Lowdown ‘Dick’ Hoad is in his usual good form in his weekend column in the Nation. His column we know has a serious following which includes the BU household. We envy the no-nonsense style he uses to address serious issues which should concern ALL Bajans. We have pasted his latest column HERE on this blog’s comments section. The fact that he is addressing an issue which BU has commented about over and over makes it even more interesting that we have Bajans with sense who support our position.
Thanks Dick!
There was much hurrah when the Government changed that we would now be “free” to criticise openly after being fettered by fear under the Arthur administration. As yet I have seen no manifestation of this freedom. The radicals, apart from David Comissiong, are no more. Where are Harcourt, Hilary and the Bussa crowd? Where are the Cave Hill intellectuals? Did I hear David Ellis say on last Sunday’s Brass Tacks that journalists are no longer willing to stick their necks out?
Or is it that everybody is happy? Are we now comfortable with our status as international prostitutes selling our very country to foreigners piece by piece to afford affluence?
Source: Nation
Lowdown ‘Dick’ Hoad was his usual ‘acid’ self as betrayed in his latest column in the Nation newspaper. What we cannot understand is how Lowdown has license to ‘lick’ all and sundry and the Nation is afraid to censor him. He is a God or something? To top it all off the Nation newspaper did a spread on Lowdown in the weekend edition!!! Truth is we did not know Lowdown was so talented. The man powers his ’40 acre’ compound by using animal shit. Lowdown you is a boss!
The next snippet from his article is the one which hit the BU household for six.
Another prominent watchdog that has gone silent is the Barbados National Trust. Maybe these guardians of our heritage see nothing wrong with siting a national dump in the middle of a national park. Maybe they believe the claptrap baloney “assurance” that only non-toxic organic refuse will come to Greenland.
snip
But I live at a sharp corner on a steep hill where bits of paper frequently blow off trucks. And I challenge the National Trust to tell the public whether their non-objection to Greenland isn’t more influenced by Government’s contribution to their pet project George Washington House.
I further challenge the Trust to tell the public whether it will also be remaining silent on the sale of the Chefette Holetown property to foreign interests for exclusive foreigner use.
Source: Nation
Lowdown is a boss that’s why the BU household is in love with his writing.
Barbados Underground 
I was impress with the operation. He should publish step by step instrutions.
that people were not speaking out had nothing to do with the barbados labour party being in government, nothing at all. i fail to see any connection whatsoever and i am not being political.
what i have found is that there is a dearth of leadership throughout this society. we have an educated class (hate to use that word) who appear to be very selfish. being selfish they care nothing about their fellowman and they are only concerned with material things : a big house and a vehicle to separate them and render them distinct from those who do not have.
they lack the human concern that formal and informally educated persons such as grantley adams , errol barrow, frank walcott , hugh springer, samuel jackman , eric sealy and many other leaders possessed and who were willing to fight inspite the social discomfort they suffered as a result.
the people nowadays are not prepared to make any social sacrifice , they dont wantto confront anybody, they dont want to sweat (airconditioned car / office) so they atre not prepare to challenge anybody about anything.
the owen arthur was an oppressive regime to the point that people could not express themselves. this lack of expression has nothing to do with government. those persons i mentioned above faced repression and suppression but they were prepared to fight and to sacrifice . people nowadays are more concerned with material things, overeating and drinking , sleeping and growing fat and prepare themselves to be slaves again (if ever they stopped being slaves)
the educated people must do more than just look to get a so-called bigger job and more money. they must pay some attention to what is going on in the society. this lack of attention will give rise to all kinds of negative things that are going on in the society: loud music on minibuses and zr vans, high prices and price gouging , influx of non barbadians , political decisions, mal administration in sports especially cricket and football , oppressive people in positions of authority in the civil service especially, unscrupulous employers and so on and so forth -(to quote a friend of mind )
these so-called educated people in society are now being dominated by women and we all know what women are about especially barbadian women but this is another story
hey
can i edit my comments after i have submitted as is done on caribbean cricket.com
the previous comments have some errors
David,
How long ago I tell you that Lowdown is a Boss?
You playing you aint know?!?
The man so tight he does make me sick then…. as I hear a young girl say the other day…
Here is the real point though…
You ask how come Lowdown could talk as he like and not a boy can’t touch he?
He probably don’t owe a boy a ting
He like he aint want a ting from a boy
He happy and contented wid he simple sweet life in paradise
What they going do?
