Columns

My only disap pointment with the recently concluded National Development Conference was that the young Anguillian manager that I think most needed to hear about the twinned concepts of centres and excellence and customer satisfaction, was nowhere to be seen. I wanted to call him up and invite him personally because after my second argument with him over extremely poor service, I realised that he hadn’t got a clue about either and seemed too arrogant in his poor management practice to be even receptive to how he could improve his agency’s service. None of that was the fault of the Social Security Board and at this point I must issue highest commendations to the Board for what many persons thought was a necessary and timely dialogue that helped Anguillian institutions and the island itself to focus on becoming centres of excellence in an increasingly competitive world.

I did not know that my fortnightly column in The Anguillian newspaper had such a wide following until people kept calling my home each time it failed to appear. The problem was that I was extremely busy, over the past months, preparing my museum, Heritage Collection, for opening at its new location next to the East End Pond birds’ sanctuary. It will open its doors to the public at 10.00 am on Saturday 1st November. With that task behind me, my column shall appear regularly from henceforth.

What is My Creed?

There are two things in this life I really do not like to do. The first is to go to funerals and the second is to visit people in prison. Both of these places make me feel ill and for the latter I usually end up seeing what I don’t want to see and thinking what I don’t want to think.

It is back to the polls in eighteenth months or so. And the political temperature is slowly rising. The Honourable Hubert Hughes’ Anguilla United Movement is on the move with public meetings across the island. They are chaired by Felix Fleming who tells listeners that Hubert “takes a licking, but for the people he keeps on kicking!”

Monday afternoon I reached home tired and stressed out, cussing everything and everybody in Anguilla.

“[Before I came here] I asked God’s forgiveness because when you stand in the podium, as I am doing, you should be clean.”

Don’t be fooled into thinking that I am in some far away place you never heard about but for those of you who did not know, Iyanola is the indigenous people’s name for the island of St. Lucia where from June 17-19, representatives of Caribbean Civil Society Organisations met at the invitation of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre and the Commonwealth Foundation in a regional consultation to inform civil society positions to be taken to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nigeria in December. I will report on that meeting elsewhere giving fuller consideration to the issues and strategies discussed but right now I want to share with you how I spent one of my nights on the island in hope that one day we can have the same kind of range of positive and progressive offerings on a regular basis in Anguilla.

Backache is a very common reason for individuals seeing their doctor. Backache is extremely costly in terms of the time lost from work, the amount of money spent on treatment and the emotional and physical pain incurred.

Father's Day has come and gone and I am happy to see the observation of this day gaining the same kind of popularity as Mother's Day, though I am dismayed at how very commercial these days have become. 

Diabetes Mellitus is on the rise in the Caribbean. Impotence or erectile failure is a common complication of diabetes and can cause much embarrassment and misery for the diabetic man and his wife/partner.

A major talking point in Anguilla in recent times has been the removal of the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Hubert Hughes, from the House of Assembly on Tuesday 27th May because of his attire. During the morning session he wore jacket and tie. He dispensed with them for the afternoon session and wore what he has described as “a decent, expensive jack shirt.” According to Heart Beat Radio local news, read by Ras B, Hubert bought the shirt for US$37.00.

For the next couple of weeks this column will share with readers some of the experiences and learnings from of a series of meetings and vacation encounters that I am attending in some of our neighbouring islands and when the vacation actually begins you may not hear from me at all. This is neither a promise nor a threat but just a dream of a vacation where I can escape all responsibilities and lie in bed with a series of mindless novels. Maybe one day but today’s report is from the beautiful island of St. Vincent, where on Whit Monday I worked from a room that looks across the sea to the Grenadine island of Bequia and fantasized.

The number of people affected by major depression appears to be increasing. Unfortunately depression is often overlooked in clinical practice and many individuals go untreated for many years. Major depression is a serious disease as it has a 15-20% mortality rate.

Everyone knows that small island people fast. No matter what time of day or night you do something, no matter how well you disguised yourself, looking over each shoulder and creeping stealthily through the night to do whatever, do not be fooled, somebody was looking. Somebody saw something.

This viral infection affects many individuals of all ages. The Hepatitis B virus is the most widespread of the hepatitis viruses but there are many other viruses that can cause hepatitis.

It seems like 90% of the vehicles on Anguilla have some degree of tint or film on its windows and windscreens, be it of a manufactured state or applied by someone. Those vehicles that have manufactured tinted glass normally fall between 45-35 % per cent density of light transmission and are usually transparent enough that one can see inside the vehicle from as far as twenty feet away. However, those vehicles that have manually applied film or tint sometimes range from midnight black to metallic yellow and even silver.

I use the occasion of the 36th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution to provide some insight into its causes. The following is the text of an address (a shortened version) which I delivered at a dinner held by the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society, at the Rendezvous Hotel, on 30th May 1988.

Anyone wanting to find tranquillity in Anguilla this weekend may have to go to St. Martin. You know those jokes we make about the mountains of Anguilla being in St. Martin and the sense of Anguillians travelling that once we reach St. Martin, we’re home, those are some of the ways in which we express and value the close relations enjoyed between our closest neighbours and ourselves and it is unlikely that any part of our quest for self-determination will change that.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects many women and can cause much distress and suffering for the woman and those around her. The severity and intensity of symptoms may vary from one woman to the other.

Perhaps it is one of Caribbean people’ survival strategies to take serious matters and turn them into jokes as we analyse our social and political situations especially. I think this is why the Mighty Sparrow’s rendition of the tune Three Coins In The Fountain has been in my head all week since Dr. Carlyle Corbin made clear the three options for exercising the principle of self-determination as espoused by the United Nations.