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Submitted by William Parker

I wish to congratulate the BLP government on their handling of the Covid 19 in 2020.

Now that the various “versions” of the original Virus has reached here and the infection rate and deaths are spiralling out of control it is apparent to some, including me, that the government has no answers and is reacting and not pro-acting.

I understand the need for the current lockdown and we all know that 2 weeks is just a start and it will be needed for a lot longer.

However the shutting on the mini marts and way side vendors leaves a lot of us bewildered as the logic behind it. In the area that I live R&R convenience, Mikes Mini Mart, EZ mini Mart and all the others are closed. These were locally owned shops where the poor, and not so poor, could get a little credit until the NIS cheque arrives, when the Post Office reopens, and walk a short distance home in the fresh air.

Now these people have to get an occasional bus to Massy in Oistins, and mix with those in the shop and be infected not only by the current shoppers but those who were there one or two hours ago. Are you telling us that it is safer for a person, who does not have a car, to catch a ZR and travel to Oistins to get a few items than to visit the corner shop?

The word that I have heard from more than one person is that in the last shut down the Major Supermarkets lost a lot of revenue because people switched to minimarts and a lot of way side vendors started. Is the way to make sure that the large foreign owned companies got more of the pie? It certainly seems so.

You have closed them on weekends so their overall sales will increase and their overheads will decrease. Bajans have been very good in following the new rules, and rightfully so, but there is a growing undercurrent of frustration and if the government is not careful there will be mass disobedience. This will hurt everyone. I hope that you can take a pause and consider the additional hardships you are causing a lot of Barbadians.

Thank you. I am a proud Bajan and supporter of the BL&P in the last few elections.


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725 responses to “To BLP Administration: Re. Covid 19 protocols”


  1. … but then, everybody knows he is a stable genius.


  2. NEEEEEXT


  3. The Miller

    Yuh gine kill John de Jonny


  4. Northern …i swear…the Caribbean is NOT WORKING OUT…

    they screw up everything goddamn thing…like clockwork…then tell ya how great they are….and ya better not argue……🤣🤣….they brag and boast and boast and brag and are ALL FAILURES…

    am going around asking everyone what does a CHEST VIBRATOR souns like to them…am hearing it sounds like a piece of medical equipment…so i can’t for the life of me figure out how they connected a chest vibrator to a vibrating dildo..

    let’s hope they didn’t order a container full…


  5. @ Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TV February 25, 2021 11:45 AM

    Our Supreme Leader has done the only right thing, which is to launch an incomparably fast vaccination programme. Vaccination is the only realistic hope for us to return to normal tourism (where inbound tourists only need proof of vaccination).

    All the quarantine and lockdown talibans are overlooking the fact that we are 100 per cent dependent on tourism and will remain so. Imagine 20000 unemployed black academics working for Richard Drax or COW on their sugar cane plantations in a quarantine dystopia. Then those hypocrites who called for the toughest lockdown will be the ones lamenting most.

    Remember well after the end of the pandemic that only the blogmaster and Tron permanently supported the government! Or in the case of Tron, were neutral and balanced. LOL.


  6. Don’t worry, i also took notice that although Guyana is a racist country….the dildo is black and not that small either….lol


  7. Our Most Honourable Prime Minister is speaking to us tonight. More than 25,000 people received COVID-19 vaccination so far.


  8. My sympathy to Mark Wilson’s family and many friends.

    Former Empire Club Competitive football & cricket player/Owen Arthur’s personal barber 💈


  9. Ah tell wunnah when John develops a theory it becomes an obsession, he is like a dog with a bone, not letting go.

    Here John fetch !


  10. William Skinner,

    No sweat!


  11. Great news today: Our Most Honourable Prime Minister and her team vaccinated more than 3,500 people. More people discharged than new cases.

    Thank you very much, Mia Mottley. We stand back and stand by, expecting new orders tonight at your speech.


  12. Two new variants in the US.


  13. And, Hal, so what? We have Mia Mottley.


  14. Dr George has been confirmed as chief medical officer. Hope he has been given a good talking to about his appearance.


  15. Northern

    We believed then, like now, that this government needed to call an election not just give another throne speech if it wanted to substantially alter its manifesto promises of 2018, like it did. Thus breaking a solemn social contract. Richie Haynes indicted the DLP on similar charges in the late 80s and early 90s. Seems political immorality is practiced by all sides.

    Well it certainly was an election which the BLP would have likely won, but that was not the issue. The issue was whether we can claim to be a parliamentary democracy while violating every thread of the basis on which you were elected. We didn’t so subscribe and don’t now.

