On Emancipation Day we party while millions are still held as slaves in China, North Korea, Africa and throughout the Muslim world

What king of place is this?

Modern Slave Stories…

Mende Nazer

Simon Deng

The signs of Modern Slavery

Help this poor woman have more babies without fathers to support the children!

In March 2015 Innotech chairman Anthony DaSilva gave Harriett Hackett $2,500 in food vouchers. Here, Harriett wonders how much more is he good for, and would it be worth producing child #10 if she could just lure Anthony into her bed? Would he stick around or run off like all the others?

Nine children by many men – no food, no employment but she has a facebook page

Harriett Hackett hasn’t worked in years and years, and none of the men she’s hooked up with stick around to look after Harriett or her children – but that doesn’t stop her from popping out another little one with this man or that every once in a while. Nine children so far, the oldest being 20 and the youngest being 5. For years Harriett and her brood have lived in a dilapidated shack of a home under conditions that are probably worse than seen at the plantations during many periods in our history.

Last March saw a big fund raising for Harriett that took in thousands of dollars. Politicians lined up for the photo opportunities and brought her clothes and food. Harriett even got her own facebook page “Help Harriett Hackett“ with 150 likes. Well, that money is gone now and she needs some more, so she went to the newspapers again. Seemed to work last time, wonder if it will work again this time?

Mother crying out again for help

My children are hungry again!

The cry of 45-year-old Harriett Hackett as she took a breadfruit from a neighbour and made her way into the kitchen to turn it into a meal for her children when they return home from school.

The mother’s story is not new to readers as her undesirable circumstances were highlighted in an article published in Barbados TODAY on March 18 where she asked for help with feeding and clothing her children.

She told Barbados TODAY this afternoon that she was still struggling to feed her little ones.

Immediately following publication of the article, the Mayers Road, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael family, whose home is also in dire need of repairs, received help in the form of food, clothing and even money from kind hearted Barbadians locally and abroad.

At that time, the unemployed mum said that though she was relentlessly trying to find a job, she had not worked “in years”. Today, she is still searching.

“I looking for work, of course, but I can’t find none up to now. Anything anybody can give me to do, I would be glad for,” the mother said.

Now weeks later, Hackett said while she was thankful for the help last time, she was once again in the same position of hardly having anything to feed her children, the eldest being 20 (not living with her) and the youngest five.

“I don’t have anything for the children to eat. All the vouchers and all the food stuff gone.”

… read the entire story at Barbados Today, and don’t forget to send Harriett lots of money!

 

China showers money, free trips on Barbados journalists and government employees. Where’s mine?

That sound you hear at Chinese embassies throughout the Caribbean is the shuffling of journalists, government officials and other folks crawling on their knees to get their share of the free trips, goods, money and other largesse dispensed by the Chinese government because… because of their good and kind intentions.

The only condition (and it’s not even necessary to agree in writing) is that the receiving governments, people and organisations don’t mention the sins of China or the Chinese Communist Party, including running the world’s largest slave camp system, systemic poisoning of the environment and the routine trampling of human rights, freedom of religion etc.. Also on the ‘don’t mention’ list are forced abortions and executions for property crimes to facilitate government selling of prisoners’ organs. And China certainly doesn’t want to hear any talk of the Tienanmen Square Massacre or how journalists are beaten to death for reporting illegal disposal of cadmium waste. Same same for the concerns over the Confucius Institute programme at UWI.

So pay no attention to these fanciful stories of Chinese slave camps, forced abortions and repression of Christian. Just line up for the free money!

China gives Barbados journalists “Hard-to-resist treats, free trips, all expenses paid… and flattery”

Barbados silent about China kidnapping, forcing late term abortions, sterilizations on 7000 women

What would Sarah Ann Gill think about our silence over religious persecution in China?

The new Bajan export commodity: Wives to China!

Barbados signs environmental deal with one of the world’s worst offenders: China

On this day of emancipation, we pray for millions still held as slaves in China, North Korea, Africa and throughout the Muslim world

China’s New Slave Empire: Africa

China Olympics – Police Ask Bar Owners Not To Serve Blacks Because They Are Pimps, Prostitutes And Drug Dealers

Barbados Prime Minister Promises To Ignore China Human Rights Issues As Long As Communist Dollars Continue

BFP Aug 14, 2008 – Hartley Henry Pays The Chinese Back For That Free Trip!

