BEST WEEK EVER:

The triumphs are mounting for our long-suffering Vincentian sports teams. The latest moment of glory comes courtesy our “Vincy Heat” men’s football team, which scorched its way through the competition on its way to an undefeated record and the Windward Islands Football Association trophy. {{more}}

Taking inspiration from the recently victorious women’s football team, Vincy Heat played exciting and attacking football to defeat Grenada, Dominica, and Saint Lucia in Vieux Fort last week. With champion men’s and women’s teams, we can now rightly claim to be the football-playing capital of the OECS: The Brazil of the Windward Islands.

To go further, though, Vincy Heat must still overcome continuing lapses in concentration and discipline, while improving the quality of our fitness and coaching. The talent is obviously there. Let’s not settle for regional dominance. Time to take it to the next level.

Runner-up:

Once upon a time, Canash was one of the more popular beaches in SVG, with swimmers, fishermen, and romantic couples flocking to the horseshoe cove every day. But over the years Canash Beach became a polluted eyesore with a half-dozen rusting and rotting wrecks scattered in the water and on the shore. Visitors to the beach slowed to a trickle, and swimmers stopped altogether. Fisherman’s Day festivities, once a highpoint on the Canash calendar, were moved elsewhere.

Local residents, businessmen and beachgoers are now rejoicing that the beach is returning to its former glory. The wrecks are finally gone, and the swimmers are dipping cautious toes back into the water. Here’s hoping that the beach once again becomes a hub of clean, safe and fun activity in SVG.

WORST WEEK EVER:

Two of the national newspapers in SVG ran screaming headlines of Arnhim Eustace’s accusation that up to 250 people may have voted more than once in the last elections.

In elections as close as the 2010 contest, and with another too-close-to-call rematch looming on the horizon, this was a serious accusation. Turns out that, according to the Supervisor of Elections, the only smoking gun that Eustace unearthed was the realization that sometimes, different people have the same names – a discovery obvious to anyone who ever flipped through a telephone directory.

Almost worse than Eustace’s baseless accusation was the fact that his own party chair clearly pays no attention to what he says. Dr Linton Lewis, NDP party chair, said that he neither heard nor read what his political leader said on the matter, despite it being front-page news and talk radio fodder for weeks. That sort of disconnect between the two heads of the NDP doesn’t bode well for its 2015 aspirations.

Runner-up:

The NDP had a reasonably successful rally two Saturdays ago. The audience was energized, and Eustace sharpened his message of economic competence as a counter to Gonsalves’ policies. What a shame, then, that the only thing anyone wants to talk about is St Clair Leacock’s juvenile and offensive response to those who questioned his unsanctioned removal of wreaths from the memorial of National Hero Joseph Chatoyer.

For Leacock to publicly brag that he told someone asking about the wreath removal that “ah put it pon yo mammy grave” showed an appalling level of arrogance and disrespect. Vincentians were split on whether the original wreath snatching was a “Major” offence or merely a funny political anecdote. Leacock’s comments at the rally elevated it to a symptom of a deeper problem in his suitability to lead, and distracted from the official launch of NDP’s 2015 campaign.

If I had a question in SVG Parliament

… I’d ask both sides of the House to stop being sanctimonious about scoring political points on the domestic violence issue and instead address the public perception that many members of parliament are woman-beating, mistress-collecting, misogynists. In fact, far worse rumours about some parliamentarians are accepted as fact across the country. Forget partisan recriminations: the first side to remove the mote from their own eye will be the one who wins the women’s vote.

Media Watch!

With continued complaints about the accuracy, fairness, balance and good taste in Vincentian news coverage, maybe its time to take a page from the book of some larger Western democracies and set up a media ombudsman in SVG. That ombudsman could be paid by all the local news organizations to receive and investigate complaints from newspaper readers or listeners or viewers of radio and television, and then recommend appropriate responses to correct or clarify news reports. That would go a long way to restoring the crumbling credibility of some sectors of the local media.