (I won’t say doing what), got promotion, and is now retired. But I would see him smartly dressed in his suits and brief cases and smile to myself. He was a credit. A decent, middle class man now retired, no doubt, on a decent pension – and at his peak earned more than the equivalent of the Bds$150000 earned by our permanent secretaries.”

    You know so much about the guy from his bare feet, to his nice suits and brief cases, to the amount of his salary to his decency, to his social class, to the quality of his pension to his current retired status. I suspect that the guy is you.

  24. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Walter BlackmanNovember 14, 2020 3:29 PM

    Mariposa
    November 14, 2020 3:08 PM

    “WB
    U don’t come here trying to school people on good and bad behaviour”

    Mariposa,
    You have too many massive problems to deal with before you reach me. i am a small, insignificant fish.

    By the time you get around to me, the massive problems thrown in your lap would have given you a pair of “goadies”.
    Go and find someone else to entangle with your misery.
    xccccxccccccccc

    Such disrespect for an elderly woman
    cant imagine u allowing some one to speak in such disrespectful manner to your mother
    Anyway your prove my point which serves purpose to say that u have no moral authority to sit in judgement of any one’s behaviour
    Be that as it may i can attest to the fact that as a born female from.head to toe my genealogical makeup has no room for goadies
    My advice to u is to rid yourself of the ones u have those that are problematic to you having a fruitful life
    As for myself misery dont like company
    Keep them

  25. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    The unemployment in the UK is less than 5%, true. But this is expected in a country with the ability to borrow at levels to allow substantial amounts of money to be poured into job support programmes. Furthermore, what is the quality of the work–pay, security of tenure, benefits? Dig a little deeper into the unemployment stats and it shows 77% of those furloughed due to Covid work in hospitality. What is tourism?
    Going back to the overall quality of the employed, notwithstanding the less than 5% unemployment more than one in every five of the UK population live in poverty. Two of the 10 most socially deprived areas in the UK are in London. I ask again, is the purveyor of the new “end in tears” theory already experiencing tears?

  26. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Miller,
    I do not believe that a business should collect VAT from consumers on behalf of the government and then be allowed to keep it. If the government does not want the money, it should go back to the consumers.

    Your words remind me of those spoken by Mr. Lewis who used to spin the roulette wheel to determine the winning numbers for Barbados Turf Club tickets many years ago. “Around and around they go, where they stop, wouldn’t you like to know?”

    Let us see if there is a qualitative difference between Hal’s backbone and yours.

    Hal wrote: “Barbados is a failed state and for that I offer not a single apology.”
    Now, listen to yourself: “Hal (the Native Son) Austin’s observation remains relevant even in the penumbra of his hyperbole.” Whatever that means.

    I am asking you directly, is Barbados a failed state?

  27. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Hal Austin
    November 14, 2020 5:52 PM

    “@Walter

    We have come to the end of this discussion.”

    Hal,
    It appears that both of us are now extremely happy. Well done.
    As the Bajans would say, “there is more than one way to skin a cat.”

  28. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    I may cuss WB but I glad he skinned the short one Hal Austin. Longtime I saying his failed state reference to Bdos had no basis in facts.

  29. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Enuff November 14, 2020 7:56 PM

    You ought to stop comparing Barbados with the UK as a way of rebutting the seemingly outlandish claims of Hal Austin aka “showing shade on Barbados”.

    You know rather little of the British society and its economy; if any.

    What you ought to be concerned about is that perniciously permanent high statistic of over 75,000 making up the army of the Voluntary Idle vis-à-vis the ‘general’ population of working age.

    And this is NOT any figment of either Hal’s or the miller’s imagination but an ‘annually confirmed’ statistic produced by a well functioning arm of your government; namely, the BSS.

    In the light of such an overwhelmingly socially frightening statistic why then would you continue to slavishly support an administration which promotes the need to import 80,000 people to solve its population challenges by exacerbating the country’s unemployment problem?

