Sometime ago, I wrote a post about VOB realised that updating it’s website on a regular basis is paramount to drawing traffic to it’s site. In a typical case of the “newness” having worn off, the VOB website is once again in a state of lethargy.
If the Local News page is to be believed, nothing significant has happened in Barbados between Friday and today, the 18th of January at 7:15pm.
Asleep at the wheel again
Will they ever understand the power of the Internet?
President of the Association of Public Service Vehicle Operators, Mr. Morris Lee, needs to get out on the street and see what his members are up to. While we imagine that his attempts to convince the public that it is only a few drivers that conduct themselves in a manner which is unfit for the public roads, those few are putting people’s lives at risk for a few dollars.
Let the pictures tell the story and keep posted this blog.
ZR55 Off route
Can't wait
ZR55 gets into the mix
The driver of the Vitara was not to be left out of the "Reverse Jambust" either! Shame on her
Over the course of the last couple of months, the number 91 million in profit attributed to Cable and Wireless (now LIME) has been bandied about by Sir Roy Trotman, talk show moderator Tony Marshall and now MP Hamilton Lashley has added his voice to the fray.
While the numerical value seems to be correct, they all seem to have a problem with the currency, and while only they can know the source of their information, we will have a look at an article (attached) in which Mr. Lashley chides LIME for its plans to layoff workers.
In the article the MP states “in light of the US$91 million profit”. He then goes on to query “why the company would be laying off 2000-odd workers” and then stated that he was “anxiously awaiting the Barbados Workers’ Union conclusion in the matter”.
Since the BWU has no jurisdiction throughout the rest of the Caribbean, we must therefore conclude that Mr. Lashley is speaking about Barbados only. His statement therefore contradicts itself as Cable and Wireless Barbados does not employ 2000 persons. Can we then assume that this 2000 is throughout the Caribbean?
The reference to US$91 million also further complicates matters as if he is referring to Cable and Wireless BARBADOS, a quick check of the annual report for 2008 which can be found at here clearly states on page 20 that the amounts shown are “expressed in Barbados $000’s (thousands).
The above show that it is incorrect to relate the number of workers being laid off throughout the Caribbean to the profit made by one business unit. Can we then assume that the aforementioned persons do actually mean that US$91 million was made by all of the business units? If so, they would be challenged to provide evidence of this information since as far as we are aware most of the other business units are not publicly traded and thus knowledge of the operating profit or loss is information for the boardroom only.
While we believe that matters like this should be vented in the public domain, we would wish that responsible public officers would take the time to research their material in a more thorough fashion before attempting to influence public opinion.
Sometime within the last 2 – 3 months, the police announced that they had devised an emergency plan to evacuate persons and vehicles from Bridgetown, and that they would put it to the test soon. At that time they stated that the date and time would be unknown to the masses to ensure that the process of getting over 100,000 vehicles out of the City would be as realistic as possible.
What a surprise then to see, on the back page of today’s Daily Nation, a story which reveals that the time and date of the test will be this Wednesday at 3pm. Will the police be able to predict when the next disaster will occur, so the everyone will be at the ready to leave Bridgetown and the outskirts at the appointed hour? Heck, some may decide not even to go to work that day or to leave at 15 minutes prior to avoid the chaos (as I am sure will happen with the test on Wednesday).
Furthermore, how will persons in Bridgetown be alerted that there is an evacuation – will it be by word of mouth (subject to rumour-mongering), on the radio and TV (not everything has the luxury of listening to then during the work-day), a siren placed strategically in the City (does one already exists)?
Also, how does one ensure that everyone leaves? If you know that it is a test, what would prompt you leave your desk to be possibly stuck in traffic for hours? You could easily complete your work day as normal and have an easy drive out at 4:30pm.
Much like a fire drill, this evacuation test should be unannounced, to ensure that police can better gauge persons actions and reactions and be able to fine-tune their efforts in case a real disaster occurs and the procedure takes on real-life proportions.
The 8:30 am edition of the news on VOB 92.9 yesterday reported that a young man sustained a gunshot wound “in his foot, above the knee“.
Gee, someone, either the news writer or the reader sorely missed out on Biology – The Human Anatomy 101″!
The September 21st edition of the Daily Nation carried an article that covered a press conference given by the Minister of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Business Development, Senator Lynette Eastmond, where she aired her concerns about supermarkets not pricing or displaying incorrect prices for items on sale.
In part, the article reads "SUPERMARKETS may soon have to pay a heavy price for failing to properly label and affix prices to goods.
Those who fail to comply could find themselves facing legal action brought against them by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and having to pay out "substantial" monetary fines if found guilty.
The "final warning" came yesterday from Minister of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Business Development, Senator Lynette Eastmond, during a Press conference at her Reef Road, St Michael office.
Eastmond said she had seen goods on shelves without writing on the labels in English and without prices.
She added that while the problem existed among all supermarkets, the larger ones had been fingered as the main perpetrators.
This, she said, was despite numerous ads being placed in newspapers to attract the attention of the business community to what was expected from them relating to labeling and pricing of goods."
Despite this, the operators of at least three Shell minimarts (Top Rock, Worthing and Wildey) seem to be laughing in the face of the Minister. A quick look around by any semi-observant person will reveal that very few of the items carry any prices at all.
Some of the items not priced at Shell Worthing are :
One would think that with the immense time that the inside service attendants have on their hands, that an effort would be made to comply with the law. But I guess that such activity would interfere with the gossip time.
Might I suggest that Mr. Stewart Gill take a little look around at these minimarts and correct this problem before the law comes a-calling.
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