    We also ventured that forces of nature seemed to have landed Mugabe the most difficult set of circumstances with which to contend. First she had an empty treasury. Secondly, this Covid19. In essence tougher circumstances, we estimate, than all previous prime ministers combined. Of course, we warned her about these dire times after Match 2020 to no avail.


  16. Fifteen thousand lab rats added to the millions world wide
    Sitting back and watch how all this unfolds


  17. March 2020

  18. NorthernObserver Avatar

    @Pacha
    I stand corrected on your rationale.
    What about the distribution of land ownership?

  19. NorthernObserver Avatar

    I am surprised the most impartial BU contributor, @Tron, has not yet suggested that all those members/supporters of the ruling party be vaccinated first. Clearly, preservation of a voter base should be a top priority. And their satisfaction, that continued support has benefits beyond a few free drinks and meals (T-shirts?) The ‘test cases’ should be those with ‘other allegiances’, who can be otherwise appeased of their importance, by getting it first. What a dilemma? Sounds like a lockdown vs stay open situation.


  20. We don’t need to change the prioritization because all the old people voluntarily vote BLP anyway.

    However, I would still strongly recommend our government to vaccinate the former DLP ministers and the outspoken senator AFTER all other citizens, after all the expats and long-term tourists. Better safe than sorry.


  21. The comments on BU would lead one to believe that only Barbados is experiencing covid. The experts in the diaspora should tell us if their cities/countries are open and if all is well. The UK has basically been in lockdown for nearly a year; the USA opened and closed more times than Rockley Chefette doors; and, Ontario on lockdown all now. New cases and deaths are being recorded daily still. Closer to home, T&T closed but haven’t done significantly better; check Jamaica, St.Lucia, Bahamas, Antigua, Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana. 2021.


  22. Our Most Honourable Prime Minister Mia Mottley just announced that all residents will be vaccinated by May 2021.

    Thank you very much, Supreme Leader!


  23. RE Ah tell wunnah when John develops a theory it becomes an obsession, he is like a dog with a bone, not letting go.
    THE WORDS OF AN IGNORANT JACKASS

    ALL THE SCIENTISTS I HAVE READ ABOUT FOLLOWED THEIR THESES WITH FERVOUR UNTIL THEY WERE PROVEN OR DISPROVEN EVEN WHEN THEY WERE SCOFFED AT BY ILLITERATES, WHO INCAPABLE OF THE ABILITY TO THINK, OR BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES ACHIEVED VERY LITTLE, IF ANYTHING.

    THE FUNNY THING IS THAT IN THIS CASE, JOHN HAS ACTUALLY PRODUCED ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS BY SCIENTISTS (NOT BU BARKERS BRYERS AND BRIMBLER) WHO ARE THINKING AND RESEARCHING ALONG SIMILAR LINES TO JOHN


  24. @ Enuff February 25, 2021 7:25 PM

    We have comparatively few dead and sick. These are the facts. Fact is also that our Supreme Leader and her team are vaccinating at lightspeed.

    Mia Mottley should become new WHO president.


  25. Yes, I spoke to Dr. George and told him to make himself comfortable by keeping his shirt unbuttoned in the Caribbean heat and to adorn himself with jewelry as Africans do. Then I wrote to Boris Johnson on your behalf and asked him to get rid of his crazy bird’s nest headpiece because nobody but a pigeon can take him seriously looking so unkempt.


  26. TronFebruary 25, 2021 3:49 PM

    All the quarantine and lockdown talibans are overlooking the fact that we are 100 per cent dependent on tourism and will remain so.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Not true at all.

    I suspect you will find that the Barbados Economy is dependent on the Offshore Sector and money transfers.

    The threat to this is the recent blacklisting which has “mercifully” ….. or unmercifully been lifted.

    I see Dominica now has the distinction of being blacklisted.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    WURA-War-on-UFebruary 25, 2021 3:48 PM

    Northern …i swear…the Caribbean is NOT WORKING OUT…

    they screw up everything goddamn thing…like clockwork…then tell ya how great they are….and ya better not argue……🤣🤣….they brag and boast and boast and brag and are ALL FAILURES…

  27. NorthernObserver Avatar

    @enuff
    you are entirely correct, the rest of the world is experiencing Covid, most are in a far worse situation than Barbados, whatever yardstick of measurement is chosen.
    Similarly, the thread topic, which entities are permitted to open and which must close, is contentious in many places. The prevailing decisions appear to relate to a nation/state/province ability to control and monitor. Hence, reducing grocery (essentials?) shopping to a few places, while it increases the persons at those locations, it also decreases the locations which require monitoring for compliance to Covid protocols in place.
    The after taste I suspect, will be about vaccinations. And here Barbados is on par with many, and well ahead of several larger nations. One advantage of having a single level of Government.


