BEST WEEK EVER:

There are literally thousands of restaurants in New York City, all struggling to stand out and draw diners into their kitchens. It’s not an easy business, but Vincentian superchef Rawlston Williams has clearly risen to the top of a crowded, competitive field. His tiny Brooklyn restaurant, “The Food Sermon” was recently featured in the New York Times and just covered on TV’s Cooking Channel, both of which reach millions of people.{{more}}

Chef Williams, a devout Seventh-Day Adventist who migrated from SVG as a child, is a seminary school drop-out who found his true calling in the kitchen. Now that his delicious Vincy-inspired flavours are taking New York by storm, is it too much to hope for a “Food Sermon” to be delivered back home?

Runner-up:

SVG’s fledgling environmental NGOs took to the beaches last week for International Coastal Clean-up Day, and Vincy shorelines are better for it. Teams of young activists descended on beaches on the east coast of the mainland to pick up hundreds of pounds of rubbish and filth that were polluting the area.

For a country that once marketed itself as “the Natural Place to Be”, and whose Prime Minister is always bragging about his green credentials, there isn’t much awareness about the ways that careless garbage disposal damages our environment and economy. There is too much trash tossed onto beaches, or into drains that empty out into the sea. Even hotels spew unsanitary-looking waste water directly onto the beach. Hopefully, the corporate sponsors that helped fund the coastal clean-up day activities will stay engaged and help these NGOs to keep SVG beautiful. It is also time for the Government to step up and impose stiff penalties on people and businesses that despoil our coastline.

WORST WEEK EVER:

In his book “The Art of War”, legendary military strategist Sun Tzu advises armies to avoid strength and to strike at an enemy’s weakness. It’s safe to say that the NDP never read “The Art of War.” In another poor week for Political Tactics, the NDP wasted more valuable time trying to chip away at the ULP’s two strongest pillars: The so-called “Education Revolution” and the Argyle International Airport. Every campaign day spent talking about airport and education is a good day for the ULP. Meanwhile, jobs, crime, potholes and other questionable ULP policies are starved for attention. At the same time, the ULP is devoting precious energy to making a campaign issue of Ben Exeter’s over-energetic dance style. Ben’s display was funny, but no one is going to vote against the NDP because Exeter dances like a dancehall queen. Who advises these parties?

Runner-up:

Five years ago, political firebrand Anesia Baptiste was energising massive crowds, driving the NDP’s surging popularity, and being written about as a safe bet to be SVG’s first female prime minister. How the mighty have fallen.

Last week, the leader and only known member of the oddly named Democratic Republican Party held a public meeting in her constituency of West St George (Arnos Vale) – minus the “public.” Were it not for one intrepid journalist who attended the meeting, no one would have known it took place. In spite of that same journalist’s decision to write a separate article for each of the five people in attendance, it’s hard to recall a young politician whose star has fallen so far, so fast. Mrs Baptiste will no doubt benefit from these political “wilderness years”. However, for the 2015 elections, last week confirmed her status as a non-entity.

If I had a question in SVG Parliament

…I would ask Southern Grenadines MP Terrance Olliverre to explain his plan for building and maintaining a secondary school on the tiny island of Mayreau. Most secondary schools in SVG have more students than Mayreau has residents. There are simply not enough secondary-school aged children there to justify a separate school. Is it better to deliver a sub-standard, underfunded, understaffed school to Mayreau, or to deliver the children to a higher quality institution nearby?

Media Watch

Every year, for the opening of the Law Term, a gaggle of lawyers parade through Kingstown, dressed in black like some morbid mass band. Every year, the press dutifully reports on the procession, complete with a bunch of boring photos. Even the lawyers are getting tired of the spectacle: we have more lawyers than ever in SVG, but fewer and fewer of them take to the streets each year. When will the press lose interest too?