Submitted by Heather Cole Based on the 2018 Manifesto of the Barbados Labour Party, it was my expectation that a new Barbados would be created that was a place of economic equity and justice for all, a place where poverty could be eradicated and most of all it would become a beacon for democracy. For me, being guided by a
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Submitted by Observing With all the action going on nowadays its forgiveable for the average person to see doubles once in a while. After all, they say more is less, or is it less is more? We have a Commissioner of Police, Two Deputy Commissioners AND still a former Commissioner who’s a consultant. DOUBLES!!! We have a Minister of Finance,
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The Four Seasons Project – Story of Failure continues to be an example of how the public continues is short changed by public officials elected and recruited to serve us. The inability of taxpayers to solicit answers to legitimate questions regarding the quality of decisions made by successive governments is an embarrassment to the type of democracy we should be
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The most recent Auditor General Report – see 2020 Auditor General Report – Time to Fire Senior Public Servants – continues to generate the usual concerns engaged annually by the general public. Although it must be said there is more impatience being exercised this time around if the blogmaster has tested the temperature of debate correctly. Is it because of the
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Note that your ace investigator has ever been known to tread carefully, but, a large part of the AudG [Auditor General Report] lack of audits stems from many years from 2008 on, when several of these public bodies never filed a single annual report. The backlog was huge, and some like the Urban Development Corporation has apparently decided “forget them”,
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The Barbados government recently launched the Little Island Big Barbados campaign and immediately those responsible are having to defend against a torrent of criticism from the public. The thrust of the concern: the campaign is a tired concept several islands have used to promote tourism for which Barbados is whispered to have forked out $700,000.00. In the blog BLP and
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The politics practised in Barbados is based on the adversarial system borrowed from the colonial master. There is the opposite more consensus (constructive) type of politics but such as approach seems esoteric and anathema to who we have been educated to be. The first past the post system gives the victor the spoils and leaves no room for political parties
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The blogmaster tuned into the Brasstacks show on Voice of Barbados yesterday because the topic was about press freedom. It is a ‘large topic’ and one that could not be fairly discussed in 2 hours. The moderator Dr. Kristina Hinds gave it her best effort supported by panellists David Ellis, Carol Martindale (journalists) and Michelle Russell (lawyer). A few observations
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It is also a different version of how the story got out than what our own Attorney-General said last Thursday after the verdict was handed down. He said: “It is significant that the conviction came about because individuals who had knowledge of the events were prepared to speak out and to give evidence about wrongdoing.” The AG added: “This is
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The Convention on the Rights of the Child (friendly version) states at number 19 heading among other others of equal importance that: Protection from Violence – Governments must protect children from violence, abuse and being neglected by anyone who looks after them. UN Convention on the rights of the child In recent days Barbadians have been expressing outrage in response
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The conviction of former Minister Donville Inniss in the United States of America an his upcoming sentencing has been smothered by news of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020. The matter blipped twice in the newsfeed this month when first it was reported Inniss fired his lawyer Anthony Ricco and replaced him with Joel Hirschhorn to challenge how he (Inniss)
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Submitted by Kammie Holder David, does our Defence Force still get computers from the Chinese and other foreign governments? I remember in either 2016 or 2017 laptops were donated to our parliamentarians. Unfortunately, they were lapped up by our grateful representatives with the most excitement like kids getting a candy treat. My concern was expressed and I was assured by
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The following is a WhatsApp message received from a BU family member. Discuss for 5 marks. David, Blogmaster This country is going to hell in a basket without serious intercession. We are seeing unprecedented despotism at work and spiritual ranglings that are not of the Father. Hiya guys are you aware that the land in Pegwell and Gibbon Boggs that
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The climate developing countries have to manage affairs of state appears to be very challenging at this time. Barbados the former colony can no longer expect to hide or be protected by England. There was a time we benefited from preferential trade treatment which seemed fair in a dog eat dog world where the ‘strongest’ always has the best chance
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Submitted by William Parker Successive governments including the incumbent have teased Barbadians about transitioning to a republic. Now that we have witnessed the decommissioning of Nelson statue the question being asked is- are we there yet? David, blogmaster
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Some smart person is reported to have said never let a crisis go to waste. There can be no disagreement the raging COVID 19 pandemic has created a crisis of gargantuan proportion for countries everywhere. Small island states like Barbados will struggle to sustain a standard of living it has become accustomed. The 64k question facing the tiny island- what
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A major breakdown of the South Coast Sewage plant leading into the last general election created a ‘black eye’ for the country. It was one of many issues that probably led to the large defeat of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in 2018. The sight of sewage flowing on the street in Worthing, Christ Church forcing tourists and locals to
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The US presidential election is less that 80 days away. The blogmaster has always been intrigued how Americans select political candidates through a system of primaries and caucuses. Compared to the process in Barbados where the Executive Council of the the two main political parties are known to have vetoed candidates nominated by constituency councils, it begs a question… …For
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