Editorial

President Trump’s “skinny” budget is effectively a declaration of war on what chief White House strategist Steve Bannon calls the “administrative state.”

There is an ancient Chinese curse that reads, “May you live in interesting times.”

One of the most inexplicable things in this country is that regardless of how often or how long power outages are, there is never a commensurate reduction in one’s electricity bill.

Truth is stranger than fiction, or is it the other way round nowadays?

After the ignominy of the West Indies’ utter humiliation in the last of their three-game limited overs encounter against England on Thursday, the BBC TV sports news on the following day didn’t even trouble itself to report on the outcome of the game.

In Wednesday’s edition, Stabroek News reported that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) had applied to the Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for approval for the emergency purchase of a whopping $605m worth of drugs from Trinidadian conglomerate ANSA McAL.

As we reported yesterday, the Department of Culture held its own celebration of Phagwah on Friday with singing, dancing, tassa drumming and a presentation on the significance of the event.

The scandal-driven dismissal of South Korean president Park Geun-hye could not have come at a worse time.

President David Granger, as we have noted in these columns before, appears to prefer to give his ministers free reign to fully manage their own ministries, and he himself has said on occasion that he does not “micro-manage”, with reference to the affairs at City Hall and also with respect to the operations of the Guyana Police Force.

At the beginning of this week, the Guyana Police Force held a ceremony to launch five training sessions for officers under the theme, ‘Forging Ahead with Professionalism and Intelligence-led Policing in Collaboration with Stakeholders’.

Over the last few weeks, seasoned White House observers perhaps have found excuse to dredge up memories of forty-odd years ago.

Up to about three years ago, there had been a great deal of intra-regional chatter about the need for the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to move to significantly reduce the extent of its spending on extra-regional food imports and focus more policy attention and resources on increasing agricultural production.

On Thursday, the State Assets Recovery Bill is scheduled for its second reading and possible passage.

In 2009, a mysterious campaign got underway to elect then President Bharrat Jagdeo to a third term.

Two days ago the parent company of the popular messaging application Snapchat, ended its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange 44 per cent above its initial offering price.

Last month the issue of vigilantism and justice was once again brought sharply into focus when police charged no less a personage than a regional councillor and two other persons for allegedly murdering a young fisherman, who attempted to snatch a shoulder bag from a young lady.

Years ago, when anyone wanted to get at (or get back at) someone for a perceived wrong or as a result of envy, the trick was to find whoever the worst gossip in the community was and start a rumour.

The American President, Donald Trump’s war with the media over ‘fake news’ may be attracting the attention of the world on a daily basis, but on the other side of the globe the Kim dynasty  and their stranglehold on power in North Korea  continues to grow as it approaches its seventh decade.

Immediately on his assumption to office in May 2015 President David Granger signalled his concern that the quality of the service delivered by the Guyana Public Service be enhanced to better match the national need by setting up a Com-mission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Public Service of Guyana.

After great expectations that the long-awaited Public Procurement Commission (PPC) would immediately relieve government of the responsibility of giving the green light to contracts over $15m, the public has now been told differently.