Editorial

21.AUG.09 We are almost three weeks into Emancipation month, although you would scarcely know it based on the paucity of related activities happening ...

14.AUG.09 St. Vincent and the Grenadines must be a strange place indeed, if we are to judge by the attitude of its people. For umpteen years we have l...

07.AUG.09 The launch of the $5.8 million Sustainable Agriculture Livelihood Project last week by the Government of St.Vincent and the Grenadines repre...

31.JULY.09 With school examinations out of the way and Carnival a fading memory, the long vacation is now in full swing. Pupils and students of all ag...

24.JULY.09 The contents of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Poverty Assessment Report, the subject of a National Consultation last week, make very in...

17.JULY.09 “Well, it can hardly get worse, can it?” That was the rhetorical question asked by one regional commentator in the midst of the debacle...

26.JUNE.09 In the midst of growing resentment among many persons in our society about what is being viewed as the excessive use of force by some branc...

19.JUNE.09 Swine flu was upgraded last week by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to a global flu pandemic, the first in 41 years. Cases have been re...

12.JUNE.09 The Carnival season is with us again. Over the next two months, the people of the Eastern Caribbean will stage five full-fledged sets of Ca...

05.JUNE.09 Operation Vincy Pac is now over. Now what? Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves reported to the nation earlier this week that the operation, w...

29.MAY.09 Another chapter in the political and constitutional development of St. Vincent and the Grenadines was written this week with the presentatio...

22.MAY.09 The 2009 hurricane season in the Caribbean is 10 days away from its commencement, but Vincentian Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has crea...

15.MAY.09 Since assuming office in 2001, the Ralph Gonsalves-led ULP administration has pursued a bold and innovative foreign policy. While maintainin...

08.MAY.09 We can bury our heads in the sand as much as we want, the problem will not go away. We can blame the media, saying the outcry is of their ma...

30.APR.09 The National Labour Congress of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has at last undertaken the responsibility of reclaiming ownership of activiti...

24.APR.09 Was the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which concluded in Port of Spain last Sunday, a resounding success? Did the Caribbean gain anything su...

17.APR.09 Vincentian Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is among 35 Heads of State and Government attending the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port o...

09.APR.09 The G20 Summit of the world’s most economically powerful nations ended in London (actually, in Horsham, Sussex) last week, with much of th...

03.APR.09 The month of April has been declared CHILD ABUSE MONTH, and already, activities have been organized to focus attention on the injustices per...

27.MAR.09 There is no longer any pretence about it: the world economy is in trouble-deep trouble at that. Weekly, there are reports of more bank failu...

20.MAR.09 This paper has always been supportive of the idea of a National Heroes’ Day and commemoration of the achievements of heroic Vincentians. W...

13.MAR.09 With the institution of official activities to commemorate National Heroes and Heritage Month, St. Vincent and the Grenadines took one signi...

06.MAR.09 Thirty-five years ago, International Women’s Day (IWD) was first commemorated in this country. Then, even before the United Nations first ...

27.FEB.09 The rare show of unity demonstrated in Parliament on Tuesday by both sides of the House was indeed as refreshing as it was unexpected. Most ...

23.JAN.09 SEARCHLIGHT joins with the millions of people all over the world in celebrating the elevation of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the Unite...

16.JAN.09 Hardly have we embarked on the New Year when the signs of the rapidly spreading world economic crisis are manifesting themselves right here ...

09.JAN.09 Out of evil cometh good. The recent detention of journalist Jeff Trotman by the police because he was taking photographs of a fire and did n...

02.JAN.09 Billions of people the world over are engaged this week in the traditional exchange of greetings to welcome in the New Year. The wishes for ...

23.DEC.08 Barack Obama’s winning campaign with its theme “Change we can believe in” was tremendously successful and resonated in the hearts of p...

19.DEC.08 The traditional Vincy Christmas is with us again. We have had official openings of the “lighting up” communities and the grand launch of...

12.DEC.08 Street riots protesting the police killing of a young man in Greece, calls for ending the sham of US military justice at Guantanamo, the con...

05.DEC.08 Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, on Monday of this week made his 2009 Budget presentation in the House of Assembly. It followed las...

28.NOV.08 Prime Minister Hon. Dr Ralph Gonsalves faces one of the most difficult tasks of his near-eight year administration when he gets up in Parlia...

21.NOV.08 Two Searchlight staff members were privileged this week to have an open and frank discussion with high-ranking law enforcement officials in ...

14.NOV.08 Thirty-three years after the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines turned on its own teachers, unleashing the Royal St Vincent and the...

07.NOV.08 In the space of a few days, the Caribbean has witnessed two events of tremendous social implication. Last Saturday, the Caribbean’s premie...

31.OCT.08 Before the dust settles on our Independence Anniversary celebrations and our attention gets diverted into the organization of the annual Nin...

24.OCT.08 The 29th anniversary of the attainment of political independence by the nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines could not come amidst more w...

17.OCT.08 Yesterday, October 16th, was observed around the world as WORLD FOOD DAY. A multiplicity of activities was staged in most countries to mark ...

10.OCT.08 The Caribbean Week of Agriculture and the National Agricultural and Agro-based Industrial Exhibition (NAIE) could not have come to this coun...

03.OCT.08 As we go to Press, much of the world awaits with bated breath the outcome of votes in the Congress of the United States of America on a bail...

26.SEPT.08 The tragic death of a Vincentian woman, crushed when a massive retaining wall came tumbling down at Ratho Mill last Friday, serves as a cru...