BFP Apr 28, 2008 – Help Us Confirm The Names Of The Barbados Journalists Who Took Gifts From Communist China

BFP June 6, 2006 – Barbados Media Forgets Anniversary – China’s Tiananmen Square Massacre

DELEGATION HEADING TO CHINA

Some 19 persons will be heading to the People’s Republic of China later this month to attend a number of bilateral seminars on Agro-processing and Agriculture.

The group is scheduled to leave the island next Wednesday, June 10, 2015 for the seminars, which will run from Friday, June 12, to Thursday, July 2, on Hainan Island, China. The delegation will be led by Senior Agricultural Officer, Leslie Brereton, and will include representatives from the Barbados Investment Development Corporation (BIDC), the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), and a number of private persons involved in agriculture.

The bilateral seminars are fully funded by the People’s Republic of China and are organised through the Academy for International Business Officials (AIBO), also known as the Training Centre of the Ministry of Commerce. The seminars are expected to include presentations, lectures and tours. (KRM/BGIS)

Will Barbados hang Police Constable Everton Gittens?

Unarmed and shot in the back. Just another day with the Barbados Police.

For the first time that anyone can remember, we have a police constable charged with murder. Everton Gittens was arrested and charged and appeared in court yesterday for the murder of Selwyn Knight at Dash Gap, Bank Hall.

Rumours are that Selwyn Knight and his father were shot in the back as they pursued Gittens’ homosexual lover Jamal Skeete who had broken into their home. Folks who read this blog know that I Robert don’t care who anybody sleeps with, or how many people they sleep with, or how many people they sleep with all at once. You want to be friends with Cliverton, you have to accept that the man will sleep with anything that breathes and I’m not even sure to draw the line that close.

But, the moment you bring emotions into the equation when somebody has their finger on a trigger, well mister, as they say that is serious business. And if the man holding the gun is a cop, that’s another layer, or perhaps another lawyer.

Rumours are that there is a video of the shooting made by a security camera, but that Gittens himself destroyed the recording. (So says Sheri Veronica an she’s plugged in everywhere)

As Sheri Veronica made note, Gittens is the same police constable involved in the Shanique Myrie case, and the court rejected his evidence as not the truth.

For too long ’bout this place police have done what they want to do and gotten away with it. That’s one of the problems when you have a little rock like this with 275,000 people on it and call it a country. Cabals take over everything including justice and policing.

We’ve had other police officers shoot people in the back before with no charges. It’s even dangerous in Barbados to run away from police if you’re unarmed on your bicycle.

But here’s the big deal… this is the Caribbean and some folks want to hang Gittens because he supposedly had a man for a lover.

If Barbados is going to hang Gittens, it should be for murder and nothing else.

But this is the Caribbean and there’s nothing you can do ’bout that.

Islamic Supremacist lectures Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

In 2011, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended a concert in the capitol, The Hague. A Muslim (some stories say he was the conductor, others dispute this) proceeds to give the Queen a lecture on the “beauty” of Islam. The entire orchestra got up and walked out. Staff of the music hall escorted the man off-stage and after questioning, out of the building. Some stories state that the concert continued after the theatre was checked for bombs.

Thanks to an old friend for sending this.

After years of denial, Bajan Reporter Ian Bourne finally admits that Islam and the Koran makes Western society “more dangerous, less tolerant, less civilised and less free”

It has been four years since Ian Bourne fell into his own trap and posted a cartoon of Jesus giving the finger, but then wouldn’t post a cartoon of Mohammed giving the finger… and then Bourne took down the Jesus cartoon so he wouldn’t be seen as a hypocrite for insulting Jesus but not Mohammed.

For years Bourne criticised BFP for asking questions about how the Koran and Islam mandate killing of unbelievers and former Muslims, about the lesser status of women in Islam, about how the Koran says it takes four women to equal one man witness, about how Muslims should hate Jews, about how the Koran and Islam instruct slavery, rape and submission of non-Muslims.

And now Bajan Reporter publishes Pat Condell’s latest video Nothing to do with Islam.

Could it be that Ian has had an epiphany?

If so… good for Ian.

If not… pass me another Banks beer baby!

Paris Attack: Devout Muslims massacre 11 journalists & police, wound many more at Charlie Hebdo magazine

Muslim shooters “Allahu Akbar”

Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Charb and Cabu murdered by devout Muslims

Telegraph UK live feed

How much jihad is too much before Western civilization stops all Muslim immigration?

The Quran as hate literature

Quran (2:191-193) – “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief] is worse than killing… but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful.   And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone.  But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun (the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)”

Quran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.”

