#and my former party are obviously priming to. be part of the government or cabinet or whatever. as if that wasnt a catastrophe last time

[lesbianjonimitchell]

wow it looks like the leader of my former political party is finally calling for ceasefire! that only took two months and 17.000+ dead civilians. im glad i left them.

[shararsblog]

BENGALURU - INDIA'S CRIME CAPITAL.

(28/07/2021)

Greetings for the day. Here I am beginning with my first blog or post whatever you can say. To begin with let's straight away come to the point. Many blogs have been written till date, with each blogger expressing his heart and mind on various issues. So I am too putting my heart and soul into a subject, which is present throughout the world, and each country has its own law policy when it comes to dealing with i.e. crime.

Here are my experiences of living in a city based in Karnataka in India for four months. Bangalore or Bengaluru as you can call it, is considered as the IT hub of India, a city from where United States of America sources the highest number of software professionals for working in projects in its own backyard. But apart from being the Information technology hub of India, Bengaluru is also the hub for highest number of crimes, along with New Delhi.

Though I have stayed in Pune too a city in neighbouring Maharashtra state another IT hub, and visited Mumbai which is close by, but never ever had this fear psychosis of happening to see gang wars, because the law and order machinery in Pune, Pimpri - Chinchwad and Mumbai was by far very much in control by police authorities there. So why Bengaluru has become lawless? during my four months of stay there, every morning I happen to open the newspapers and the Bengaluru section showed up at least one or two murders, the result being gang wars. The killers regular criminals and their victims also history sheeter's. These gangsters or rowdies carried on with their killings on the streets of Bengaluru with so much audacity, that they never possessed any fear of law. The recent killing of Joseph Babli who himself a rowdy inside a bank in Koramangala, highlights the brazenness of killers, that Joseph was chased inside the bank, and hacked to death in broad daylight in front of scores of customers and bank employees, goes on to show complete failure of law and order machinery in Bengaluru.

Not just this, another murder of a former corporator Rekha Kadiresh that too in broad daylight in cotton pet area of Bengaluru, was an added feather in hat for an inefficient Bengaluru police. Slaying rivals in daytime in full public view, indulging in rowdism, road rage, harrasing innocent people, chain snatching gangs over bikes on prowl in every area, So where is the Bengaluru police in picture, that is the question?

And why rowdies in Bengaluru have no fear of police?

Bengaluru police and Karnataka politicians are to be blamed for this. The answer here lies in police - criminal - politician nexus. Also you may be surprised to know that Karnataka state ranks top in corruption index in whole of India. Power hungry politicians, greed for money and coupled with it the biggest major factor which has led to rise in goondaism is land deals. Bengaluru city is considered as one of hot cakes for real estate market, land grabbing is rampant and where higher acre's of land is involved for deals corrupt politicians, mafias and police are hand in glove.

Though land is very less available in Bengaluru urban areas and even if available, the prices are skyrocket and rowdies ultimately with blessings of politicians get involved. This rowdies - karnataka politicians nexus have blossomed to such an extent, that middle class families, who despite can afford to own plots at higher prices never dare to get involved. The problem begins from the bottom of organizational hierarchy in police department. The rot is so deeper that for example, say five out of every ten constabulary rank officials within Bengaluru police force, are hand in glove with the rowdies, this relates to daily hafta collection or in simple language extort money through these rowdies from hawkers, bar restaurant owners, share in commission arising out of disputed land deals and many illegal activities done by these rowdies. The buck does not stop here, the Bengaluru traffic police have a set target of collection fixed by every DCPs in their respective zones, so regular office goers either in two wheelers, four wheelers, rickshaws, commercial vehicles face the brunt of hafta collection. What an irony! Never ever in the history of Policing across the world, has there been so much rampant corruption, as has been the case with Bangalore police.

Kamal Pant Bengaluru police chief : completely clueless.

But then whose responsibility is it to discipline the Police?

