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The Great White Chief knows best.

Thursday, July 10, 2008
Or so she thinks.

Meg Munn, who represents a part of the Caribbean called Sheffield Heeley was asked the following:

"To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has agreed to the request of the Chief Minister of Montserrat for the island’s accession to the Caribbean community single market and economy".

Montserrat is a colony 'British overseas territory' in the Leewards, and by pretty well any reckoning, a rather more pleasant place than Sheffield Heeley, bar the volcano.

Meg doesn't think that the Chief Minister of Montserrat, the Honourable Lowell Lyttleton Lewis, is capable of making decisions in the best interest of Montserrat, and told him so:

"I wrote to the Chief Minister of Montserrat on 12 June 2008 responding to his Government’s request to join the Caribbean Community Single Market and Economy. Given the recognised internal capacity constraints in Montserrat, I explained that it would be more appropriate to focus on the key economic priorities identified in the new Montserrat Sustainable Development Plan, rather than prepare for the Caribbean Community Single Market and Economy".

And just in case he hasn't worked out that massa knows best, "I also offered to discuss these issues in more detail with Chief Minister Lewis when he visits London for the Overseas Territories Consultative Council in October".

That's told the Honourable Triple L, hasn't it? How dare he think that free trade might be a good thing for Montserratians, and to presume that as someone elected by Montserratians (if not to this post - the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor General from among elected Legislative Council members) he is best able to judge the island's best interests?

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posted by Croydonian

Spoiling Bin Laden's holiday plans

Tuesday, April 01, 2008
After a hard few years in and around Tora Bora, one might imagine that OBL would fancy a break - maybe put his feet up by the pool, partake of a few long drinks (non-alcoholic, of course) and catch some rays.

However, the following news will put a knot in his turban:

"Senior police officers and prosecutors from six Caribbean countries are among participants in a one-week counter-terrorism course in Kingston, Jamaica from March 31 to April 4...Some 40 participants...from Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bahamas, Dominica, Jamaica and St. Kitts and Nevis are being trained".

Heaven forbid that this might be a junket....

Puts me in mind of an Onion item from a while back: "Security Beefed Up At Cedar Rapids Public Library".

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posted by Croydonian

De-colonisation - the modern way

Monday, January 07, 2008
Abstracted from an article about a spat twixt the Netherlands and Aruba, involving debt, sovereignty and a hotel:

"A Freedom Party MP recently called Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles "a den of thieves" and suggested putting the six islands up for sale on the internet".

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posted by Croydonian

Of colonies and colonialism

Monday, February 26, 2007
The UN has been discussing colonialisation, and has come up with a list of 16 colonies:

Western Sahara - Morocco
American Samoa - US
Guam - US
New Caledonia - France
Pitcairn - UK
Tokelau - NZ
Anguilla - UK
Bermuda - UK
British Virgin Islands - guess...
Cayman Islands -UK
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (sic) - UK
Gibraltar - UK
Montserrat - UK
Saint Helena - UK
Turks and Caicos Islands - UK
United States Virgin Islands - guess...

And among those countries pontificating on the topic are Iran, China (what about Tibet, eh?), Syria and Cuba...

"In congratulatory remarks, the representatives of Congo, Mali, Indonesia, Cuba and Saint Kitts and Nevis expressed the hope that the Special Committee would fulfil its mandate during the last three years of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism by 2010".

So, step forward Tokelau with its GDP of $1.5m and population of 1,392, and Pitcairn with its population of 45. A bit of rooting around suggests that it is only Western Sahara and New Caledonia which show any great enthusiasm for independence.

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posted by Croydonian

The legislature where just three seats are 'a comfortable majority'

Friday, January 26, 2007
In the Turks & Caicos Islands, one of the few remaining pink dots left on the map. Anyway, the good people of T&C will be getting to exercise their franchise on the 9th, and the electorate of around 20,000 gets to choose 15 MPs - so it has around three and a half times as many elected members per head of population as Croydon.

The Prime Minister, the Hon. Dr. Michael Misick would appear to take his public duties rather more seriously than some prime ministers nearer to home, and declared: "We have more than fulfilled the mandate that the people have given us, and there is every indication that the people are ready to give us a fresh mandate. Elections are the most honorable and democratic manner of consulting with the people. And so, my government and my party, having so diligently and prudently discharged our obligations and fulfilled our mandate, we believe that the time has come to return to the people, so that their voice and their will can be heard.” (Source). Furthermore, the people of T&C, or at least the supporters of the incumbent seem a little more enthused about exercising their franchise than folk in these parts, as his "speech...was punctuated by thunderous applause and deafening screams of support".

I would love to stick my oar in and urge the populace to vote one way or the other, but all that I have been able to discover is that the opposition People's Democratic Movement is centrist, while the Progressive National Party fails to disclose what it stands for, and looks to have failed to renew the domain registration for its party website.

I also discover that the Canadians have their beady Canuck eyes on the T&C Islands, and have explored the possibility of the Islands joining a union with it, T&C becoming a province or taking up Nova Scotia's offer to join that province. I'm *not* making this up, and the Canadians have form at this sort of thing.

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posted by Croydonian

Friday, August 25, 2006
The Blairs in Barbados

I see that Euan Blair, he of the ill-advised facial hair and friend to DC's night life has contracted a stomach complaint. I imagine the scope for mischief in Barbados when his family is around is limited, but one might note that 'stomach complain', along with 'exhaustion', is one of those euphemisms publicists use as a code for suffering the after effects of over indulgence. And the boy does have form.

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posted by Croydonian