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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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Trudeau promises massive covid stimulus

Canadian Prime Ministers have a fun gambit: when things start to go really badly for them, they "prorogue" (suspend) Parliament, which dissolves all committees, inquiries, etc, until such time as they are ready to reconvene, with a tabula rasa.

Most egregiously, the far-right asshole and climate criminal Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament in the middle of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis in order to avoid a no-confidence vote that would have triggered new elections.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932009_Canadian_parliamentary_dispute

While this DID save Harper's bacon, it also left Canada without a legislature during a global crisis that threatened the nation's entire future. It was a crazed, reckless thing to do.

Canada has a safeguard to prevent this kind of gambit: as a constitutional monarchy, Canadian parliamentary manoeuvres have to receive the Crown's blessing, in the form of assent from the Governor General, the Queen's rep to Canada.

This is the sober, apolitical adult supervision that fans of constitutional monarchies are always banging on about, and then-Governor General Michaëlle Jean completely failed to do her fucking job, leaving Canada without a Parliament during the GFC. She literally had one job.

Proroguing Parliament didn't just save Harper from a no-confidence vote: it also dissolved all the Parliamentary inquiries underway at the time, including the "Afghan detainee transfer" affair, which was investigating Canadian forces' complicity in the torture-murder of POWs.

In many ways, Trudeau is the anti-Harper: a charismatic Liberal who tells refugees they're welcome in Canada, marches with Greta Thunberg, and appoints the first-ever First Nations person to serve as Attorney General .

Truly, there is no policy so progressive that Trudeau won't endorse it...provided he doesn't actually have to make it into policy. Because many of his policies are indistinguishable from Harperism, albeit with a better haircut.

This started before he won the election, when Trudeau (whose father once declared martial law!) whipped his MPs to vote for a human-rights-denying mass surveillance bill, C-51.

Trudeau did so while insisting that the bill was a massive overreach and totally unacceptable, but claiming that the "loyal opposition" should still back it so as not to be accused of being soft on terrorism in the coming election. He promised to repeal it after.

Of course, he didn't.

Trudeau is often compared to Obama, a young and charismatic fellow who makes compromises, sure, but comes through in the clutch.

Tell that to pipeline protesters.

After the Obama administration killed the Transmountain Pipeline - the continent-spanning tube that would make filthy, planet-destroying tar sands profitable enough to bring to market - Trudeau bailed it out, spending billions of federal dollars to keep it alive.

Then, Trudeau - who campaigned on nation-to-nation truth and reconciliation with First Nations - announced that he would shove this toxic tar-sand tube through unceded treaty lands across the breadth of the naiton.

And then he had the AUDACITY to march with Greta Thunberg at the head of a climate march, demanding a change to policies that would see billions dead in the coming century.

HIS OWN policies.

I mean, Trudeau's boosters have a point - Harper NEVER could have pulled that off.

The Harper years were a Trumpian orgy of blatant self-dealing and cronyism.

The Trudeau years, on the other hand...

One of Trudeau's major donors is SNC Lavalin, a crime syndicate masquerading as a global engineering firm (think Halliburton with less morals).

SNC Lavalin had done so much crime that it was on its final notice with the Canadian legal sysem, a probation that it must not violate on penalty of real, big boy federal criminal prosecutions.

Then it did more crimes.

Remember Trudeau's historic appointment of a First Nations woman to the Attorney General's seat? Now was AG Jody Wilson-Raybould's moment to shine.

As Wilson-Raybould began aggressively pursuing these corporate criminals, she started getting calls from Trudeau's office.

For avoidance of doubt, these were not calls of support. They were demands to drop the case and let the SNC Lavalin crime syndicate get off scot-free. Eventually the PM himself called her and demanded that she give his cronies a pass on their repeated criminal actions.

Wilson-Raybould went public, decrying political meddling in the justice system. Trudeau denied everything and began to smear her (Harper had tons of scandals like this, BTW, only the counterpart was usually a rich old white guy, not a First Nations woman).

But Wilson-Raybould had recorded the conversations, and she released the recordings, and proved that Trudeau had lied about the whole thing. Trudeau fired her and kicked her out of the party.

But at least he's not Trump, right? He's the anti-Trump! (Well, except for the pipeline and that time he announced "No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and leave them there").

Remember the Muslim Ban? As Trump was tormenting refugees at the US border, Trudeau tweeted "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada."

Yes, that was awesome. There is no policy so progressive that Trudeau won't endorse it...provided that he never has to do anything to make it happen.

Canada and the US have a "Safe Third Country Agreement" that says that asylum-seekers turned away from the US border can't try again in Canada. To make #WelcomeToCanada more than a hashtag, Trudeau's government would have to suspend that agreement.

Instead, Trudeau's government insisted that under Trump, "the conditions of the Safe Third Country Agreement continued to be met" and thus they would not suspend the agreement and give hearings to those turned away by Trump's border guards.

But at least Trudeau handled the pandemic better than Harper handled the Great Financial Crisis.

No, really, he did!

Mostly.

I mean, unless you were in a nursing home or on a First Nations reservation.

https://www.canadalandshow.com/podcast/an-emergency-season-pandemic/

But still, Trudeau's government did a MUCH better job than the Trump government, or Boris Johnson's Tories. Neither Liberals nor Conservatives will really fight cronyism, climate change or authoritarianism, but there are still substantive differences between them.

But in some ways, they are depressingly similar.

Take corruption.

Long before the plague struck, Canadaland was publishing damning reports on We Charity, a massive, beloved Canadian charitable institution nominally devoted to ending child slavery.

Canadaland's initial reporting on the charity focused on its partnerships with companies that were using child slaves to make their products, but the investigations mushroomed after the charity sent dire legal threats to the news organisation over its coverage.

And then Canadaland founder Jesse Brown found himself smeared by a US dirty-tricks organization that got its start working for GOP politicians, who got a contract to plant editorials criticizing Canadaland's We coverage in small-town US newspapers.

Private eyes started following Brown around, even keeping tabs on his small children. Rather than being intimidated, Brown kept up the pressure on We, which prompted whistleblowers to leak him even more details about the charity's activities.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/03/turnkey-authoritarianism/#we-charity

These included massive, mysterious real-estate holdings, hard-to-excuse criminal investigations of its Kenyan activities, and (here's where I've been going with this all along) GIANT CASH PAYMENTS to Trudeau's family, as well as valuable gifts to his Finance Minister.

And, as with the Wilson-Reybould affair, Trudeau's initial response to this was to simply deny it, calling his accusers liars. But then the scandal kept unspooling, his Finance Minister quit in disgrace, the charity (sort of) folded up and shut down, and Trudeau...