  28. If the second supply of vaccines arrive as expected in May there is a good chance by July a significant number of Barbadians will be vaccinated.


  29. @Quaker John

    Offshore companies do not come to Barbados because of the weather, the smiling people, the high-quality regulations, the sophisticated legal system, the craftsmanship of our financial advisers.
    We must ask ourselves why they come to a little island such as Barbados. If you want an idea, just read Hank Greenberg’s evidence to the US SEC about the offshore insurance company that AIG set up in Barbados pre-the global financial crisis.
    Then we question why the EU and OECD black list us.


  30. The economic rubber has hit the road
    The realities now is placed on a foundation of funding to acquire the 2nd or third batches of vaccine called a national COVID funding planned by govt pitched to corporate in MIA bid asking for help to buy more vaccine


  31. Really not surprise Govt will find out sooner rather than later that the not so wise policy of leaving borders open to hot spots was a deadly economic jab in the arm


  32. The reality is that Mia is missing in action. She is out of her league and does what she does best, hector and shout and does as she is told by the Cattle Wash boys.
    But many of those on BU will still come out and say how capable she is, without stating why she is so capable.


  33. A rearview mirror of convenience
    Today’s Editorial
    If you have ever had the chance to watch the brilliant skills of the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, or any of the cricketing greats who have represented the West Indies, two things would strike you.
    Firstly, you would be impressed with their ability to masterfully play the correct shots at the right time when the appropriate balls were delivered.
    Secondly, their spirit of discernment while at the crease was second to none.
    The joy not only came when they entertained with sixes and fours but also when they decided to allow some balls to pass by untroubled.
    This cricketing analogy known as “a leave-alone ball” becomes absolutely necessary when in a leadership or management role. As human beings with limited energy, limited brainpower and the inability to be omnipresent, we must be attuned to what balls we should play and which ones we ought to let pass.
    Recent events and how some situations have been handled by Prime Minister Mia Mottley signal that it would do her well to either watch some of these old cricket games or spend time with a few of our local cricketing greats.
    While her performance over the past three years is debatable and while the current COVID-19 crisis has shown up some glaring inefficiencies in her administration, it would be prudent if the PM only plays at deliveries she has to.
    An article written by Barbadian research scientist Dr Melissa Goddard was recently published online by the not-for-profit Antillean Media Group. In the story headlined: COVID Surge in Barbados Points to Policy Failures, the doctor used facts to support her position that the surge in COVID-19 cases was due to Government’s mismanagement.
    As an individual, Dr Goddard rightfully voiced her opinion as a Bajan as well as a qualified health researcher. Indeed, every single Barbadian in our 290,000 population has the right to speak freely in this still democratic society about the management or mismanagement of the pandemic.
    Unto to whom much is given much is expected and therefore our Prime Minister has to appreciate that when you sit in the driver’s seat you must take criticism as willingly as you accept praise.
    In public life there are some things that become par for course; negative criticism is one of those things. Leaders must ensure that their backs are broad.
    The popular adage reminds us “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
    It was not so long ago when Mottley was an Opposition Leader walking out of Parliament, marching with the trade unions and merchants, rubbing shoulders and calling for a reduced Cabinet and for Ministers to be fired. What a difference seating arrangements in Parliament makes!
    This was the PM’s response to Dr Goddard: “I don’t necessarily agree with Dr Goddard, but I believe she has a perspective that needs to be heard and I am hoping that at some point we can meet with her and hear what she has to say in more detail… So, I look forward to meeting with her, hearing her perspective — whether virtually or actual face to face.”
    But this begs the question: Why must the PM meet with a critic? Why can’t Dr Goddard’s article be treated as a “leave alone ball”? It was amusing, too, to hear the PM say this is not the time to look back.
    “But I don’t know that there is much to be gained at this time from focusing on the rearview mirror. We have, as I said, to get ahead of this issue. . .,” Mottley said.
    This is the same Prime Minister, who along with her 29-member Parliamentary group stood at every turn from May 25, 2018, to February 25, 2021, and referred to the previous 10 years of the former administration as “the lost decade”.
    The “lost decade” phrase has been repeated even in the midst of the COVID- 19 pandemic where the BLP Government hails the success of the Best-Dos Santos Lab and Enmore Isolation Facility daily – two facilities that were established during the DLP’s reign during the same “lost decade”. Maybe the decade was not such a huge loss after all.
    How does the PM decide when to look in the rearview mirror and when not to? Is okay to look back to three years but not to four months? The allegations of COVID-19 mismanagement go back to November, the start of the tourism season. This is four months ago. To date, 25 people have died since this second wave. Twenty-five families have been in mourning and have been left broken and shaken.
    The rearview mirror cannot be selective or convenient. Either we are looking back or we are looking forward. And if we are looking back there has to be more utility in looking at the recent past if we are to get out of the current crisis.
    So we agree with you madam PM. We must now “get ahead” but if we fail to acknowledge or accept that mistakes were made during this crisis, we may be doomed to repeat said mistakes should a third wave of COVID-19 come our way.

