Editorial

It is evident from the outcome of the 2013 budget jousting that nothing has changed at many levels of engagement between the government and the opposition since the consideration of the 2012 edition and indeed since the ground-breaking election of November 28, 2011.

A mere matter of weeks after the family of the late President Forbes Burnham had been informed that he was to be given the Order of the Companions of O R Tambo by South Africa, persistent reports began to circulate that the award had been withdrawn. 

A fortnight ago the mildest of spats between a food writer and a local restauranteur simmered on these pages for a few days.

With Nicolás Maduro’s narrow victory in Venezuela’s presidential election still being contested by the Venezuelan opposition, even though he has already been sworn in as president, there is a growing feeling that, with a majority of only 50.7 per cent of the popular vote, the self-styled ‘son’ and heir of Hugo Chávez may well be in for a rough ride.

Government annually seeks to deny the prevalence of trafficking in persons (TIP) in Guyana, especially following the publication of US Department of State TIP reports, which reveal statistics that show this country in a poor light.

The storm that had been blowing and strengthening in the direction of Trinidad & Tobago National Security Minister Jack Warner’s direction for the last five years or so, has finally hit him with full force.

It transpires that People’s Progressive Party stalwarts and former government ministers Harry Persaud Nokta and Clinton Collymore are employed in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, the same ministry in which they both served as ministers, since 2007.

During Thursday’s consideration in the National Assembly of the estimates of expenditure for the Ministry of Labour, the question of unemployment statistics arose. 

What appears to the electorate to be confusion in our parliamentary operations has had its parallels from time to time in other Commonwealth jurisdictions.

Mrs Thatcher’s success in moving British politics decisively to the right now seems unquestionable, and is perhaps best summed up in the ironic remark that her greatest legacy was the politics of Tony Blair and New Labour.

Margaret Thatcher and Hugo Chávez came from opposing ends of the political spectrum but, in a curious way, they shared a common trait: both were capable of arousing, in death as in life, great admiration and devotion, on the one hand, and deep loathing on the other.

The blatant nature of some recent crimes is not just jaw-dropping but fear-inducing; that is, for those of us who are still not inured to the dreadful unending violence.

The presidential elections in Venezuela indicate that the country, without the influence of former President Chávez’s extraordinary charisma and influence, remains essentially democratic in form and practice as it has tended to be since the end of the Jimenez dictatorship, with the polarization between the current two main parties now reaching extreme limits.

Current events on the Korean Peninsula compel reflection on the American political scientist John J Mearsheimer’s 1990 essay ‘Why We Will Soon Miss The Cold War,’ the key contention of which was that “we may wake up one day lamenting the loss of the order that the Cold War gave to the anarchy of international relations.”

Former presidents in democratic societies, particularly those who have relinquished power voluntarily and within the construct of constitutional provisions are always looked upon as a reserve of moral authority and as elder statesmen who in times of crises and societal tensions can be relied upon to help bridge divides.

Two weeks ago we carried a report on a letter sent by none other than the Director of Public Prosecu-tions Shalimar Ali-Hack to Police Commissioner (ag) Leroy Brumell. 

What should schools, families, communities and the state do with young children who abuse other children?

Hugo Chávez may be dead but chavismo is very much alive in the highly charged Venezuelan election campaign, due to come to a head on Sunday.

In our ‘World Beyond Georgetown’ feature last Sunday we focused on Providence, East Bank Demerara, a once small village, which is currently growing by leaps and bounds physically, being the location of the Guyana National Stadium, the Princess Hotel (formerly Buddy’s) and now a new housing scheme.

To many long-time observers, the current behaviour of the government of North Korea now led by Kim Jong-Un, is reminiscent of Winston Churchill’s 1939 comment on the Soviet Union under Stalin.