Submitted by Peter Lawrence Thompson
The pandemic is a paradox; on one hand it has destroyed our major industry, but on the other it is giving us a once in a lifetime opportunity to rebuild a much more resilient economy around services that we provide digitally to the global marketplace.
Our economic future is under a dark cloud because the COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly devastating effect on Barbados. It has triggered an 18% annual slump in economic activity, raised unemployment to levels not seen for generations, slashed tax revenue, and ballooned the national debt. This harms all Barbadians, but it is particularly damaging to the life prospects of young people, not only because they have a disproportionately high unemployment rate but also because they will have to shoulder the burden of the expanded national debt over the coming decades.
The economic shock has been this severe because of our dependence on the tourism industry. Tourism used to earn Barbados well over a billion USD each year, much more than the offshore financial sector, rum exports, and every other export put together… but the tourism industry collapsed by more than 90% in the last three quarters of 2020.
But this threatening cloud does have a silver lining. Last year a member of the Barbados Jobs & investment Council asked me to write a memo to Cabinet outlining my proposal to create a one year visa for remote workers. They announced the 12 Month Barbados Welcome Stamp nine weeks later and it’s been the only good economic news we’ve had all year, pumping tens of millions of US dollars into the local economy.
This programme has seen strong growth because it is in alignment with emerging opportunities exposed by the ways COVID-19 is changing global economies. Many millions of people, particularly technology professionals, in Europe and North America now work remotely from home; the Welcome Stamp programme has proved to be an effective way to motivate some of them to move to Barbados and work remotely from here.
Some of these new long term visitors are experienced digital nomads who have been travelling all over the world for years and are familiar with established digital nomad hotspots like Bali, Playa del Carmen, or Chiang Mai. However, for the majority of Welcome Stamp arrivals this is the first time they have worked remotely outside of their home jurisdiction, so most of them are better described as digital expats rather than digital nomads.
The Welcome Stamp is already more important to the Barbados economy than cruise ship tourism. Caribbean economist Marla Dukharan has estimated that the median annual spend per household is well over $50k USD. At this rate, the 2,000+ Welcome Stamp visitors that have already been approved will contribute more than $100 million USD to the Barbados economy on an annual basis, which is twice as much as our entire cruise ship tourism sector ever did in its most profitable year. Given that our inventory of available accommodation among villas, Airbnb apartments, and apartment hotels can accommodate many thousands of households, the potential exists to scale this sector to many hundreds of millions of USD in annual economic impact within a short time frame.
However, our ambitions go very far beyond simply becoming another digital nomad hot spot. The major distinction between Barbados and digital nomad hotspots is the issue of who has agency… who is setting the agenda… who is calling the shots.
Traditional digital nomads style themselves ‘citizens of the world’ as they seek out new exotic locations and descend upon them en masse without any prior permission or consent of the local populations. They seek benign climatic environments and the most affordable costs of living. They often stay in one location for only two or three months before either jetting off to the next hot spot, or dashing across a nearby international border only to re-enter soon afterward as a way of getting around visa restrictions. Because the local populations are not in primary decision making roles, this can have adverse effects on local socioeconomic conditions, with digital nomads clustered in ghettos that do not optimally support local economic development or cultural integration.
In Barbados we have done things differently, with local decision makers in the driver’s seat. We have set a US$50k minimum annual income so that Welcome Stamp visitors have the capacity to contribute significantly to our local economy, we have priced the new visa at a level which discourages those who lack commitment, and we have made the visa 12 months long with the possibility of renewal so that these visitors also have the time to build meaningful relationships with Barbados and Barbadians. We are not simply attracting visitors, we are inviting potential long term neighbours.
The Welcome Stamp programme gives us the opportunity to leverage this influx of highly skilled knowledge workers and entrepreneurs by building formal structures for knowledge transfer to Barbadian society. This is knowledge that Barbadian society needs to assimilate in order to prosper in the 21st century, and the influx of Welcome Stamp visitors presents us with an unparalleled strategic opportunity for doing so.
