Editorial

It is no news to anyone that politics and ethnicity are almost coterminous in this country, although when speaking in these terms, commentators have only two ethnic groups in mind – Indians and Africans.

In September 2001 the English novelist Martin Amis wrote about the week of “incredulous misery” that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center.

The discovery of offshore oil in Guyana has the potential to radically change the economic landscape – for better or for worse.

It was announced this week that contracts have been signed for landfill designs and related resources for Bartica, Linden and Mahdia.

The dust has settled on the Edgbaston pitch on which the historic first day/night Test in England was played.

Once you hear the sweeper/cleaners’ story you come to understand that it is more than an industrial relations engagement.

Article 226 (1) of the Constitution states, “save as otherwise provided in this Constitution, in the exercise of its functions under this Constitution, a Commission (service commissions) shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.”

The ‘badlands’  of Guyana have long been some of the mining areas, particularly those close to the frontier and far from government centres of control.

It is a fairly safe bet to say that in the last twenty years consultants have produced enough documents to paper the walls of the ministries that commissioned them.

On August 8, 2017, we reported the story of Althea Thegg, who, nearing the completion of the construction of a new house – her dream home – had the nightmarish experience of watching a large section of the house crumble and fall away from the main building.

The discussions which will be held today when the Report of the Metered Parking Negotiation Committee is formally presented to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) are bound to be interesting, to put it mildly.

Next Monday, August 21, a rare solar eclipse will occur. According to Space.com

Viewed against the backdrop of earlier similar discoveries, last week’s disclosure that a Guyana Defence Force reconnaissance detail had found an illegal airstrip (and various other suspicious accoutrements) at Santa Fe in the North Rupununi is decidedly disconcerting.

With the midpoint of the APNU+AFC term in office approaching, citizens might be excused for thinking that they flit back and forth between two very different existences.

Last week international relations acquired a certain lunatic tinge, not least because of the irrational exchanges between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea.

President Trump’s extemporized comments on North Korea, and his refusal to temper those remarks with more diplomatic language, have spread fear throughout Asia.

“The secret message communicated to most young people today by the society around them, is that they are not needed, that the society will run itself quite nicely, until they – at some distant point in the future – will take over the reins.

For at least a decade, if not longer, waste disposal in the city has been operating on a teetering pile of debt, which the average citizen knows is not a good thing.

Last Saturday, 5th August, at 21:45 GMT, eight men stepped to the line for the 100 metres final at the IAAF World Championships being held in London, England.

This is the second time in less than a month that we have had reason to editorialise on the protracted impasse between City Hall and two private contractors, Cevons and Puran Brothers over the municipality’s $300 million-odd debt to the two companies and the consequences that continue to derive therefrom.