….Tax the goats?
…. thief the horse shit?
…. stop printing he articles? (dat is the only thing I read in the Nation)
The lesson is about being contented – ESPECIALLY if you already live in paradise.
It is about enjoying the simple pleasures of life.. and being able to stand up like a MAN.
I don’t want to talk out Lowdown secrets, but if I was PM, i would know exactly how to hush he up…
step 1 – Ban hamcutters and all kinds of pork
step 2 – Get he off that goat milk (cause he like he aint know he white)
step 3 – Arm the mother-in-law…
but I won’t do that, cause…the man is just my hero.
Bush Tea:
I eagerly anticipate Fridays to read the man on-line. When I worked, I used to circulate his column to fellow Caribbeans in the workplace, (about 3 out of 2,000) who enjoyed it as well. The man is a MASTER, second to none in plain ‘speak’ or satire.
Lowdown ‘Dick’ Hoad was his usual ‘acid’ self as betrayed in his latest column in the Nation newspaper. What we cannot understand is how Lowdown has license to ‘lick’ all and sundry and the Nation is afraid to censor him. He is a God or something? To top it all off the Nation newspaper did a spread on Lowdown in the weekend edition!!! Truth is we did not know Lowdown was so talented. The man powers his ‘40 acre’ compound by using animal shit. Lowdown you is a boss!
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I don’t think that Lowdown is acid at all. He is just plain spoken and tells the TRUTH. Or as it is put in Titus 2:8 “Sound speech that cannot be condemned!
He also obeys the tenets of 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season: reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Quae cum ita sint (that being the case) he needs no license to ‘lick’ all and sundry. Because he has committed no sin against either God’s laws or ours!
Bush tea has given an accurate answer to your question. He not looking for nothing from nobody!
In addition I will point out that, the thing about Lowdown is that he is accurate and consistent, and because he is satirical and humorous in his delivery, some might not get the message, or some might find the message softened a bit, so as not to offend. That is the beauty of his prose, and probably why he has not been censored by the Nation.
Perhaps the folk at the Nation thinks that he is an idiot and a comic, and fail to grasp the seriousness of his messages. In addition, if the Nation should dare to censor or remove his column their Friday sales will descend to the depths of the abyss.
But lowdown is truly a boss and a giant.
I expect to read the Lowdown online every Friday morning……. And I am most upset when it does not appear. I imagine that many others feel the same way.
The man is well educated (HC & UWI) and a true scientist who can read the literature for himself (he does not have to depend on the précis of others). That’s why he can power his ‘40 acre’ compound by using animal shit.…… and he combines the humor and sternest of our departed Chemistry teacher at HC……FNAF
What we have to get him to do now at this time of crisis with the cost of oil so high, is to harness the verbal effluents of our politicians and convert that into methane as well.
With respect to snippet from his article which hit the BU household for six thus….
Another prominent watchdog that has gone silent is the Barbados National Trust. Maybe these guardians of our heritage see nothing wrong with siting a national dump in the middle of a national park. Maybe they believe the claptrap baloney “assurance” that only non-toxic organic refuse will come to Greenland………. But I live at a sharp corner on a steep hill where bits of paper frequently blow off trucks. And I challenge the National Trust to tell the public whether their non-objection to Greenland isn’t more influenced by Government’s contribution to their pet project George Washington House.
I further challenge the Trust to tell the public whether it will also be remaining silent on the sale of the Chefette Holetown property to foreign interests for exclusive foreigner use.
One must understand that there is a goodly doctor who the Bees did not give the Knighthood for which he has been working so hard for since returning hoe in 1978, probably believes that if he keeps his mouth quiet, perhaps the Dees will comply with his hopes for this award.
What is recurring in the comments and from what we have heard otherwise people like Hoad are able to speak with clarity and truth because of their financial independence, humility and their sense of purpose in life to truly contribute to Barbados and beyond in whichever way that they can.
Lowdown if only we could clone you!
“The new DLP administration has started on the right path. By putting Barbadians at the centre of development once again, the David Thompson administration has embraced the guiding philosophy of Barrow, Cameron Tudor and the other founding fathers and sister. A golden opportunity exists for the Barrow revolution now to be taken to its logical conclusion – full people empowerment.”