Although the explosive growth of remote work has been catalyzed by the COVID pandemic, many large technology companies like Coinbase, Dropbox, Spotify, Twitter, and VMware have adopted it as a permanent feature of their organizations with all employees being able to work from anywhere they choose from here on.
This is the leading edge of a global economic transformation that will be parallel to the migration of blue collar manufacturing jobs from North America and Europe to places like China. China used this job migration to evolve from impoverishment to a top global power in only a few decades. Over the next few decades there will be a similar huge migration of white collar jobs (most of which use digital technologies to provide services) away from North America and Europe. Barbados can be very well positioned to be the beneficiary of this historic migration. This evolution will shift tens of millions of well paid jobs… we only need to capture tens of thousands of them, a mere 0.1%, in order to revolutionize our economy.
The overwhelming majority of Welcome Stamp visitors are either employees of businesses that use digital technologies to provide services to a global marketplace, or they are entrepreneurs who have founded such businesses themselves. In order for Barbados to prosper in the 21st century, we need to master these digital technologies that power the global economy. Both as employees and as entrepreneurs, we need to be selling our services directly into a global marketplace.
The emphasis needs to be on digitally provided services because our local market is very tiny and we are thousands of kilometres away from most people in global marketplaces; shipping any material object over these thousands of kilometres incurs transportation costs which often make the item uncompetitive. Barbadians need to imitate the Welcome Stamp visitors by working remotely, selling either skilled labour or entrepreneurial services directly to the global marketplace.
The real value for Barbados is not so much for a few thousand visitors from some global metropolis to live here each earning a minimum US$50k/year salary. The real value is for tens of thousands of Barbadians to be living here and working remotely for the same companies that these visitors do, or working for entrepreneurial ventures that sell services globally, and also be earning a minimum US$50k/year salary.
This is the strategy which will enable us to rebuild Barbados: these are the jobs that will sustain a prosperous new Bajan middle class in the coming decades.
Remote Work Barbados is collaborating with others in both the private and public sectors to make sure that Barbados is able to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity… because Bajans deserve to be earning $50k USD/year too.
Sorry, William. I don’t see the connection between your not taking yourself seriously and the comment you made.
But whatever!
John A
Short answer to your question
In 2020 Covid hit economy.
If it was in 2019 or normal economy then I would have said differently
PS USA air travel up by 14% over last week
@John2
March break.
March break (madness)
#highrisk
Your original position was “civil servants need a clear and meritocratic career path, with proper training and decent salaries…….” And, “we should have a CARICOM civil service college, as part of any reforms.”
Then, you subsequently explained reforming the public sector to mean a “shift from the traditional Westminster/Whitehall model, when civil servants serve all governments, regardless of party, to one when a president is elected and s/he brings in an army of appointees, who all leave office when the president is removed.”
As it relates to “President,” isn’t the term usually associated with a Republic, which Barbados is not presently? Why use the term “president?”
Okay, let’s use ‘president’ and ‘say for argument’s sake,’ the system is the one you’ve suggested. Both the ‘president’ and ‘his/her army of appointees’ would obviously know there isn’t any political administration that is guaranteed MORE than ONE term. So too would be the employees’ tenure of employment.
Bearing that in mind, are you ‘shifting away’ from your original position?
To my mind, if the public sector is reformed as you’re suggesting, then, why would “civil servants need a clear and meritocratic career path,” especially if their careers END “when the ‘president’ is removed?”
I’ll refer you to your Sunday, March 14, 6:50 PM contribution, in which you gave examples of a 21 year old and senior officials.
Wouldn’t the 21 year old have similar fears you identified, e.g. “fear of not getting a mortgage because of the insecurity of their jobs; etc,” if his/her tenure is LIMITED to the ‘president’s’ tenure?
