BEST WEEK EVER:

Forget elections for a week. Carnival is officially in the air with the official launch of Vincy Mas 2015. The Carnival Development Committee started things off on the right foot with an energetic and well-planned event, while artistes like Kahailia Beach, Orlando Foster and Kingsley “Hero” Roberts were deserving winners in the New Song Competition at Victoria Park.

Radio stations are also weaning listeners from their Dancehall and Hip-Hop diet with a steady stream of quality new songs from Luta, Skarpyon, Bomani, Problem Child and Skinny Fabulous.{{more}}

Hopefully, the successful start proves that the old dogs at the CDC are learning new tricks, and we can look forward to well-advertised, well-attended, well-managed shows, with minimal grousing about who didn’t get paid and who wasn’t selected.

Runner-up:

Shevrell “Candyman”

Event patrons just looking for a good time were victims of parasitic criminals last week. Many of the thousands who attended the uplifting Gospel Fest in the Victoria Park had their spiritual high shattered by smash and grab thieves who were busy breaking into parked cars, while their owners were praising the Lord.

Even worse, young Aljay Douglas of Campden Park was brutally robbed and murdered while he was collecting money from incoming patrons at a local “wet fete.”

People must have a reasonable expectation of safety and security when they go out at night. The police organizers and the event organizers have to step up their game.

Sydney ‘Gold Teeth’ James

Policemen “Buju” and “Gold Teeth” have been asked to vacate their cushy Kingstown offices and take up residence at humble community police stations in Biabou and Calliaqua. Is this punishment for their unacknowledged, but widely-rumoured roles in the debacle that led to the Major Crimes Unit dragging a teacher out of her staff room for a profane Facebook rant?

If conventional wisdom is anything to go by, these two strong-willed cops will see their transfers as punitive demotions. But they shouldn’t let bruised pride distract them from the good work they can do on the ground in areas that have been seeing a troubling rise in violent and property crime.

… I’d ask Vynnette Frederick what exactly was gained by her distasteful and gory retelling of a sexual violence anecdote during parliamentary debate that had some colleagues scurrying for the exits. Every Vincentian has heard disgusting tales of sexual violence, some of them disturbingly close to the hallowed halls from which Ms Frederick launched her tirade. But no one’s understanding of the Domestic Violence Act was enhanced by her detailed grandstanding, and quite a few tuned out.

Media Watch!

Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace is in full election mode, and has made some serious headline-grabbing assertions of late: Electoral fraud leading to double-voting by hundreds of Vincentians; SVG as the rape capital of the world and government lying about economic growth in 2014. The media has dutifully reported each of Eustace’s charges. But are any of the accusations actually true? Don’t look to some of our media houses for answers. They don’t seem too interested in those little details.