Editorial

It was the ultimate reality show seen by an estimated global television audience of one billion.

Four months ago, three children between the ages of five years old and one year old were removed from their parents’ home and taken into the care of the state after signs of physical abuse – being burned in the face – were discovered on one of the children; their father was subsequently charged and is currently before the court.

It is now just under two years since the December 2008 general elections in Barbados when the Democratic Labour Party, led by Mr David Thompson, gained a convincing victory over Mr Owen Arthur and his Barbados Labour Party, taking the DLP back to office for the first time since 1994.

The murder of 16-year-old Queen’s College student Neesa Gopaul provided the administration with another opportunity to blame the Guyana Police Force for incompetence.

President Jagdeo’s dire warning to Corentyne residents last week that if the ambitious Skeldon factory failed that sugar was dead must have come as something of a shock to the residents of the area.

Here we are in a kind of phony campaign season, with the focus of interest still on the distant past, rather than on the shape of the future, as would be the case in any other democracy. 

Watching a religious ceremony in Gabon, during a five-country tour to assess the effects of animism, foreign faiths and leadership cults on the progress of African civilization, VS Naipaul returns to a familiar theme.

By rejecting the West Indies Cricket Board’s central contracts, Chris Gayle has effectively handed in his resignation as West Indies captain and Dwayne Bravo has disqualified himself for consideration.

At 16 years old, Neesa Lalita Gopaul who should have been at this moment involved in preparing school-based assignments ahead of writing the Caribbean Secondary Certificate Examination next year, is dead.

Since the new Conserverative-Liberal Democratic (LibCon) coalition came to office in the United Kingdom, two discussions at governmental level have seemed to preoccupy the government.

Unanswered questions linger about the 22nd April 2006 assassination of Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh.

Senior Citizens’ Month which is being observed in October will undoubtedly give rise to platitudes from many sectors on how the golden years of the elderly will be bettered.

The WPA has let half a cat out of the bag.

A common theme among the many claims routinely made for digital technology and the efflorescence of social media is the bold idea they are collectively abolishing the traditional constraints of time and distance.

As expected, President Hugo Chávez and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) obtained a majority of representatives in the National Assembly in last Sunday’s legislative elections.

From a meeting at the Office of the President on Tuesday, it has emerged that local religious leaders have “agreed to be more active in helping to curb domestic violence” and have indicated “their willingness to be part of a standard training programme specifically designed to sensitize and equip them to deal with the issue.”

A curious event occurred last week, and continues into this week, in the area which the Western powers (and we ourselves following them), have traditionally referred to as the Far East.

The official ‘Response of the Government of Guyana to the Universal Period Review’ presented by Ms Gail Teixeira in Geneva on September 13 was a dangerous setback for public security.

A series of visits to agricultural communities by SN reporter Gaulbert Sutherland has focused a piercing light on many issues connected with the government’s Grow More Food campaign.

The thing about Guyanese politics at the moment is that everything is in suspension.