The basis for the discussion was the offering of contracts for senior positions in the public sector, which you argued was a “lunatic idea and a recipe for corruption” and ‘civil servants do not need “party-influenced so-called contracts”
Since there isn’t any political administration that is guaranteed MORE than ONE term, what are the fundamental differences between offering, for example, a five year contract for a senior position, which the individual may be employed for the duration of the ruling administration’s tenure …………
……….. and, the ‘president’ “bringing an army of appointees, who all leave office when the president is removed?”
Wouldn’t both systems be “a recipe for corruption?”
NO
And confidence returning
The trains are getting fuller also
Last year this time you could have one of each for yourself
According to CNN. Booking for April and may are also up and showing inceases month over month
Can’t stop Jamaicans, don’t even try…they are a very proactive people.
https://youtu.be/2rOZGLQgbkw
It’s being noted that all people in Barbados talk about is tourism…some criminals and thieves developed the concept in the 1700s…during slavery, it was never meant to benefit Black people……wrap ya head around that…
@WWoW: “wrap ya head around that…
Some of us don’t even really see color. Be it skin, eyes, hair, or aura. Or if we do see it, we don’t really care. It’s just another value in a vector of values mapped to a unique identifier.
Most of those I interact with on a daily basis I have never met. All I care about is that they’re on “my side”.
WURA-War-on-U March 15, 2021 2:14 PM
Can’t stop Jamaicans, don’t even try…they are a very proactive people.
Why you don’t move to Africa?
You could speak an African language?
…. “It’s being noted that all people in Barbados talk about is tourism”…
I don’t necessarily mind the fact that we only talk about tourism. The problem I have is we are still largely at the basics of sun, sea and sand (which was provided for us by the way and didn’t require us to be creative or productive). If we had the most innovative tourism products and at the top of the global tourism game but just took a Covid hit then I would be less worried about tourism as we would have the means to innovate ourselves out of the crisis.
But that’s not the case. Besides the sun, sea and sand which the good lord blessed us with, what other locally lead innovations in this industry we place so much confidence in, exist?
The problem is whenever you have to look beyond basic buy, markup and sellers who are lauded as business icons or assets the good lord provided that’s when we see the woeful scarcity in talent . There are a few exceptions but not enough to right the ship. That’s why the time for change across many areas is NOW. Education for relevant global skills is needed now more than ever. Not for papers and credentials that were made for bygone eras.
LET’s GO BARBADOS
“Why you don’t move to Africa?
You could speak an African language?”
and who is asking?
does it bother you that Jamaicans are such handson, proactive and progressive people?
can you speak any language that’s spoken in Africa?
“I don’t necessarily mind the fact that we only talk about tourism.”
and that’s why everything is stuck, the smallest local or international turbulence, all falls down..
large scale diversification never hurt anyone yet…
“Education for relevant global skills is needed now more than ever. ”
told them that over a decade ago, but yet here they are, as long as they have slave titles, they think that’s the beginning and the end of everything…..they are not thinkers, definitely not creatives, not one in the parliament every created anything yet….
@ WURA-War-on-U March 15, 2021 5:42 PM
The thing is Waru, the B’dos government is now playing ‘catch-up to’ what you have been promoting all along with your ‘look to Mother Africa’ sound advice.
You ought to be seen as more than just a ‘Mère’ prophetess from Mother Africa but the female equivalent to the eponymous Moses to mentally liberate and lead the black ex-slaves back to their real homeland if they are to survive the challenges of the New Age of Aquarius.
They, the blacks in the West, have served the purpose for which they were forcibly brought from Africa. There are no future opportunities for them in the Diaspora; and like the Jews, they ought to return home.
Tourism is dying in Barbados and the dwindling black population ought to look to Ghana- from whence the came in the first instance to cut and head sugar cane (now a decomposing industry) unlike their green monkey companions.
@Miller: “There are no future opportunities for them in the Diaspora; and like the Jews, they ought to return home.
Or maybe. Just maybe…
Young people are trained on how to code. How to deploy LAMP stacks. Are taught why a /24 is better than a /29 (in the IPv4 space).