19.SEPT.08 We must celebrate our nation’s oldest secondary school. Per Aspera Ad Astra. The St. Vincent Grammar School (SVGS) has endured and has to...

12.SEPT.08 Tomorrow is being observed here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), as Caribbean W...

05.SEPT.08 It is said that one good turn deserves another. By the same token, many good turns must at least trigger substantial generosity in return. ...

29.AUG.08 After expressing concern about the performance of our students in last year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Council’s (CSEC) and A’lev...

22.AUG.08 The unification of the Caribbean, the English-speaking nations at least, has long been a cherished dream of Caribbean citizens, even though ...

15.AUG.08 Culture Minister René Baptiste is heading a sizeable Vincentian delegation to the tenth Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) being held t...

08.AUG.08 The newly-formed People’s Movement for Change (PMC) made a bold challenge to Prime Minister Gonsalves’ oft-repeated boast that he (Gonsa...

31.JULY.08 Tomorrow, Friday, August 1, 2008, local activities to commemorate Emancipation Day, and celebrate this important milestone in the history o...

25.JULY.08 The tragic events of Wednesday, July 23, 2008, represent yet another bloody blot on our history. It is said that we as a people often wait ...

18.JULY.08 Small-island states like St Vincent and the Grenadines are finding it increasingly difficult to keep afloat in the real world of the 21st c...

11.JULY.07 Our congratulations go out to all who made Vincy Mas 2008 a success – the componthankent parts who make the Festival, sponsors and organi...

04.JULY.08 The heads of government of the Caribbean Community(CARICOM) are holding their annual summit in Antigua this week. As has become customary, ...

27.JUNE.08 The fact that the Common Entrance Examination results were published only in Searchlight newspaper this year had nothing to do with discrim...

Europe has its EU (Economic Union). CARICOM is moving in that direction, albeit not as fast as necessity demands. Now the smaller countries of the Eas...

13.JUNE.08 Hardly a week passes without some report either in the print media or via the many radio talk shows about allegations of violent excesses b...

06.JUNE.08 The United States of America is indeed a mighty country gifted with enormous resources. It is also a country of great contradictions. Found...

30.MAY.08 With the advent of the month of June, Carnival activities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines move into high gear. Three decades after the cha...

23.MAY.08 Two important events in the development of this country took place this week. On Monday, May 19th, 13 pieces of heavy-duty equipment to be u...

16.MAY.08 Another successful Fisherman’s Day was held on Monday. Our congratulations go out to all the participants, the winners in the various cate...

09.MAY.08 Ambassador of the Republic of China on Taiwan to this country, His Excellency Jack Cheng, is in the final days of his tour of duty to this c...

02.MAY.08 Yesterday (May 1st), the Labour Movement in St. Vincent and the Grenadines held activities in Barrouallie to commemorate the biggest event o...

25.APR.08 Those of us who have had our heads buried in the proverbial sand with regard to the crime situation here had it rudely yanked out on Wednesd...

18.APR.08 The people of the world, the poor especially, are being faced with steep, sometimes astronomical increases in the cost of living, as a combi...

11.APR.08 “...The political will to implement common decisions taken is the challenge...”(Hon. Patrick Manning, Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobag...

04.APR.08 Wednesday, 2nd April 2008, was declared World Autism Day by the United Nations. This declaration is significant because Autism is only the t...

28.MAR.08 The worldwide outcry over steeply rising food prices has helped to focus some attention on the state of Caribbean agriculture and the region...

20.MAR.08 Last week, we carried a story on our front page of an assault on one of our reporters while she was on duty outside the High Court in Kingst...

13.MAR.08 Another National Heroes Day/ Heritage Month is with us. Tomorrow, March 14th, having been officially designated National Heroes Day, is quit...

07.MAR.08 March 8 is recognized globally as International Women’s Day (IWD) - a day when women of ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and politic...

29.FEB.08 No matter how we squirm to face unpleasant truths, the Caribbean today faces a major socio-economic problem in relation to crime. Crime in i...

22.FEB.08 This week’s announcement by Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz that he is finally stepping down from that post marks the end of an historic ...

15.FEB.08 The year of celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the St. Vincent Grammar School got started rather quietly this week. The school’...

08.FEB.08 The history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is replete with many fine deeds of our people and glorious moments of their accomplishments. E...

01.FEB.08 The leadership of the Caribbean Community is seriously challenged to put its house in order and collectively bring a sense of common purpose...

25.JAN.08 The shocking revelation this week about the high incidence of adolescent mental instability, reported on page 3, and the resultant numerous ...

18 JAN.08 Political pundits and Caribbean people throughout the region are still coming to grips with the surprise sweeping of the polls by David Thom...

11.JAN.08 This week’s two-day strike action by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union (SVGTU) has found the government not only taken ...

04.JAN.08 As we welcome the New Year, many Vincentians, like others around the world, are reflecting and making resolutions, hoping that this time aro...

21.DEC.07 Last year, the staff at Searchlight pledged to reach out each Christmas to a needy person or family in the spirit of love and goodwill that ...

14.DEC.07 Sometime today (Friday) the House of Assembly is expected to conclude the debate on the 2008 Budget and then adjourn for the rest of the yea...

07.DEC.07 The shock waves from last week’s earthquake are still reverberating throughout the Caribbean. Although we all are aware of the region’s ...

30.NOV.07 Many Public Servants are this week beginning to get the feel of an early Christmas as Government makes the first of its payouts promised for...