    Does such policy-making ‘make’ sense to you?

    You need to encourage your administration to stop punching above its myopically misguided socio-economic weight and learn to compare itself with its ‘CSME’ neighbours.

    How come you don’t do ‘similar’ comparative analyses with NY where you reside and sit in the chair as the only black dude in a big international marketing consultancy firm sans the ‘white man cock-suc**king thingie’ according to “Baje” north of the 3 Degrees?

  30. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Walter BlackmanNovember 14, 2020 8:35 PM
    “I am asking you directly, is Barbados a failed state?”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    There is NO ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer,

    On the balance of probabilities what do you conclude?

    No wonder you have taken flight just like Hal making up the two peas in the emigration pod.

    For each one has failed to make any difference to the governance model of Bim.

    Any one of you could have been that special ‘primate inter pares’ to take Bim out its current state of the jungle of copycat colonial confusion.

    He who ‘art’ without sin (cowardice) throw the first stone (of improvement)’. LOL!!

  31. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Mariposa
    November 14, 2020 7:25 PM
    “Such disrespect for an elderly woman”

    Mariposa,
    Don’t bring this elderly woman crap to me.

    As long as you are not using your real name on BU, I focus on the ideas which you bring to the discussion. Nothing more. Nothing less. Mariposa is just a name floating aimlessly in cyberspace. No life (although I picture you with a long crooked nose riding on a ramrod straight broomstick), no gender, no identity, no meaning, no purpose. No one can sue Mariposa.

    In real life, you could be a man, woman, or hermaphrodite ( known to Bajans as a Mophree). I don’t know. I don’t care.

    What I do know is that Artax has produced hundreds and hundreds of pages PROVING beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are an infernal liar, and that you cannot be trusted. Just because we, the readers, don’t say anything, you really believe that Artax’s work has been done in vain?

    Don’t bring the disrespect crap neither. “Goadies” is the Bajan word for a hernia, and I grew up hearing that you get them from lifting too much weight.

    So you can take your deceit, lies, pretentiousness, and pathological hypocrisy to another blog. It will not work here.

    Go ahead and cuss me and tell me whatever you like. It will not change a word I have written.

  32. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    If any one can show evidence why barbados is not a failed state i would listen
    When a country cannot stand on its own two feet in times of economic crisis the country is a failure to its people
    When a country doe not have its own money saved for a rainy day but has to run begging cup in hand its has failed
    When after 50 years of independence their is nothing productive to shown for social and ecinomic sustainability the country is a failure
    When a country after years of promising to save part of employees wages for old age and canno fulfilled the promise the country is a failure
    Also a water system that cannot delivery water in timely fashion for its people especially at a time when COVID lingers
    All failures due in part to years of poor governance built upon a false premise called punching above its weight
    Those are some of the hard facts why barbados is called a failed state
    Patriots tell truth not bury head in the sand

  33. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    If I didn’t know any better, I would say that the call for a little decorum has lasted as long as a snow cone under a hot water tap.

    Don’t mind me I only played a little “bat and ball” and if any idiot can play cricket what do you say about those who only played “bat and ball”.

  34. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    See he called me a liar a clever defense to disarm an opponent
    However i am not backing down as your use of colorful language to attack an elderly lady shows the kind of scum and low life your are coming on BU all wrapped in a blue and yellow flag with the logo Morals
    You are just or even worst than those u have criticized
    Piece called u out as being a pervert after u took pleasure in eyeballing school aged children botsys and referencing them as trembling botsys and giving those details on BU
    You got all worked up and runaway now returning as the minister of morality and BU police
    Now i am calling u out as being a bold faced perverted hypocrite
    Check this out could not care less about you or anyone opinion of me suffice it to say i have no police record on file in barbados or any part of the world
    I am as clean as a whistle yuh hear and self- empowered owes no one nothing begs no one for nothing not even a job
    Think on those things and keep yuh eyes off teenage girls trembling botsys pervert
    Lol

  35. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Miller,
    “Barbados is a failed state and for that I offer not a single apology.” – Hal Austin, Bajan in England

    “Barbados is NOT a failed state and for that I offer not a single apology.” – Walter Blackman, Bajan in the USA

    “There is NO ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer.” – Miller, Bajan in Barbados.

