Caribbean economics, aviation discipline, and practical technology — explained clearly.
58 articles
The recent report that Government was probing the living conditions of migrant construction workers in Barbados should not have surprised us as much as it did. Concerns had been raised about Colombian…
Read article →Some things in life I simply cannot ignore. The one that comes most readily to mind is a relative of mine who cannot help but eat things they shouldn’t. Though they know better, this particular…
Read article →I cast my mind back to driving through St. Philip in the late 1980s, on the way to my paternal grandmother’s house in Brereton. My earliest memories of Barbados’ second-best parish contain several…
Read article →Headline growth makes the news, but productivity is what actually decides whether wages rise and life gets easier. Here is why it matters for Barbados.
Read article →Notes from building a practical AI agent that monitors Caribbean economic news, summarises it, and flags what is worth a closer look.
Read article →Public debt is one of the most misunderstood numbers in Caribbean economics. Here is a plain-language guide to what it does and does not mean for your family.
Read article →Aviation runs on disciplined, repeatable process. Those habits transfer directly to economics, technology, and any system where mistakes are expensive.
Read article →Some of you are going to tell me that I got the idea for this article from Jeff Bezos. That could not be further from the truth. He did, however, provide an interesting basis from which I plan to make…
Read article →Inflation does not affect everyone equally. It reshapes who gets ahead and who falls behind — often without anyone deciding it should.
Read article →Tourism is vital to Barbados, but more arrivals do not automatically mean a better life for residents. The difference is where the value lands.
Read article →I’ve long had massive misgivings when it comes to key economic data, particularly concerning the headline numbers highlighted in Barbados. What seems to be well known is that economic growth never…
Read article →Of course, you, the reader, know that I was going to focus on Roberts’ Manufacturing Public Share Offer (PSO). I’ve been bombarded by calls and letters asking for my insight on the matter. I’m still…
Read article →I don’t think I can recall one time that I saw my grandmother using an ATM. I am, however, certain that she had a debit card some years before she passed. Many in her generation feared the ATM. Quite…
Read article →When a family is planning a wedding, it is usually not the flowers that break the budget. It is the little things that no one priced properly at the start. Transport runs over. Extra chairs are…
Read article →Generally, I do not believe that any government could “ease” the cost of living in any small open economy with no natural resources. Trinidad doesn’t determine our price levels. I mean to say that its…
Read article →I wish to begin this week’s article on a slightly somber note: with the deepest of condolences to the immediate family of Coleen Yard. She was my aunt and the mother of Nekome and Nandi. I am close to…
Read article →The philosophers Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer viewed stupidity as a kind of blind spot formed by psychological scarring. They believed that every human being has these blind spots and is…
Read article →The Georgetown Public Hospital in Guyana made me pause to reflect a week ago. Like our very own National Insurance Scheme, they issued a “name-to-shame” campaign the likes of which I’ve yet to see…
Read article →I took responsibility for ensuring a seamless client experience this weekend and I fell short. I am doing what I can to make recompense and, hopefully, repair relations. I write this article with a…
Read article →Nicolás Maduro was captured in the early hours of Saturday, 3 January 2026. I fell asleep approximately an hour before his reported time of capture, and before military strikes fell across coastal…
Read article →Happy Holidays to all, and thank you for allowing me to write to you this past year. It is not my intention to maintain a political tone in these articles. In fact, I abhor that inclination. Yet, an…
Read article →So many things to write about with so little time. There is this urge to join the chorus of concerned individuals who are annoyed with the Ministry of Education’s latest initiative meant to validate…
Read article →Colour me unsurprised. A document leak set ablaze the Barbadian political landscape two weekends ago. At first glance, I thought it was fake. Everything looked unusual — from the letterhead to the…
Read article →To my brother, Jade Stephen: may you have the happiest of birthdays today. I hope you enjoy this attempt to further assuage the public’s appetite for an explanation of public debt.
