A Never Ending Process to Change the Political Landscape

Is politics nothing other than the art of deliberately lying?

⁃ Voltaire

There is a conversation being had across the globe. In the USA, UK, Barbados to name a few. It is about the integrity of the politician and the system that produces the politician. Oftentimes public commentators in this space and elsewhere offer facile analyses to what is a complex matter. It is no coincidence the political class is being pilloried by electors across countries and we continue to observe an unprecedented level of apathy and cynicism.

Our system – in theory – encourages any individual to offer themselves as a candidate for elective politics. When we criticize politicians we criticize ourselves. But is it that simple an observation to make?

The easy observation is that the process to select and elect political candidates who aspire to be members of parliament is inadequate. As the saying goes, “you only get out what you put in”. Why is the existing system to select political candidates inadequate to ensure the best opportunity to select a different type of politician?

Whether in the US, UK or Barbados it is obvious the ‘system’ is not engineered to encourage candidates from the blue collar segment of society to have a high chance of winning at the polls. The explanation maybe a simple one even if the solution is challenging to solve. There is a reason why individuals who are financially self sufficient like lawyers, doctors and self employed professionals run for political office. These self employed players have the flexibility to allocate time to canvassing, financial independence to grow favour with constituents and to avoid the strictures of being an employee. There is the knock on benefits of building social and professional networks and understanding the workings of the system to feather aspirations (the subject of another engagement) of professions.

The establishment in the case of Barbados solidifies the status quo by appointing individuals to the Senate from a similar class of background. Let us agree those selected must have a skillset to be competent to be a legislator BUT if the blue collar segment of the population is significant, room must be carved out in our system to ensure the best representation is reflected in the legislation.

As mentioned this is not simply a Barbados problem. Understanding the dysfunctional political system cannot be accurately distilled by the use of cliches like duopoly, tieffin politicians and other hyperbolic language used by some social commentators. It is a complex matter. We have to take heart from the fact change is constant and a process. It will occur as it always does – through honest to God advocacy by the PEOPLE.

214 thoughts on “A Never Ending Process to Change the Political Landscape


  1. Sargeant,

    Yes. The Sandpebbles did play some spouge.

    My parents bought all the Bajan records.

    Jackie Opel was great. Spouge somehow always manages to lift my spirit.


  2. Dub,

    Bajan music is listened to by Bajans and other Caribbean people both here and in the diaspora.

    If you don’t want to listen then don’t.


  3. @ Sargeant,

    I did not listen to the Sandpebbles back then.

    My favourite bands were the BRC (Blue Rythym Combo) The Fantastics and The Troubadors.

    I was a wannabe lead guitarist and still am.lol


  4. @Bushie
    If my info is accurate, another of the ‘jewels’ currently has an offer.
    An Fx is atop the list, no surprise. And the suitor seems to be a JV between a T&T and JCA interests.


  5. David

    Undervalued companies to them, the Trinidadians.

    Otherwise yes, the opportunities missed to transform will never come again.

    However, it’s a good case study to see how the Trinidadians were able to became a capital source market and we never will.


  6. TLSN…the family begged the government NOT TO LET the copyright run out….

    but am sure it’s the same corporate CRIMINALS now have their eyes on stealing that genre…the same one they suppressed since the 1960s…

    the family should keep their eyes on that….but with foreign lawyers…not the sellouts on the island..


  7. “all you do is spread bullshit about our history and culture…..culture vulture…..don’t want any blogs because of the likes of you and others in the same category…..”

    I have black friends who are musicians and more who are more open minded and intelligent than you

    you are just finding information in public domain that has been known by others for decades
    and you try and hide it like it’s a big secret

    I have read many books about Garvey Selassie and Marley
    and have probably got every recording by the Wailers

    Vultures
    Scavenger Dub

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ehY3MXQX4


  8. It was SUPPRESSED and will not see the light of day once there is a PLOT TO TIEF from the estate/family of Jackie Opel..

    “Which makes it all the stranger that some time around 1975, spouge disappeared, almost without trace. In an age where everything has a digital footprint, spouge is very much word of mouth. You Got to Pay, the seminal recording, is not on Spotify, Apple or Amazon, while only a handful of Opel’s reputed 700 song-catalogue is available. Few people outside Barbados have heard of him and even on the island, his legacy is far from secure. At the celebrations to mark Barbados’s new status as a republic last November, spouge barely featured. The island’s annual Crop Over festival has Trinidadian soca and Jamaican dancehall, but no spouge. For the few surviving spouge artists, this is all rather sad.