Well, Trudeau prorogued Parliament, shutting down Canada's government in the midst of a crisis that was - unimaginably - even worse than the 2008 crisis that Harper had left the nation rudderless through to avoid his own scandal.

(Again, for constitutional monarchy fans, that's two entirely political proroguings in the midsts of global crises, signed off on by the Queen's supposedly apolitical and sober check on reckless activity)

Shutting down Parliament seems to have rescued Trudeau's government from snap elections, which may well have been won by the Tories, who have resolved their longstanding racist and plutocratic tensions with a new ghoulish nightmare leader:

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/canada-erin-otoole-conservative-party-cpc/

And, as Trudeau has reconvened Parliament, he's promised something genuinely amazing: a massive, national stimulus package meant to keep families, workers and small businesses afloat through the looming second pandemic wave.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-economy/canada-bets-the-farm-on-big-spending-as-second-wave-threatens-economic-recovery-idUSKCN26F1NF

This is something Canada - and the US, for that matter - desperately needs. Canada is monetarily sovereign: it issues its own currency and its debt is in the same currency, meaning it can never run out of money (no more than Apple could ever run out of Itunes gift cards).

The Canadian DOES face constraints on its spending, but they're just not MONETARY constraints - they're RESOURCE constraints. If the Canadian government creates money to buy the same things the private sector is shopping for, there'll be a bidding war, AKA inflation.

But as a new wave of lockdowns and mass illness looms over the country, there's going to be a hell of a lot of things the private sector isn't trying to buy - notably, the labour of the Canadian workforce, millions of whom will be locked indoors through the winter.

An analyst warns that Trudeau's proposal is likely to add CAD30B to the deficit, which is a completely irrelevant fact unless that new money is going to be chasing the same goods that Canadian business and citizens are seeking to buy.

Trudeau has promised to create a national prescription drug plan (a longstanding hole in Canada's national health care system), as well as universal childcare, and he's denounced austerity as a response to the crisis.

There's a part of me that is very glad to see this. My family and friends are in Canada, after all, and if Trudeau lives up to his promise, he will shield them from the collapse we're seeing in the USA.

But that is a BIG if. Trudeau isn't Harper. He's more charismatic, he's got better hair, and he says much, much better things than Harper.

However, when the chips are down, Trudeau out-Harpers Harper.

Mass surveillance legislation. Corruption scandals. Lying about corruption scandals. Bailing out the pipeline. "No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and leave them there." Abandoning asylum-seekers to Trump's lawless regime.

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action." It would be pretty naive to assume that merely because Trudeau has promised to do the right thing, that he will do the right thing.

Indeed, if history is any indicator, the best way to predict what Trudeau will do is to assume that it will be the OPPOSITE of whatever he promises.

I won't lie. I felt a spark of hope when I read Trudeau's words.

But hope is all I've got - and it's a far cry from confidence.

Or relief.

#pluralistic

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waitedforgarridebs · 6 years

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Fix-It #3: The "Golden Days" of series 3

And they lived happily ever after – until they didn't

But that's series 3 for you… the wheel turns, nothing is ever new.

Because, at first, Mycroft only needs to make sure that Sherlock doesn't die in Eastern Europe…

… and then, Mycroft only needs to make sure that Sherlock doesn't die in Eastern Europe.

This is part #6 of the "Game Theory" series (x).

Project Moriarty is dead. Long live project Moriarty.

(And, yes, Andrew’s character is probably still alive too; it's not like anyone of importance to the plot ever really died in this show…)

Project Moriarty (x) had to "die", because it had become too dangerous to continue – at least under that name. But the idea was too good to scrap it entirely, so I'm fairly convinced that business did more or less continue as usual (after all, we did have someone called "Moran" who fits the description of a suitable successor, but more of that later).

Given that the actual "network" of criminals believed James Moriarty to be a real person / consulting criminal, there's no way anyone of them would have swallowed that someone called "Richard Brook" had only impersonated the criminal mastermind.

^This whole story about Sherlock Holmes inventing Moriarty and killing that actor? Surely, the criminal underground must know there's something fishy about that story; for them, James Moriarty, the consulting criminal, was real. (x)

And yet, Moriarty's "old acquaintances" would not be stupid enough to get themselves into trouble by setting the record straight; so, the rest of the world continues to believe Sherlock Holmes was a fraud who invented his own nemesis for the next two years.

Until one day, suddenly...

… nOW ISN'T THAT A TURNIP

Richard Brook did indeed prove to be the creation of James Moriarty, and it was Sherlock Holmes who had been the real victim in this game the entire time.

I do wonder what did cause them to reopen that investigation and now actually find the necessary proof for "the truth", because, let's be honest: It's been two years. Everyone's gotten on with their lives. And Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty are both putrefying away in their respective holes in the ground somewhere.

And only very few people know that this actually isn't true.

Sherlock Holmes is still alive – and:

Many Happy Returns

Having faked his own death, Sherlock has been busy "taking down Moriarty's network" to make sure that no revenge is wrecked upon the people he loves. Very careful not to attract any attention to himself (and the fact that he is still alive), he is not taking credit for any of the cases he gets himself involved in, and generally tries to keep a very low profile.

But even the great Sherlock Holmes can't vanish into thin air completely, no matter how hard he might have tried – and if even Anderson, of all people, can trace his steps...

… then so can Mycroft.

It may be a disgrace putting one's little brother into danger like that (x), but Mycroft of all people would have made sure to keep a weather eye on Sherlock during these two years.

(And on the people dear to Sherlock as well…)

Which is why it's no surprise that Mycroft knew exactly when it was time for him to "wade in", because Sherlock had gotten himself into serious trouble – again.

But how could Mycroft justify doing all this legwork himself in order to save his sibling, whom he supposedly does not care about?

There will always come a time when we need Sherlock Holmes

And that time has finally come.

Because, obviously, the great Sherlock Holmes is the only person able to prevent a terrorist attack on Parliament

An attack which Mycroft and his people have solid information on, because some brave agent apparently gave his life in order to give them a very cryptic, but vital clue. (x)

An attack which is so imminent, that there is still enough time for Mycroft to track down Sherlock, who's currently deep undercover somewhere in Eastern Europe, and smuggle his way up some military ranks in Serbia to get his brother back home.

(It’s not like Mycroft doesn’t have the whole MI6 at his disposal and therefore could have chosen any other agent who was already in London for this job...)

And there's even enough time for Sherlock to shave, and to be properly welcomed back amongst all his friends, solve some very unrelated cases together with Molly, play deduction with Mycroft, meet up with train guy, and save John from a random bonfire-

… it's not quite adding up, is it?

Sometimes a deception is so audacious, so outrageous that you can’t see it even when it’s staring you in the face.

Maybe even a bit… too specific?