    A simple analysis of the above would reveal that, when it comes to crunch time, to standing up and being counted, the Bajan in Barbados wants to be friends with the whole world. He does not want to offend anyone.

    Based on the above, is it fair to conclude that In a real life situation, after waiting to see who emerges victorious, the Bajan in Barbados would approach the victor skinning his teeth, and similar to a dog excitedly wagging his tail, would then proceed to pledge obeisance and loyalty to his new master? Does this technique allow him to save his skin, and to not take any risk, regardless of whatever direction the wind is blowing?.

    Did Hal ever identify this type of behaviour as a “Bajan condition”?

    Asking for a friend. LOL.

  36. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Posted on November 14, 2020
    Connelly, Grant join BLP
    Article by
    nationnews
    Connelly, Grant join BLPGeorge Connelly (left) and Rodney Grant. (File pictures)
    Share
    The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has welcomed two former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) members into the fold.

    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made the announcement today at The Glebe after a “thank you” motorcade on behalf of Toni Moore, who won the by-election which was held in St George North on Wednesday.

    Mottley said the crossover was handled quietly.

    “Within the last few weeks, we have had two candidates who ran against the BLP on behalf of the DLP, join us. I didn’t make any noise, I didn’t drag them across a platform, like how Woody [former BLP member Anthony Wood] was dragged, because I didn’t want to make it a cheap political act.

    “They have come to us because they believe that at this time in Barbados’ history, we are the better party. I want to thank Rodney Grant for coming back home . . . and I also want to thank George Connolly, who, in spite of running against Kerrie Symmonds [for the St James Central seat in 2018], recognises this country needs all hands on deck if we are to build and go forward,” she said.

    Mottley said Grant would help the BLP build out social capital and the affirmative action programme and would also be utilised to assist representative for St Michael South East Santia Bradshaw in The Pine, who he ran against in the 2018 election. (CA)

  37. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    All i can say is so much for fresh faces
    Mia nor SGN does not think so
    The political pundits are being proven wrong again

  38. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Mariposa
    November 14, 2020 10:16 PM

    “Piece called u out as being a pervert after u took pleasure in eyeballing school aged children botsys and referencing them as trembling botsys and giving those details on BU
    You got all worked up and runaway now returning as the minister of morality and BU police
    Now i am calling u out as being a bold faced perverted hypocrite”

    Mariposa,
    You forget that we have a blogmaster.

    I was putting forward an argument suggesting that we use our dancing as a means of earning foreign exchange on the global cultural stage. A video was posted on BU with school girls (about 15 years of age) dancing to the rhythm of what I believe to be congo drums. The dance highlighted the rhythmical bouncing of the buttocks to the beat of the drums. I did not know the name of the dance, so to get the point across, I referred to the dance I saw in the video as “trembling botsies”. For those who never saw the video, I hope the phrase would give you an idea of the dance the girls were performing.

    Simply because I used that phrase to describe a dance I saw in a video on BU, Piece-Uh -De- Cock claimed that I was ogling 12 year old trembling botsies, and therefore I was a pervert. You, in your deceitful, lying fashion have now come on BU to say that I “took pleasure in eyeballing school aged children botsys and referencing them as trembling botsys and giving those details on BU”.

    Neither Artax, nor I, would choose to call you a liar because we want to disarm you as an opponent. We call you a liar because you are one. Full stop.

    Let me demonstrate how foolish the position adopted by Piece-Uh -De- Cock and you really is.

