Stories about Barbados from May, 2006
Caribbean: Lists
On his freshly launched blog, Jamaican novelist Marlon James weighs in on the New York Times “Top Twenty-Five American Books”. Barbadian blogger Titilayo singles out a few notables from TIME magazine's “list of “100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world”.
Barbados: Labour party blogging
Barbados's incumbent Barbados Labour Party seems to have taken to blogging like a fish to water — at least for now. Four posts in the last four days, on topics such as why the “two major media organizations” in the UK and the USA contacted blog Barbados Free Press for...
Barbados: Senegalese “death boat”
“What circumstances did these men come from that drove them to make a desperate trip to a strange new land in search of a better life? How must the people who loved them be suffering now, in the agony of loss and not knowing?” Titilayo muses on the fate of...
Caribbean: What blogging is for
“Blogging … challenges the elitism that pervades the Caribbean and is a great experiment in the democratization of data,” says Geoffrey Philp in a thoughtful essay on the potential role of blogging in the region. “Blogging provides the kind of freedom that is anathema to many gatekeepers who want to...
Barbados: The risky business of political blogging
Barbados Free Press reviews the Barbados Labour Party's newly launched blog and outlines the risks a political party faces in undertaking such a project: “the two main risks can be shortened to this. . . 1/ Risk of Public Failure – Successful Blogging Takes New Skills & Commitment . ....
Senegal: Conversations on Drowned Migrants
Senegalese blogger Seckasysteme has been keeping a close eye on thousands of migrants from Senegal who have attempted to reach Europe on clandestine rafts since the beginning of the year. Last week the blogger explained that 23 migrant hopefuls had been intercepted by Senegalese authorities on their way to the...
West Indies: Cricket victory over India
Today Trinidad and Tobago hosted the fourth match in the current West Indies vs India One Day International cricket series. Francomenz didn't make it to the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain to watch the match, but she followed it on the radio. “Too exciting!!!” she wrote when West...
Barbados: Barbados Labour Party starts blog
The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has started a blog, notes Titilayo; she wonders “how much of the impetus … came from the establishment and growing popularity of Barbados Free Press”. Meanwhile, Barbados Free Press itself compares the web presences of the country's three main political parties, and asks why the...
Caribbean: WI cricket resurrection?
He's afraid of blighting them with his positive words, but Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat Blog has been more than pleased to see the West Indies cricket team show some of their old mettle in their recent encounters with India: “. . . in the last week some real...
Barbados: 20,000 cruise ship passengers?
Cruise ships will land whopping 20,000 passengers in Barbados on the day of the Cricket World Cup final in April 2007. “While this will obviously provide taxi drivers, shops, island vendors and restaurants with an considerable increase in business,” writes Linda Thompkins, “one also has to wonder if 20,000+ cruise...
Barbados: Florida sheriff corruption investigation
In light of the revelation that a Florida sheriff being investigated for corruption had business dealings with the Barbados Police Force, Barbados Free Press is demanding answers to several questions.
Barbados: Internet penetration
Barbados has the highest Internet penetration rate in the Caribbean? Titilayo is surprised.
West Indies: Cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan comes of age
Today the West Indies cricket team won its third One Day International match in the current series against India, in which Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan scored 115 runs not out. “He’s coming of age before our eyes,” says the West Indies Cricket Blog. Ri at Revolution Island reminds us that...
Montserrat volcano watch and West Indies cricket
A woman looks at the rear window of her car, broken by a flying rock from the nearby Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, on Saturday. Photo from the Trinidad Express website Nearly eleven years ago, Montserrat’s long-dormant Soufriere Hills Volcano began erupting for the first time in the island's recorded history....
Caribbean: Hurricane outlook
Over at the West Indies Cricket blog, Ryan Naraine cites the NOAA’s 2006 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, which says there is “an 80% chance of an above-normal hurricane season, a 15% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.”
Caribbean: A West Indian anthem?
Kyk-Over-Al links to a column in Guyana's Stabroek News criticising the new West Indian anthem adopted recently by CARICOM (the Caribbean Community), and the Caribbean Beat blog asks its readers how Caribbean leaders should have gone about choosing an anthem. “Via a competition, soliciting entries from the region's best composers...
Barbados: Environment minister angry about leaks
Barbados Free Press reports that environment minister Liz Thompson “was ‘in a state’ all last week trying to discover the identity of ‘Hummingbird’ — the Environment Ministry insider who has lately been talking to Barbados Free Press and other island media”, and posts a satirical poem on the subject.
West Indies: Brian Lara's appointment “commercial”?
Sir Viv Richards, West Indies cricket legend, says star batsman Brian Lara was recently appointed captain of the team for “commercial reasons”. “A tad ungracious of the great man,” says Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat blog.
Barbados: Time-share development
Why is the government of Barbados getting involved in a time-share development, asks Barbados Free Press; is it “a scheme to pour yet more public funds” into a private hotel chain?
Caribbean: The meaning of “excellent service”
Jamaican Francis Wade at Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle thinks about customer service in the Caribbean. “There is not a single island I have visited in which there is a local company giving excellent service to local people.” He tries to understand why, and congratulates the Sandals resort chain for...
Barbados: Common entrance examination
“Monday was Common Entrance Exam day in Barbados,” writes Titilayo at The Pan Collective. She explains why this exam (sometimes called 11-plus), which determines which secondary schools children will attend, is such a big deal. “To a child that age, it can probably feel like your entire future is hanging...