Let's look at how the penny dropped for Sherlock: He thinks he finally has figured out the true meaning of Mycroft's oh-so-valuable piece of intel, and that it was literally a secret message disguised as a stupid pun…

… when actually this clue – on its own! – wouldn't have done anything at all to help Sherlock solve this case!

What did get him to draw the correct conclusions were two other things which someone poked Sherlock's nose into:

(Yeah, I did mean the "nose" part quite literally.)

What a coincidence that a completely unrelated Chullo left by one of Sherlock's apparently random clients leads Sherlock to being shown the decisive bit of security footage which features one of the people he was surveilling in regards to the terrorist attack finally (!) behaving suspiciously, and conveniently enough tells him all he needs to know about the bomb and where to find it.

Not. (x)

All things considered, Sherlock ended up being suspiciously successful in this matter despite lacking most of the necessary skills or experience needed for fighting terrorism; after all, things like that don't usually come within the province of a private detective.

But obviously, the great Sherlock Holmes is the only person who can prevent a terrorist attack on Parliament.

A terrorist attack that was literally set up for Sherlock Holmes to prevent, that is

And, yes, the person responsible for setting up this "fake" terrorist attack and assigning Sherlock with the mission of preventing it is obviously Mycroft – he is the only person with means and motives to put that bomb in the tunnel under Parliament.

But why would Mycroft do this?

In his defense: He never meant for the bomb to actually explode.

He just meant to frighten everyone. A bit.

Looking at the more political motivations behind this scheme, we need to talk about the anti-terrorism Bill – which the House is supposed to vote on in an all-night sitting on the day that coincides both with Guy Fawkes Day and the planned date for the terrorist attack.

The "most important vote of this parliament" – and it's about to fall through miserably.

Which is no surprise, really. Looking at what such a bill might entail…

… it's obvious that people aren't quite happy about the government trying to establish such a thing. They don't see the safety and protection as a benefit if it's restricting their privacy like this – and, after all, the threat doesn't seem all too big at the moment; those politicians surely are exaggerating (as always). Are such measures really necessary?

Well... pulling off a (fake) terrorist attack aimed at one of Britain's most iconic landmarks, literally on the day of the sitting Guy Fawkes Day, should be intimidating and sensational enough to convince people that a bit more surveillance might actually be a good thing, because how else could such attacks possibly be prevented (in the future)?

There can't always conveniently be a hero / consulting detective at hand...

Sherlock needed to be considered a hero, so Mycroft made him a dragon to slay

Evidently, Sherlock saving the day makes for a great story, and now completely restores his reputation in no time.

Sherlock Holmes is back from the dead, and the hero again

The way things played out, no one except Sherlock could have found this bomb – because Mycroft couldn't have nudged any other agent so close to the solution of this case that they were literally already tripping over it–

... at least not without them noticing that there might be some ulterior (dubious) motive behind Mycroft feeding them all these incredibly specific puns clues.

(Also, any other agent would have become hella suspicious about the bomb having an Off switch, but more about that later.)

By assigning Sherlock with this mission, Mycroft made use of the fact that he is Sherlock's emotional blind spot.

Mycroft is Sherlock's Big Brother – knowing things is what he does

And Sherlock would never suspect Mycroft of pulling off something as shady as a faked attempt to blow up Parliament; or, at least, he would never believe to be "stupid" enough to actually fall victim to Mycroft's manipulations himself.

Caring is not an advantage, indeed

But Mycroft did not assign Sherlock with this mission in order to prove that he's only the stupid little brother who can be played like a fiddle.

Mycroft needed Sherlock to solve a Big, Sensational case right after his "resurrection" in order to completely restore his reputation, and to prove that there will always come a time when they need Sherlock Holmes.

Because needing Sherlock Holmes was the essential premise for his comeback.

And Mycroft managed to come up with a plan that would not only serve his own political goals, but also cleverly hide the actual reason why he did all the legwork to rescue his little brother from Serbia.

But if Mycroft cared so much about his little brother, why would he put him into such a "dangerous" situation after literally just saving him from being beaten and tortured?

Let me ask you a counter question:

Why was there an Off switch?

Ehm…….. no.

A transport lock or something similar, yes, I totally support this – when you go through the trouble of making a bomb and picking the place you want to blow up, you really wouldn't want the bomb to explode prematurely – but once the thing is in place, and activated, REMOTELY (!), simply flicking an easily accessible switch on the thing itself should not be enough to switch off a bomb the size of a train carriage.

What even is bomb disposal, literally anyone can use a goddamn switch!

It is ridiculous, and it doesn't (seem to) make any sense.

Unless if the bomb never was meant to actually explode.

A bomb in a tunnel directly under the House on the day Parliament plans to vote on the anti-terrorism Bill, which just happens to be November 5th… this whole thing could only be more Guy Fawkes if it was bound to fail all along–

Oh.

^Lord Moran, super terrorist.

Looking at the blatant "subtext" of him being the replacement of Jim Moriarty, i.e. the scapegoat for all of the project's machinations, he's possibly just there in order to remind us that even if "Moriarty" is dead, the project isn't. There are just different players now.

So, let's move on and talk a bit about more Sherlock's role in this play – and, more importantly, how Mycroft is a master at exploiting Sherlock's weakness.

Because only Sherlock Holmes is stupid enough to believe that an Off switch on a bomb is clever

He finds a bomb that happens to have an Off switch, which in itself is very unusual, and yet Sherlock doesn't stop and doubt it for a moment. Quite the opposite. The Off switch is there, it must have been put there for a reason, so it has to mean something; it has to be clever. Why could it be clever? Oh, obviously: If anything goes wrong, it's a way for the clever terrorists to make sure they don't blow themselves up. How clever.

(I mean, another method could be to remote control the bomb and safely activate it from your hotel room while you're sitting on your bed all comfy, watching the news on the telly, but what do I know…)

But since Sherlock believes the terror alert to be legit, because Mycroft has solid information that it will happen, and because Mycroft assigned him with this mission, of course the bomb is an actual threat.

Therefore, there can’t be anything fishy about that Off switch, either.

And it definitely wasn’t put there so that

Sherlock would be able to successfully deactivate it – all on his own,

and therefore not only not be blown up,

but also be able to take all the credit for doing so himself, and therefore be the hero of this story.

</sarcasm>

The dragon is slain, and finally all is well

Sherlock is safe and back home, and with Moriarty being "dead" and his entire network "dismantled" – by the great Sherlock Holmes himself – there's no one left to take revenge for their boss's death on Sherlock or his loved ones.

The reputation of the detective who died in disgrace two years ago also is 100% restored, and he's happy to pick up where he left and solve crimes together with John – and Mary.

Also, there's a wedding coming up, and love is amazing, fluffy clouds and little birds are amazing (x) – but that's for another story.