    A video was once circulated in Barbados showing two school aged children in Barbados having sex in a classroom. If someone saw that video and described any movements made by the male or female school child, or commented upon any part of the sexual act, could you be justified in saying that person took pleasure in eyeballing the participants. Simply for viewing the video and commenting, should that person be called a pervert?

    I have defended myself against this charge when it was first brought up by Piece, and I have now defended myself against it brought by you. I will do so whenever it is raised.

    Why don’t you take a minute and try to defend yourself against the multiplicity of lies that Artax demonstrated you told?
    You have no credibility.

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @Walter

    Your time is better spent on BU bringing your considerable insight to issues of the day affecting Barbados. You will not be able to enlighten some people here.

  40. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    ANOTHER REASON WHY I CALL THE VOTERS IN BARBADOS SOME OF THE MOST STUPIDEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THAT CAN’T TELL BROWN SHITE FROM CHOCOLATE.

    NO WONDER RAW SEWAGE WAS ON THE STREETS AND PUBLIC ROADS FOR 2 YEARS ON THE 2 X 3 FAILED ISLAND.

    XXXXXX

    Posted on November 14, 2020
    Connelly, Grant join BLP
    Article by
    nationnews
    Connelly, Grant join BLPGeorge Connelly (left) and Rodney Grant. (File pictures)
    Share
    The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has welcomed two former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) members into the fold.

  41. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Mottley said Grant would help the BLP build out social capital and the affirmative action programme
    ++++++++++++++++++++
    “Affirmative action”? Is there something that I don’t know?

  42. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Bajans are intimidated by lawyers and doctors, that is the problem.”

    We are right back to the conditioning of the mind, aka, indoctrination, brainwashing, mental slavery that is why the island has degraded to that level, no need to exaggerate anything. Ask PLT if you think am joking, he had to put June Naime aka Freedom Liar in her place on the issue of the racism on the island on another platform and she takes offense, because the trash believes she has some right, these are people who own stores and other businesses, are known for illegal businesses in Barbados, who are viewed as above the law by the same lawyer, doctor, or some kinda other professional element sitting their asses in the parliament, minorities whose doors are kept open by the 95% black population and most of whom SHOULD BE IN PRISON, but now have to be exposed to the world, so eventually their doors are shut down…to end their seige of racism and criminality…because your leaders will not want to do it to compromise their money making adventures or offend racists….they much prefer OFFEND THE BLACK POPULATION who elect them …..it is what it is…if the people can’t face THAT reality…then there’s an even bigger problem.

    your parliament has always been made up of lawyers, doctors etc who believe they can walk on water after they beg for votes and are elected and should NEVER BE QUESTIONED by those who voted for them, afterward…..although the black population have to pay them while they live in their mirage, they project that they work for a bunch or racist crooked ass minorities, instead of who actually elected them by their numbers, the island has been reduced to nothing and the people 2nd class citizens….no reason at all to exaggerate, the exaggeration comes when too many people STILL REMAIN IN DENIAL…to their own detriment.

    because your properties have not been stolen YET…does not mean your’re safe, it means they have not gotten around to you YET….the next generation is still there and you may or may not be……i believe i mentioned this before.

  43. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Donna…..it must be nice living in a mirage, but some people much prefer reality, it’s mentally healthier..

