BEST WEEK EVER:

No matter how we try to spin it, Vincy Heat got a drubbing from the USA footballers in last week’s 4th Round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The 6-1 defeat was lopsided, and the Americans coasted down the stretch instead of putting on the pressure on our overmatched squad. That said, young striker Oalex Anderson had a moment that he will remember for the rest of his life, and one that is already local legend. {{more}}

Five minutes into the match, Anderson broke free of his defender and curled an incredible shot into the back of the American net, stunning all 40,000 USA fans in the stadium, and sending the Vincy contingent of supporters into delirium. For the next five minutes, Vincy Heat was on top, and we played the USA even for the first half hour of the match. We hope for more memorable moments when the USA travels to SVG next year.

Let’s remember that even mighty Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany in the last World Cup. We believe in more Oalex Anderson miracles. Let’s go Vincy Heat!

Runner-up:

Anyone who saw the crowd at Arnos Vale on Saturday would have to admit that the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) had won the important “biggest crowd” competition for Week One of the Elections Campaign. With the Party’s leader reeling from salacious accusations, the ULP campaign machine pulled out all the stops, imported a big-name musical celebrity, and threw an epic political rally/concert that attracted an astronomically large audience of young Vincentians. Yes, it’s true that most of the people were there to hear Jamaican crooner Romain Virgo, and not the ULP candidates. And yes, it’s true that a similarly-sized crowd showed up in 2009 for a “Vote Yes” referendum rally that didn’t win any new converts to that doomed cause. It’s probably also true that under-age youth and even NDP supporters were in the audience. But ultimately, you’d rather be campaigning in front of a big crowd than a small one, and you want to convey a sense of momentum and inevitability. In that sense, Week One goes to the ULP.

WORST WEEK EVER:

The ULP administration is led by Ralph Gonsalves, the most experienced politician in SVG and the wider Caribbean, but it seemingly doesn’t learn from its mistakes.

One–time NDP supporter Frank DaSilva once gleefully played tapes of Gonsalves speaking carelessly in a secretly recorded telephone conversation. Gonsalves himself has also been dogged over the years by rumours and allegations of various indiscretions. So it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out the political equation that phone + sex = trouble for the party. Whether the tapes are real, fake or edited, the recordings were an uncomfortable reminder of human flaws and weaknesses at precisely the time when the party should be projecting strength.

Just when people were beginning to think that the ULP was comfortably ahead on the strength of its superior leadership, an entirely predictable and avoidable scandal has called that into question.

Runner-up:

The week’s “phone sex scandal” would have been devastating if the releases were the product of a young girl accidentally leaking a recording of her having inappropriate conversations with a powerful man. But immediately after the initial shock and discomfort wore off, it was clear that more sinister political players were involved.

First, there was the curious timing of the releases – immediately after the date of the election was announced. Second, was the professional audio editing and attempts at mass distribution. Third were the allegations that the would-be Lolita was a former employee of people connected to the top of the NDP hierarchy, and that she was spirited out of the country in the company of another person with ties to top NDP officials. Now, we have the weekly release of more salacious material, clearly suggesting that the “scandal” is being manufactured or managed by media professionals with not-so-hidden agendas.

Is this really where we want politics in SVG to go? And have the orchestrators of this little drama taken a good look in their own closets, or those of their colleagues?

If I had a question in SVG Parliament

…I’d ask Arnhim Eustace and Luke Brown why they thought it was a good idea to completely deface public and private property on Sion Hill and across East Kingstown with their ugly yellow and red graffiti. I’d also ask them both if they plan to commit personal funds to clean up their vandalism, or if they expect taxpayers to foot the bill for their foolishness.

Media Watch

With the elections season in high gear, some of our best-known political journalists are conspicuous by their absence. Some are not seen at rallies of either party, while others are apparently out of the country altogether. Are these absences editorial decisions, or are these journalists cooking up something more newsworthy?