The above comment was taken by the PDC from Reudon Eversley’s last piece in his column in the Weekend Nation, Friday, April 11, 2008. A proper reading of most of that entire piece by Mr. Eversley would realize that it is totally in contradistinction with the two last paragraphs in the said piece. Mr. Eversley, there is a total disconnection between what you are purporting to express in your piece about the need to strike a balance between wealth and happiness in a country like Barbados, and showing a few instances where this DLP Government has started on the right path in putting Barbadians at the centre of development once again. No evidence whatsoever you did produce. Far from setting out on the right path the DLP Government has so far only been able significantly to make the vast majority of Barbadians believe that the DLP is the same thing as the BLP, essentially and philosophically speaking. What a shame and disgust!!
Moreover, in many regards this DLP Government can also be viewed as behaving like an INTERIM government, one that is subject to serious political restrictions. Just check its “out of the blue commitment” to so many things, which when it was the last opposition in parliament it was so severely critical of the former BLP Government for – Edutech, CSME, Greenland. Just check around and see that many of our precious land spaces are still being sold off to foreigners, and that the cost of purchasing many, many houses is going higher and higher still. Just look around at its outdated price support policy for certain greedy corporates in Barbados and which has been inherited from the last BLP Government – first continuation of subsidies to the BLP, then subsidies to the Barbados Flour Mills, Pinnacle Feeds. Too, observe that it is refusing to bring down the cost of living, which it adamantly stated it will reduce when it was in opposition, but which continues on a daily basis to skyrocket further and further, thus causing greatermore misery and deprivation for the masses and middle classes of people of Barbados, and that temporary public servants are still being made to wait too long on the government before getting paid.
And, there are many other instances that could be cited by us to show that really and truly the DLP has NOT brought any glimmer of hope against this prevailing trend of too many negative and alien socio-cultural values inundating our space, has NOT brought any revitalization of the material productive and distributive sectors of the country, has NOT brought any fresh air and life into the governmental direction of the country, and has NOT provided any signs that the British monarch will cease to be Head of State any time soon. So, what full people’s empowerment, what!!?? The PDC is the ONLY party right now in Barbados that is really serious about that for Barbadians.
PDC
Lowdown if only we could clone you!
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True that David….I wish we had other columnists who could write the way he does. As a young man, I am bored by most columns in the Nation written by those who seek to impress with fancy words rather than get to the point. I go online just to read Lowdown alone…reminds me of another person whose articles I bought the Sunday Sun just to educate myself in world events….Mr.Gladstone Holder. Only if we could have cloned these two men.
Technician please don’t forget the late Oliver Jackman. Isn’t it interesting that as a reader you can smell the sincerity and desire to want to make a difference shining through in the works of some writers?
Lowdown in our opinion slips into that class, somewhere at the top.
Oops …sorry about that. He was a class act also (was up too early). When I read these guys, it makes you wonder why we consume ourselves with material things when the greatest rewards one can receive is the satisfaction of knowing we have done good to and for our brothers. What really stands out to me about Lowdown though, is his simplistic way of relating to and living life.
Lowdown is Lowdown and not trying to be anybody else. Lowdown YUH LARGE
not afraid to call a spade a spade unlike a lot of ‘afraid’ people in this society
I agree that people in this society only care about their selfish desires AND THAT THEY ARE NOT PREPARED TO ROCK THE BOAT
Hey David…..Peter Laurie has one in the Sun today that really cracked me up.
The man simply put, knows how to write with full satire. Others may write with a lot of acadamia, hidden themes with technical aspects. Lowdown writes as he intends to, “LOWDOWN” no frills or fuss, just as it is.
Hoadie taught me much about agriculture in general and goats in specific. I was quite lucky to work on his farm. He knew many of my older relatives who had connections to Black Bess plantation so I also got a lesson in history from him. I admire him and his wife for being ‘green’ before it was fashionable. Imagine making your own natural gas from animal poop! I also admire his wife for her patience, he referred to her as ‘first wife’ for most of my attachment with them. He spoke about trading her in for a ‘new model’, but she took it in stride and ‘gently’ reminded him about the age of his model.
Hoadie, I am having serious concerns about crossing the yard and joining your Goat Party, this fellow Thompy like he ain’t ready and I am a man in a hurry,
Keep up the good work, and please stay away from Bizzy, for he got his hands full right now, just keep on giving them hell Hoadie.
Johnnietoobad.
