From 1987 - 1994, Susan Howatch published a riveting 6 book series on the Church of England in which she dealt with faith, structure, societal and generational issues.  She was clear as she discussed aging for one of her protagonists that even when one travels in good health, the expectation is that ‘the circle of friends constricts; tales of illness and suffering multiply.’Elder neglect in the BVI is rampant regardless of the presence of caregivers.  For in those cases, tr...

Hello you! Festival is almost here. Are you ready. If not, why? When the memories tug, when the healing hurts, or when you just need a reminder of who the hell you are. You are the peace you used to pray for. The calm within the storms. Be unavailable, untouchable and unbothered!  Festival- Ready and FreeFace beat, nails fresh,brows shaped like destiny.Hair catching breeze like it knowsBVI Festival is calling you, to dance in the village, your waistline telling a story. ...

“Shakespeare summed it up best in the tragedy of Julius Caesar: "Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much, such men are dangerous."  The Premier has a difficult job that borders on the impossible. He cannot please all of the people, all of the times. He cannot even please all of the people, some of the times because, as we grow the Territory, the voices become disparate, loud and demanding. And we want different things. Some want to de...

The cars, parked on both sides of the King’s Road and in all available vacant lots in the vicinity, made their own prior announcement.A sitting Premier and a former Premier were in attendance.  So were the 3rd and 8th District Representatives and the Junior Minister for Tourism.Dr Pickering and Ms Parsons, former Deputy Premiers, were also there.The church was filled to capacity and the significant overflow into the large space of the Sea Cows Bay Methodist Church yard made movement i...

According to Isabell Allende (A Long Petal of the Sea) “…without science, industry and technology, no progress is possible…”Former Premier Fahie always repeated that ‘when you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ and it is beginning to be crystalline that we plan to fail at independence.To be clear, independence sits on the road of the natural trajectory in human development.  Parents expect it of their children and a people, at some point, desire to be mast...

“The water, mostly, goes everywhere but in the pipes.  Sometimes, for weeks on end, one must be content with seeing it cascading downhill or flowing through the bushes while it is needed in homes, in guest rooms, in businesses. Often, an observant Good Samaritan who knows one of the maintenance workers may send a photo with the hope that the identified leaks/breaks would be urgently addressed.   But it seems the maintenance workers often return to the same spo...

“On Tuesday, the sea resembled a giant looking glass.  It sat there tranquil, beautiful, inviting.  The full moon lent tracks of light to enhance the sea’s allure and a clear, blue sky ensured that cloudy patches did not contribute intermittent darkness on the glistening water.But the sea is never to be trifled with.  It is moody in its temperament, capricious by nature, extremely dangerous, deadly.The sea has been eyewitness to heinous crimes and it has claimed its fa...

The COI has been the Territory’s Achilles heel ever since a departing governor reluctantly granted the wish of a former Premier who called for it day and night when he was Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.  His rationale was that the NDP Party that formed the government of the day was the most corrupt in the history of BVI politics.But words are spirit and life.  Long after they are spoken, they still retain their capacity to haunt and to hurt.The children of the si...

“Bit by bit our freedom is being taken away, under our gaze but beneath our notice while we run around to the UN, CARICOM and to whomever has two ears to make the BVIs case for independence.The only place we seem uninterested in making that case is in BVI.  We have not studied the costs, obligations and responsibilities of independence.  We want the people to make the decision in anger and in ignorance perhaps without even the benefit of a referendum.Surely the people do not want...