A cart full

Yesterday morning, a Beaconite who had just arrived to Road Town via a ferry watched several workmen remove seaweed from the water near the Road Town Taxi Stand.

The men used a backhoe, a dump truck and a crane to remove the sargassum that had gathered in wide swathe near the shore. As the Beaconite watched, he noticed a shopping cart in the bucket of the backhoe. At first he thought the cart had been snagged off the seabed. But then he realised that it had been fasten to the bucket in order to scoop up the seaweed and not the water. On the crane, two shopping carts were used. In the past, men with rakes removed the sargassum. The Beaconite can only think this new method is a lot more efficient, and he is happy that the seaweed is being removed before it starts to stink.

Massage

A Beaconite was standing in line at a bakery last week when he felt the soothing hands of someone giving him a shoulder massage. Turning around to see who his friendly masseuse was, the Beaconite was surprised to discover a woman he did not know at all. She must have realised he wasn’t the person she expected to be touching, either, because she immediately retreated to the back of the line in apparent embarrassment. The Beaconite informed her that she could continue rubbing his shoulders, but she remained in the back of the line. If you see the Beaconite walking through town and want to give him a massage, feel free to do so.

Luxembourg leaks

The Virgin Islands and its outsized financial services sector have been under considerable media scrutiny since April 2013. That’s when the Washington DC-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its partner media outlets began publishing the series “Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze.” Now it’s Luxembourg’s turn in the spotlight. The 998-square-mile European country is home to an estimated 540,000 people. The ICIJ announced recently that it obtained a confidential database and thousands of documents detailing 548 deals that corporations inked with the Luxembourg government to reduce their tax burdens. The Luxembourg articles assert that while the deals are perfectly legal, their existence is little known, which is why the ICIJ is focusing on the practice. The journalist group has focused heavily on what it calls “tax havens” and global tax practices. Besides the VI and Luxembourg, recent “leaks” of confidential documents have put the spotlight on jurisdictions including the Cook Islands, Jersey, the United States and the Seychelles.

From the Throne

After covering her third Speech from the Throne this week, a Beaconite decided to look into the origins of such messages, and she learned a few interesting facts. Historically, the reason the monarch gave the speech was because she was exercising her power over the legislature, essentially instructing lawmakers in what they should focus on for the coming legislative session. As many readers will already know, today the monarch and her representatives give such speeches throughout the Commonwealth. But in the Virgin Islands, as in other jurisdictions, the speech itself, and the annual legislative agenda, are prepared by elected ministers of governments. Similar messages also are delivered around the world in non-Commonwealth countries. The United States has the president’s annual State of the Union address; in Japan, the emperor speaks at the annual opening ceremony for the national legislature; and in Malaysia, the elected monarch speaks every March at the Malaysian Parliament’s opening session.

Bad attitude

A Beaconite always looks forward to attending events hosted by students and alumni of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, and this was the case on Saturday when she attended a talent show at the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium. She was pleased with the performances by the students and was even happier about the support from the community. However, she was very disappointed with the behaviour of one performer. The singer, a former HLSCC student, acted in a manner she found very rude when audio technicians struggled to fix his microphone and that of another singer. The performer in question walked off the stage after shouting at the technicians, and he even went on to use expletives in the auditorium. The Beaconite hopes that the young adult is not allowed to perform at such events again until he commits to reforming his behaviour, which was uncalled for.

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