Interesting to head Hoad telling the Coziers to keep their offer to work their plantation which seems to have gone belly up. Maybe the Coziers want to turn Four Square into a race track?
Re: Lowdown. Has he ever used 3 bricks for a stove; cow dung for fuel; kuss kuss grass for matress; tot with handle for cup? I thought he lived in a big able plantation house at Vaucluse or one of them upstairs houses down Fontabelle.
But because he down to earth – slept in a tent or old bus – and makes us laugh maybe he ( and bro Joe) can become an honorary “Black.”
The BU household can’t say it enough times, Dick got balls and if some of the other Columnist and Journalist can give him some support maybe Barbadians maybe guided to see the light. The question which comes to mind is when will the Fontebelle establishment seek to censure Dick?
I expect that the nation’s editors and lawyers go over his articles carefully to avoid lawsuits.
Mr. Hoad is very intelligent and sensible and he knows how far he is allowed to go by the paper. It would be great to really hear his views in a private forum.
He is aware of the things that are important and really matter to Barbadians and it is very sad, that there are not more like-minded social commentators willing to help educate Bajans.
Far better to pick wilts on the sea-rock than kowtow in luxury to Manning and Gonsalves.
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It dont get more Bajan than this lol.
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, cheque at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man’s art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall’n, quite taint their wit.
Shakespeare – Viola, Act III, scene i
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Hoad is like the courtly fool or jester in Shakespeare’s plays, in whom wit and pointed satire accompany low comedy.
great old fontabelle boy or nearly?
Hoad is echoing the thoughts of many Barbadians.When I mentioned that some white Barbadians are thinking and saying the same things we blacks are saying I know many people doubted me.
Hoad you are on the ball with the van loads of Indian children.The Indians are breeding at a tremendous rate in Barbados both those from the continent and the Indo-Guyanese & Indo-Trinidadians.The Indian population is increasing at an increasing rate whereas th black population in Barbados is decreasing at an increasing rate.There are many factors contributing to the decline numbers of blacks in Barbados.(1) our black women folks are putting jobs & careers above having children or only have 1 or 2 children.(2) A vast majority of our black male folks are unable or incapable of producing children as a result of many of them unhealthy due to drug & alcoholic addiction, weak sperm due to malnourishment or incarcerated in prison because of criminal activity.(3) Family Planning is being use as a measure to restrict the black population in Barbados.Family planning it seems is for Black people and not the Indians.
Hoad the sweet Barbados that we grew up in gone and I believe that little could be done to address the situation in a meaningful way.This government has seen the problem and will honestly like to do things to rectify the situation,but the situation is so complex that little will be done to address it in any meaningful way.
I deliberately took a walk through Bridgetown and visited the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal and went into some stores in Bridgetown.I visited Dallas Discount on Roebuck Street and observe quite a few Indo-Guyanese working in that store.I went into Abeds in Swan Street and saw a newly arrived man from the Middle East in management position at that store signing bills.I observed quite a few snackettes and food shops are being operated by Indo-Guyanese and those shops have only Indo-Guyanese working in them.
Prime Minister David Thompson when will your policy of employing Barbadians first be implemented or this is just another mouthful of nothingness spewing from your lips.
Act on your promises or we will act on you and your government.Time has expired on this issue.
Prime Minister David Thompson we Barbadians will not stand idle and see our country being taken over by foreigners we will resist it by any means necessarily.Take heed.
NB Will some one tells those Indo-Guyanese that are running that Heineken shop in Bay Street do not desecrate the Barbados Flag by having a torn,nasty, fade out Barbados Flag flying on the roof of that shop.The Barbados Flag look disgraceful.I want the Barbados Flag remove from that roof in that disgraceful state.
Hoadie, your satirical wit is second to none. You barbadianised an article that the man in the street can understand. You are a literary chef. You concoct past Barbados with today’s Barbados and the final outcome will be a better Barbados.
TO- NEGROMan You might have seen a vanfull of INDIAN children because we look after our children and all might be in one house not scattered all over d island,all from different women
Negroman, I see you have a problem with asians but you see we blacks we allways critercising , it is time we stop with this foolishness.
Once again, this half-witted red-leg sticks his feet in his mouth. FYI low class hoard, tend to your goats and leave the social and economic critiques to those who are most able.
I think Hoad was referring to Chinese when the spoke of a van full of children. Did he not say that they were only allowed ‘one’ in their homeland? So, let’s not get our panties in a bunch dominoes and negroman.