Read article →I’ve used Uber for a decade—256 trips across the world. Recently I’ve needed it less, except in South America, where it’s often scarcely pricier than a bus. Brazil, in particular, has been the most…
Read article →This article is dedicated to one of my father’s closest friends, Cedric. He’ll surely chuckle when he finds out—especially since he asked for the tone of this week’s piece. Fitch Ratings recently…
Read article →September tends to be the hottest month in Barbados. This year felt like the hottest on record, and not because of temperature. The climate has been scorching in another sense — especially in the…
Read article →Being impressed would be an understatement. It’s my first “real” visit to Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I’ve wanted to come here for some time, and finally got the chance to day-transit through the city en…
Read article →I’ve recently found myself drawn to concepts in quantum physics. One that particularly intrigued me is Sierpinski’s Triangle. Though not strictly within the realm of quantum theory, it provokes…
Read article →Like most of you this week—well-meaning though we are—I’ve had the world of a migraine in the face of major legislative changes in Barbados. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a minute issue. Even…
Read article →I hold absolutely nothing against the Ivy—a very famous urban neighbourhood in Barbados. This past week, the memory of a day trip in 2004 with my late maternal grandmother weighed heavily on my mind.…
Read article →There was a time when I looked to emulate Dr Basil Springer and his weekly columns. Although it was a fleeting dream, the Nation Publishing Company continues to afford me the opportunity for now. I…
Read article →It’s intentionally misleading; the title, that is. I did find love in Kansas, but specifically with its economy. You did see this coming, didn’t you? Well, colour me surprised when I first touched…
Read article →I’m afraid that I’ll begin to sound like a broken record if I touch on what has unfolded on island these past two weeks. Firmly, the solutions to this lie in our economic problems but in as long as we…
Read article →I soo miss our chats, Aunty Hazel. You always made sure I’d be accountable for something I said publicly each time I visited you. As my first teacher, you had every right. You taught me the Montessori…
Read article →I genuinely feel for him. All the poor guy tries to do is feed himself, and it’s not like there are alternatives. After all, he lives in a desert, chasing the only food source that naturally sustains…
Read article →Life is full of ironies. Two days ago, I asked a WhatsApp group that I’m in to vote on the topic of this week’s article. They overwhelmingly chose an explanation on the effects of the US-China trade…
Read article →One time, while I was a student at UWI, I was visiting my maternal grandmother for the first of two Sunday lunches (it was something she indulged me in, as it was ‘our’ thing). I had a very hard time…
Read article →I have sadly reached a point in my professional life where I am hyperaware of self-repetition. It is mostly this which drives my disappearance from commenting on the Budget over the past 5 years. Well…
Read article →As I sat to write this article, it had been approximately 16 hours since I first saw a news broadcast of President Trump and Vice-President Vance of the United States of America verbally dressing down…
Read article →Social media was rife last week with a debate about the US$1 bill and whether it should be widely accepted in Barbados. Two widely shared videos sparked the conversation, both suggesting that the note…
Read article →There have been plenty of occasions when I wanted to tell Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Grantley Adams International Airport how to do their jobs. Most of those times revolve around the arrival…
Read article →Much has unfolded over the past two weeks. I may not address all events as thoroughly as you might prefer, but I encourage you to acknowledge that each situation was defined by significant differences…
Read article →Barbados is a haven where Ponzi schemes come to die. None have ever been sustainable in their recruitment of persons from neighbouring islands. I've held this belief for well over 20 years. It is not…
Read article →Dr. Stephen Harewood is one of my very few heroes. He will discover this, as you all did through this article. One look at him and you’d know that this slim but quite muscular and vascular “red man”…
Read article →I quite like philosophy. Every day that you are above ground is one that challenges or inspires some, hopefully new, outlook on life. Over time, I’ve found some philosophies to be rather compelling,…
Read article →I was once the top junior (Under-16) basketball player in Barbados. Fortunately, I had a specific set of gifts that ensured that at the ages of 14 to 15 years old, I was going to be leaps and bounds…
Read article →"The social season is upon us once more, dear readers, and with it comes the promise of courtships, grand balls, and, of course, scandal. But none so great as this: a most respectable family, revered…
Read article →My cousin, Boo, is a “parro". At least that is what I would hear growing up. However, eventually I came to know that he was mentally unstable and not a drug addict like how many of us would describe…
Read article →This week felt like one where we should have explored the economic benefits to Barbados hosting matches and the finals of the T20 Cricket World Cup. Quite a few of my colleagues have been public with…
Read article →Good news abounds! The economy is back or so they say! May it be the case that a breeze, once of unfounded confidence, becomes now more so a vengeful wind. A wind in the willows. Here I refer to a…
Read article →Barbados is now full of stray chickens. Unlike what occurred in Grand Cayman some 10 or so years ago, it cannot be the case that this resulted from a devastating hurricane laying waste to a number of…
Read article →Barbados, or any small island tourism economy for that matter, never gains “directly” on paper from subsidising a route. According to the plenty-shared Cayman Compass article, published on April 9th…
Read article →Barbados, or any small island tourism economy for that matter, never gains "directly" on paper from subsidising a route. According to the plenty-shared Cayman Compass article, published on April 9th…
Read article →I intentionally stayed away from speculating about the Budget each and every year that I was blessed with a public platform. This was done not just from a point of professional intergrity, but, more…
Read article →Finding the inspiration to write this week's article was quite challenging. Not being one who lacks for ideas, these past two weeks played out in a way that I found rudimentary. For example, what…
Read article →I am not one to say that I am fully vaccinated against naivety. I was even accused, rightly so, of such in the middle of January this year. And, as such, I would like to speak to naivety in social and…
Read article →The title is deliberately misleading. If understanding economics was really that simple, thenI would not have been graced with a platform across the Diaspora. Sadly, if you knew my history, you'd…
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