The "Golden Days" of series 3 – when everything was fine, and Mycroft finally didn't have to Worry about his little brother anymore.

Until... that happened:

And that …

… and … that.

*clears throat*

Oh, Sherlock… What have you done?

A cold-blooded murder in front of a dozen cameras and witnesses is quite something else than an alleged murder / double "suicide" on a secluded rooftop.

Even for Mycroft Holmes, this is going to be very hard to "fix".

Because now, Sherlock actually is a murderer.

But he will fix it.

Like a proper big brother.

Note: In this post, I was partly redoing a much older meta of mine, "Why There Was An Off Switch" (x), but now having moved on from M-Theory;

Mycroft is not UNDER Moriarty’s thumb – Mycroft IS Moriarty’s thumb (x).

Up next: Fix-it #4

Link to part #7 (x). /// will be added later

Follow @the-game-theory or me myself for updates.

Why is the series called “Game Theory”? (x)

Thanks again to @mollydobby; the last-minute adjustments on this one were a bit crazy... ♥ (but so worth it).

Tagging time!

@elephant-in-the-bloom @may-shepard @wiscolina @devoursjohnlock @sarahthecoat @wibblywobblybowtie @tehanulilac @violetvernet @etherealweekes @etoileetiolee @thewarriorprincessinthefield @shylockgnomes @deathbycorpse

If you’d also like to be tagged, tell me!

#sherlock #sherlock meta #meductions #mykey #the game theory #myh #lord moran #richard brook #jm #MARY WHOMST #teh #mhr

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thechasefiles · 5 years

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 15/10/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Tuesday, October 15th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

WORKING WONDERS – Government has performed “virtual wonders” to manage the country’s economy while struggling to stabilise key sectors including transportation and sanitation, says Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Amid growing criticism from opposition parties and some members of the general public, Mottley used her platform at the St Michael West nomination meeting yesterday evening to defend Government’s stewardship. Mottley suggested the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) who last week gave Government a failing grade for its leadership of the country was in no position to judge efforts over the last 16 months to stabilise the country. “This party has performed virtual wonders over the course of the last 16 months to stabilise this country. Let us be clear about it. It has not been easy and those who want to talk about report cards need to find a card and report on themselves first,” she said, while addressing party faithful at the St Leonard’s Secondary School. Mottley admitted the country’s economic recovery has not been easy, but Government had “stemmed the tide”. While the PM did not speak to specific economic policies, she pointed to the stability of the Barbados dollar as a major stride. “Nobody talks now in Barbados about the value of the dollar because they have taken it as a given that we have saved it…but you do not lose a decade and recover it in one or two years,” she added. “Without the money to purchase as a Government, we first had to stabilise the country, because if you didn’t stabilise the economy, the bleeding would continue and the value of the Barbados dollar would have been lost. Once we stabilised, the next duty would have been to set about looking for the money that they (DLP) did not leave.” The Prime Minister then took aim at the numerous critics of Government’s management of transportation and sanitation, stressing that seven new garbage trucks would soon be cleared from the Bridgetown Port and another 12 were on the way. She also lauded the Transport Board under the chairmanship of Ian Gooding-Edgehill for keeping the ailing bus company afloat with limited resources and promised the much-needed machinery would soon be on the way. “I want us to get order and regularity as soon as possible and that is what we are doing. In the absence of the buses being delivered, I want to thank the Chairman and board of the Transport Board for going beyond the call of duty to get the bus numbers back up to over 80 on an average day in this country, from the near 40s where we found it as a result of the last government’s behaviour,” she added. Mottley also promised Government would be increasing the number of garbage skips in densely populated communities to help ease pressure on the SSA amid the shortage of resources. Last week DLP president Verla DePeiza gave the Mottley administration a failing grade over its first 500 days in office. She said that thus far the Government had only succeeded in heaping more social hardship on the backs of Barbadians with only the “smoke and mirrors” of foreign reserves, propped up on borrowed money, to show for it. (BT)

MIA’S REMINDER: PUT PEOPLE FIRST – Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is reminding her parliamentary and Cabinet colleagues that the people must come first, and they must spend time with them. Speaking to the party faithful Sunday night at St Leonard’s Boys’ School after businessman Chris Gibbs won a nomination race in the St Michael West branch, she said the 81-year-old Barbados Labour Party (BLP) had not achieved success because its members were the “masters of policy, or that we can lead and handle management issues”. “We have come to this point first and foremost because we care and because we put people at the centre of what we are doing,” she emphasised. Stating she opened an early child care school in her St Michael North East constituency before heading to the meeting, the Prime Minister said her constituents, whom she has represented for more than 30 years, made “the difference on a day-to-day basis”. (DN)

ZERO EXTRAVAGANCE FROM GOVERNMENT – Thousands of dollars in taxpayers’ money being spent on overseas trips for high-ranking members of the Mia-Mottley administration is money well spent, the Prime Minister has declared. During Sunday evening’s well attended and widely broadcast meeting of St Michael West Barbados Labour Party constituency, Mottley sought to dispel any notions that members of her government were using the money to live luxuriously. “I am not travelling first class, I am not staying in any Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons or Shangri-La. In fact they [Government ministers] laugh at me and tell me that I have them living very basic. But that is because it is not about luxury, it is about giving Barbados the best possible chance and this Government will remain focused to do that which the Democratic Labour Party did not do in the last decade,” Mottley said. Instead, she described the trips as absolutely necessary to mend the country’s reputation after the DLP administration’s 2018 collapse. “This country’s name and reputation have been driven into the ground by the Democratic Labor Party and Freundel Stuart and no amount of letter writing or emails or phone calls would cause people to believe that Barbados has a different Government or Barbados is back or that Barbados deserves to be trusted again,” she explained. “Too many times in the last 17 months, I have heard people tell us that Barbados just was not interested and Jerome [the Minister of Foreign Affairs] can tell you.” “Up to last [Saturday] night, he [Walcott] reported to me from a trip out of Italy. The Italians put money there for the whole Caribbean to use and there was no response from the Barbados government before, to the point where people felt we were no longer interested.” During her time in office, the PM, members of her Cabinet and diplomatic staff have taken numerous trips to address international organisations in North America and Europe calling for greater action on climate change among other issues affecting small developing countries. Government delegations have also visited Canada and the U.S to promote Government’s 2020 We Gatherin’ campaign and have gone as far as the North African nation of Morocco to forge deeper ties. Mottley explained that in a world of fake news, it was not enough to simply communicate via Internet platforms because it was necessary to represent the country with a human face. “You have to go and you have to shake hands and build networks and work with people to give us the best chance that we can get for this country and that is what we have been doing. If the travel is necessary, we do it,” Mottley said. “So even when travel takes place, there is no extravagance. If you are on a plane a Saturday or Sunday, the meeting is the Monday and you are back on the plane on Tuesday or Wednesday.” (BT)