Question: Does the Quran really contain dozens of verses promoting violence?

Courtesy of The Religion Of Peace.com

The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.  Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding.  Muslims who do not join the fight are called ‘hypocrites’ and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.

Unlike nearly all of the Old Testament verses of violence, the verses of violence in the Quran are mostly open-ended, meaning that they are not restrained by the historical context of the surrounding text.  They are part of the eternal, unchanging word of Allah, and just as relevant or subjective as anything else in the Quran. 

Battle of Broken Hill: 100 years since the first jihadist terror attack in Australia

Alma Cowie, Katrina Dawson (r): murdered in Australia by Muslim jihadists 100 years apart

One hundred years ago, January 1, 2915, two Muslim immigrants to Australia launched jihad attacks on a Sunday excursion train, killing four and wounding several others before being killed by police, in what became known as the Battle of Broken Hill.

On December 15, 2014, a Muslim cleric took hostages at gunpoint in a Sydney Australia cafe and held up an ISIS terror flag in the window. Thanks to Sheikyermami.com for the photos of the two victims one hundred years apart.

The list of murders to please Allah (P.BUH) between those two dates is impressive, and surely must be pleasing to the Muslim prophet who himself loved to behead, rape and enslave infidels – and instructed that his followers do the same.

The Holy Koran instructs all good Muslims to commit acts of violence to spread the religion and political system called Islam.

So that’s exactly what followers are doing.

Any questions?

Trinidad Islamic Coup – July 27, 1990

Nothing has changed.

Strike that.

The 2014 Muslim Jihad is much, much worse around the world.

But the 1990 Trinidad Jihad was a warning.

 

How government will use Barbados Water Authority smart meters to identify tax cheats

“This is a search on of your private life, showing your personal living patterns everyday – without a warrant. Your information going out to the Barbados Water Authority, the government, the police, the insurance company; to anyone who cuts a deal with the Barbados Water Authority now or in the future.”

Yes, my friends: that BWA smart meter is part of the government data-gathering and analysis system used to identify tax cheats (and for other purposes too.)”

Smart Meters a little too smart?

Back in 2011 Barbados Free Press published Smart Meters are Surveillance Devices – Data already used by police. Since that time there have been dozens of articles by major news outlets about privacy concerns with not only water and power smart meters, but also with the rise of the internet-connected home automation and camera systems.

While the use of internet motion detection / video-camera systems and online home appliances is a choice, the installation of smart meters is mandated by the government.  And what does the BWA and the government do with the data that they collect every second? They do anything they want with that data because there are no laws against it.

Who says BWA smart meters can identify tax cheats? The technology suppliers – that’s who…

Cowater International Inc. and Sogema Technologies Inc. are the two international corporations at the top end of the US$24.7 million dollar smart meter deal with the Barbados Water Authority. The Barbados government says the total cost of the project will be US$58 million dollars.

With subsidies from the Canadian Commercial Corporation, the BWA will install almost 100,000 smart water meters on this rock and the computers and software to monitor, administer and control the system.

Commercial clients are the priority, but eventually every home will have a smart meter too. Every one of those 98,800 household smart meters will supply a wealth of data that can be married up with other data to show patterns of behaviour, associations and reveal information that never would have been noticed before. BWA data will be consolidated with other private and government data sources. 

Devout Muslim terrorist attack on Canadian Parliament – is Barbados as vulnerable?

by Nevermind Kurt

Early Wednesday morning a Canadian devout Muslim named Michael Zehaf-Bibeau murdered an unarmed soldier standing guard at the war memorial in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. Zehaf-Bibeau then stormed Parliament with a firearm where thirty or forty shots were fired between the terrorist and security personnel. The Sergeant at Arms, an older gentleman in a largely ceremonial position, shot and killed the Muslim terrorist with a pistol.

Initial news reports claimed that the terrorist was a ‘recent convert’, but it is now emerging that Zehaf-Bibeau had been a Muslim for years and may also hold Libyan citizenship. Police say his father is an immigrant to Canada from Libya, who returned to his native country in 2011 to wage Jihad war.

You can clearly hear the terrorist shouting “Allah Akbar” in a video made during the shooting inside Parliament.

The attack came only two days after a Jihad attack in Quebec where another devout Muslim ran down two Canadian soldiers in a shopping mall parking lot. One soldier died in that attack and the Muslim terrorist was shot to death after crashing his car and coming at police with a knife.