Karnataka is a state, which has seen two parties struggle for power, back in 2018 Congress - JDS (Janata Dal secular) combine wrestled power from BJP (Bharatiya Janata party) headed by BS Yeddyurappa. Kumaraswamy son of former prime minister Deve Gowda became the chief minister, the BJP despite being the single largest party could not garner the numbers required to form the government. But two years later the tide turned completely in BJP's favour, the biggest drama unfolded in Karnataka, with accusations of horse trading leveled by Congress - JDS combine against BJP. The Kumaraswamy govt was reduced to a minority, and it failed to retain power. The BS Yeddyurappa led BJP stormed to power in Karnataka. Power tussles are nothing new in Indian politics, but the sad part is the lust for power has taken a huge toll on law and order machinery in Bengaluru. The Karnataka politicians already neck deep in corruption, have left the city to rot at the mercy of rowdies. Another major factor for rise in hooliganism is the patronage provided by political parties to rowdies, take any party be it the Congress, the BJP or JDS have rowdies seated at their party offices, the favour these goons do for these political class may vary, it may be anything even getting a cup of tea for the party youth leaders or district incharge, distribution of pamplets during elections many other things and obviously the favour is returned, with blessings of these political parties rowdies have a say, in every tender issued by the Karnataka government, almost 99% of contracts sourced out by the local corporation body of Bengaluru i.e. the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has been handed over to rowdies, whether related to garbage collection, disposal, road repair contracts etc. When elections are round the corner, the hooliganism is at its peak, these very leaders are accompanied by these rowdies, threatening people who raise their voices, gangwars involving rowdies from rival political parties, if an in-depth analysis is done of the extent of criminals invasion into political parties, shocking as it may sound close to 80% of these so called party workers are rowdy elements. As it is said, the strong basis for students to pass with good marks in school and later to excel in life and become ideal citizens of the country, the onus lies on the principal and teachers and the education imparted in schools getting students to value good culture, respect for one another, and focus on studies. If one or two students fail in all these aspects, the blame can be put on students themselves, but just imagine if the whole class fails, then obviously the principal, the teachers are responsible. So the same applies to the police force of a state as well, the police department is a big school in itself, and the chief minister of the state is the principal and teachers his respective cabinet colleagues, so they are the torch bearers for these law enforcement agencies, and giving them guidance drafting policies is the sole responsibility of chief minister his cabinet colleagues. But here the entire Bengaluru police machinery has failed miserably and politicians governing the state are solely responsible.

BJP has been at the helm of Karnataka for almost two years now, even in these two years chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and his home minister colleague Basavraj Bommai miserably failed to bring crime rate down in Bengaluru. What can you expect from a police force, when the chief minister himself is embroiled in an illegal land deal. The bench of Karnataka high court led by justice Ravi malimath and Micheal Cunha even refused to give him any relief on the matter. Also infighting within the state BJP, and some leaders unhappy with Yeddyurappa's style of functioning has led to the CM busy trying to save his own govt, fighting his detractors, leave development of state at God's mercy and Bengaluru of course at rowdies mercy. And finally infighting within the BJP took its toll, Mr. BS Yeddyurappa resigned from the CMs post. And as usual came the drama with his resignation, an emotional Yeddyurappa in tears thanking Prime minister Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of the state. Mr. Yeddyurappa we can understand your emotions but you should have stopped at that, your immature and misleading comment that, "Bengaluru is turning into a world class city" is the biggest Joke of the millennium. The reality is you and your predecessor Mr. Kumaraswamy have turned Bengaluru into a world class gangsters city.

Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa : equally responsible for lawless Bengaluru.

Corruption in police department is not something new and is prevalent across India. Also let me make it clear, not all cops are corrupt, there are a few who put their heart out and perform their duties. Even in Bengaluru police department there are officers at constabulary rank, inspectors, senior inspectors, who have excellent track record in curbing crime and have acted tough against rowdies but there are also a few with questionable track record and it is this few dark sheep within the police that has led to rowdies wrecking havoc in the city. Also this time things really aren't good in Bengaluru at all. Though police chief Pant on his behalf is doing everything thing to bring crime rate down, Bengaluru CCB has siezed a large cache of drugs, several drug peddlers have been nabbed, several rowdies homes have been raided a large cache of weopans recovered, but still the rowdies menace has been increasing in Bengaluru rapidly.

Mr Kamal Pant now you also need to bring the hammer down harder on some of your own men, women within the force, who have links with these rowdies. Cleaning must also be done at home. There was a time when Mumbai city in Maharashtra state, also known as the financial capital of India was under the grip of the underworld gangs in 90s, things had totally spiralled out of control due to gangwars, prominent builders, film personalities, small time business men became victims for refusal to pay extortion and some for links with rival gangs.