@de gap
Go piss in the air. You could only be a fool.
It’s no mystery why BU and so many of you others idolize Lowdown.
His columns reflect and express your own old-fashioned, reactionary conservative values in a way that you yourselves cannot manage: ie with wit, style and charm.
A topical comparison that you should consider is this:
Think of him as the Bajan (albeit male and much smarter) equivalent of Sarah Palin.
And think of yourselves as the Bajan equivalent of a bunch of small-town hockey-moms!
Criticism is good if we can understand what is being criticized. The BU family will always struggle to interpret a one liner which adds no value. The time used to represent nothing is wasted in a time where time is precious.
You’re referring to my post?
It’s obviously more a light-hearted observation and comparison than a piece of serious criticism.
I’m sure Hoad himself would laugh at being linked to Palin.
You need to lighten up.
Actually we were referring to de gap.
And let me add that while I strongly disagree with Hoad’s (and your) reactionary views, I dissociate myself from the comments of de gap above.
To be crude, simplistic and racially insulting like that makes de gap no better than negroman.
Oh, ok! My bad.
Just proves once again the danger of ass-u-ming…
“Amid a global credit crunch, the Central Bank has eased INTEREST RATES, meaning that Barbadians can look forward to lower mortgage and landing rates – just in time for Christmas.
The Central Bank announced that effective October 20, the minimum rate of INTEREST PAYABLE ON DEPOSITS would be reduced from 4.5 per cent per annum to 4.0 per cent per annum.” Preceding extraction from the Saturday Sun, October 4, 2008
That it took such financial pain afflicting the world financial markets for the Central Bank of Barbados to take such a decision to reduce that form of DAMNING INTEREST RATES at this time is ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY sickening; and so sickening to us – in PDC – that we DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE REASON GIVEN FOR THAT
REDUCTION, AND WHICH IS A REASON THAT IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE CENTRAL BANK IN THAT NEWSPAPER STORY, IS A TRUE REASON THEREFOR. AS IT STANDS, THAT REASON IS A PURE FALLACIOUS ONE!! SIMPLE AS THAT!!
For, we remember that the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados was recently reported as saying that the financial crisis in the US is unlikely to significantly affect Barbados immediately ( Daily Nation, September 25, 2008). What could therefore have happened so quickly between the time the Governor of the Central Bank would have said so and the time the Central Bank decided to lower the relevant stupid INTEREST RATES? WHAT? WHAT?
However, what we do know is that – though decisions and events taking place in the US financial system do sometimes influence decisions and events that take place in the Barbados financial systems – these two systems are indeed seperate and distinct financial systems. They are NOT one and the same, or neither is one a subset of the other!!
Therefore, whereas the sub-prime mortgage crisis is one of the fundamental reasons/causes for the crisis in the US financial system, it and other relevant negative trends/events CANNOT be the reasons/causes for changes in our Barbadian financial system, far less the decision of our Central Bank to reduce THE MINIMUM RATE OF INTEREST PAYABLE ON DEPOSITS.
Nevertheless, even when the Central Bank states that such a lowering of those sickening INTEREST rates is intended to boost the so-called economy and reduce the cost of business via lowering the cost of borroowing, the fact is that this same institution is HARDLY DOING ANYTHING, IF ANY THING AT ALL, in that regard to help stimulate the so-called Barbados economy at this stage or even help Barbados realize the objective of having real average annual GDP growth rates of about 8 – 10 %, at this juncture in the 21 st Century.
Finally, that latter objective is one of the reasons why a future PDC Government shall make sure that ALL INTEREST RATES ARE ABOLISHED IN BARBADOS, so that with such a strategy, policy and ideology of ABOLISHING ALL INTEREST RATES IN BARBADOS, such will, et al, greatly assist in lowering drastically the cost of doing business in Barbados, lowering tremendously the cost of investing in Barbados, enhancing substantially the opportunities for greater diversification of the productive sectors of the country, and significantly reducing the extent of government and private debt in the country – altogether in making sure that Barbados achieves such phenomenal rates of growth and development on a sustained basis.
PDC
interest the MINIMUM RATE ON DEPOSITS minimum
Lowdown this time around is full of it. This land is a lot bigger than a lot of people are letting on. Oops sorry, maybe the agenda is to save the land for immigrants from Europe like at Water Hall. Get it?
PDC
yuh talk too dyam much…