Editorial

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 ...

20.FEB.09 The news circling around our sister island of Antigua over the past week must make all Caribbean people hang their heads in abject shame. As...

13.FEB.09 A healthy public debate as to how countries like ours should respond to the global economic crisis is developing. This follows in the wake o...

06.FEB.09 Reality is fast catching up with the Caribbean, as far as the global economic crisis is concerned. Those of us who may have been harbouring ...

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...

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...

23.NOV.07 Antigua has become the latest Caribbean country to be caught up in a spate of apparent drug-and-gang-related murders, causing much consterna...

16.NOV.07 This week the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU) once more organized activities to mark Teachers Week. As has happened ev...

09.NOV.07 Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves once again has managed to steal the limelight and score political points on his opponents. He used the oc...

02.NOV.07 Change is tough, and when one has been operating in a particular manner for ages, change can be a person’s worst nightmare. However, chang...

26.OCT.07 Tomorrow, October 27, 2007, the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, at home and in the diaspora, celebrate their 28th anniversary of t...

19.OCT.07 “People with this kind of attitude should not be in the Public Service” - Hon. Selmon Walters, Minister with responsibility for the Publ...

12.OCT.07 Activities to commemorate World Food Day will be held world-wide next week under the ambitious theme “Food as a Right”. As has become cu...

05.OCT.07 When the punishment meted out by our penal system does not serve as a deterrent, and rehabilitation seems not to work, what options do we as...

28.SEP.07 The International Cricket Conference’s (ICC) inaugural 20/20 Tournament concluded in South Africa on Monday of this week, with victory for...

21.SEP.07 SEARCHLIGHT welcomes the initiative of CARICOM governments to place the issue of healthy living of the Caribbean people so high on their age...

14.SEP.07 The Commission of Inquiry set up to enquire into the failed multi-million dollar Ottley Hall Project has once more been temporarily halted p...

07.SEPT.07 By the time this Editorial reaches most of our readers, our sister state of Jamaica will be in the process of swearing in a new Prime Minis...

31.AUG.07 The generally good academic performance of students in the country is commendable and must be praised. However, percentage pass rates can so...

24.AUG.07 The many thanks and praises that we utter here in SVG for once again being spared the wrath of a rampaging hurricane must be tempered by our...

17.AUG.07 Yet another political row has broken out between government and Opposition, this time over the appointment of Camillo Gonsalves son of the P...

10.AUG.07 By the way, a few thousand copies of Searchlight newspaper were printed here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week. For the first time...

03.AUG.07 Just over two weeks ago, the House of Assembly approved, unanimously, the Report of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) and re-commit...

27.JUL.07 Every citizen concerned about life, limb and the pursuit of happiness, not to mention the fundamental rights of women and children, can only...

20.JUL.07 Thousands of our young students and pupils are now savouring their annual long vacation break over the July-August period. For them it is a ...

13.JUL.07 Carnival this year truly lived up to its slogan of “Power of Culture, Spirit of Fun”, as was demonstrated by the superb display of our c...

06.JUL.07 For Vincentians, the annual mid-year Summit of CARICOM Heads of Government often gets subsumed by the Carnival festivities. With both taking...

29.JUN.07 Four to six weeks ago there was an atmosphere of trepidation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines as Carnival approached. The spate of brutal m...

22.JUN.07 Caribbean people, at home and abroad, are following with keen interest events in Washington this week where Caribbean leaders have been enga...