It took the combined effort of the Mumbai police who formed hit squads later on called as encounter specialists to eliminate the gangsters. And the credit for completely wiping out the underworld from Mumbai, goes to then Mumbai police commissioner Mr. MN Singh. Bengaluru is facing the same problem today, that Mumbai faced in 90s. And Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant will have to take a leaf from what MN Singh did in Mumbai.

Also political interference in police working has been the biggest problem in India. That police work under political pressure is not a hidden secret. And this has been one of the reasons for rowdy explosion in Bengaluru. Rowdies enjoy political patronage, from all three the Congress, JDS and BJP. In Mumbai the police turned a deaf year to political influence, and took on underworld in a spirited way under guidance of MN Singh. Certainly Bengaluru police go weak in their knees when it comes to politicians, and none but Mr Kamal Pant will have to put his foot down on such interferences, when it comes to dealing with rowdies, even if it means confrontation with a ruling party and also take action against political leaders who are linked to these rowdies. Kamal Pant and Bengaluru police have a long long way to go if they want to rid Bengaluru from gangsters. And I have no doubt at all that things have come to a level where Bengaluru cops have to form a separate hit squad to eliminate the rowdies like Mumbai police did.

Also Bengaluru being an IT hub and one of the cities with higher number of foreign tourists visiting for trips as well as official company work, such lawlessness does not augur well for the city, the image of Bengaluru has already taken a severe beating at international level and it will have severe consequences. Foreign direct investment will be hit, if things don't improve, that day won't be far when other countries start issuing advisory or warning to its citizens to deter from visiting Bengaluru, as it has already happened in New Delhi's case, and if it happens in Bengaluru's case prime minister Narendra Modi's 'ache din' or 'good days' of his promise to citizens of India will be dented beyond repair.

[laura-elizabeth91]

Only hours earlier, Nick Timothy had still been regarded as “the most powerful man in Britain”, but with the clock showing 3pm on June 9 he was about to make a call that would render him unemployed.

Dialling Theresa May’s personal mobile number, he told her that after eight years by her side, and having co-authored the manifesto that was blamed for the Tories losing their parliamentary majority, he had no alternative but to resign.

“Nobody told me I had to go, but it became inevitable,” he says. “I’d stayed up all night watching the results come in. The exit poll was a shock and when it became clear that it was right, it was obvious that I would have to go.

“I said to Theresa in Conservative Central Office on the Friday morning that I thought it was probable I would have to resign, then I did so over the phone that afternoon. She understood why.”

Two months on, Timothy has had plenty of time to reflect on his and the party’s humiliation in the general election, and has decided now is the time to share his views on what went wrong and why, as well as giving his thoughts on what Mrs May must do to stop Jeremy Corbynbecoming the future incumbent of Downing Street.

Shorn of the bushy beard he had sported for three years, (“I got sick of people telling me how old it made me look”, he says) and after a refreshing holiday in Sardinia, the 37-year-old looks, quite literally, a different person from the mysterious, careworn figure who was likened by opponents to Theresa May’s version of Rasputin.

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He and the former Sky News journalist Fiona Hill were Mrs May’s joint chiefs of staff, developing such a close relationship with her both at the Home Office and Number 10 that Cabinet ministers regarded them as the second and third most powerful people in the country.

It was to Timothy, together with the former Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer (who lost his seat at the election) that Mrs May entrusted the task of writing the Conservative Party manifesto, which scared the horses just when it seemed Mrs May was cantering to victory.

I have spoken to Theresa a few times since the election but I haven’t seen her and I’m not advising her on policyNick Timothy

Is he, then, the man who blew the Conservative majority?

“I take responsibility for the things that I was responsible for,” he says. “I do have regrets about the way the campaign was fought but everybody who was involved has to reflect and be honest with themselves about what they did, including me. And I hope I have.”

Timothy says at the outset of our interview that he will not point the finger of blame at anyone else who was involved, but his answers leave no doubt of the tensions that existed between Downing Street staff and the team of election strategists, including Sir Lynton Crosby, who were brought in by Mrs May.