LOWE ON THE ATTACK – Former Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe has come out swinging against charges that the $28 million building earmarked as the new Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) headquarters is not fit for use. And he has also challenged anyone who has evidence of corruption in his ministry, to take it to the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office. Lowe told a meeting at his constituency office in Chancery Lane, Christ Church, on Sunday evening that at the end of construction of the five-storey structure at Vaucluse, St Thomas, “an engineering company signed off on the building”. The former Christ Church East Member of Parliament said the reason the building was not opened before the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) lost the General Election in May 2018 was because “someone who I am not naming” did not want the Dems to open it. (DN)

JOY FOR 4000 – Thousands of public servants who have been in temporary positions for at least three years, and who have clean records, will soon get their letters of appointment. This was promised yesterday by Prime Minister Mia Mottley at a meeting of the tripartite Social Partnership. The move, expected to affect at least 4 000 public officers, has already started with nurses. About 200 of the health professionals have received the first part of their notification in the two-step process. A similar procedure will be adopted for qualified Government workers across the board. President of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Akanni McDowall, was cock-a-hoop about the decision, since that union had placed the appointment of public officers on the front burner for the past decade. (DN)

DISGRACEFUL – One outspoken union leader is crying shame on companies that continue to apply for work permits to fill positions that he believes could be easily filled from the local talent pool, calling it nothing but a disgrace. However, one human resources specialist says the situation is “two-fold” and in some cases warrant it, specifically if the specialist requirements for the roles are not satisfied by the applicants. The issue came to the fore again after one North American club-style retailer, Cost U Less, advertised recently that it had received “no suitable responses” to its advertisement for the position of store manager. “It is our intention to submit an application for a non-national to fill the position,” it went on to say, adding that anyone who objected to the granting of a work permit should respond to the Chief Immigration Officer by October 31, 2019. Stating that it was also a common practice in the tourism sector, General Secretary of the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU) Senator Caswell Franklyn described the move as “nonsense”, while dismissing the notion that no suitable candidate could be found locally. “You are not running a hospital or a specialist care institution, it is a supermarket where you are buying and selling. Barbados has been buying and selling since inception,” Franklyn argued. “What has happened, these people invest in Barbados . . . and they believe that they can bring in their friends and families, some of whom are not even skilled themselves. I have one case in particular on the south coast where they wanted a general manager and they advertised for one and applied for a work permit and the immigration department said no. The former government got persuaded and gave them a concession so they would give them for three years but train somebody for that time. Coming up to the three years they fired the understudy so then they could apply again because they don’t have any understudy. It is a scam and we fall for it for whatever reason I don’t know,” he said. Franklyn told Barbados TODAY the national employment policy was flawed and needed tightening up. Companies are required to advertise a position locally and should they not find a suitably qualified individual to fill the post, the company then applies for a work permit so that they could hire someone from overseas. However, Franklyn said “It is not about finding skills it is about employing their unemployable relatives who can’t find jobs overseas.” “That is what is happening especially in the tourism industry. A few Bajans get managerial jobs but at these hotels more so than anybody else, Bajans can only get to a certain level no matter what skills they have,” said Franklyn. However, President of the Human Resources Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) Brittany Brathwaite told Barbados TODAY that in some cases there was merit to some companies having to go outside to seek talent for some positions. (BT)

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR ST MICHAEL WEST – The resounding victory for businessman Christopher Gibbs in the nomination to represent the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in the St Michael West constituency, augers well for the chances of the ruling party to retake the seat in the next election says well-respected pollster and political scientist, Peter Wickham. This morning Wickham told Barbados TODAY that it was a good sign for the BLP that they were able to replace Joseph Atherley as quickly as they did, after he left the Government benches shortly after the May 2018 general elections. He contended that Atherley’s departure had not impacted on the base of the BLP but instead his presence within the political landscape of the constituency was an ominous sign for the Democratic labour Party (DLP), who are yet to name a candidate. “As for the outlook, it is quite good for the BLP at this stage. The reality is that the constituency voted overwhelmingly for the BLP in the last election. My sense is that Atherley will lose all of the support he had in the last election. When he defected, he didn’t move with any kind of base, so my sense is that Gibbs is very well-placed when the next election is called. In the meantime, he must carry the standard in the constituency and carry the persons there that identify with the BLP,” said Wickham. He added, “When you have a split in the vote it affects the least dominant political force. In this case, the least dominant political force is the DLP. My sense is that any split vote that Atherley can carry will not affect the BLP and the fact that he is a former member of the party is irrelevant. The DLP is going to be under threat by Atherley and it is interesting that they have not yet even named a candidate.” Gibbs scored a landslide victory against his only rival Steven Leslie, getting 360 to Leslie’s 50 votes, when the ballots were tallied at the St Leonard’s Boys School on Sunday night. Wickham contended that the margin of Gibbs’ victory was indicative of the work which he has been putting in on the ground and was in no way a slight on the quality of Leslie’s challenge. “I don’t think the outcome was a huge surprise. I am not going to say the better man won because they were two high-quality candidates and I think it is a credit to the BLP that they were able to pull together two candidates of this calibre and to be able to replace Atherley in such a short space of time. It has just been just over 500 days and already we have a replacement,” he pointed out. He further noted, “I am guessing he was more organised on the ground and ultimately that is what made the difference. I think the margin of victory communicates the level of work that he has been doing in the constituency by registering members and activating the base of the party.” (BT)

JOB#1 FOR GIBBS – The number one objective of newly nominated Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate Christopher Gibbs is the eradication of ‘idle hands’ among youth in the constituency of St Michael West. During the nomination meeting on Sunday night, Gibbs described the journey to his 360-55 vote victory over Stephen Leslie as a result of the abandonment of St. Michael West by its sitting Member of Parliament Bishop Joseph Atherley who crossed the floor shortly after the 2018 general elections. After General Secretary of the party Senator Dr Jerome Walcott made the final announcement, Gibbs revealed his campaign was motivated in part by his family’s legacy of service in the community. “I am honoured and humbled by this moment that you have chosen me to represent you under the banner of the BLP for the next election. I promise that I will not forsake you,” he told hundreds gathered at the St Leonard’s Boys’ School. “My grandfather, grandmother, great grandfather and great-grandmother are right there in Westbury Cemetery. They aren’t going anywhere and I am not going anywhere either. You guys have suffered for ten years with bad representation and then for one with none. I saw that my people were hurting and that is why I felt I had to hit the ground running even though I hadn’t been selected yet,” Gibbs told his large audience. While he will have to face the polls at the next general election to have a chance at representing the constituency in parliament, Gibbs revealed his number one goal would be finding employment for the youth and creating more opportunities for talented athletes through sponsorship. This he believes is the key to erasing many of the problems facing young people in the constituency. “I believe that once we find greater opportunities for our youth, this will curb the idleness and as we all know, idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” he said, adding his team would be working closely with local businesses for assistance in providing opportunities. “Local businesses cannot lament the ills of our society without giving back. So I will be working with them to help provide those opportunities for our youth. I want to see those young boys coming out of school with certificates and I will provide workshops to help those students succeed in the real world. We have a wealth of talent in St. Michael West. I have seen so many talented athletes who just want somebody to believe in them and give them a chance.” De-bushing, garbage removal and pit toilet eradication have also been identified by Gibbs as areas of concern based on his interaction with people living in St. Michael West. “I am very invested in seeing your sons, your daughters, your grandchildren and your great grans succeed in life. The matriarchs and patriarchs of this community cannot be forgotten. They have worked too hard and they are the pillars of this community. Sometimes their welfare cheques have to stretch far because there’s a lot of unemployment in their households and we’ve got to fix that because we want them to live out their golden years.” (BT)