  44. David Avatar
    David

    Support for Bees declines
    A review of the St George North by-election
    By Peter Wickham The outcome of the 2020 St George North by-election was consistent with expectations.
    Hence, this review will present the obvious compliments and commiserations, along with a consideration of the broader implications of this outcome in historical context.
    The data in Figure 1 graphically demonstrates the strength of the win for the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) Toni Moore, who received two-thirds of votes cast.
    Conversely, Floyd Reifer gave a creditable performance in that he doubled the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) support in a short campaign, although falling short of the 2013 objective.
    In anticipation of Moore’s victory, I commented on the historic significance of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) leadership returning to the BLP, 50 years after Sir Frank Walcott opted for an Independent/DLP association.
    This is a significant milestone for both the BLP and BWU and one presumes that Moore will take up a position on the back bench, as did her predecessors, giving labour a voice in the lower house.
    In so doing, she is likely to become a genuine backbencher in that her commitment would be to use that role in pursuit of broader labour objectives, instead
    of the custom where backbenchers curry favour in pursuit of a front bench spot.
    As such, Moore’s contributions are likely to be more robust and we can naturally expect her to challenge the status quo in much the same way that Sir Roy Trotman did while he was in a similar role.
    The analysis of party swing speaks of a significant decline in BLP support along with a commensurate increase in DLP support, which also captured one per cent of support from smaller parties.
    There are various explanations that can be given for the BLP’s decline. However, there is no indication that this decline is in any way related to dissatisfaction with the Government or Moore. Instead, the massive reduction in voter participation appears to be one of voter motivation.
    The likely (de)motivating factors are two, with the most atypical being the COVID-19 impact that has been studied by CADRES across the region. This decline varies between the minus nine per cent in St Vincent to the high of -23 per cent in Jamaica with an average of -16 per cent overall.
    Although CADRES has not been able to explore reasons, it seems clear that older people are especially unwilling to vote in these elections unless there is some compelling reason that overrides the danger to their health.
    In the United States, it was clear that support for or opposition to United States President Donald Trump was based on this compelling factor. In the Caribbean, however, motivation straddles the desire to participate in an election – for which the outcome is a foregone conclusion – and the need to express support for (or opposition to) a government battling a crisis.
    In St George North, the factors were more complex in that the Government would not have changed regardless. In addition, the vote was as much a referendum on the Government’s performance as it was on the Opposition’s since their strengths are very much polar opposites.
    At the same time, I remain of the opinion that the DLP had more to lose and should have avoided this unnecessary defeat by not competing. The DLP competed, framed the election as a referendum on the Government and its leadership and now needs to explain how the result has affirmed the popularity of Mottley, the BLP and their policies at the half-way mark.

    https://nationnews-brb.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol1/barbados/nationnews/20201115/20201115su_19.pdf.0/page/pag_1_1.gif
    A little needs to be said about the smaller parties, which registered a marginal decline in their support levels. This is meaningless to parties like Solutions Barbados and the Bajan Free Party, which have never registered significantly on the electoral map.
    The situation is, however, different for the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP), which claims to be the alternative government in waiting. It was only able to muster 80 (two per cent) of the 9 897 available votes, which was less than Solutions Barbados, which has no parliamentary representation.
    This outcome demonstrates the extent to which the PdP is not a legitimate expression of opposition support in Barbados but has been conferred with disproportionate resources.
    Table 1 presents useful comparative historic data relating to the two key issues emerging from the by-election. The -24 per cent decline in turnout is historic as it is the lowest ever recorded in a general or by-election.
    The historic data also demonstrates that there is some truth to the suggestion that turnout is often lower in by-elections, with the closest comparisons being in 1976 when Neville Maxwell (DLP) and Eliott Mottley (BLP) resignations triggered by-elections for different reasons. More recently, the turnout has not varied from the previous election significantly.
    The St Peter double election is also interesting as the BLP lost the first one, registered a minus two per cent decline in participation while the subsequent victory registered a four per cent increase.
    The fact that both St Peter and St George North are BLP strongholds helps to confirm the theory that turnout is influenced heavily by (incumbent) party supporters who were not motivated to participate since they were persuaded of a favourable outcome. In St Peter, the defeat of Owen Arthur was sufficient to convince voters of the need to participate and helps to explain the disparity in terms of the decline/ increase in participation from voters of the two main parties.
    The other comparative presented examines another by-election theory which relates to the loss of support in by-elections when compared to the previous general elections. This demonstrates that the BLP’s decline in St George North was inconsistent with by-election outcomes and is ironically closest to the 1985 St Thomas by-election that was inspired by the death of Prime Minister Tom Adams (-12 per cent).
    The record in this regard is held by Sir David Simmons, whose 36 per cent swing in 1976 represents the only occasion that a by-election changed the electoral map in Barbados for entirely different reasons.

