Acting on acts A Beaconite was glad to see this week that more than a dozen laws received assent from Governor John Rankin. As legislators noted during last Thursday’s sitting, …
June 30, 2021
May 26, 2021
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (May 27, 2021)
Museum hop On Saturday, a Beaconite climbed aboard a safari bus in Road Town that whisked him away to several Tortola museums, none of which he had seen before. The …
May 26, 2021
COMMENTARY — Gov’t spending questioned
I didn’t realise how short of money we have become. The BVI Ports Authority puts out a tender and receives three quotes for old boats, not new ones. Where is …
May 26, 2021
COMMENTARY — Case made for social democracy
For positive change in the era of Covid-19, a Commission of Inquiry that is throwing a fog over the future, and a terrifying new culture of crime, social democracy is …
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May 12, 2021
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (May 13, 2021)
No good deed… Last week, a Beaconite received a text message that no one wants to read: He had recently come into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. …
March 31, 2021
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (April 1, 2021)
Register of interests A Beaconite was not impressed by legislators’ recent bragging about their commitment to transparency when they voted to make the Register of Interests available to the commission …
March 24, 2021
COMMENTARY — VI urged to use diplomacy with UK
For the Virgin Islands and other British overseas territories, the weapons of diplomacy, tact and negotiation are better options in moving towards self-determination than banging an anticolonial drum. Indeed, tact …
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March 17, 2021
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (March 18, 2021)
Ridge Road closure On Sunday, a Beaconite was on his way to surf at Josiahs Bay when he encountered a red plastic barricade that stretched halfway across Ridge Road. There …
December 9, 2020
COMMENTARY — Writer says democracy alone is ‘not enough’ in Caribbean
This was the year when much of the Caribbean went to the polls. General elections were held in Anguilla, Belize, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, …
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December 2, 2020
COMMENTARY — Logistical challenges predicted to follow Covid-19 vaccine
In the past few days, Pfizer BioNTech, a German-United States company, and the US company Moderna have separately announced that the Covid-19 vaccines they have been developing have proved 95 …
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November 25, 2020
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (November 19, 2020)
Censorship fail Since there are no news outlets based in any of the sister islands, a Beaconie jumps on opportunities to report there whenever she can. When she saw a …
September 16, 2020
COMMENTARY — Banking, policing seen through 2030 lens
In my recent commentaries, I have been imagining the Virgin Islands of 2030 through the eyes of a 10-year-old Guyanese girl named Maria, her older brother Zak, and their father …
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September 2, 2020
COMMENTARY — Call made for trade school
The training of Virgin Islands youth for the critical hands-on and vocational skills required by the economy is a necessity. There has been a lot in the news recently on …
August 26, 2020
Commentary — ‘MAGA’ policies seen as misguided
Prospects for international cooperation have dwindled dramatically since 2016 thanks in large part to United States President Donald Trump’s animosity towards multilateralism. US shirking of international responsibilities has been enacted …
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January 9, 2020
COMMENTARY — Bikes, bodyguards and pot draw fire
I guess the police commissioner can’t say no to the premier’s decision to allow larger motorbikes into the territory. So he suggests some conditions for importation and regulations for use. …
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October 23, 2019
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Oct. 24, 2019)
Two in one Over the weekend, a Beaconite had the opportunity to travel to St. Thomas to cover Virgin Islands Friendship Day, a celebration of VI culture attended by representatives …
October 23, 2019
Commentary — VG clinic, other issues spark concerns
If the new Nurse Iris O’Neal Medical Centre is to open soon on Virgin Gorda, with vastly improved facilities, hopefully (that word again — more later), why is the BVI …
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October 17, 2019
Commentary — UK seen as ‘Balkanised’ amid Brexit woes
Brexit has entered an expected phase. The United Kingdom is becoming Balkanised. The Brexit civil war has generated divisions in the UK that cannot be bridged unless the two sides …
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September 26, 2019
COMMENTARY — Ideas offered for storm prep
In the age of global warming, building resilience and defence against climate change and natural disasters have to be at the core of Caribbean social and economic development. Lifestyle change …
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July 23, 2019
COMMENTARY — More Brexit fears aired
Brexit is the most damaging event in recent United Kingdom history, equivalent to the Suez Crisis of the early 1960s in terms of its malevolent effect on UK politics, economics …
July 16, 2019
POEM — Today
Say something kind to someone today. Too soon that someone could pass away, And you’d be left with pain in your heart, Wondering why you didn’t do your part. …
July 8, 2019
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (July 4, 2019)
Quiet support The Beacon, like other media outlets, occasionally finds itself embroiled in controversy (the reasons for which are far beyond the scope of this Reporter’s Notebook). When that happens, …
July 8, 2019
COMMENTARY — Call made for economic change
In his preaching on the need for a new capitalism that will power social and economic prosperity in the West in the decades ahead, economist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate …
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July 3, 2019
Commentary — Call made to separate ‘big money’ and politics
Neo liberalism is the idea that markets are self-correcting. For 40 years the belief that free markets allocate resources efficiently ruled. Jack the Tycoon was king, and whatever was good …
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June 24, 2019
COMMENTARY — ‘New economic thinking’ praised
Neo-liberalism — supply-side trickle-down economics — has failed the world. However, a new economic thinking can save the day, according to a number of influential economists. The new thinking is …
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