UNDAUNTED – Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley says he is undaunted by an apparent groundswell of support for the man chosen to replace him as the Barbados Labour Party candidate in St Michael West. On Sunday businessman Christopher Gibbs scored a landslide victory against his only rival Steven Leslie, getting 360 to Leslie’s 50 votes, during the party’s internal nomination process, to determine the replacement for Atherley, who had defected to the Opposition bench shortly after the general election in May 2018. This afternoon Atherley made it clear that he has every intention of contesting the seat under the banner of the People’s Development Party (PDP) whenever elections are called, and he was confident that he still has the support of the people. “I lead this great party and this wonderful group of men. I have not seen or heard of anything that should indicate to me that I should not run. Unless the Lord above says to me in clear terms that I should not run in the next elections, Joseph Atherley will be running in the next election. I am still the duly elected representative of St Michael West,” said Atherley. He further noted, “The Barbados Labour Party has done what they are entitled to do, which is to elect someone to represent the party’s interest on the ground in that part of St Michael. They have not elected anybody to replace me, the election to replace me is yet to be announced and determined and when that happens, we will see what the people have to say”. The Opposition Leader made the confident declaration during a press conference this afternoon to launch the candidacy of Andre Cave, who will be contesting the Christ Church West constituency and Paul Gibson, who will be contesting St Michael North West. Atherley, went through the BLP nomination process in the leadup to the 2018 elections unopposed, then went on to defeat the DLP incumbent Michael Carrington by more than 2,000 votes. This afternoon Atherley suggested that he was not the least bit bothered by the support which Gibbs seemed to be getting from the very base, which pundits say he would need to retain if he is to successfully defend his seat in the next elections. He made it clear that his focus was instead on serving his constituents as their duly elected representative during the remainder of his tenure. “I don’t know of any challenge and there have been margins of victory which have been equal to that or larger to that in other races. When I came to St Michael West, Branford Taitt (of the Democratic Labour Party) was winning the constituency by over 2000 votes. So, I have not paid attention to any challenge coming from any particular individual. I was elected by the people of St Michael West to represent them and I will continue to do that and look after their interest daily as well as others who are not of my constituency but who come to me from near and far,” he stressed. (BT)

PSV OPERATORS FACING MORE REGULATION – As Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operators and owners eagerly await the outcome of deliberations over the controversial five-minute rule, stakeholders have also been put on notice that even greater regulation would be coming to the sector. Chairman of the Transport Authority Ian Estwick, while addressing call-in programme, Down to Brass Tacks, declared the authority’s first priority was to provide a safe and reliable system for commuters. While refusing to go into detail, he revealed much needed changes had been made to existing legislation governing the transport sector, which would allow authorities more power to “rein in” the sector. “You’re dealing with a sector that has been self regulated for the last 30 years. We have to act within the law and we will soon see some decisions made and there are not going to satisfy everybody,” Estwick said. “I had to look at the legislation and there were some things in there that prevented the Transport Authority from doing what they should be doing, but those issues have been resolved and I now see that we have the way clear to rein in the sector.” The night before, Transport Authority officials and PSV owners were locked in an extended discussion about what the future should hold for an unsettling rule, which requires operators to leave the Constitution River Terminal after spending just five minutes in the loading bay. After nearly three hours of deliberations, stakeholders were unable to come to consensus, leaving transport officials to forge a compromise later this week from numerous suggestions made. Nevertheless, Estwick stressed members of the travelling public would be prioritised. “The people who own the PSVs and who operate them have a different priority. That is profit and I understand that. There has to be somewhere the two can meet and coexist and that is what we are trying to do. “Admittedly, we are playing the hand that we were dealt. We were given the [Constitution River] terminal and we have to try to make it work as it is. I cannot understand if you have seven vehicles waiting, how you could expect one vehicle to load for 30 minutes,” he argued Some of the suggestions offered at Sunday’s meeting included an extra five, ten, 15 and even 20-minutes to the five minutes now allowed. While a decision has not been made, officials from the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) and the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO) reported there were pleased with the level of dialogue facilitated by the meeting. The deliberations occurred just a week after dozens of conductors and drivers walked off the job in frustration over the five-minute rule. Since then, operators have been allowed to remain in the loading bays for ten minutes between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. when business is slow. (BT)