    The obscurity might be understandable if spouge wasn’t any good. But spouge is amazing
    “The music is dead,” sighs Stoute, now 76. “It all got swept under the carpet. I don’t know what it would take to bring it back.” Most Barbadians I speak to express a mixture of wounded pride and bewilderment at the way spouge evaporated. “It was a genuinely indigenous form – but it’s seen as a failure,” says Walcott. “People say we didn’t have the confidence to push it, like Jamaica pushed ska. Every November, around the anniversary of independence, we have these same conversations about how great Jackie was, how hard he tried – and how we let him down.”


  9. “I have black friends who are musicians”

    i have white and minority friends who are musicians but am AFRIKAN..


  10. @Pacha

    I think we both agree that SFC has been strategically poor and has a lot to answer for their crimes against the local mutual policyholders. My response to you was really just my view of their M&A approach post TSX listing. Nothing more.

    On the issue of underlying value. Sagicor has gone public 20 years ago and no such value has been discovered. We therefore conclude that there is none. Indeed, the share price has been stagnant.

    Was the stagnant share price driven by real underlying book value or because teh shares were listed in thin, illiquid Caribbean “stock markets”? Being listed on TSX makes SFC more attractive to potential investors because they have to fulfill certain minimum reg requirements which simply do not exist in our mickey mouse Caribbean exchanges. This alone makes things much easier for acquirers.

    Besides value is in the eyes of the beholder. SFC may be a fit to a Latam outfit looking to expand in Cbean? Or an outfit looking to get into a specific US state? Or to get access to a particular distribution channel/ Line of business/ etc. Or to get exposure to particular risks for diversification purposes and reductions in regulatory / solvency capital reserves. There are tons of plausible reasons an individual buyer may have and the fact is that now SFC are on TSX the likelihood is that there would be more interested buyers going forward. Maybe not many, but more than pre-TSX era.

    *On the issue of preparation for exit. It is unknown to this writer a single business case where an acquisition strategy has continued for 30 or 40 or more years by a 200 year old company seeking an exit. *

    True. But I am referring to the period post TSX listing. Out of those decades post demutualisation, SFC has been listed on a major market what, 2 years? I put it to you that now SFC is on TFX there is much less room for strategic blunders because (theoretically) the ought to be greater scrutiny of company performance by more sophisticated investors.


  11. D
    The Best of Jackie Opel
    I have got Jackie Opel’s Top Deck and Studio One recordings
    It’s called Ska and Reggae over here


  12. yall heard what they said…ONLY LIP SERVICE paid annually…to Jackie and his music….

    and the people on the island just SIT AND TAKE THIS…

    when they finally steal Opel’s ENTIRE intellectual property….all ya will hear is cuddear…dey shunta do dah to he…

    weeee don’t even know how to describe such mindsets with the accompanying empty heads anymore..


  13. @Dullard

    You relaxed your policy of giving financial insight?

    #askingforafriendwhoisanacturary

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

    Having some freeish time lately so free to chuck as much bull shit into the e-rum shop ring as you and your fellow BU’ers.


  14. no pissing contest…am Afrikan and don’t have to prove anything or pretend what am not….definitely don’t have to denigrate anyone’s culture whether it’s real or not or whether i like them or not..


  15. Dullard

    Two things. SFC bought an American insurance company operating in 49 states about 15 years ago. It bought a Lloyd’s of London company around that time period too.

    We must see this as a global company, even if a small player.

    Second, trading on mickey mouse regional socalled exchanges doesn’t count. It was either Nasdax or NYSE where the primary listing was. Cant remember.


  16. Artax,

    The “maguffies” are diametrically opposed to each other AGAIN.

    De Country Cunt or Little Shite Woman again has to agree with the Royal Wee that what Bushie suggests is not in our interests at all.

    Waxing VERY ELOQUENTLY but when examined carefully, affording absolutely NO POWER to certain citizens, ceding all authority to what I will call the”creators of wealth” – essentially endorsing puppet masters pulling the strings of politicians. This, we all know, with the prevailing ethos of abominable avarice, could only lead to one thing – what it has already led to worldwide! The hoarding of wealth at the top and increasing poverty at the bottom. Bush Tea’s way assumes that the “brightest” minds have the best interests of the entire citizenry at heart, something he has long argued is not what prevails at present.