Barbados not immune to Sudden Jihad Syndrome

Muslim Violence: How a 20% minority can enforce its will on the majority

Merry Christmas from a minority…

The Editor
Barbados Free Press
Grape Hall, Barbados
West Indies

Dear Sir/Madam

At present, there is a discourse on Muslims in Barbados. The following article is submitted in the hope that Barbadians would analyze things for themselves and do some reading and research.

Eighty percent of the population of the Central African Republic is Christian. The other twenty percent is ostensibly Muslim – ostensibly because part of the Muslim population is non-native (illegal from Chad and so on).

In the past both Christians and Muslims lived in harmony. The Muslim rebel commander, Mr. Djotodia, in the past sought funding from the “Organization of the Islamic Conference”(OIC) in Saudi Arabia in 2012 to establish a separate country.

According to the “ Wall street Journal” of 21-23 March 2014, Djotodia in a letter to OIC in 2012 stated:

“We are going to transform a part of the CAR…into an Islamic republic. We are going to put into place an Islamic regime that will apply Sharia”.

This is exactly what Djotodia did. He started a coup with the aid of Chad (a Muslim country), which overthrew the government. Once in power, he burnt down churches and enforced sharia law.

How can a minority of less than twenty percent of a population try to enforce its will on the majority? That is exactly what the Muslims in the CAR did. In Muslim majority countries, non-Muslims have to toe the line, they have no right, one only has to look at Pakistan.

Sincerely,

Robert D. Lucas, Ph.D. & CFS.
Biotechnologist & Certified Food Scientist.

 

Stolen Baby reminds us of the Barbados stem-cell scandal

Back in 2006, Barbados Free Press wrote…

This is a story about murder, international organ trafficking and children disappearing from Eastern European orphanages. There is a Barbados connection.

“The Government Of Barbados under Prime Minister Owen Arthur has allowed Barbados to become a world destination for trafficking in body parts – an industry that is known to involve organized crime, paying poor Ukrainian women to become pregnant and then aborting… and where there is now evidence of kidnapping and murder of newly born live, healthy babies.”

… from the BFP story: Healthy Ukrainian Newborns Murdered For Body Parts – Destination Barbados Clinic

Then BLP PM Owen Arthur made Barbados a destination for human body parts from aborted/murdered babies.

The Institute For Regenerative Medicine left Barbados after the story broke, and Owen Arthur and his government were just happy to let the whole thing drop. Owen $ Arthur never did tell us how much the BLP received from the stem cell clinic in “political donations“.

Today Barbados Free Press received the following article from a father who is desperate to find his now adult son who was kidnapped as a newborn baby from an Iranian hospital in 1984. We pray that Fadil Hashmi will find his son someday, but our Bajan experience with the Institute for Regenerative Medicine makes us fear that Mr. Hashmi’s son might not be alive.

There are so many evil people in this world – and it brought shame upon our nation when Prime Minister Owen Arthur and the Barbados Labour Party aligned themselves with such an evil enterprise as the Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Here is the sad story from Fadil Hashmi…

“They said they buried my newborn son 30 years ago, but he is still alive somewhere.”

by Fadil Hashmi

I am Fadil Hashmi, and I work as an engineer in UAE. I am trying to uncover the truth of kidnapping my son for some 20 years.

Our son was born healthy in an Iranian Hospital in 1984. Three days later I was told that my son was dead. Six years ago I opened his grave, but did not find my son’s body.

December 24, 1984, I and my wife were living in Iran-my wife home country. When she went into labour, I took her to Sajjad Hospital in Tehran, where she delivered a healthy baby, according to medical reports. We choose name Mohammad for our son, but it was not made official on any documents.

After the delivery the baby was taken away and kept on a different floor at the hospital. My son was not given to his mother for feeding. My wife was discharged the same day and we were advised to keep the baby in the hospital for a few days. 

Muslim-only housing development in Barbados. No Christians or Jews allowed to purchase homes in new community.

Muslim Association says “Barbadians have nothing to fear.” (What a statement!)

Is this what we want for our Barbados?

It’s not a real sign, but it might as well be!

One can only imagine the howls of outrage if a construction company announced that only Christians would be allowed to purchase new homes in a brand new Bajan subdivision… and rightly so. Can you imagine on a sign “No Muslim Buyers Allowed” ???

Yet this is exactly what our political class has agreed to in relation to Bajan Christians and Jews when it issued building permissions to the Muslim organisations involved in building Barbados’ newest housing development.