“Our early instincts when we were thinking about the election was to have a more traditional campaign, daily press conferences, more policy content, certainly not make it a semi-presidential campaign,” he says. “And we didn’t do those things because the advice was about playing to strengths (meaning Mrs May) and to be perfectly honest I didn’t really challenge that. I was in a position to change this and I didn’t. With hindsight obviously we would have done it differently.”

The strategy of putting Theresa May front and centre, based on her soaring approval ratings at the start of the campaign, quickly unravelled as the Prime Minister’s uninspiring “Maybot” performances on the stump put voters off.

“We knew the campaign wasn’t going as well as we’d hoped,” admits Timothy, “but actually on the basis of the research and data there was no urgent need to change the strategy because the projections still looked good.”

He trots out the statistic that the Conservatives won 42.4 per cent of the vote, the highest by a winning party since 1997, but admits that a major strategic error cost the party votes from Labour supporters who had initially been prepared to switch sides but ultimately lost faith in Mrs May.

He says: “The entire political strategy of Theresa’s leadership campaign and of the Government from July 2016 to April 2017 was based on the kind of insight that Theresa had about the country and about the referendum campaign, that yes it was a vote to leave the European Union but it was also a vote for serious change.

“The message we were conveying all the time was ‘we get the anger, we get the need to change, we’re on the side of change’.”

It was why he used the manifesto to reject “untrammelled free markets” and “selfish individualism”, seen at the time as being rather un-Conservative language.

The Tories, he says, made it clear they would be governing in the interests of “ordinary working people” and would not tolerate economic irresponsibility from rich or poor, using the power of the state “to reform dysfunctional markets and to bring industrial strategy to other parts of the country”.

It worked, and Mrs May became more popular even than Margaret Thatcher at her peak, according to polls at the time.

“But then having done that the electoral strategy was fundamentally different. It was a reassurance and continuity campaign rather than a change campaign and on reflection I think that was wrong.

“The ‘strong and stable’ slogan wasn’t necessarily a problem but looking back we would have been much better off with a message showing we understood the need for change and we were the people capable of delivering it.”

He also admits that the Party “clearly” underestimated Jeremy Corbyn and accepts: “It probably is true that there should have been more on the economy during the campaign.”

Nick Timothy may no longer be in Downing Street, but his views still matter, not least because he is still in contact with Theresa May (to whom he always refers as Theresa, rather than the Prime Minister).

“I have spoken to Theresa a few times since the election but I haven’t seen her and I’m not advising her on policy,” he says. “They are private conversations, people catching up.” He says the same about a recent photograph of him meeting Environment Secretary Michael Gove for a pint.

I do think there’s more than a hint of sexism to be honestNick Timothy on attitudes towards Theresa May

Has Mrs May sought his advice on anything?

“No because when you have been on the inside you realise as soon as you’re on the outside what you don’t know, so if I did try to advise her I don’t think I would be doing her a service and we both know that.

“She has got a very good team of people around her, she doesn’t need my advice from afar.”

Those who know Timothy and Mrs May might find it difficult to believe they will both be able to resist the temptation to talk policy in the future.

Timothy believes the Party must return to a message of change to avoid an even worse result at the next general election.

He says: “Overall the lesson of the election for the party and for the Government cannot be ‘Oh well, we tried that and we didn’t win the election we were hoping for so let’s not try it any more’.

“If the party retreats to a much more orthodox Conservative proposition then I worry that won’t be sufficient to tackle the big problems that the country has and in five years’ time we do risk the election of a dangerous left-wing alternative.”

Timothy accepts that the controversial policy of charging more people for social care was poorly presented, giving opponents the chance to define it as a “dementia tax”, but still believes “the policy is the strong one and the right one” because the problem of Britain's ageing population is not going to go away.

He accepts that the policy was killed off by the election result, but says the Tories must not waste the next five years by doing nothing about it, or about the long-term funding of the NHS.

Why not set up a Royal Commission, he says, to reach a lasting cross-party solution to the crisis?

He cites the Beveridge Report, published at the height of the war in 1942, which formed the basis for the post-war foundation of the welfare state and the NHS.

“The ideas behind the creation of the modern welfare state were done at a time when clearly the country wasn’t in a position to implement them,” he says, “but they didn’t waste that time, they used it. Something like that could take place over the next few years.