Those who really want to can do just about anything they can imagine nowadays.
“There are no future opportunities for them in the Diaspora;”
there are tons of opportunites for Black people….as long as they WALK AWAY from the toxic, archaic slave system and slave society that the dumb are determined to keep in Black lives…as long as we WALK AWAY and ABANDON THAT CURSE….the possibilities and opportunites are ENDLESS from East to West.
i look at it another way….AM SEEING…that we, as Diaspora Africans….have both the East and the West to work with….
Been saying on here for years that Ronald jackass Jones was told about the CODING 10 years ago,but those upppity negros with their slave titles in their haunted parliaments always feel they got all the answers, well we know how that turned out..
it bothered me for years that the Black population who generate ALL THE TAXES…ALL THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY on the island were led down a primrose path of lies for years by both the wickedminded governments and covetous minded minorities into believing that the money generated on the island is not theirs and none of business and they should not get involved, no wonder the frauds in the parliament did as they liked, they believed their own lie too……i spent many years trying to undo that wicked lie..
.even worse was the evilminded who decided to spread the lie around the island for years that Black people were the minority population on the island, when in fact, the LIARS are the minorities numbering less than 8K….. had to spend a number of years UNDOING THAT LIE ALSO…….those are two out of at least 20 good reasons that Black people should walk away and do their own thing, they don’t need to ask any permission, they were only being used to rob 50 billion dollars in reparations anyway in the name of our ancestors…which is never going to happen.
ya have to know when to move on…ESPECIALLY WHEN YA HOLDING ALL THE CARDS, WEALTH AND RESOURCES…as ya birthright.
Miller…ya done know that some of us see a little further than others…
led down a primrose path of lies for years by both the wickedminded governments and covetous minded minorities into believing that the money generated on the island is not theirs and none of THEIR business and they should not get involved,
“B’dos government is now playing ‘catch-up to’ what you have been promoting all along with your ‘look to Mother Africa’ sound advice.”
they are never going to catch up, they hid the info about the State of the African Diaspora’s Sixth Region from Black people on the island and across the region for 18 years OUT OF SPITE because they couldn’t get their dirty, thieving corrupt hands on the money, the Maroons got that and ya done know no one can mess with the Maroons…
they should know by now that no one can trust them..
I had to find out about it in Africa….not in the diaspora.
the black faces in the parliament have no love for Black people…and they will find it very difficult to go much further..ya heard the latest, they are telling AFRICANS that GIS got job opportunites for them in Africa…how insulting and disrespectful coming from the spiritually disconnected.
@WWoU: “led down a primrose path of lies for years…
This is meant entirely respectfully.
You play the hand you’ve been dealt.
While also being a student of the games of Go and Chess, and having read both Machiavelli and Tzu.
Steupse!
Neither military nor political strategy as displayed by the games of Go and Chess or by Sun Tzu and Machiavelli are about playing the hand you are dealt.
The reverse is true. In all cases they are about imposing desired outcome. That process is never susceptible to the inaction of playing any dealt hand.
@Pachamama: “In all cases they are about imposing desired outcome.
I respectfully disagree.
It is all about modeling the desired outcome, and how that can be best achieved using the least resources.
*Imposing the desired outcome assumes infinite resources. Rarely readily available.
There are many other variable. Not only physical resources. For Tzu foreknowledge was critical, for example.
“You play the hand you’ve been dealt.”
pull that hand with other people and ya likely to get ya ass whopped..
ya can’t even pull that in Trinidad, without blood running, Jamaica, even worse….ya lucky if they find ya carcass…
Black people sat and took shit in Barbados and instead of standing up and put the trash and the traitors in their place, they attacked each other. for 54 years……they better open their eyes NOW….real fast…LAST CHANCE..
@Pachamama: “For Tzu foreknowledge was critical, for example.
Absolutely. It’s called “modeling” and “reading prior art” nowadays.