    David is exactly right that these people believe that their role is to exploit the resources both natural and human to the benefit of SHAREHOLDERS ONLY. The concept of STAKEHOLDERS WENT THROUGH THE EDDOES LONG AGO WORLDWIDE AND NEVER EXISTED AT ALL IN BARBADOS.

    So now, the Little Shite Woman is confused. She is following the trail and seems to be going around in a circle!


  17. Btw, Dullard
    We’re well familiar to the processes involved in operating, registering, managing setting up, either

    Looking for a shell now to reverse an operating.


  18. People have no clue how careful one must be on the slave society island, especially with copyrighted intellectual property.

    if they can’t TIEF FROM YOU…….they outright HATE YOU…


  19. Of course everyone knows the 1% are the biggest thieves…..but the mediocre shite corporations in Barbados that live off the majority population’s taxes, vat and pension DON’T COUNT…

    they are just little thieves of the common class variety ROBBING THE AFRIKAN POPULATION generationally…

    maybe if some look closely at that reality they might see things in a different light..


  20. @Pacha

    I remember the American Ins co. but don’t recall their being listed but you may well be correct. I don’t follow SFC as I care little for the management – past and present – and can’t get pass how they screwed the mutual policyholders.


  21. Pacha….the situation and rhetoric is NOT IMPROVING….

    personally i had to not only copyright, but patent certain other things offshore.

    ..because if they think they hate me so much that they will recklessly DO SHITE with what is MINE……..i will bring international resources to BEAR DOWN ON THEIR HEADS and BURY THEM that they will never recover and ALWAYS be famous worldwide..

    don’t know what it will take for black people on the island to learn…

    don’t think they ever will..


  22. Dullard
    The American ins was not listed. But its acquisition was made around Sagicor’s going public.

    Sentiment shared.


  23. That is the very discourse we need to have to solve the political problems faced. A discourse of ownership and control.
    ++++++++++++++
    @Pacha

    How can Barbados be ready for an honest conversation about ownership and control when the majority see themselves as perpetual workers and employees?

    When one group is seen as fit for big business and the other as being only good for cottage industries and roadside trading?

    When such pretenses are promoted by the every government elected ?

    Your man David is prepared to life that rock stone for fear of what may come out crawling. Lol murdah!


  24. Waru

    People and systems have never understood value creation except by chance.

    We’ve had a mercantile mentality and that has always been the gold standard.

    Then this crab in the barrel mindset. Lord!

    That has driven the nail in our coffin.


  25. Dullard

    Right on all counts.

    Earlier, neither of us was tendering financial advice.

    As we see it, no courses of actions were recommended by either.

    It was purely two aware financial people discussing the operations of a company. That is not giving financial advice.


  26. “There is a reason why 1 % of the population is reported to own/control 90% of resources.”
    Your song lyrics are wrong

    Devil is in the Detail
    World’s Richest 1 Percent Own Twice as Much as Bottom 90 Percent
    The more than twenty-one hundred billionaires (2,153) globally own more of the world’s wealth than the 4.6 billion people at the bottom of the global wealth pyramid
    The richest 22 men in the world own more wealth than all the women in Africa.
    If you saved $10,000 a day since the building of the pyramids in Egypt you would have one-fifth the average fortune of the 5 richest billionaires.

    If everyone were to sit on their wealth piled up in $100 bills, most of humanity would
    be sitting on the floor. A middle-class person in a rich country would be sitting at the height of a chair.
    The world’s two richest men would be sitting in outer space.
    THE VIEW FROM THE TOP: ALL PAY AND NO WORK
    THE VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM : ALL WORK AND NO PAY


  27. David August 29, 2022 8:28 AM #: “Let us agree the government must do better to develop other amenities. However is this the mandate of the NIS Investment Committee?”

    David

    No, it’s not.

    However, Denis Kellman was often heard on ‘Brass Yacks’ attempting to defend and justify ‘government’ using the NI fund to invest in those types of project, because they would generate employment, resulting in more people would contribute to the scheme.

    But, he failed to take into consideration the financial viability and risk factors associated with such ventures, as well as variables that would ultimately affect the NIS’ return on investment.

    Was there an analysis of the factors that
    influencing the decision to invest in the golf club?
    What about a detailed business plan and associated projected financial statements?

    Apes Hill closed abruptly and we do not know if ‘COW Williams repaid the funds and NIS’ returns or loss on that investment.
    ~~~~~ ~~~~~

    Mr. Skinner

    Also remember, in July 1988, ‘COW’ filed a civil suit against ‘government’ after his company, C.O. Williams Construction Co. Ltd., was not awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of Highway 2A.