WESTBURY DEATH PUZZLE – The death of 60-year-old soil technician Stephen McDonald Cadogan of 3rd Avenue, Holders Land, Brandons, St Michael has left his 71-year-old girlfriend Rosaline James with a broken heart. A grieving James told Barbados TODAY that when she saw Cadogan’s body lying on a grave in Westbury Cemetery early Sunday morning, she reconciled herself to the fact that their 38-year relationship had come to an abrupt and most unwanted end. But also shocked and saddened at Cadogan’s death, are his co-workers at Westbury Cemetery. Up to yesterday, the men and women in the cemetery were struggling to figure out what could have led to the death of the technician who was nicknamed Caterpillar because of his ability to make breaking rocks look as simple as possible. “He did not deserve to die like that. I did not deserve to see him dead like that. We were together for a very long time. We had a good relationship. It was really a good relationship. He wanted for us to get married, but I wasn’t so interested in marriage, because I know what marriage is,” James said, as she summed up her and Cadogan’s relationship. Around 6:15 a.m. police received a call from a woman who said she had just come across the lifeless body of an elderly man in the cemetery. Cadogan’s identity was confirmed by close family members who visited the scene. He reportedly had wounds to his body. James explained that the last time she saw Cadogan was at 7 p.m. on Saturday when he left home, but did not say where he was headed. “It is so strange. I don’t know what happened between that time and the last time I saw him on Saturday night,” she said. While calling on members of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) to do all in their power to find whoever is responsible for her partner’s death, James declared that Cadogan was not a troublemaker. James said that Cadogan was well loved in the community because of his willingness to always lend a helping hand. “The neighbours are shocked. We are all just shocked because he was nice to everybody. Nobody can say a bad word about him around this place. If anybody in the neighbourhood ask him to do anything for them, he always willing. “He was someone who would go to work and come back home. His friends I know about was the people that working in the cemetery there with him,” James said. James said Cadogan had two adult daughters. The atmosphere at the Westbury Cemetery was a sombre one when Barbados TODAYvisited the area this morning. According to one soil technician who said he was unwilling to gave his name, “everybody in here just shocked by this incident and wondering what went wrong”. Barbados TODAY understands that Cadogan worked on Saturday. “I ain’t only shocked, I real shocked because Caterpillar ain’t no man that use to trouble nobody, or he wasn’t no man that would look for no noise or trouble. “All Stephen used to do is look for work and do he thing. He was somebody that everybody like. If you got rock to cut you just got to call Stephen and he would come and cut that rock and make it look so easy,” the worker said. The worker said he noticed that Cadogan was not his usual self when he turned up for work last Friday. “He didn’t look himself. He was getting on like something wrong with he. Stephen was getting on different. “He was getting on like he feel something happening or something will happen. But I sorry about the way he went down and I hope that they find who responsible for it,” the co-worker added. Workers said that the grave where Cadogan’s body was found was the same location he would spend most of his downtime at work. Police have launched an investigation and were asking anyone who can provide information regarding the circumstances surrounding his death to contact the police emergency at 211, Central Police Station at 430-7676 or any police station. (BT)

EXPERT WITNESS – The pathologist who performed the post-mortem on Antonio Harewood, today revealed that he died from a stab wound to his upper left chest. That was the evidence given by consultant pathologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Dr David Gaskin as the murder trial of Pedro Ellis continued in the No.3 Supreme Court. The 38-year-old Ellis of Morris Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael, is accused of murdering Harewood on May 5, 2013. Queen’s Counsel Larry Smith along with Kashka Haemans and Safiya Moore are representing Ellis, while Crown Counsels Oliver Thomas and Rudolph Burnett are prosecuting. The matter is being heard by Justice Carlisle Greaves. Dr Gaskin was deemed an expert witness after revealing that he had performed approximately 1500 post mortems since 1997. He told the court there was a 4×2.2 cm oval shaped, gaping wound to the upper left of Harewood’s chest, just superior to the lateral end of the clavicle. Dr Gaskin said the wound was left to right and was associated with an injury to the external jugular vein and trachea. He revealed that blood was also found in his nostrils, stomach and airway. However, under cross-examination from Queen’s Counsel Smith, Dr Gaskin admitted he was trained as a general pathologist and not a forensic pathologist. He also admitted to the court that in some international countries such as the US, England and Australia, forensic pathologists dealt with post mortems as it related to criminally suspicious deaths. Despite that, Dr Gaskin said he was accustomed to performing post mortems in those scenarios but would request another opinion if needed. He agreed that the “situation in Barbados” was not ideal, as they were a lack of specialist pathologists on the island. The pathologist also acknowledged that in the post mortem document he did not record the deceased’s weight; had taken no photographs of the body and had included no diagrams. Also taking to the stand today was the deceased’s cousin Crystal King. King, who resides in 3rd Avenue, Parris Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael, told the court she was on the pasture where Ellis was playing football when his wife came to him. She said from the manner in which she approached him she could tell something had happened. King recalled that after Ellis and his wife left the field she followed them. She said Ellis went home and then proceeded to the track by a four cross. She said from the top of the track she could see straight down Parris Gap, where she saw the accused and his son. King said she saw Ellis with a white-handled knife in his right hand and a big rock in the other, while his son had two big rocks. Shortly after, the witness said she heard the sound of big rocks hitting a paling and she turned around and went through Thorne’s Gap, then through a track which led to 4th Avenue and then 3rd Avenue, where she saw her cousin lying down dead. However, under cross-examination by Smith, King admitted that in her police statement given a day after the incident occurred, she told police she saw Ellis with a brown-handled knife. But she maintained that she told the police she had seen him with a white-handled knife at that time and was surprised when she looked at the statement to see something else. King also admitted to the court that she had not seen Ellis go home after leaving the football field. The trial will continue on October 19. (BT)

SIMMONS GETS COACHING NOD – Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed the appointment of former West Indies player, Phil Simmons as the head coach of the West Indies senior men’s team for a period of four years, as well as the appointment of three new selection panels. Phil Simmons was confirmed as the head coach during a meeting of the CWI Board of Directors today, following the conclusion of a short but intensive recruitment process. The Board had made it clear prior to the start of the recruitment process in September that “persons without West Indian heritage need not apply.” Simmons served previously for a short period as head coach of the West Indies senior men’s team, during which he coached the team to the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup title, following which he was controversially dismissed. He served since as the head coach of Afghanistan, who he helped qualify for the first time for the 2019 ICC ODI CWC. His tenure as head coach of Ireland saw them improve their ICC rankings and qualify for all major ICC events. Simmons’ latest coaching success came just two days ago after he coached the Barbados Tridents to the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League title with an impressive victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Saturday’s Final. “Bringing Phil Simmons back is not just righting a past wrong, but I am confident that CWI has chosen the right man for the job at the right time. I want to also thank the very talented Floyd Reifer for the hard work he put in while he was the interim coach,” CWI president Ricky Skerritt said. CWI’s director of cricket Jimmy Adams said he was pleased with the appointment. “I am happy after a very robust recruitment process at the appointment of Phil to the role of head coach. I have no doubt that Phil brings the requisite leadership skills and experience needed to drive improvement across our international squads and I look forward to supporting him in the role,” Adams said. CWI also announced the appointment of three new men’s, women’s and girls’ panel, and boys’ selection panel following a recruitment process that ran parallel to the selection of the new coach. The recommendation of a new CWI selection structure and policy were the main outputs of the report of the Selection System Review Task Force, presented by vice-president Dr Kishore Shallow at the September Board meeting in Tobago. Eighteen (18) candidates were considered and evaluated for the five positions across the three Selection Panels. The CWI recruitment panel unanimously selected the following candidates who have now been confirmed: Roger Harper is now the lead selector while Miles Bascombe has been named to the selection panel. The selection panel for the WI Women’s and Girls consists of lead selector Ann Browne-John and selector Travis Dowlin. Robert Haynes has been appointed Talent ID Manager. The head coach of each team will complete the makeup of each of the respective panels. “We have been delighted at the interest and quality of candidates who participated in the recruitment process to fill the roles for the selection panels,” said Shallow. “These roles are vital to execute the new selection policy to select squads for the West Indies teams at every level. We wish the selectors every success as they commence work immediately.” Commenting on the selection panels, Jimmy Adams said that with the comprehensive revamp of the CWI selection system including the introduction of separate panels he was confident “that our ability to identify and manage talent will be enhanced. I have all confidence that the new system, along with the selectors chosen to the various panels will continue to help drive our game in this critical area. “ The selection panels have already begun work with the West Indies Men’s team preparing to play Afghanistan in India in November in three T20 Internationals, three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and one Test match. The Men’s team will then stay in India to play three T20Is and three ODIs before returning home before Christmas. Meanwhile, the West Indies Women will host India Women for three ODIs and five T20Is starting on November 1. The West Indies Under-19 team will host a triangular series with Sri Lanka and England Under-19s in December as they prepare for the ICC Under-19 World in January in South Africa. The Men’s teams squads will be announced in a press conference at 11 am at Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad on Tuesday, November 16. (BT)