@WWoU: “Black people sat and took shit in Barbados and instead of standing up and put the trash and the traitors in their place, they attacked each other.
This is far outside of my experience. I can’t even begin to speak to it.
All I can say with the first-hand account is everyone I work with here in Bimshire are all working together. Supporting each other. Making each other better.
I’ll stand down on this thread.
@ Chris HalsallMarch 15, 2021 6:26 PM
“@Miller: “There are no future opportunities for them in the Diaspora; and like the Jews, they ought to return home.
Or maybe. Just maybe…
Young people are trained on how to code. How to deploy LAMP stacks. Are taught why a /24 is better than a /29 (in the IPv4 space).”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Your observation is duly noted.
Those who really want to, can do just about anything they can imagine nowadays, except teach!
The chance to do much more than code (or programme a machine to code) is a dream which can come true only if the blacks love of music does not
get in the way of they competing against the millions of young East Indians and other Oriental-type entrepreneurs the likes of whom Canada and the USA would snap up a dime a dozen.
But who, then, would be left to work like the ole cotton-picking blacks on the upcoming marijuana plantations owned and controlled by the new breed of foreign investors invited under the legal umbrella labelled ‘Ganga’ for medicinal purposes?
Would only the ‘stoned-black’ Bajans be left to programme the robots used in the cultivation, processing and distribution of the ‘weed’?
“All I can say with the first-hand account is everyone I work with here in Bimshire are all working together. Supporting each other. Making each other better.”
the facade looks good when ya unfamiliar….like an old friend recently passed in London said, they put on a good show, talk a good game….but when ya peep underneath, all the little corbins and parliament traitors start crawling and slithering out….
In military strategy fore knowledge is more about spying, secret infiltration and so on.
Modelling is not very useful in neither military campaigns nor political campaigns because they never go to plan.
Separately, you would no doubt see Bussa as no national hero, we presume
Africa got MUCH BETTER MARIJUANA…lol…and ya can grow ya own acres where laws have already been legislated…a work in progress for many countries…
..but ya get more success stories than not from diasporans who now live there..
Everything is bigger and better on the continent…just pick one country out of 54 or 2 or 3….that;s how many options Black diasporans now have……..it’s not paradise, nowhere is, that is an illusion…but at least it’s ancestral land….where Black/African people have FIRST PREFERENCE to purchase and OWN…and no thieving bajan lawyers around to tief ya estates and bank accounts…..ya actually buy and own ya car, with no crooked ass Simpson to try to own ya life…
@WWoU: “the facade looks good when ya unfamiliar…
But I am familiar.
This is not a facade. This is people enjoying what they do. While they do what they do exceptionally well.
OK, now I stand down. Unless anyone else has any direct questions.
My apologies for any offences caused, or time wasted, by any sentient.
“In military strategy fore knowledge is more about spying, secret infiltration and so on.”
after 400 years, we now know we have 2 DEADLY AND VERY DANGEROUS ENEMIES….more harmful to us than the 3rd…there is nowhere for them to hide and sell out or endanger us anymore, they are being watched…
Black SELLOUTS …. some calling themselves leaders
Slaves, who are dangerous to our SURVIVAL because they are comfortable
“But I am familiar”
ya only think ya are….some people are born and raised on the island and never know what is happening around them that impacts them…some people only find out after leaving the island for years, depending on what they studied or were exposed to outside, returning, and seeing it all as plain as day…..some never see anything…some have to go digging and investigating to learn anything, it takes years…
Solidarity. And why it will always remains elusive to our people.
https://www.blackagendareport.com/role-black-bourgeoisie-coopting-our-movements
TLSN…the new movement is begging them, if they can’t show that their contributions can actually drive POSITIVE CHANGE…then step aside and let the younger generations handle things, it was underscored that all of them die in the same position, ……..as talking heads, achieving very litte, and continually state the obvious..but never actually issuing in significant changes in African lives…
.unlike martyred prophets and messengers
Waru
We are well familiar of the BAR and their editors.