    “The first respondent (Donald George Blackman) is sued in his capacity as a Minister of the Crown to wit, Minister of Transport and Works at the relevant time in connection with an administrative act or decision regarding the award or the recommendation of the award of a public contract for the construction and/or rehabilitation of Highway 2A, a public highway in Barbados.”


  28. Hants,

    Thanks for the great spouge post. Nicholas Brancker is “world class”. Adrian Clarke, Edwin were always great singers and entertainers. The woman who sang in the blue dress is unknown to me, as were the back up singers, but they were excellent as well. Rich harmonies from the back upThe musicians were stupendous. Even Brancker’s Bajan interventions were perfect. The sound was crisp and clear with plenty of depth. The vibe was joyous.

    They were all enjoying themselves, it was clear. Contagious! I was lying in bed but found my whole body moving to the beat.

    I have always found the Bajan cover versions of these songs to be more enjoyable than the originals. Also Richard Stoute’s version of The Ides of March’s song “Vehicle”.

    I couldn’t have been prejudiced towards Barbados then, as I had only been in Barbados for a few years. And I had not wanted to come here in the first place. Caribbean music may have helped to win me over. Brother Bob, Sparrow, Jackie Opel and all my Bajan bands were in my ears soon after I landed. I cannot remember when I became Barbadian in my spirit but I remember being fully behind the West Indies against England at Kensington in 1973. Just a couple of years after I arrived.

    I still love the Rolling Stones and the Beatles who would have been the first sounds I heard…. but the Caribbean vibe hit the sweet spot!


  29. @ Artax
    There is a reason why Dr. Blackman never came back here until the very end. He paid a price and he could not secure the backings of his peers.
    One of the ironies is that when ever white people feel wronged, they shout racism.
    When Blacks feel they are wronged , they are given a whole heap of BS and then deemed “ emotional” , lazy or have some chip on their shoulder.
    Imagine people whose race has exploited Black people; their fortunes made on the backs of the Labour of Black people; don’t want a Black person as a daughter or son in law, never as you suggested recently , spend any money with black people , will come here on BU and call people racists
    . And intelligent Black people actually respond to them.
    COW Williams could sue; demand and got whatever he wanted. Don Blackman was deemed a racist and had to flee the country for awarding a contract to a black construction firm.
    Peace


  30. “That has driven the nail in our coffin.”

    all they need is their respective holes…there is no coming out of this….

    and ya done know we don’t care if ALL OF THEM GET BURIED…they are USELESS and contribute nothing worthwhile to the EMPOWERMENT of Afrikan people…

    useless breathers..

    let them continue doing the only thing they have ever been good at, proving themselves to their equally corrupt minority partners……the lowest standard of existence…

    that is their lot in life…there is NO ESCAPE FOR THEM…


  31. William…they will have to prove themselves to racists until the day they die….that’s their Karma…for their wicked ways…

    i will never lower my standards to that degree to prove myself to some half-assed minority…


  32. Artax,

    I was wondering if I had missed the report on what happened to OUR investment in Apes Hill.

    What a ting, nuh!

    Do you really think those people cared to do the due diligence as you have outlined?

    They wanted to invest for other reasons.

    By the way, it is reopening, I saw in the papers.


  33. Apes Hill has NEW OWNERS..

    .there is no investment in Apes Hill..it was a massive loss…..the amount was published since year before…am sure it was secretly WRITTEN OFF..

    crooks covering for crooks..


  34. Don Blackman was one of my favourite politicians. I loved listening to him and even looking at his nose. I liked his face I felt his trustworthyness in my spirit. I didn’t know why he left but I missed him.

    May he rest in peace!

    He tried!


  35. There WAS an investment in Apes Hill. It is that I was seeking to find out about, whether we were told the amount of the losses we suffered and why we were suffering that loss.


