Editorial

ST VINCENT AND THE Grenadines is today a deeply distressed and battered nation. In less than two years, we have had a dengue outbreak, a closely fough...

LAST THURSDAY, all Vincentians should have been horrified at the image of the Prime Minister with his shirt soaking with blood because of the stone th...

THE GOVERNMENT OF St Vincent and the Grenadines is poised to make an amendment to our public health laws which in the words of the Prime Minister, wou...

SEARCHLIGHT extends its congratulations to the St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) which romped to an impressive victory in Monday’s general elections in that...

Over the last few weeks, after many months of online classes, school age children in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) have been returning to school...

The street protests which occurred across several cities of our Caribbean sister state of Cuba two weekends ago sent a powerful message to the world a...

THE TRINIDADIAN paramilitary police and the Special Services Unit (SSU) of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force wear different uniform...

The old adage: “When it rains, it pours”, can literally be applied to St Vincent and the Grenadines of the present time. As if we don’t have enough on...

HAS THE Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), or at least elements within it, assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner whe...

Our heads still reeling from the upheaval occasioned by the explosive eruptions of La Soufriere in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vincentians are...

When residents or nationals of a country are able to arrive at consensus on matters of national concern, social stability is enhanced, co-operation in...

IN THE midst of all the havoc created world-wide by the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the matter of vaccination as a viable means of curbing the spread...

YESTERDAY, THE Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) announced the winners in a recent ‘Girls in ICT’ activity which was observed thi...

A major result of the disastrous 2019-2021 period  which has confronted our country, has been the tendency to focus on the damage to our society and h...

Several of our recent editorials have expressed concern about the continuing spread of COVID -19 in our country, and mused on our weaknesses in follow...

Issues of food security have been under discussion at meetings of government, farming organisations and civil society entities for numerous years whet...

There are eight member countries of the East Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) being one of them. In the 15 or so m...

THERE ARE MANY dates in our history that we take for granted, unaware of the enormous significance of occurrences on those dates. May 25, 1931 is one ...

SOMETHING IS not quite right. The number of Covid-19 positive cases in the country is on the rise again, yet, seemingly unconcerned about the risk, hu...

The Covid19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions placed on how business is conducted have forced us to re-imagine many aspects of our economy and f...

Six weeks after many areas in the north of St Vincent had to be evacuated owing to the volcanic eruption, persons evacuated from “Orange Zone” areas a...

The global battle to contain the deadly COVID19 pandemic, to minimise its effects and to protect the people of planet earth takes various forms accord...

It is very sad and yet another blot on our country that this week’s debate and passage of the supplementary budget following the volcanic eruption, sh...

Most Vincentians are legitimately concerned about the allegations being made against Senator Ashelle Morgan and the Assistant Director of Public Prose...

We at SEARCHLIGHT share the sense of collective shock and grief felt by our nation in learning of the passing of Brother Parnel ‘PR’ Campbell earlier ...

This past Sunday, there was an explosive eruption at La Soufriere, the 30th such event since the volcano moved into the present phase of seismic activ...

ON THE RECENT occasion of World Water Day (March 22), we quoted from the English poet W H Auden as follows: “Thousands live without love, not one with...

WE CAN ALL FEEL PROUD of the response of thousands of Vincentians to our latest collective calamity, the violent eruption of La Soufriere volcano. It ...

As if to remind us that there are far greater problems than the ones we create, the wrangle between the Teachers’ Union, the Public Service Union and ...

Last Sunday, March 28, the governing Unity labour party celebrated the 20th anniversary of its historic election victory in 2001. The celebrations wer...

There has, in recent times, been a resurgence of criticism of the Customs Service Charge imposed by the government as part of the 2021 Budget as a mea...

ONE CAN ONLY WELCOME the news over the past week, from three significant sources that the allegations about the lack of safety of the Astrazeneca vacc...

Old sayings and proverbs often take on meaning in our modern world. Take the one which says “It’s an ill wind which blows nobody good”, meaning that o...

This weekend is the highpoint of our country’s National Heroes Month, a month so designated primarily to focus on the heroic resistance of the Garifun...

THE CENTERS for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States yesterday announced for the first time, guidelines that ease restrictions fo...

When the women of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) join our sisters all over the world next Monday to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), we...

Monday, March 8 is International Women’s Day which will be celebrated this year under the theme #ChoosetoChallenge with a call to action for us to all...

The world, our country being no exception, has been preoccupied for a year now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Understandably, much of the attention has b...

Out of adversity comes opportunity, the old adage says. The minister of finance and business leaders have recently sounded the warning that we are in ...

As if the COVID pandemic has not done enough damage to our society, another troubling offshoot came sharply into focus this week. We speak here about ...

While it is agreed that compared with the general population, COVID-19 infections are much less prevalent in children, and also less severe when they ...

There are two new developments in the COVID-19 situation in our country. First and foremost is the alarm about the rising casualty figures both quanti...