    Peter W. Wickham is a political consultant and a director of Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).

  45. David Avatar
    David

    What it takes to win by-elections
    By Ezra Alleyne
    Any perceptive analysis of the byelection in St George North confirms to me that the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) have not learnt from their earlier mistakes. They are in trouble if they hope to be an electionwinning proposition anytime soon.
    I am going to focus on two issues: Floyd Reifer was a newcomer to politics, and he ought to have been schooled in the art of the platform in political campaigns. Either this was not done or if it had been done, it was inexpertly done.
    I will try to illustrate the kind of indepth strategy that wins these highstakes by-elections.
    In 1976 Errol Barrow and the DLP were both riding high. An election was due by September of that year. Speaker Neville Maxwell’s hard-core DLP seat in St Philip North had become vacant for reasons beyond our immediate attention and David Simmons, now Sir David, won it after a titanic battle.
    This was a body blow to the Dems. It had lost one of its MPs. It was Tom Adam’s first victory as leader and his patina as a future Prime Minister had to be blunted.
    By May 1976, Barrow threw down the gauntlet. He offered BLP City MP Elliott Mottley the chance to serve his country as Consul General in New York. Mottley accepted. This created a by-election in The City of Bridgetown, the second for 1976.
    Billie Miller was chosen as the BLP candidate. She required no platform schooling since she was a natural politician, but the DLP candidate Lisle Carmichael had been a Senator since 1971, was well liked by most City people, and had been a highprofile sportsman. The question was how to present Miller in a manner that would lift her up above the DLP candidate. The strategy was to land a knockout blow from our first meeting.
    The problem was not selling Miller as a proper person to be an MP; rather the problem was to pick holes in the suitability of the opposing candidate so that we could present our “cheese” and contrast it with the DLP’s “chalk”.
    I discussed an idea with the late Sir Fred Gollop, who in his time rendered yeoman service to the party as our manifesto editor. He was a source of inspiration and a cool-headed strategist of the highest class. He approved. We would present Miller by first showing that her opponent “can’t talk”.
    Carmichael’s Senate record showed that he hardly spoke. On one of the few occasions he spoke, he spoke to apologise for something which he had said in an earlier speech which offended the traditions of the Senate.
    It took about five minutes to pick to pieces his record and another eight minutes to present the contrasting stellar record of our candidate. She had spoken almost everywhere on the planet, flowing from her membership of major local, regional and international bodies.
    Miller floated to the microphone riding a wave of tumultuous applause, delivered a most compelling maiden campaign speech, and unlike Lot’s wife, she has never looked back.
    After the first meeting, the word about the DLP candidate was that “he can’t talk”.
    But let me show how strategic indepth planning pays off. After our first meeting, Barrow painted Miller as a communist, based on allegations in a book published by an ex-CIA agent. The following Saturday morning not a copy of the book could be found in Bridgetown bookshops.
    Suspicion was that DLP operatives had bought all the copies. I had read the book and was sure that the allegations were “fake news” but without a copy we could not definitively counter Barrow’s damaging claim.
    Let me just say that a copy of the book was procured and Tom was able to rubbish the desperate last-minute DLP claims.
    But consider this now: on a Sunday afternoon the BLP was holding a strategy meeting when word came through from our “people” in The City that Dr Richie Haynes was leading a throng of Dems through The City.
    Tom called a halt to the meeting. The call went out to key battle stations. We had to organise a counter peaceful march of strength with placards. No stone was left unturned. Optics mattered.
    The pictures next day featured the clash. By-elections are won by hard work and leadership. On their showing in the recent by-election, the DLP are far from being a winning combination.
    Ezra Alleyne is an attorney at law and a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.