  36. the amount in LOSS was told nearly 2 years ago…but with new owners…

    because certain people had to WORK VERY HARD to get rid of that greedy pig the one cow….deceased…

    ….there is no NIS investment in Apes Hill…..unless you can find someone to SUE….and recover ….very unlikely with the write-off experts ever ready…

    .that $21 million which others say is a mere drop in the bucket to the REAL AMOUNT robbed…..crashed and burned with all the usual suspects involved….all the names were called, this and that insurance company….and how much loss was involved……the usual parasites who suck on the people NONSTOP, did not miss a beat……

    that’s why i keep saying, had i skin in that NIS scam….it would not go down just so….because there is so much more the people don’t know and are not likely to be told…


  37. Notice the first thing the new owners did was get rid of the controversial clubhouse and pool…it has nothing to do with their purchase…

    and certain folks HAD TO GET RID OF THE DESPICABLE cow from that place …because of his dirty ways…


  38. Well…all anyone can do is suck it up and move one….another multimillion loss for pensioners…so what’s new…

    yall should be used to that by now..

    as it happens everywhere…

    ..although i have never heard of a pension fund suffering SO MANY brazen and OPEN-ENDED MULTIMILLION DOLLAR THEFTS…without anyone being held accountable……

    ..and because there are no safeguards in place…..no transparency, no integrity……yall gotta EAT THAT LOSS……while waiting for the NEXT ONE…..


  39. btw…before he passed, the dead dude said he was not repaying it because it took TOO LONG FOR HIM TO GET IT…

    serves yall right…


  40. William…i don’t know what else to say to these but i hope they can appreciate the long, long, ruff road they have ahead of them..

    they are at a DISTINCT DISADVANTAGE….because not only do they NOT HAVE THE INFORMATION they need to assess their current position…and are not likely to EVER GET THEIR HANDS ON IT…….but…..unlike many countries that can truthfully say they have uncertainty genuinely due mostly to EXTERNAL SHOCKS….these have the added misery of internal skulduggery, limitless SCAMS ….alleged million – billion dollar THEFTS……IN just about every sector…OF TAXPAYER FUNDED DEPARTMENTS….

    and it int me do none of dat…


  41. “Apes Hill closed abruptly and we do not know if ‘COW Williams repaid the funds and NIS’ returns or loss on that investment.”
    It was essentially bankrupt and ‘bought out’ by the man who owns Gildan (another story)
    But we don’t need NIS annual reports, they won’t tell us much.


  42. Exactly Northern….

    you need access to certain other information to make proper assessments..

    i really don’t know what to tell these…except that certain circles know EXACTLY WHAT WENT DOWN, WHAT IS STILL HAPPENING….and the fallout from all of it..


  43. @ WARU
    Well, we all have the evidence of what’s going on. If we want to spend our time ignoring it, there is nothing anybody can do.
    What is really coming through many of the responses , is that there is a very deep disappointment with the current administration.
    However, what is quite evident, is an almost orchestrated effort to disguise or hide our frustration.
    The Duopoly has mastered the art of playing with our emotions.
    Some of us find great difficulty in accepting this fact.
    Peace.


  44. all the information is available but i was asked even before the Apes Hill trip, still got some nice photos from that, got some real luxurious homes up there…….lol…..to only put the basics out there and of course i will protect my sources..


  45. “Well, we all have the evidence of what’s going on. If we want to spend our time ignoring it, there is nothing anybody can do.”

    there is more than an adequate amount of evidence out there to work with.

    AND…it’s a little too late to feel disappointed when the warnings were around FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS….that would be a latent disappointment…too slow in coming..

    who wants to ignore it, that’s on them…same way i could GO OUT OF MY WAY to find out what’s really happening…even though i have no ties to NIS….and no living relatives who do…the others are not of that age yet….

    ……these are more able-bodied than i am, so it should be a breeze to find what they are looking for, if they really want to know..

    ..that is how i spend my time…making sure that the information needed for the SURVIVAL of my offspring is available, and they are not taken by surprise in an island that’s too corrupt for its size and own good…….

    and like MANY obviously have been taken by surprise…don’t intend for that to happen to mine.


  46. ” But he also lit into the previous administration, which he claims took ten years to grant planning permission.”

    So the DLP administration made COW wait 10 years to get planning permission.

    I would like to know why.


    • @Hants

      Does it matter? Could be the same reason Allan Kinch is treated as a leper and Weatherhead a king.


  47. there are some MUCH BIGGER WORRIES coming down the chute….in comparison this one was not as big as we thought….

    Pacha….am seeing mention of “the next decade of winters will be “terrible.” and other things that would make anyone stand up and pay attention…

    just the kind of news ya don’t want at this time…


  48. Does anyone understand what 10 “terrible winters” can do to OVERLY DEPENDENT islands…..with management who don’t have what it takes to do what is necessary…

    William….when i read that…my very first thoughts..