ZANE TIGHT-LIPPED ABOUT NEXT MOVE – “Moving to F3, but that’s all that I can say at this time.” That’s how Zane Maloney, newly-crowned FIA British Formula 4 champion, responded to questions about his next move soon after he arrived at Grantley Adams International Airport yesterday to a hero’s welcome. He said discussions were in their infancy and it was too early to give further details as offers and contracts had to be considered. Welcomed home by family and friends, an elated Maloney said he was happy with the way things had gone, but what happened last weekend at Brands Hatch, at the iconic 2.4-mile Kent circuit, was only now sinking in. “I don’t think about winning when I am competing, but I am excited on reflection as I created a number of firsts, such as being the first driver to win the overall title in the rookie year. I had seven wins in a row and ended with ten and also being the first Barbadian to do it,” he noted. (DN)

FAITH, FAMILY LIFE WORK FOR TRIDENTS – Keeping the faith and staying together as a family. Captain Jason Holder says these were key factors in the Barbados Tridents franchise capturing their second Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 cricket title. “We stuck together. We had some tough losses, especially at home in Barbados and it was hard to regroup but we had a few deep conversations and we stuck together as a family, and I think that was the main thing in getting through this period,” Holder said after the players returned home to a hero’s welcome at the Grantley Adams International Airport. The Tridents, who were met by family members, well-wishers, representatives of the sponsors and team owners, defied the odds to snap an 11-match unbeaten streak by Guyana Amazon Warriors with a 27-run victory in Saturday’s final at the Brian Lara Stadium. “We had some challenging games at the back half and we really peaked at the back half of the tournament, which is important. Words can’t explain how we feel. . . . It is a good feeling, obviously to win any trophy. For me, personally, it just goes a long way. It is an example of my hard work and the support of the teammates was tremendous,” Holder said. (DN)

PROUD BARBADIANS – The 2018 Barbados Independence Honours finally received their insignia from Governor General, Dame Sandra Mason, at Government House in two separate ceremonies today. During the morning, the honourees included former owner and Principal of the Merrivale Preparatory School, 101-year-old Avisene Carrington, who officially received the title of Dame of St Andrew, along with Phillip Serrao, who got the honour of Knight of St. Andrew. Dame Avisene, the oldest person to receive such an honour, said, “I am truly honoured and humbled to be here this morning, and I think I count myself really blessed that God has kept me up until age 101.” She was also pleased at the fact that one of her sons and her daughter were present at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Sir Phillip, who chaired the Electoral and Boundaries Commission for 14 years, said he was “elated” and that his award reflected well on the people of Barbados, stating that “In my time as Chairman of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission, I am proud to say that Barbados has never had any problems with its General Elections; they have always been free and fair, and we have continued to maintain this tradition.” The Companion of Honour of Barbados went to former teacher, real estate agent, Member of Parliament, and in later years, restaurant proprietor, Delisle Bradshaw, who thanked God along with the people he would have encountered in his many years in public life. “This is not an honour for Delisle Bradshaw, but for the people who supported me over the years, caused me to do better and help my country. This is for the people, their parents, and their children, who gave me the chance to prove myself.” Gold Crown of Merit awards were given to Mitchinson Beckles, Dr. Haresh Thani, former Foreign Service Officer Peter Laurie and retired accountant Charles Tibbitts, while Ardyce Bolden, Robert Peirce, William Hinds and Kerry Ann Ifill all received Silver Crown of Merit awards. Hinds, who has been actively involved in the renewable energy industry for 37 years, said he was proud to receive the award, and he believed Barbados would reach its goal of becoming 100 per cent fossil fuel free by 2030. “If we say we are going to do it, we are going to do it. We are on track. Quite a lot is happening, there is momentum in all the sectors and the government under Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, is blazing a trail towards achieving that goal and I believe we will meet the target.” Meanwhile, former President of the Senate, Kerry Ann Ifill, saw her honour as a way of showing Barbadians that people with disabilities could make a significant contribution to society despite their physical or other challenges. “All too often people think of those with disabilities as recipients of charity, but when we are recognised for the work that we do it is something we are extremely proud of. This [award] shows we can contribute and add value to society, and we will get more respect when others see we are citizens with a purpose like everyone else.” During the afternoon session, Bradley Broomes, the watersports supervisor at the Cobblers Cove Hotel in St. Peter, received the Barbados Bravery Medal for rescuing a couple who got into difficulties in the water adjacent to the resort on March 6, 2018. “I was at lunch, and some surfers alerted me that two guests were in trouble. So automatically I dropped my lunch, ran across the deck, onto the beach, and when I got there I saw a husband and wife in difficulties in the water, so I jumped in and managed to get them to safety.” Broomes, who competed for Barbados as a swimmer in the CARIFTA Games as a teenager, thanked God for giving him the “health and the strength” to carry out his activities. Two Barbados Service Medal winners were 96-year-old Beryl Bridgeman, and Reverend Margaret Eversley, the pastor in charge of the Thorpes Cottage Church of the Nazarene. Eversley said, “I feel very delighted, because it was not something I expected, so I am happy to have received that award for all the sacrifices I made.” The pastor, who was a teacher before joining the clergy, also had a word of advice for today’s teachers. “I would tell them to persevere, trust God, and see the person at the end of the road, not as they are now. I always looked for the potential in every child, even the most bad behaved ones, because I always feel that they have something to offer.” (BT)

CROWD PLEASER – All eyes, phones and cameras were on American Grammy-nominated singing sensation Jeffery Osborne as he wooed the crowd at Hilton Barbados last night. The 71-year-old was the headline act at the just-concluded Barbados Jazz Excursion and he did not disappoint. The former lead singer with the band LTD took patrons on a musical journey with many of his hit songs. The crowd screamed, danced, sang along and some even waved their hands in approval as Osborne belted out songs such as Shine On, Hold On, Love Ballad, On the Wings of Love and others. (BT)

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