“Money doesn't make the man but the man isn't made without it.In little under 180 minutes, the Premier told us on Tuesday that he hopes to collect about $408M in revenue in 2025.  It is our money that he collects on our behalf and we can have a wishlist on how it is spent.Of course, we must bear in mind that at least 85% of the Territory’s fiscal commitments are set in stone.I remember where I was when I read Sebastian Junger’s ‘The Perfect Storm,’ the ...

The cars, parked on both sides of the King’s Road and in all available vacant lots in the vicinity, made their own prior announcement.A sitting Premier and a former Premier were in attendance.  So were the 3rd and 8th District Representatives and the Junior Minister for Tourism.Dr Pickering and Ms Parsons, former Deputy Premiers, were also there.The church was filled to capacity and the significant overflow into the large space of the Sea Cows Bay Methodist Church yard made movement i...

According to Isabell Allende (A Long Petal of the Sea) “…without science, industry and technology, no progress is possible…”Former Premier Fahie always repeated that ‘when you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ and it is beginning to be crystalline that we plan to fail at independence.To be clear, independence sits on the road of the natural trajectory in human development.  Parents expect it of their children and a people, at some point, desire to be mast...

“The water, mostly, goes everywhere but in the pipes.  Sometimes, for weeks on end, one must be content with seeing it cascading downhill or flowing through the bushes while it is needed in homes, in guest rooms, in businesses. Often, an observant Good Samaritan who knows one of the maintenance workers may send a photo with the hope that the identified leaks/breaks would be urgently addressed.   But it seems the maintenance workers often return to the same spo...

“On Tuesday, the sea resembled a giant looking glass.  It sat there tranquil, beautiful, inviting.  The full moon lent tracks of light to enhance the sea’s allure and a clear, blue sky ensured that cloudy patches did not contribute intermittent darkness on the glistening water.But the sea is never to be trifled with.  It is moody in its temperament, capricious by nature, extremely dangerous, deadly.The sea has been eyewitness to heinous crimes and it has claimed its fa...

The COI has been the Territory’s Achilles heel ever since a departing governor reluctantly granted the wish of a former Premier who called for it day and night when he was Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.  His rationale was that the NDP Party that formed the government of the day was the most corrupt in the history of BVI politics.But words are spirit and life.  Long after they are spoken, they still retain their capacity to haunt and to hurt.The children of the si...

“Bit by bit our freedom is being taken away, under our gaze but beneath our notice while we run around to the UN, CARICOM and to whomever has two ears to make the BVIs case for independence.The only place we seem uninterested in making that case is in BVI.  We have not studied the costs, obligations and responsibilities of independence.  We want the people to make the decision in anger and in ignorance perhaps without even the benefit of a referendum.Surely the people do not want...

“The Tourism Minister came alone.   Perhaps his PS and the Director of the Tourist Board were unaware that when their Minister speaks in a public forum, they should be there to hear the policy direction that he is taking. It may be that they do not know, in practice, what it means to be a part of ‘the world-class public service’ that has become the mantra of the Deputy Governor. The tourism minister gave the keynote address at the BVI Yachting, Hotel an...

16 June happens to be a public holiday across the Virgin Islands. It’s a day to celebrate the King’s birthday across the UK and it’s Territories.  In the BVI, we’re celebrating the long holiday weekend with the Etana concert hosted by KT Productions. The concert will kick off a long summer of major events across the Territory. The Etana concert is set for Friday 16 June at the Cyril B Romney Pier Park. Etana is a Jamaican born celebrated reggae artist and best k...