“We need more of the reformed Conservative proposition rather than less. It’s certainly the case that that kind of policy work and that kind of thinking needs to go on.”

We probably didn’t communicate as well as we could have done, directly with the public and the media

He denies that he, Fiona Hill and the Prime Minister formed a kitchen cabinet that micro-managed Government policy and caused a bottleneck in getting things done, but concedes: “We probably didn’t communicate as well as we could have done, directly with the public and the media, and probably to a certain extent around Whitehall.”

Timothy shares many of the same traits as the Prime Minister, and it is easy to see why they developed such a strong mutual respect.

Serious, intellectual and distinctly uncomfortable talking about anything bordering on the personal, his back-story also echoes Mrs May’s journey from provincial vicar’s daughter to Conservative politics via grammar school.

Timothy was born in Tile Cross, Birmingham, to working class parents who had switched their support from Labour to the Conservatives when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, the year before he was born.

His father, Albert, had left school at 14 and worked his way up from the factory floor of a local steel works to become head of international sales - the sort of “striver” so beloved of the Conservative Party. His mother Margaret, also an early school leaver, did secretarial work at a local school.

Timothy developed a boyhood passion for Aston Villa FC, but it was not until his second year at King Edward VI Aston School, a boys’ grammar, that he picked a political team to support.

He said: “The 1992 election was an early example as a kid growing up of how politics can change people’s lives. I had just got to the school that gave me this opportunity and if Labour had won the election that year the threat was to close it down.”

Sheffield University followed, and a first class degree in politics, before a spell of volunteering for Birmingham Conservatives led to a job in the Conservative Research Department.

He got to know Mrs May, was chosen as her special adviser in the Home Office, and when Mrs May reached Downing Street, Timothy followed her there. Aged just 36 at the time, he was generally viewed as indispensable, but resents the suggestion in Westminster that he was her “brain”.

He says: “She has done a very good job of stabilising things since the election which disproves that theory anyway, but I do think there’s more than a hint of sexism to be honest, there’s a sort of implication that even having become Prime Minister she somehow doesn’t have a set of beliefs and a programme of her own and she obviously does.

“Suggesting I’m the creator of those ideas is absurd and insulting to her.”

He suggests Mrs May is misunderstood because “she doesn’t allow herself to be put into ideological boxes” and “confused” people as Home Secretary because she was tough on immigration and crime while also introducing the first modern slavery act and clamping down on abuses of power.

“Of course those things aren’t mutually exclusive but hearing it from the same person leads people to think ‘I don’t really understand what that person stands for’.

“It’s because she has the intellectual curiosity and reach to go beyond that.”

One person who allegedly finds her hard to understand is the Chancellor. There have been repeated reports of shouting matches between No.10 and No.11 and a widespread belief that Mrs May intended to sack Philip Hammond if she increased her majority at the election. Not true, says Timothy.

“She did not intend to get rid of him,” he says. “Theresa refused to even talk about post-election reshuffles because she thought it was inappropriate, it took things for granted, she wanted to concentrate on the campaign, so that was just never on the cards and I don’t know what the origin of that story was.

“They go for dinner or breakfast with one another probably every fortnight, they get along fine but the two of them are businesslike politicians, that’s how they work.

“It’s the cliche about her that she has never sought to be in a gang or have her own gang, but the way people perceive the relationship is in part down to the way the two of them tend to conduct themselves. There is no rift.”

Unsurprisingly for someone so loyal to his former employer, Timothy expresses his “very, very strong view” that she is the right person to lead the country through Brexit, and insists she is not being led towards a “softer” route out of the EU.

He says: “The country can trust her to get the job done. The fundamental things that the country voted for, that we will leave the EU, control immigration, that the Court of Justice should have no jurisdiction in this country, that we should stop paying membership fees, I’m confident that those things will end.

“For all the talk from some people that we must seek some sort of partial membership of the European Economic Area or something like that, the intention of the Government has been clear from the beginning - that if you seek a partial relationship the danger is that you will be in the worst of all worlds, where you will be a rule-taker with none of the advantages of being in, but you will also sacrifice some of the advantages of being out.”