    From Barbados Today Friday, 26th February 2021


  34. Northern

    Apologies

    Barbados finds ways to settle debts all the time. The idea that we could transport millions of Afrikans across the Atlantic, subject them to the worst crime against humanity known, and 400 years after not seek to correct this historical atrocity will remain anathema to anything good we try to do as nation.

    This is no different to how the descendent of the “redlegs”, people you known now as the Goddards Groups of Companies, the former BS&T, the former “big six” et al were compensated for far less of an international crime by the government of Barbados for the indentership of their forebears.

    We must repair our people and community cannot be built without economy. And land is the basis of all wealth. We spoke about this before.

    We should not be scared to break all the eggs to make this omelet. Do nothing is not an option. Neither is looking outside, entirely, when the main asset is right under our feet.


  35. Pacha…parliament negros don’t want BLACK PEOPLE to have land, wealth, opportunites etc…..they would shop all over the world for slave masters and give it all away FOR FREE to them first… before they give the African population access to what is rightfully theirs…so what does one do about this…


  36. Read ePaper
    Home / Top Featured Article / CARICOM insists that access to vaccines must not be discriminatory

    CARICOM insists that access to vaccines must not be discriminatory – by Randy Bennett February 26, 2021
    The Caribbean is being snubbed by COVID-19 vaccine suppliers and CARICOM (Caribbean Community) chairman Dr Keith Rowley declared Thursday he is not happy about it

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/02/26/caricom-insists-that-access-to-vaccines-must-not-be-discriminatory/

    A very interesting response if read with understanding the economic travels going forward for small island nations in their fight against the virus
    Not at all easy


  37. What William Skinner deliberately misses is that this is a novel virus. That there are unknown variables. There can not be 100 percent certainty that all actions taken will work. Not even vaccines and the much vaunted herd immunity most jurisdictions are racing to achieve.

    William Skinner’s true political petticoat is showing. Statements of support for the government issued previous were mere misdirections for the trajectory of this virus has not been dramatically altered given all other circumstances.


  38. Your every ball was a longhop and we hit them all for six.


  39. @ John February 26, 2021 1:54 AM
    “Not true at all.

    I suspect you will find that the Barbados Economy is dependent on the Offshore Sector and money transfers.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    If Barbados is not (heavily) dependent on tourism to employ, both directly and indirectly, its natives and to pay the bulk of its bills for imported conspicuous consumption, why are investors queuing up to construct concrete ovens in the tropics like Hyatt to act as cubicles or breeding grounds for viruses in a global warming future?

    Tourism has now replaced sugar, your former Sun king over the native slaves.

    The question is how long will this new one-eye king of the economy reign in such a fickle kingdom.

    As for your twin dauphins of ‘shady’ offshore businesses (under the constant watch of the international financial police) and unreliable remittances (from a dwindling pool of ‘overseas’ Bajans), it’s just a matter of time before they too become geriatrics just waiting to exhale.


  40. Pacha we on BU know full well where Mr Skinner political loyalties lie.He appears to give this government credit at times to appear neutral then reverts to type by nit picking on most things they do.He is no different to Austin , Angela Cox , Baje and TSLNWhat do they say birds of a feather flock together.Thing is as mentioned by Emuff allajor countries are struggling with covid the USA , UK and CANADA .I hear some like Rev Atherley and Mr Walters of the Dems talk8ng about the unemployed etc do these people understand we are in a health pandemic? Tell us what are your solutions going forward? Talk is cheap.


  41. Pachamama,

    The climate is right for breaking eggs. The world powers are finally willing to listen to the truth. Doubt they are at the point of wholescale redress but there is a chance we will be ostracized for re-ordering our society over a period of time.

    “The times they are a-changin’. ” The rise of the crude caveman white supremacists will actually make it easier for us to press our case. Their push back against the changing times will make everything clear.