It is a canard to claim that the Black Misleadership Class is any more feckless than the White Misleadership Class.
Indeed, all people suffer almost equally from these classes of traitors. We should stop looking to these people, any uh dem, for leadership – lead ourselves. Like many have done. Are doing.
Ignore both Sharpton and Mottley and the rest.
“Indeed, all people suffer almost equally from these classes of traitors.”
that’s why I REFUSE to recognize COLONIAL SLAVE PARLIAMEMNTS..
doubly REFUSE to recognize COLONIAL NEGROS….BRED specifically to SELLOUT African people…mislabeled and pretending to be leaders..
the minority trash…is even less recognized because they SURVIVE BY FEEDING OFF BLACK LIVES….then pretending supremacy…
remember how much licks i took on BU for this stance…but i knew ONE DAY…they will ALL BE EXPOSED TO THE WORLD….today is the day…
“lead ourselves. Like many have done. Are doing.”
and successfully….we just need Black people on the island and in the region..to RECOGNIZE…that they don’t need any of these FRAUDS..these Slave parliament dwellers…these leaches in the minority community sucking on Black lives…….they can do everything themselves and MORE…look TOWARD the EAST…….
MOVE AWAY from them and ABANDON THEM ALL….they are no good for Black/Africans…
Search for offshore oil and gas ‘soon to resume’ – Search for offshore oil and gas ‘soon to resume’: https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/03/16/search-for-offshore-oil-and-gas-soon-to-resume/
@ David March 16, 2021 5:42 PM
What a load of contradictory oil-stained bullshit!!
Shouldn’t this administration be focussing on the rebuilding of the tourism industry with its centrepiece being the erection of the Hyatt Lighthouse?
Isn’t it better to focus on something the country does best with its firmly-established comparative advantage instead of drifting into a sea of contradiction where dirty oil and clean beaches do not mix?
Who is going to buy the imaginary stash of heavy hydrocarbons in a world market which is already awash with an overabundance of better quality oil and with Venezuela about to resume its long-established drilling programme with Guyana competing in a market of yesteryear’s players?
Isn’t the world moving away from the burning of fossil fuels with Barbados having set itself a hard-and-fast target of being fossil-fuel free by 2030 and renewable energy the only electrifying game in town?
This administration with its forked-energy town needs to stop fooling itself before it tries to fool the world.
@ Miller March 16, 2021 6:22 PM
Should read:
This administration with its forked-tongue for an energy town of hotels needs to stop fooling itself before it tries to fool the world.
@Miller: “Isn’t the world moving away from the burning of fossil fuels with Barbados having set itself a hard-and-fast target of being fossil-fuel free by 2030 and renewable energy the only electrifying game in town?
Yes.
Barbados is 13.2 degrees above the equator. This means it is a good place to launch rockets and collect sunlight.
I know of use-cases where it is actually more profitable to simply install PV to collect photons (which are then converted into electrons) than it is to build buildings.
Complex hydrocarbons are useful “feedstock” to convert into many other things. Burning it is, IMO, profoundly stupid.
This may be an indication Barbados is playing a poor hand.
@David: “This may be an indication Barbados is playing a poor hand.
Or, perhaps, playing the hand they’ve been dealt poorly… 9-)
Let’s not even get into solar power towers, molten salt energy storage, and “smart grid” tech… 😎
@Chris
Agree.
@Chris H
I have to agree and that’s my biggest pain point. We are blinkered and conservative in our thinking and approach instead of realising WE can chart the paths that work for us. It’s honestly baffling that even with the immense pressures we are under now, we default to stasis
LET’s GO BARBADOS
@Bajeabroad: “It’s honestly baffling that even with the immense pressures we are under now, we default to stasis
It’s the easiest (short-term) path. Particularly when “consultants” are listened to (who /might/ not have our best interests in mind) without our own critical thought being brought to bear.
YMMV.
