Letters & Opinion

Letters & Opinion

Lessons from Britain – Exceptionalism And Failure

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Image of Ronald Sanders

The Brexit chickens are coming home to roost in a troubled British economy, however much British government ministers and other English nationalistic hopefuls are trying to suggest otherwise. It was a colossal mistake to hold the referendum. In the words of former Conservative Party Prime Minister, David Cameron, it “unleashed the demons”. The decision of the referendum was an even greater mistake by the English voters who favoured leaving the European Union (EU).

Letters & Opinion, Sounding Off

Traffic Lights Mayhem

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Traffic lights illustration

TO the people in charge of traffic lights in the city, please circle the line that most appropriately describes your serious LACK of performance in the extremely busy and chaotic streets of Castries over the last few months: “You are part of a secret ploy to decrease the number of motorists, vehicles and pedestrians who traverse the streets daily by allowing crashes and collisions to take place.”

Letters & Opinion

Disasters And Our Economies

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Image of a natural disaster

THIS week I saw photos of the devastation in St Vincent due to heavy rains. This was the second event within two months, the first causing major flooding of the Airport Terminal. While Dominica is still recovering from Tropical Storm Erika, they also had to deal with more damage over the last 5 months. St Lucia also felt the effects of Tropical Storm Matthew this year. Over the last 25 years all of our OECS States have suffered damage due to natural events that if valued today and applied to their public debt would be now declared debt free.

Letters & Opinion

The Metaphysics of Corruption

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Image of Dr. Velon John

CORRUPTION is a perverse, universal and debilitating phenomenon that reflects in some measure the essential finitude of homo sapiens. It is an aberration that is in contradiction to the construct of perfection, and as such is a necessity in the very process of creation. Its aetiology reposes in the human condition that in itself is consequent and immanent to the process of “becoming” as opposed to “being”.

Letters & Opinion

Love, Sex and Horsehair

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Image of Aretha Franklin

OUR discussions today, and next week, are really only brief looks at some of the things which influence our understanding and acceptance of who we are. For those of us coming of age in the ’60s and ’70s, the main thing on everyone’s minds then was colonialism and a rejection of the role which Britain had played in our lives. We were young, and we were rebels, because that is the job of youth: to challenge, and to question.

Letters & Opinion

A Matter of Faith

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HOW dedicated are you to the virtue of faith? It is our task to keep faith in our lives. Our faith of course, is in God, and so we need to have faith in our life’s mission. When we trust and have reliance on anything at all, this is part of our faith. When we show our faith to others, they begin to trust us faithfully, and so there is a lovely relationship that comes on.

Letters & Opinion

Don’t Cry for Fidel

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THERE always comes a time when, forced by circumstances, you must do what you would have preferred not to. Mourning Fidel Castro’s death in words is my challenge today. But it is one which also allows the opportunity to reflect on the 40 years since his words inspired those of us here to establish the first Saint Lucia-Cuba Friendship Association in the wake of the 1976 terrorist bombing of the Cubana Airline in Barbados.

Letters & Opinion

Oh Yes, Mr. Peters

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Commission members John Peters, Gordon Charles and BrianLouisy.

Dear John: In your column of November 19 you accuse me of journalistic mischief, indicating that I had suggested that you possessed insider information on the recent CDB Report. That implication however came from your article of October 1 in which you state “In fact my understanding is that the report went even further to advise that the analysis is showing that a reduction in VAT has a minimal multiplier effect, and thus will not improve the revenue of Government.”

Letters & Opinion

Where The Sun Rises and Shines

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WHY does the sun rise in the east and set in the west? Perhaps, it’s because the global economy spins towards the east. Already we know that the Sun, the Moon, the planets and the stars all rise in the east and set in the west. As major economies have long tied their economic fortunes to the east, many more – especially emerging markets – are increasingly turning east where the sun rises, giving their backs to the west.

Letters & Opinion

Being Left Behind

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Commission members John Peters, Gordon Charles and BrianLouisy.

IN the 1950’s when St Lucia took the decision to move away from sugar and go into bananas, it was a strategic move that brought great fortune to our country. We became leaders in the OECS in the banana trade, and at one point we were producing over 127,000 tons for export. However in the early 1990’s the banana train derailed and we have been in economic turmoil since.