    It is now open warfare. Nobody can look us in the face and tell us racism is not a problem. They can no longer hide behind a veneer of civility.

    Thank you, Donald Trump! Thank you, Clifford Corbin!


  42. Correction – will NOT be ostracised


  43. Lorenzo
    This writer has been very critical of this government as well and you and them can rely on our eternal critiques.

    However, we supported this government with the strategic default when most commentators thought that the shy would fall in if the government defaulted, including William Skinner.

    Skinner dilemma is that for nearly a year he supported the very policies he now wants to have problems with. In these circumstances it is justifiable to call him weak-kneed but it would be a bridge too far to assess him as the kind of a yardfowl normally operating in B or D for he is not made that way.


  44. @ William

    It is nice of Barbados Today to acknowledge there have been mistakes in the past with the management of CoVid. What the editorial does not tell us is what and when were these mistakes.


  45. Lorenzo,

    I see I am not on the list. I too have criticism for Ms. Mottley’s shut down strategy but I can understand her dilemma. I know she is doing what she thinks best in very difficult times and I congratulate her for conjuring up 100,000 vaccines out of nowhere. I also congratulate her for sharing with the Caribbean community even though it means I may not be vaccinated in this batch. That was smart! It sets the tone for a new era of co-operation. “We will hang together or we will surely hang seperately.”


  46. If Ms.Mottley fails we will all go down with her. Bee and Dee in a deep hole and covered over. I hope she succeeds.

    I see no other politician on the horizon with possibilities.


  47. @ Pachamama February 26, 2021 7:20 AM
    “This is no different to how the descendent of the “redlegs”, people you known now as the Goddards Groups of Companies, the former BS&T, the former “big six” et al were compensated for far less of an international crime by the government of Barbados for the indentership of their forebears.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Well spotted Pachmama!

    Didn’t know you were so well seated in the sanctum sanctorum to notice the ‘secret’ dealings to settle a long-overdue debt between the colonial master and its political vassal called the GoB.

    You forgot one other main player in the ‘indentured servants’ reparations queue.

    The C.O.W and ‘its’ sibling which have managed to milk the best from the promised land and received the lion share of the foreign exchange honey.

    It clearly appears that our BU GPs’ Yahweh has not been at all kind to the Bajan descendants of Ham taken away from Canaan and, it seems, has continued to curse them to be always hewers of wood and drawers of water to their pale-skin and now brown-skin siblings in a foreign land where they are allowed to sing not even a song of freedom far less access to a bagatelle of their morally and lawfully entitlement to their long overdue inheritance.


  48. The Miller

    The Parliament of Barbados actually passed laws to enrich the descendents of “redlegs”. This writer actually read the laws in the records department down Black Rock, opposite the gas station there, for a research project some years ago.

    As a direct results of these laws we then had the emergence of all the old establishment company in Barbados. Yoy will recall that those socalled “legacy companies” emerged around the same time. This was a direct result of government legislative action

    The point well cited by you connecting C O W to this is very important. For although Cow did benefit directly from that legislation the legal culture set in place made it more possible for Black governments to continue giving White redlegs, like Cow Williams, everything.


  49. Did not benefit


  50. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
    RE Ah tell wunnah when John develops a theory it becomes an obsession, he is like a dog with a bone, not letting go.

    THE WORDS OF AN IGNORANT JACKASS
    ALL THE SCIENTISTS I HAVE READ ABOUT FOLLOWED THEIR THESES WITH FERVOUR UNTIL THEY WERE PROVEN OR DISPROVEN EVEN WHEN THEY WERE SCOFFED AT BY ILLITERATES, WHO INCAPABLE OF THE ABILITY TO THINK, OR BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES ACHIEVED VERY LITTLE, IF ANYTHING
    ++++++++++++++
    The IGNORANT JACKASS hereby offers a heartfelt apology to the brilliant researcher and scientist John K for criticizing any aspect of his work on the spread of the Corona virus. I recognize that his genius and dedication will prove to be an asset to all Bajans. I would like to petition the Barbados Gov’t to issue a “boil water advisory” so that the lives of more Bajans are not sacrificed through the simple act of drinking a glass of tap water, I await John’s pronouncement on bottled water.

    Furthermore, THE IGNORANT JACKASS will also submit a request to the Gov’t of Barbados that the vacant spot occasioned by the removal of Nelson be used to erect a statue of John K so that future generations of Bajans could gaze and offer paeans of praise to the man who saved Barbados from the unrelenting spread of the scourge of the Corona Virus.

    The IGNORANT JACKASS

    NB Watch this page for future apologies to all National Scholars

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