BEST WEEK EVER

Tue, Mar 03, 2015

Arnhim Eustace dipped into the NDP bank account to fly himself and Vynnette Frederick up to St Kitts for the victory celebrations of the three-headed alliance that finally dethroned Denzil “the Dictator” Douglas at the polls.

Two years ago Arnhim and Timothy Harris looked like a silly sideshow while demonstrating outside a CARICOM meeting in Buccament Bay, in front of indifferent heads of government and clueless paid demonstrators. Today, Ole Mr Doom and Gloom is flashing a rare lopsided grin and rightfully calling himself PM Harris’ original regional backer.{{more}}

Now, to replicate that success story in SVG, all Arnhim has to do is let Ralph win a fourth term (like Denzil did), hope that Camillo and Saboto defect from the ULP and start their own political party (like Sam Condor and Tim Harris did), then stage a two-year legal bid to force the incumbent to call elections.

But wait: If Arnhim follows the Team Unity playbook to a “T” he still doesn’t become Prime Minister. It’ll be one of the Labour defectors that would eventually take the crown.

Runner-up:

Rodney Small

People are still talking about the stunning display of steelpan virtuosity that young Rodney Small unleashed on the people of Fancy during last week’s Gospel concert. After last year’s “I am Legend” spectacular, Rodney had now supplanted the great Ken Isles as the first name you think of when someone in SVG says “pan soloist.” The torch has been passed.

Grenville John, Comptroller of Customs

Comptroller of Customs Grenville John has been public enemy #1 for a few years now, due to his hostile and stubborn manner with businesspeople and anyone who tries to import a lil something from overseas. The knock on Grenville is that he treats every importer like they’re trying to pull a fast one; he overvalues every item coming through the port, and insists on every imaginable supporting document and proof before releasing your goods from his clutches.

Imagine our surprise then, when we learned that the righteous Comptroller imported a vehicle without an invoice and came up with a curiously low valuation for it. Even worse than his legalistic excuses was his laughable ‘insanity’ defence – “I would have to be crazy if I paid more than that.” Isn’t that the same argument he churlishly rejects from everyone else importing cheap products into Vincy?

CODE RED

Let’s get this straight, Code Red, president of the National Omnibus Association: You threaten to strike if the Government doesn’t start fixing the road by a certain deadline. The Government surrenders and starts fixing the roads by the prescribed date. But you strike anyway, because you disagree with which piece of road the Government fixed first? This was NOBA’s second consecutive road-repair victory. Why squander your new power by being untrustworthy? Next time you threaten to strike, they might just ignore you, as it seems you are going to strike anyway.

… I’d ask the Speaker of the House how he let Linton Lewis back into Parliament again after Lewis levelled what many considered a blatantly thuggish threat against the Speaker’s safety.

Media Watch!

… It’s understandable when TV and radio stations argue about who’s #1. But it’s illogical when newspapers do it. Here’s why: You have to guess how many ears or eyes are tuned into public airwaves. There is room for debate. But it’s ridiculously easy to count how many newspapers are printed, and how many are sold. Even easier here in SVG, where all the papers are printed at the same factory. Why are we arguing about which is the most read paper in SVG? All you have to do is release your verified circulation figures. Let the News, Searchlight and Vincentian tell us how many papers they printed and how many they sold. These are known numbers. That would settle this silly argument.