Prime Minister David Thompson Address’s Barbadians

Prime Minister David Thompson

Prime Minister David Thompson is scheduled to address the nation tonight (30 September 2010) at 7 PM in his first press conference since confiding details of his illness to Barbadians.  To opine that Barbadians at home and abroad will be tuned-in is probably an understatement. Since assuming office Thompson in the opinion of BU has been the most accessible Prime Minister to both public and media. It is well known ordinary Barbadians email the Prime Minister daily who is a Blackberry addict and get replies!

The government has been criticized in recent weeks for its indecision regarding how the economy is being managed. Even before the Prime Minister’s illness it was rumoured a reshuffle was in the offing. Tonight we may find out despite Senator Branford Taitt’s warning to the party if Thompson will anoint a heir apparent given his handicap.  Word on ‘underground’ contrary to the recent CADRES poll points to a healthy interest in the job by Minister David Estwick.

Let us wait and see how the next chapter in Barbados politics unfold.

Polling Politics Is Unethical

Peter Wickham - head of CADRES

The two main purposes of this week’s PDC article are:

(1), to examine, to some degree, the extent to which Cadres’ and other polling organizations’ so-called national political opinion polling has been having, or has not been having, psycho-political voter effects on the minds of a selected number of adult persons in Barbados; and

(2), to therefore establish an intellectual political basis for arguing that this said type of polling has – to a great extent – been for years creating/been bringing about unambiguously clear, definite, flagrant violations of the principle of the holding of free and fair elections in this country, every time national or by elections have actually been held in this country, and whenever such polling has been carried out intermittently in the lead up to those said elections.

To support these arguments we have again gone and made use of the results of a non-random, non-scientific, person to person interview sample survey exercise  which was carried out by the PDC over the course of two days of this week – Tuesday and Wednesday – in Bridgetown.

This survey involved the polling  of 38 people – of which 12 females and 26 males took part – ranging from age 22 to 66 years old.

It’s ‘Silly Season’ BLP Style

Hartley Henry - Principal Political Advisor to the Hon. Prime Minister

I would have won the money! Had I taken the bet with my neighbor, I would have won. When on Monday I saw the newspaper headline “A Mess” and Owen Arthur was on the back foot talking about the Pierhead Project and the functioning of the Barbados economy, I said to my neighbor, “First, there must be another side to that story that we, the public, need to hear about’. Second, I told him, ‘watch out for Mia Mottley. She is bound to lash back with an even more sensational and alarming headline’.

Now having worked in the newspaper industry for many years, I know the person quoted in the article does not have a say in determining the headline, but, in this business, an experienced operator can use adjectives and superlatives to influence the type of headline he or she wishes.

So once again this past week we have seen the battle for headlines intensifying between Arthur and Mottley, with little Dale Marshall putting in his two cents worth. The International Monetary Fund said in Saturday’s press, interestingly not worthy of headline status, that moderate growth could be expected next year. It blamed the current squeeze on the global economic crisis but maintained full support for the Government’s short and Medium Term Fiscal Strategy.

The Tourism Investment Relief Fund (TIRF) List

Date	Company	Amount
10.1.2009	Skeete, Best & Co	$60,000.00
10.1.2009	Skeete, Best & Co	$40,000.00
27.5.2009	Silver Sands Hotel	$460,240.70
27.5.2009	Indar Weir Travel	$10,937.68
27.5.2009	WMB Financial Tech – Indar Weir	$12,000.00
27.5.2009	All Seasons Resort	$53,966.60
28.5.2009	MDG Corp Service – Tech Ass WSB	$1,462.00
04.6.2009	Elegant Hotels	$1,107,102.77
26.06.2009	Skeetes, Best & Co	$60,500.00
18.11.2009	Elegant Hotels	$575,764.82
18.11.2009	Executive Rentals	$104,178.03
18.11.2009	Cliff Restaurant	$231,269.40
18.11.2009	Sandpiper Inn	$264,429.77
18.11.2009	Radical Watersports Inc	$11,093.62
18.11.2009	SCC Ltd	$244,095.57
18.11.2009	Casa Grand	$53,545.00
18.11.2009	Silver Sands Hotel	$292,807.15
18.11.2009	Travel Essentials	$27,189.88