  49. it will be interesting to see HOW they handle this one…

    i take it there will be no boring days ahead.


  50. Pacha…..right again…they won’t listen…nothing else left to tell them…

    TLSN…..thanks….very nice..

    Cassava thrives very well in extreme heat as well…just planted a few shoots…

    they need not make this harder than it seems…if they want to survive..

    .got lemons…make lemonade…


  51. It’s really inspiring to see so many coming together and trying their best, everywhere….. then there are those who have nothing but time to waste then want to complain the most…


  52. “….got lemons…make lemonade…” Not in the hot tropical climate of Barbados where the sun is either too hot or the rain is not the correct type; or the monkeys are too rampant. However, a loan or two in the right direction could make such a FEAT semi-feasible. LOL.


  53. “However, a loan or two in the right direction could make such a FEAT semi-feasible.”

    lol…live on loans die in debt…..the next generation will be born in debt….wash rinse repeat…..trapped in debt slavery…..bondage.


  54. Political Information in Propaganda Wars
    I remember South Africa where they said that if Blacks were allowed on the beaches they would shit everywhere


  55. | X-Files | Declassified |
    Information is out there
    Like Truth is out there

    | Quit social media |
    Advice to BU Blacks BU Browns BU Whites BU Yellows BU Reds BU Greens
    Inside and Outside of Jurisdiction of the New Republic on World Wide Web

    Have a Social Media Detox Day 2Day
    Mindfulness Program AWARE – Breathe and Flow Yoga #shorts


  56. Call for policy to empower all

    GOVERNMENT MUST CREATE policy to empower all and not think that a few successes from among the working class means everyone in that space can excel.
    This is according to Professor Emerita The Most Honourable Eudine Barriteau, former principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.
    Delivering the 5th Annual Ermie Bourne Memorial Lecture online on Sunday evening, she said: “Isolated individual success stories of women or men beating the odds and managing to transcend a workingclass existence should not be glamorised and portrayed as the norm. These should not be held up as examples of what could happen if workingclass persons would only apply themselves and pull themselves up.”
    Speaking on the topic The Values Of The Village? Preventing Social And Economic Alienation In Contemporary Barbados, she stressed “without policy interventions, a few persons will escape the grind of a workingclass existence, but far more will be ground down unable to access or exploit the more favourable dividends that flow from the classcapital nexus. Through policy interventions, the Government has a responsibility to create more equitable conditions to enable boys and girls, young women and men to be hopeful about their future in our society, irrespective of whether they live in Apes Hill Villas or Ashdeane
    Village”.
    Dangerous
    Barriteau said focusing on the past unrelentingly was “unhelpful and even dangerous”. “Not only is the past never available, its romanticisation seriously obscures the problems it bequeaths to the present . . . . There are many features of Barbados’ contemporary realities and social ills which the country could do without.”
    She said the problems which Barbados faces “indicate a worrying trend of social alienation and economic hardship for some, and it is the responsibility of the Government and citizens to address this. That responsibility cannot be reduced to a reaffirmation of ‘the values of the village’.
    “Some members of the middle and upper classes may provide salves to their conscience with charity events, handouts, well-publicised acts of public generosity and sincerely hope the working class will acquire the social and economic skills to survive so that they will not be a burden to the wider society or to the members of the middle and elite classes . . . . So that we can live our improved lives in peace, with prosperity, and crimefree.”
    Barriteau, however, said the entire society was interconnected.
    “Without Government’s policies to improve social and economic services for the most vulnerable, to shape the contours of what the goals of society
    are, the alienation and disruption of trying to make life bearable will prove burdensome for all of us and not only the ones directly affected.”
    (JS)

    Source: Nation


  57. Undercover Underground Uncovered
    Hip Hop Police transcribe Rap Lyrics
    Uncovering what black youths are saying in the Underground


    Get Off My Dick and Tell Yo Bitch to Come Here / Ice Cube
    Some don’t think I can flow
    So here we go
    To a new track
    To show the wack
    That I can throw styles that show up
    I blow up and blast here
    Niggas still tripping off the shit I said last year
    About a bitch is bitch is a bitch is a bitch
    Then I got rich but I’ll never switch
    So I dedicate this one to the groupie
    And the Charlie all on my Snoopy
    Brothers keep asking Ice Cube yo when will you bust
    They surround me and make a big fuss
    Now I was taught back on my block
    That you don’t ride on nobody’s jock
    For anything they do
    Fuck him and his crew
    Unless you were gettin paid too
    I’m not saying this to dis each and every fan
    Women you can ride but man be a man
    Shake my hand and make it a firm shake
    Say what’s up Ice Cube and then break
    Cause if you’re hangin there I’m a tell you loud and clear
    Get off my my dick nigga and tell your bitch to come here


  58. William………guess everyone will now have to FINALLY start doing some serious RESEARCH if they want to avoid the mountain of SHIT headed in their direction at warp speed….

    time to catch up, many are over a DECADE BEHIND…

    yep…that’s what it has reached to..