This plague has denigrated our world, To a blackened state of dysphoria. A cloud of depression has settled Over our land, dampening our spirits. We ha...

The challenges that we face today have highlighted the indispensable role played by a number of regional organizations in the governance, safety and r...

ST VINCENT AND THE Grenadines’ (SVG) reputation of being the most cash-dependent nation in the Caribbean is hopefully under threat. During yesterday’s...

It has now become somewhat of a spectator sport around the world to take pot shots at public health officials charged with responsibility for managing...

Last Wednesday, January 13, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus had a virtual ceremony to honour Vincentian musical genius Franklyn ‘F...

In the space of less than one month, St Vincent and the Grenadines moved from having not a single recorded case of locally transmitted Covid-19 infect...

The ongoing events in the United States, particularly those in Washington DC over the past week have come as a profound shock to hundreds of millions ...

As we live through this period of national difficulty, with runaway numbers being reported for Covid-19 infections and La Soufriere looming over our h...

If we thought that the events of 2020 posed serious threats to our health, well-being and economic survival, then here comes 2021. Going in to only th...

Last week, for the second time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commissioner of Police announced that a ban had been placed on the playin...

What a climax to an already tumultuous year! With just days before we put a wrap on everything that was 2020, it refuses to go quietly and Vincentians...

Each year at Christmas, many Vincentian organizations and individuals reach out to needy persons or families in the spirit of love and goodwill that s...

Over the past few weeks and particularly since the November 5 elections in SVG, many of us in the media, and in the wider society as a whole, have bee...

At this time of the year, Vincentians tend to boast that St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) must be among the top places in the world to be for Chris...

There is a well-known hymn which speaks in part of “A fountain flowing deep and wide”. It would not be out of context to apply a similar description t...

It happens without fail. Whenever we publish news stories about the ceremonies held at the High Court in Kingstown to welcome freshly minted lawyers t...

It is not often over the last two decades or so that we can feel encouraged, if not inspired, by proceedings in the House of Assembly. The first sitti...

The global HIV epidemic is not over and may be accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a devastating impact on communities and countries. In 2...

The promised vaccine for arresting the coronavirus pandemic may be on the horizon, but the reality is that the pandemic continues to spread, alarmingl...

It can be seen in the abundance of sorrel on the market and the colourful lights on display at some businesses and homes. It can be heard in the carol...

Recognizing the continuing injustice and discrimination against women and the glaring inequality they faced worldwide in all spheres of life, the Unit...

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into stark relief our nation’s interconnectedness with the rest of the world. Since the declaration by the World H...

The elections are over, the votes counted, the winner declared and the new Government sworn in. During the exercise we had our political versions of “...

Later today, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves will reveal the composition of his new Cabinet of Ministers; the people who will direct government poli...

HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Dr Ralph Gonsalves and his Unity Labour Party (ULP) on being re-elected to office for a fifth consecutive term...

OVER THE PAST month, the electorate in St Vincent and the Grenadines has been the focus of powerful entreaties by the governing Unity Labour Party (UL...

The weight of history is almost upon us. For on November 5, 2020, a mere six days away, St Vincent and the Grenadines will hold a truly historic elect...

When we vote, we are delivering both a judgment of the past and a statement of what we would like our future to be. The political parties use various ...

Next Tuesday our country will celebrate the 41st anniversary of the reclamation of its national Independence on October 27, 1979. We are still, relati...

BY MIDDAY TODAY, we will know who are the candidates who will contest the elections in the country’s 15 constituencies on November 5. There should be ...

The negative impact of the global COVID pandemic continues to batter the economies of countries great and small, rich and poor, throughout the world. ...

The right and obligation to rule ourselves is one of the most fundamental expressions of the patrimony handed to us by our foreparents. November 5 has...

Our election campaign season here in SVG coincides with Presidential and Congressional elections in the United States. Such is the huge influence of t...

SIX PEOPLE have died in St Vincent and the Grenadines from dengue fever and while just over 500 have had their infection confirmed through laboratory ...

The New Democratic party (NDP) seems to be pulling out all its stops in a effort to unseat the governing Unity Labour Party (ULP) in the next general ...

Since the CAPE and CSEC results were released last week, some schools across the region have reported anomalies in their results, with some top studen...

The United Nations this week embarked on its 75th General Assembly in a most unprecedented way. The pomp and ceremony normally expected for such an au...

BY THE TIME September rolls around each year, our schools’ graduations are usually long past. This is not the case in 2020, owing to the disruptive na...

The announcement by the government of Barbados that this sister-isle of ours is to end its centuries-long status where the Queen of England is its Hea...

While the COVID-19 pandemic has been having a very negative impact on global life, another development, originating in the United States (US) but not ...

Politics in small countries like ours can have some very negative effects on both politicians and their political supporters alike, not to mention how...

STAYCATIONS HAVE BEEN on the rise in developed countries for many years, but it may just have taken the coronavirus pandemic for this particular mode ...