  46. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    WB instead of letting the issue blow over your intelligence allows you to carry on with the story in a defensive posture along with proving that i was telling the truth
    Really not interested in taking the issue of your perversion any further
    I proved my point and it was a truth that i told
    You called me a liar because another person took my comments and twisted them to make conclusion or say that i am a liar
    Now i am calling upon u to prove me to be a liar having proof similar to how i show by your own words and action that u are a pervert
    I now then conclude that u would seek to destroy individual personnel names without having proof
    Damm you are one lying pervert
    Have a bless day
    May God have mercy on your soul
    Imagine a pervert having nerve to slander my name calling me a liar
    Well.i’ll be dam
    A little advice before i go
    People living in glass houses should not throw stones

  47. David Avatar
    David

    Small minds are attracted to issues, who is more interested in ideas?

  48. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    David so what are the issues here
    For what it is worth the SGN election is over the Head of the biggest Union was cut off as requested by the IMF
    A big win for the IMF one which weakens the Union and gives the govt a better advantage in implementing more of the IMF austerity plans
    So sad that the peoples eyes are closed shut unable to see the sham and mischief buried in side the SGN election and a result which would cause the country more pain and suffering
    A country with out strong and vibrant opposing voices being led into the lions cage soon to be eaten up for dinner
    Mia thinks she is clever but she is not
    The people now live in darkened times blinded by bellows of smoke

  49. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Mariposa 9.39

    You are absolutely right. It is irrational for someone to admit that the key institutions of our democracy, especially the judiciary, are not functioning, then to deny that this reflects a failed state. It is romantic nonsense.
    It is also interesting that someone can say, objectively, that our system of government is one of Cabinet government, nd when asked defends the idea that we have such a government at present.
    It displays a certain amount of ignorance about the way government works by claiming that the legislature ie parliament, has no role in how the country is governed that the government decides (I am paraphrasing). What then is the purpose of parliament?
    It become a rather strange cultural practice when asked if our system is based on the much-vaunted Westminster system the question went unanswered. Mention was also made of the design of the system. When asked who designed the system, that too went unanswered.
    @Mariposa, except in extreme circumstances, decent people do not call others liars. Such a description says more about the person making the claim than it says about the person it is meant to insult.
    What intelligent people do is have a proper discussion until it comes to a natural end. Do not mistake qualifications with intelligence. As I have said, the Bajan Condition infects people from the highest status to the lowliest. It is cultural. I have a mental picture of a top lawyer who barks like a hound when anyone opposes him.
    Follow the pattern. People make bold statements; if you do not agree, they then make a supporting statement. If you still do not agree, they then drift off in to making personal attacks. How dare you not agree with me?
    I think this is a natural outcome of learning by rote, that answers are binary, yes or no, right or wrong. This came home to me with the still unsolved CXC crisis when it was revealed that 16 yr olds, taking CSEC exams, were given multiple choice questions.
    Multiple choice question seek right or wrong answers and are appropriate for some professional exams.
    However, they are not for 16 yr olds setting out to learn the complexities of the world. What you want to test is their powers of reasoning, how they reach their conclusions. That is why some examination boards give marks for reasoning and marks for the answers.
    Young people who learn there is only a right or wrong answer grow up believing that is how you resolve debates. Don’t let them put you off.
    What I suggest is that you read carefully what people say, and across the days, weeks, months. Anonymous posts on BU reveal a side of people they often want to hide.

  50. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Ideas are nice if they aren’t taken and twisted into the same old racist, exploitative, oppressive antics that have obtained for over 50 years. I saw PLT mention on FB that he did send Mia the current one about remote work currently being used, hopefully that one is not twisted out of shape to benefit the few and not the majoirty.

    Educating the people about their predicament is much more important than giving foolish jailer leaderhip ideas to use against the masses.

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