  59. Northern…i now see why these are always working overtime to get into the big leagues to hobnob with world parasites……even if it keeps DEVOLVING EACH AND EVERY TIME INTO SCAMMING…

    but it has gone so far that i doubt anyone wants any part of it or them..

    “Four Seasons Hotels Limited
    Four Seasons logo.svg
    Trade name Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
    Type Private
    Industry Hospitality
    Founded 21 March 1961; 61 years ago
    Founder Isadore Sharp
    Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Number of locations 124 properties in 47 countries
    Key people Bill Gates
    Isadore Sharp (chairman)
    John Davison (CEO)”


  60. Major Simpson fuel deal
    by SHAWN CUMBERBATCH
    shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com
    BARBADOS’ SIMPSON FAMILY business empire has negotiated a major deal that will see it relinquish its remaining ownership of Sol to become the largest shareholder of $21.5 billion Canadian fuel retailer Parkland Corporation.
    The arrangement, which requires approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange and other regulators, means that the operations of Sol (including the Esso brand) in Barbados and the Caribbean will be fully owned by Parkland. A share exchange agreement was reached earlier this month between Parkland Corporation and Simpson Oil Limited where the Simpsons will exchange their remaining 25 per cent of Sol for 20 million common shares in Parkland.
    When completed, the deal will give the Simpsons a 19.5 per cent share of Parkland – the single largest shareholding. Based on the Canadian company’s share price of $50.07 on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, that works out to be about a $1.7 billion stake.
    Barbadian entrepreneur Sir Kyffin Simpson, founder of Simpson Oil, said: “We are delighted to expand our ownership in Parkland. We have tremendous confidence in the company, its management team and its bright future.
    “We look forward to participating in its continued success as a long-term supportive shareholder with an investment horizon through the next decade and beyond.”
    Simpson Oil, which has been a Parkland shareholder since 2017, currently owns 14.4 million Parkland shares, 9.24 per cent of the company’s stock. On completion of the share exchange, Simpson Oil will own approximately 34.4 million Parkland Shares, 19.54 per cent
    of Parkland.
    Word of the additional 20 million Parkland shares the Simpson group is securing, which are worth about $1 billion at the current share price, comes more than five months after Parkland announced that in an effort to reduce its debt, it was deferring the then $905 million option to acquire the 25 per cent of Sol it did not own.
    In a recent earnings call with financial analysts in Canada, Parkland president and chief executive officer Bob Espey said: “I believe now is the right time to consolidate our ownership. We . . . can see significant future growth opportunity. The Simpson family has and will continue to play an integral part in our growth. We greatly value their continued support and appreciate the confidence they are showing in the Parkland team’s ability to build long-term value.
    “The Simpsons have been shareholders since 2017. They are very supportive of our strategy and our growth that we’ve been able to achieve and of the management team. They’re supportive of our long-term vision for the business and have conviction around our base business over the long-term in the regions that we operate.
    “So we were really pleased to expand their ownership in Parkland. They are a long-term, patient shareholder that understands and can see the value that we can drive within the business,” he added.
    No change
    Asked if the Simpsons becoming the largest shareholder meant they would be involved in the day-to-day running of Parkland, Espey said: “The way they currently interact with the business will continue, which [is] basically as a large shareholder, but they’re not involved in the governance or the day-to-day management.
    “The Simpsons have been very helpful for us in our international business because of their
    experiences in those markets and [will] continue to assist as we needed in those markets. But from a day-to-day operational or strategic perspective . . . there’s no direct involvement.”
    Parkland officials hope the share exchange will be completed by year-end. The company’s chief financial officer Marcel Teunissen noted that “following the close of the share exchange, Parkland will have about 175 million common shares outstanding and our largest shareholder, the Simpson family, will own approximately 19.5 per cent”.
    Sol contributed about $133 million to Parkland’s earnings in the quarter ended June 30, and Teunissen said they expected to earn an additional $168 million once the company was fully in Parkland’s control.

