Over the past decades, linkages between drug cartels and some politicians have been well established in several nations. The illegal drug trade has raked in billions of blood dollars across the globe with a significant sum greasing the dishonest palms of politicians, police officers, soldiers, immigration and customs officials, and any individual who can support […]
Category: Editorial
Recently, Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic spelled out some changes that the Government is making to the managerial structure at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in an attempt to resolve some of the major issues that have hampered its ability to properly deliver on its mandate as the primary acute health […]
In another two months, the eyes of a restless nation turn once again to the vistas of tanned bodies on white-sand beaches, the hustle of taxi drivers and the bustle of red caps. Accents will broaden and hands dutifully rub themselves together as wide-body jets disgorge half-baked passengers mad to go out into our midday […]
In what was a complete shock to most cricket pundits, the Barbados Tridents defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors to capture their second Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 title last weekend. Labelled as underdogs against the previously unbeaten Warriors who had won 11 straight matches, the Tridents saved their best performance for last in registering a […]
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” – James Madison A retired United States Supreme Court Justice, David Souter, when asked what in retirement kept him awake in his native New England log cabin home, replied: “pervasive civic […]
In 1962, Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, coined the term “global village” to describe a world in which “the visual, individualistic print culture would soon be brought to an end by “electronic interdependence”: when electronic media replaces visual culture with aural/oral culture. In this new […]
Through 500 years of Columbian colonisation and one of the greatest holocausts in all human history – the enslavement of millions of African people following the genocide of the native peoples of the so-called Americas – the Caribbean has survived and thrived. If from history’s ugliest endeavours emerge multicultural, multiethnic, sovereign, free nations on these […]
Within recent weeks, Barbados has been caught up in the cold. Although many who have been afflicted with the viral respiratory tract illness have often described it as the ’flu’, medical experts have informed us that it is indeed the rhinovirus, or common cold virus, that has been causing the problem. While rhinovirus infections occur throughout […]
The shock, tinged with not a little irony, that the leader of the adult entertainment industry set a high moral tone as he blew the whistle about sex among the island’s high school students, has all but given way to the deeply unsettling realism of the original complaint. That complaint by Charlie ‘Spice’ Lewis, the […]
Calls for improvement in productivity and service standards have been made in both the private and public sector over the past few years. But truth be told, there are thousands of hardworking Barbadians who pride themselves on the quality of their work and the service they present to the public. They are to be commended. […]
“Mek yuh ears dem ring-like Government phone!” – “Babylon Boops,” Lovindeer, 1986. Minister of Labour Colin Jordan recently announced some changes to the administration of the largest employer of Barbadians – the Public Service. Among the changes is the establishment of three “service commissions” to govern recruitment and selection practices across different branches of the […]
The landmark of 500 days of the life of the current administration of the Government of Barbados offers the opportunity for sober reflection on the performance of the largest Cabinet in Barbadian history. Granted, these ministers who serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister each entered into existing portfolios or founded new ones in […]
Ambitious. Bold. Doable. About time. At long last. As goes the chorus of pundits so do we, now that the Government has finally started the ball rolling towards running this country entirely on green energy – or try to by the year 2030. But it’s just 11 years from now to wean this country off […]
More than two decades ago, Charlotte Haley, as she battled breast cancer decided to create a peach-coloured ribbon to raise awareness about the disease. It was a labour of love for the 68-year-old Harvey, whose grandmother, daughter and sister also had breast cancer. So she began to make the peach ribbons by hand in her […]
Some nine years ago while in one of his more combative incarnations, former prime minister Owen Arthur described the Lower House then controlled by prime minister David Thompson’s Democratic Labour Party as a “poor-rakey parliament”. Never one to mince words, Mr Arthur was commenting on the quality of the sitting members, and by logical extension, […]
Life is a divine gift that can be very unpredictable at times. From day to day, none of us knows whether we will encounter a situation, whether natural or man-made, that will turn our entire lives in a completely different direction. We may leave home one day to go to work as normal and may […]
A recent decision by the acting principal of The Lodge School Robin Douglas, to enforce a rule in the school’s dress code has sparked robust debate. Last week, Douglas ordered the male students of the 298-year-old school to remove all facial hair or face possible suspension. His decision was not widely supported and drew the […]