“Or, perhaps, playing the hand they’ve been dealt poorly…”
very poor excuse..BILLIONS OF DOLLARS MISSING FROM THE ECONOMY…unaccounted for and no one going to prison…..says so…..and tens of millions more spent on raggedy consultants in nearly 3 years with very little to show………..says so even more..
A commentary on the privatisation of senior civil servants
Our Supreme Leader is following the strategy of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus here: to hollow out and fight the bureaucracy from within.
For generations, having the “right” skin colour and the “right” party membership was enough for advancement in the Barbadian civil service. As a result, the civil service attracted mostly those underachievers who wanted to avoid emigration or hard work in the private sector.
This is now over. In future, our Supreme Leader will be able to pay competitive salaries for international talents. A shot of Indian or Asian blood in the local management culture would shake up our natives, quite rightly.
Of course, the nationalist-socialist trade unionists will rage. It would then be time to cut them off from the microphone and social media. Anyone who contradicts the Supreme Leader is going against the will of the people and democracy. We must not allow this under any circumstances.
Wunna should be listening to Brasstacks right now. Hot topic. Abuse of children at Industrial schools.
@ David,
You COULD raise this GIS child abuse issue for discussion on BU. Just saying.
@Hants
To be honest the blogmaster is cautious about dealing with this matter given its sensitivity. Will kill it over.
No problem David. That is why I wrote could instead of should.
Will a Minister resign and will people be fired from the instution ?
Rastaman positive.
RE Of course, the nationalist-socialist trade unionists will rage. It would then be time to cut them off from the microphone and social media. Anyone who contradicts the Supreme Leader is going against the will of the people and democracy. We must not allow this under any circumstances.
THIS ATTITUDE IS THE EXACT THING THAT HAPPENS AS TOTALITARIAN REGIMES ARISE. IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE CURRENT REGIME IN THE USA. IT IS A REPRESENTATION OF THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST. AND IS REALLY NOTHING TO SAVOUR.
MARANATHA
@Hants
Resign?
When was the last time a Minister resigned because of incompetence in Barbados?
@ Sargeant,
Correct Sarge. The Minister won’t resign and with an absolute majority Mia won’t bother to fire him.
Africans in the Caribbean DON’T NEED any mission or embassy in Africa…WE ARE AFRICANS…it’s a SCAM.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/03/17/priest-ex-diplomat-questions-new-postings/
“Priest, ex-diplomat, questions new postings – by Anesta Henry March 17, 2021
Former Barbados High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Reverend Guy Hewitt is questioning Government’s rationale for a number of recent diplomatic postings, given the global COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s present dire economic situation.
Though complimenting the administration for establishing a long-overdue foreign mission on the African continent, he charged in an interview with Barbados TODAY that it was repeating the mistake of past administrations by not first presenting a foreign policy statement to Barbadians that explained the rationale for the missions and the specific persons being posted. Hewitt noted that in the absence of any coherent framework, Government’s recent appointments seemed “ad hoc at best and cronyistic at worst”. The former diplomat suggested that rather than just open new overseas missions, the Mia Mottley administration should be reviewing the operations of some that already exist.
“The timing is questionable as the world of diplomacy, like our tourism sector, is largely on lockdown with interactions being done primarily through Zoom. Furthermore, given the significant contraction of our economy, we can least afford such expensive political gifts at this time. It’s not just what you do but how you do it that matters.
“Before opening additional missions, we should have critically reviewed the continued need for some of those currently in operation particularly Venezuela and Brazil. As our strategic interests shifted, there is a stronger rationale for a greater presence in Central America specifically in Panama. Further, with trains from Brussels to Geneva taking around six hours, the continued need for missions in both cities is questionable,” he told Barbados TODAY.
Reverend Hewitt explained that when he was Barbados’ envoy at London, he petitioned the Government to review the structure of the mission since he recognised there were certain redundancies. He froze two posts when vacancies arose.”