Tourism MATTERS III

Adrian Loveridge - Hotel Owner

The new non-stop direct service from Dallas to Barbados, slated to start on the 16^th December this year offers tremendous growth potential for our tourism industry. Not only will it tempt the estimated 6.5 million people that live in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, the fourth largest metropolitan population in the United States, but it offers some incredible connecting city opportunities.

As the DFW airport website reminds us, no major city in the Continental United States is more than four flying hours from Dallas, so an overall in-the-air travelling time of less than ten hours will make all these cities accessible to Barbados. California which boasts a population over 36 million people, will then be able to reach us within a comfortable twelve hours, without the need to transit Miami.

American Airlines Texas hub has over 220 incoming flights DAILY serving 120 cities, ranging from Abilene to Wichita Falls.Add all the other airlines and the airport handles 58 million passengers a year or over 152,000 every day.

Of course, it’s about a lot more than numbers.

Silver Sands Hotel Closes After Receiving $753,047.85 In Government Relief

Silver Sands Hotel

In the face of the worst global recession since the Great Depression if we are to believe the economists, the government of Barbados felt duty bound to protect the productive sector which is the life-blood of the Barbados economy. The tourism industry is reported to contribute 15-20% of  Gross Domestic Product and it is a significant foreign exchange earner.

Tourism is an industry which thrives in a buoyant global economic climate and the global recession has impacted discretionary spending of world travellers in a significant way. In an effort to create a safety net for establishments affiliated to the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), Barbados Tourism Hotel Association (BTHA), and Small Hotels of Barbados Inc (SHBI), the government established the Tourism Investment Relief Fund (TIRF). The fund is administered by the Enterprise Growth Fund Limited (EGFL) and based on a formula of of historical revenues and stated cash losses in a determined period  funds were distributed to those tourism players who applied.

The recent announcement that one such player Silver Sands Hotel listed as having received TIRF monies $460,240.70 on the 27.05.2009  and $292,807.15 on 18.11.2009 was closing its doors has caused eyebrows to be raised. As if that news was not enough BU sources confirmed that the owners of the hotel shared in the purchase of a 56ft cabin cruiser which is based at Port St. Charles. BU is therefore forced to ask the $64,000.00 question. Should the Wards who own Silver Sands Hotel be forced to repay $753, 047. 85? Why would a 130 room hotel which received an injection of funds of such a significant amount have failed so quickly? Bear in mind the objective of the TIRF  is the protection of employment levels within the sector.

BU reviewed the list of tourism players which received TIRF monies and frankly was floored at some of the names – we have listed a few below:

Date	Company	Amount
10.1.2009	Skeete, Best & Co	$60,000.00
10.1.2009	Skeete, Best & Co	$40,000.00
27.5.2009	Silver Sands Hotel	$460,240.70
27.5.2009	Indar Weir Travel	$10,937.68
27.5.2009	WMB Financial Tech – Indar Weir	$12,000.00
27.5.2009	All Seasons Resort	$53,966.60
28.5.2009	MDG Corp Service – Tech Ass WSB	$1,462.00
04.6.2009	Elegant Hotels	$1,107,102.77
26.06.2009	Skeetes, Best & Co	$60,500.00
18.11.2009	Elegant Hotels	$575,764.82
18.11.2009	Executive Rentals	$104,178.03
18.11.2009	Cliff Restaurant	$231,269.40
18.11.2009	Sandpiper Inn	$264,429.77
18.11.2009	Radical Watersports Inc	$11,093.62
18.11.2009	SCC Ltd	$244,095.57
18.11.2009	Casa Grand	$53,545.00
18.11.2009	Silver Sands Hotel	$292,807.15
18.11.2009	Travel Essentials	$27,189.88

In future if the government sees a need to provide TIRF monies to any sector, BU recommended that directors of companies who apply sign off on personal guarantees among others. Taxpayers money is not monopoly money!