After hundreds of years of slavery, and then another hundred years of colonisation, exclusion and segregation based upon race, skin colour and class, ordinary Barbadians do not take kindly to being told they are not eligible to purchase a home because they are not of the proper religion. Bajans do not like being told that they are second class citizens in their own country.

The message from the Muslim spokespersons that “Barbadians have nothing to fear” is a statement that these people consider themselves to be outside of the wide and inclusive Barbados citizenship and community. Is this what we want for our Barbados?

Muslims wish to self-enclave, to not be part of the wider Bajan community

Muslim schools in Barbados teach our young people that “Hijab is compulsory… hide woman’s beauty as protection from rape” and “Beheading, chopping off your hands, severe beatings are Islamic rules, nothing wrong in it” (See BFP’s article about the Muslim Girls School.)

There can be no debate that these Islamic values and teachings are anti-Bajan, and destructive to our national character. They are against everything that this country stands for. Muslim teaching about the value of women is stuck somewhere before the dark-ages, but for some reason liberals excuse the fact that the Koran not only allows, but instructs, husbands to physically discipline their wives.

Yet, our so-called political leadership has agreed to allow the establishment of a community that excludes ordinary Bajans and upholds values that are foreign and destructive to our nation.

This is a dangerous precedent that weakens Barbados and undermines everything we have struggled for in the past 150 years. By all means, let people believe what they want to believe no matter how vile or outrageous. Freedom and democracy demands tolerance. But we draw the line when our government gives approval and support to an exclusionary enclave based upon religion and values that are in total opposition to the Bajan culture and national character.

I wonder: what would Bussa think of this?

From The Nation newspaper. We have to reprint it all because that newspaper has a habit of revising history:

HOUSING VENTURE

A new community exclusively for Muslims has been started at Clermont, St James. 

Barbados prisoner John Lepp on hunger strike – held for 3 years without trial. Has lost 70 pounds since arrest.

Barbados Free Press received the following from a relative of John Lepp. We researched online and found a Barbados court docket from 2011 for Mr. Lepp. That’s all we know.

Here is the message as we received it…

WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED MAN ON REMAND FOR 42 MONTHS WITHOUT TRIAL NOW ON HUNGER STRIKE AT HM DODDS PRISON, BARBADOS.

Mr John Lepp has been imprisoned wrongfully within Barbados’ HM Dodds Prison for three and a half years, held on remand without a fair trial. He has now sanctioned a hunger strike, drinking only water until his case is heard fairly and he is released from the hell he was so wrongfully endured.

The conditions he has been living in are appalling, so much so that Mr John Lepp relates it to ‘living like dogs’. These conditions are described as being worse than the convicted criminals who are actually serving time. Whilst held on remand he has been fed a malnourished diet of bread and water everyday for three and a half years. The results of this underfeeding can be seen in the 70lbs he has lost since being taken into custody in 2011. This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

Mr John Lepp is serious and vowing on all grounds that he will see the hunger strike through until the end in a fight for his human rights with the hope of achieving a fair trial. Much like the Raul Garcia case, John Lepp will not stop and will put his life on the line in order to bring his awful, appalling and utterly inhumane treatment to an end.

It seems that those who are left on remand are stripped entirely of their human rights and merely forgotten about. Thus it is now clear that Mr John Lepp’s voice may only be heard through the extremity of a hunger strike.

THIS MUST BE STOPPED.

Barbados government okays Communist Party of China to educate young Barbadians

Barbados’ Minister of Education Ronald Jones gushed with fawning excitement at the unveiling of a plaque to announce that the Communist Party of China will now be teaching our young people their version of China’s history, foreign affairs and human rights. Press release here

China’s Ambassador to Barbados, Wang Ke, was smiling too because he knows that the Chinese Communist Party’s access to our Bajan youth will be on an exclusive basis – with no opposition or human rights groups allowed to spoil the party at the new Confucius Institute to be established at UWI’s Cave Hill Campus.

Teaching adherence to the Chinese Communist party line is a basic requirement by the ChiComs if Barbados is to receive the construction funds and ongoing operational costs from China.

China has built hundreds of these institutions all over the world, that according to various news stories, act as propaganda and espionage centres for the communists.

Don’t expect too many discussions about Tibet, China’s harvesting of organs from executed political prisoners, China’s slave camp system, new African colonialism or government persecution of Christians.

Just take that money and run!