I wanted to discuss the apparent but unproven barbaric treatment of black children/teenagers at the Industrial schools of grooming and pfp (preparation for ? ) but it appears that I am mistaken and that the stories I am hearing and reading could be excerpts from a fictional novel the title of which is tbd.
I also propose a COI and that would call Natalie to contribute as a consultant in her profession.
buh doan mine me. I does write bare shiite most of the time.
@ Hants March 18, 2021 10:42 AM
“I also propose a COI and that would call Natalie to contribute as a consultant in her profession.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++==
That’s not a bad idea at all!
Since the Bajan society has encouraged its government to decriminalize the use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes (medicinal), then it’s time that Barbados decriminalize prostitution and turn it into a well-established and socially acceptable calling.
Why criminalize the provider and beneficiary of an ‘essentially’ necessary service?
If sex is a natural drive of primates why prosecute and “penilize” those who are unable to have homeopathic sex?
Since it is not a lifelong or reliably profitable trade, its decriminalization would give sex workers the right to register and make contributions to the NIS towards their old age safety net instead of becoming wards of the geriatric welfare system.
If carpenters, mason, doctors, fishermen and their like can make a respectably honest living using their God-given hands (as politicians do with their tongues and lying lips) why not the sex workers who have to employ similar body parts.
All hands on deck in order to revive Brand Barbados – All hands on deck in order to revive Brand Barbados: https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/03/18/all-hands-on-deck-in-order-to-revive-brand-barbados/
https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/03/17/priest-ex-diplomat-questions-new-postings/
@ David March 18, 2021 4:44 PM
What we would like to see Bizzy Williams do is to take over the rolling stock of the Transport Board and turn this important player in the mass transportation sector into a privately-run business venture and with the workers having a financial stake in the enterprise.
Given that the TB is now saddled with the electric buses it would bring great synergy to the Williams Alternative energy portfolio.
@Miller
He would too.
The precocious youngster, KK, is in good company and will in due time became a member of this list of high profile Indians.
The UK received large numbers of Ugandan Asians in the early seventies after they were expelled from Uganda. Many of them have thrived in the UK.
The British colonists entrusted those Asians to run Kenya and Uganda; allowing them to manage commerce whilst they, the english elite, indulged in sport, relaxation and socialising.
It did not take this group long to establish there dominance within the UK. A number of them admitted to the mistreatment of the African population by their own people.
https://lists.indiaspora.org/governmentLeaders/2021
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-africa-36132151
https://www.nationnews.com/2021/03/18/directive-will-allow-restaurants-open-sundays/
The legalisation of the provision of personal services should be put to referendum.
The one parameter is that there needs to be governing rules to prevent against human trafficking. This is not only the right thing to do, but required to meet an international standards.
We all know that call girl services are widely available in every country and surely in Toronto, New York, Vegas and London.
Yet we criminalise those girls who cannot afford to work the prime real estate or do not have cobtacts amongst the millionaires.
This is wrong.
As Miller rights says, if the position of Personal Consultant is legalised, these girls can then get bank koans, pay taxes, pay NIS and set aside pension, within the legal framework.
This may also reduce trafficking, in that the girls will not have to work through a shadow, but in their own right.
Finally, they will have to be registered with a medical programne, to have monthly tests to prevent STDs etc.
This is 2021, time to get with it.
BARBADOS.
Donations to help ‘suspected victims of human trafficking’
https://www.nationnews.com/2021/03/19/donations-help-suspected-victims-human-trafficking/
” TORONTO, March 24, 2021 /CNW/ – Today, Microsoft announced the creation of a new Data Innovation Centre of Excellence, increased local technical talent and the addition of a new Azure Edge Zone. The newly created Data Innovation Centre of Excellence will provide deep technical resources to help Canadian organizations harness the power of data and cloud technology to accelerate their digital transformation. Microsoft also announced the addition of a new Azure Edge Zone in Western Canada, further increasing their significant cloud footprint in Canada, and the addition of 500 local technical jobs.”