There is a new preacher — sorry, I mean parliamentary candidate — in town.
Interesting combination of paternal and maternal family names for a man. Women do it after marriage, for professional reasons or to keep their independence. But in a man? Well, now I know why, as will most readers.
At his announcement meeting, the candidate gave a typical Baptist-style, fire-and-brimstone, maximum-volume speech. He sounds a bit like Martin Luther King Jr., but that would be praise too much! The audience did not seem to be very big, but some of them obviously started walking away. He pleaded with them to stay for a few more minutes! If he gets elected (he is set on unseating the incumbent), I hope he doesn’t address the House of Assembly like that! If he does, I hope by then we have a new speaker with some backbone who will lay down the laws of the House.
The candidate said a lot for a long time, but nothing of substance. No statement of his policies or which party, if any, he is supporting, or what his platform will be.
However, I picked up a couple of points: Our present-day problems are due to poor education and facilities, and Virgin Islanders being too low-paid and poor to be able to afford rent and groceries. I thought most of the poorly paid residents were in fact expatriates from other Caribbean islands who are underpaid by VI employers? On the other hand, he wants VIslanders to have at least part ownership in all businesses. But how does he expect people he believes to be undereducated and poorly paid to become part business owners?
Of course you can, if so minded (in my opinion), blame both our present prosperity and crime levels on foreigners — from the hotels, to the supermarkets, to the port, to the sailing industry, to financial services. None of these developments would have happened without outside finance and expertise. But wait — weren’t all these developments approved by various governments, which have been 100 percent VIslanders for more than 50 years?
Remember, without them, this could still be a bird sanctuary (I have a long memory), and our young people would still be venturing overseas for work.
Plants destroyed
Congratulations to the developers at Nail Bay, for destroying a whole population of a very rare plant! Just goes to show that planning permission and environmental impact studies are very important and should not be treated lightly by politicians and developers.
At last, three photos of some superyachts, so now the uninformed know what they are. Some aerial photos would have been nice. I couldn’t find any on the organiser’s website.
What has happened to our elected politicians? There has not been a peep out of many of them for weeks. Are they on retreat? On holiday? Travelling on government freebies — sorry, I mean government business — or perhaps plotting a coup?
Meanwhile there is absolutely no work going on at the greenhouses. It looks like the site is abandoned. There is no smoke coming out of the new incinerator stack. One wonders what is causing the delay.
Also there are no visible signs from outside of any work on the new hospital. And the advertised night work on the Nanny Cay sidewalk does not seem to be happening. Yes, where are our politicians? Hiding their heads in shame?