The Judeo-Christian Matrix: “Simon of Cyrene” and the “Cross of Humanity’s Shame” – The “White Religious Lie” Which Sought To Undermine the Pivotal Role of the Black Man in Biblical Literature

Submitted by Terence Blackett

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line… – W.E.B. DuBois

Today the Black man still bears the Cross of Jesus Christ as Simon of Cyrene did on that most fateful day in earth’s history. As those Caucasoid Roman soldiers whipped, beat, insulted and spat upon my Lord and as those who called themselves Abraham’s children (Jews) and are not (crying vociferously, “let his blood be upon us and our children”) – but are of the Synagogue of SATAN* heckled, cajoled, laughed, maligned, jeered and scoffed as Jesus wobbled, stumbled and fell under the weight of the cross. Simon (the 13^th Disciple) bore His burden up the hill.

And so upon the back of the Black man fell that cross of shame – a symbolic, archetypal reminder to Black folks everywhere throughout the ages that upon their shoulders rest the long arduous process of salvation for humanity. What Simon of Cyrene accomplished in the flesh for our beloved Lord and Saviour – we as the progenitors of that fulfilment would have to carry for mankind right down until the end of time.

Yet many still ask, but are not Black folks “the least in their Father’s house”?

What constitutes greatness can largely be a matter of opinion. Jesus reminds us that the least is oftentimes the greatest amongst us and MUST* be a “servant” to all – and the “first” will be the “last” and the “last” will be the “first”.

Do we consider a man’s greatness in part due to the degree to which his life and actions affect humanity for generations?

Barbados Tourism Officials On The Beat

Today is World Tourism Day. Despite BU’s concern that we depend on this industry for too much of our economic survival, it appears to be the one significant productive sector we have at the moment. See attached an extract from the in flight British Airways magazine High Life and judge for yourself how our tourism officials are promoting Barbados.

Pages 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

BU will have some more to say about tourism in a later posting.

African Snail Invasion, The Will To Fight Back

Submitted by checkit-out in response to an earlier submission penned by Kammie Holder

I am bringing up this topic again as I was thinking, while doing my morning chores of removing scores of African snails from my yard, that there might be a  good alternative use of the snails that could save us significant foreign exchange and also control the snails at manageable levels.  The idea (and I don’t know if someone has come up with it before) would be to develop a plant that would process the snails into a protein component for animal feed, after appropriate treatment for ridding them of any parasites.

It could be done, if the figures and feasibility analyses so suggest, on a cottage scale or a larger scale where  the snails would be purchased from householders at a small cost (i.e. less that the Government’s give away that was tried and is failing as an eradication measure).

If the idea was found to be feasible we would be able to coexist with the snails and have an industry that would be somewhat self sustaining. Perhaps someone could check with the Ministry of Agriculture  and or Roberts Manufacturing about the feasibility or otherwise.

Do We Have A United Police Force?

Like the moth which is attracted to light so too BU’s recent predilection with Commissioner Darwin Dottin’s stewardship of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF). Are we worried that Dottin and his deputy Bertie Hinds are not singing from the same song sheet? Hell yes! A disunited RBPF against a criminal element which has organized itself using ‘best in class’ strategies, tactics and weapons cannot hope to efficiently deliver on its mandate to protect and serve.

At a recent press conference Dottin basked in the moment created by the capture of two suspects who have subsequently been charged in connection with the Campus Trendz matter. BU is on record applauding the good work of the force which responded hastily to the public outrage by registering a quick capture. Regrettably the traditional press allowed itself to be overwhelmed by the moment and did not place our top cop under any pressure if we are to judge by questions asked.

What progress has the Cold Case Squad made in the last two years?

What grade has the top cop given Operation Road Order Maintenance?

What strategy is the RBPF implementing to stop the exodus of policemen to more high paying jobs abroad?