Because… when you’re broke and begging you have no independence left at all.

from Wikipedia Criticisms of Confucius Institutes

“The Confucius Institute (CI) program, which began establishing centers for Chinese language instruction in 2004, has been the subject of criticisms, concerns, and controversies during its international expansion.

Many such concerns stem from the CI’s relationship to Chinese Communist Party authorities, giving rise to criticisms about undermining academic freedom at host universities, engaging in industrial and military espionage, surveillance of Chinese students abroad, and attempts to advance the single-party state Chinese government’s political agendas on controversial issues such as Tibet and Taiwan. Additional concerns have arisen over the institutes’ financial and academic viability, teaching quality, and relations with Chinese partner universities.

Confucius Institutes have defended their establishments, comparing them with other cultural promotion organizations such as Alliance française and Goethe-Institut. However, unlike the Alliance francaise or Goethe-Institut, Confucius Institutes are managed by the Chinese government and operate directly on university campuses, thus giving rise to unique concerns related to academic freedom and political influence. Some observers have noted that CIs are largely limited to teaching cultural and language programs, and the institutes’ staff tend to self-censor with regards to political and controversial subjects as human rights and democracy.”

Caribbean Governments must remove laws criminalizing homosexuallity

“Public health academia has known for decades that to effectively curb the global crisis of HIV/AIDS we have to remove institutionalized oppression that re-enforces homophobia. It is not a panacea but it is a major part of the solution…

Twelve of the fifteen CARICOM member states still criminalize homosexuality…

Harassment, silence, intimidation and homophobic laws are a major hindrance on the efficacy of HIV outreach and prevention. It compromises the fight against HIV and AIDS.”

by Sean Macleish for Barbados Free Press

The Caribbean is second in the world to Sub-Saharan Africa in the rate of HIV infection. The primary mode of transmission in the region is heterosexual intercourse with high risk groups to include men who have sex with men (MSM) and there is intersection between the two.

Public health academia has known for decades that to effectively curb the global crisis of HIV/AIDS we have to remove institutionalized oppression that re-enforces homophobia. It is not a panacea but it is a major part of the solution.

Countries that criminalize homosexuality marginalize MSM which pushes them underground and helps to fuel the HIV epidemic. Treating people with dignity and respect facilitates effective HIV education and prevention. It reduces the discrimination many Caribbean Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender experience when accessing health services. Studies and the resulting data have consistently demonstrated that homophobia contributes to higher HIV infection rates and that internalized homophobia also increases your risk of HIV infection.

People who place a high discount rate on their lives tend to participate in higher risk behaviours. The decriminalization of homosexuality to reduce the global crisis of HIV/AIDS is a policy endorsed by the United Nations, World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, and many non-governmental organizations. This is the consensual public health approach. Twelve of the fifteen CARICOM member states still criminalize homosexuality as of date.

SVG Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves gets it wrong…  

How Bridgetown built the economic foundation of the British Empire – only to be discarded when the profits were gone.

Slavery Reparations have never interested me because I know that whatever we receive will never be enough for the victims class, and that anything we do receive will be stolen by the political class. No reparations will ever touch my hand. No amount of reparations will provide a steady flow of clean water from my pipes or establish a modern sustainable economy.

Britain could pay us 10 billion pounds and not one new hospital bed or surgery will appear at that slum we call the Queen Elizabeth Hospital – or anywhere else. A trillion pounds will not erase the arrogance of government employees towards citizens, nor will it cure the ‘Island Time’ syndrome that makes foreign business investors run like mad from the Caribbean once they get over the rum, sun and sand.

Barbados is incapable of receiving and delivering reparations honestly and effectively for the general good.

Whose fault is that? I’m not sure, but I do know that at one time Barbados was the driving economic force and secure military base that built and maintained the British Empire.

Whatever Tristram Hunt has written in his new book Ten Cities that Made an Empire, he’s probably 50% correct and 50% nonsense. After all this time, who can say?

But I look forward to the read.

Cliverton

Ten Cities that Made an Empire by Tristram Hunt, review: ‘enthralling and compelling’

A fascinating account of 10 cities that were shaped by, and helped shape, British rule

Bridgetown, Barbados has always held a particular appeal for the British. The legacy of empire is all too apparent, and is, indeed, exploited for tourists. The series of historical attractions based on Plantation House present, as Tristram Hunt writes, “a sepia version of the colonial past”. Nostalgia for cricket, rum cocktails and the old plantation lifestyle trumps the blood-drenched history of slavery on the island. Bridgetown is a modern city, but the colonial memory continues to reverberate.