    Source: Nation


  61. A beautiful morning here.

    Hopefully, this firs bit generates a smile.
    Eureka! I see it. Has anyone else linked those 10,000 houses in 5 years to importing 90,000 migrants.
    They would have to be 10,000 three and four family homes.

    Seriously
    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/09/03/housing-plan-on-stream/
    From BT
    Cabinet is on course to stamp its approval on the National Housing Corporation’s (NHC) purchase of 350 homes from Guyanese manufacturer DuraVilla for $20 million by next week, officials revealed on Friday.”

    I did some quick mathematics
    $20M/3501= $57,000 per house
    $57,000×10,000=$571,428,571 = $572M (total)
    I put the numbers there, I make no assertions or draw no conclusion.


  62. PM to raise de-risking issues in Washington
    By Tony Best
    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is heading to Washington later this month to put CARICOM’s case to top United States (US) lawmakers about the long-running and economically stifling fall-out from “de-risking”.
    When Mottley appears before the US House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee headed by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat of California, the Prime Minister is expected to tell members of one of Congress’ most influential panels how Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas and their neighbours are being hurt by the persistent reduction in correspondent banking relationships between indigenous Caribbean financial institutions and American, Canadian and United Kingdom banks.
    “The critical issue of correspondent banking in the Caribbean is expected to be at the centre of the Prime Minister’s testimony to Congress,” said Noel Lynch, Barbados’ top diplomat in the US and its Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States.
    Hurting region’s prospects
    “She has been invited to appear so she can explain how de-risking is adversely affecting the region’s economic prospects when it comes to trade, investment and overall economic advancement. The issue has been around for several years and during that period the Caribbean has seen its correspondent banking relationships decline, a development that involves small and medium-sized businesses as well as individuals and families who must transfer funds to their relatives back home.
    “Ultimately, we hope that this matter can be sorted out and that Barbados and its sister-countries see a return of a healthy banking system that facilitates economic growth, smooth commercial financial transactions and allow the kind of daily business dealings that make the Caribbean a convenient and profitable place in which to function,” added Lynch, a former cabinet minister of tourism. “The de-risking and correspondent
    banking issue is inhibiting commercial activity between the Caribbean and the US. When firms and individuals must transfer funds to New York, Miami or any other part of the US they have to utilise the services of correspondent banks.”
    Ending partnerships
    Described by the Financial Action Task Force as “the phenomenon of financial institutions terminating or restricting business relationships with clients or categories of clients to avoid, rather than manage risk, de-risking has led to several prominent global banks ending their banking partnerships in the Caribbean, Barbados among them. That’s particularly true of the smaller Eastern Caribbean states.
    Six years ago, Barbados’ Central Bank complained that de-risking had “affected the Caribbean in a major way. In many instances the terminations being experienced in the CARICOM) region were not based on any wrongdoing on the part of (Caribbean) businesses, but rather were the result of increasingly high cost of compliance with the regulatory framework outlined by the Foreign Account Tax compliance ACT (FATCA.
    Correspondent banks are also challenged by guidelines that are unclear or inconsistently applied, the Central Bank added. “Many of these banks,” it added, have weighed the marginal profits earned from doing business against the potential large fines and penalties due lack of compliance as well as the reputational damage that could result and deemed it too much of a risk top to continue to pursue business in certain jurisdictions.”
    At the heart of the problem is an unsupported fear of drug money laundering/ drug trafficking and other illegal activity being conducted in the region, say international organisations, analysts and Caribbean diplomats in Washington.
    “Nothing could be further from the truth because we are one of the few jurisdictions in the world where there is a system of (foreign) exchange controls in place” that deters money laundering and preserves foreign reserves,” insisted Lynch.
    The Prime Minister is expected to do more in Washington than testify before the influential House Committee. It is believed she might be meeting with US Vice-President Kamala Harris, who sources speculated might have requested a session with Mottley as a follow-up to discussions on Caribbean security and economic questions that were raised at the recent Summit of the Americas in California.
    “She is also likely to confer with senior executives of the international financial institutions” which range from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to the International Monetary Fund, said Lynch.
    Mottley is due to arrive in the US capital on September 13 and leave four days later for New York where she is to deliver Barbados’ foreign policy statement during the United Nations General Assembly, something she has done every year since becoming the first woman to lead Barbados in 2018.

    Source: Nation

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