He says it is natural that some ministers will want to emphasise particular points of the Brexit strategy, (such as Mr Hammond’s recent comments about a lengthy transition period) but insists that “if you strip out the noise” the Cabinet is adhering to the strategy set out by the Prime Minister in January, which means leaving the EU and all of its structures but with a period of transition.

He also said Mrs May is still prepared to walk away without a deal.

“It would be a bad thing if we got into a situation where there was no deal for all concerned, but there are circumstances where Britain would have to be prepared to walk away. ‘No deal is better than a bad deal’ isn’t just a slogan, it means something.”

Timothy, whose personal turmoil also included the breaking-off of his engagement to his German fiancee Nike Trost before the election, now intends to take another holiday, with his new girlfriend, a former Downing Street colleague.

He laughs off suggestions that he now has a reputation to rebuild, saying: “I advised anyone who would listen that they shouldn’t believe the hype then, and they shouldn’t believe the corresponding hype now.

“I think anyone who worries about their personal brand in that kind of way needs to take a cold shower.”

Nick Timothy's first weekly column for The Telegraph will appear on Thursday, August 10.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/04/nick-timothy-election-went-wrong-tories-can-beat-corbyn-next/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

[coin-river-blog]

Ahead of the G20 summit, India’s new finance secretary has confirmed that the report detailing the country’s crypto regulation is now ready. It will soon be submitted to the finance minister for approval. Since Arun Jaitley opted out of cabinet responsibilities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed a new finance minister.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Postpones Crypto Case at Government’s Request

India’s Crypto Regulation Is ‘Ready’

After more than one year of analysis and deliberation, the report containing the recommended regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in India is now ready to be submitted to the finance minister, according to local media. The new finance secretary, former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Subhash Chandra Garg, reportedly confirmed its readiness at an event hosted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India on Thursday.

“On the cryptocurrency regulation, Garg said the report is ready,” PTI reported, further quoting the finance secretary as saying:

We will submit it to the finance minister (soon). Of course, once the approval is done, it will be made public.

Subhash Chandra Garg

Garg heads an interministerial committee instituted to study all aspects of cryptocurrency and draft the country’s crypto regulation. Included on the committee are representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

This draft regulation was supposed to be ready in July last year. “We are fairly close to developing a kind of template which we think might be in the best interest of our country. We have prepared a draft which we intend to discuss with the committee members in the first week of July [2018],” Garg explained in an interview at the time. However, no crypto regulation has been announced and the Ministry of Finance told Lok Sabha in December last year that “the department is pursuing the matter with due caution,” noting that “It is difficult to state a specific timeline to come up with clear recommendations.” The government subsequently shared with the supreme court in February that the report containing the recommendations for India’s crypto regulation is in the final stages of deliberation.

RTI Request Rejected

Another indication that the committee’s crypto report has either been finalized or is being finalized is the government’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by the founder of local news outlet Coin Crunch India. Naimish Sanghvi asked the DEA about the reported “Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019.”

Last month, the Economic Times wrote that this bill had been circulated to relevant government departments for discussion, citing an unnamed government official claiming to know the details of the bill. The news outlet noted at the time that, based on the feedback, “A final law will be proposed to the next government that takes charge after elections at the end of May.”

“The RTI was filed on April 26, one day after the reports surfaced. On May 20, 2019 DEA rejected the RTI application citing ‘Section 8(1)(i)’ as the reason for rejection,” Coin Crunch India shared. “This could mean that DEA simply rejected it because eventually the information has to be made public.”

Section 8(1)(i) of The Right to Information Act 2005 states that “the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over … those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed.”

Jaitley Out, Modi Appoints New Finance Minister

Garg said that his committee’s report will soon be submitted to the finance minister, the position held by Arun Jaitley since 2014. However, Jaitley is suffering from poor health and has opted out of cabinet responsibilities. On May 29, he posted on Twitter a letter addressed to Modi which reads:

I am writing to you to formally request you that I should be allowed a reasonable time for myself, my treatment and my health and, therefore, not be a part of any responsibility, for the present, in the new government.

Arun Jaitley

The letter continues, “I would obviously have a lot of time at my disposal to undertake any work informally to support the government or the party.”

Jaitley’s famous budget speech on cryptocurrency in February last year has been cited far and wide when he said that “The government does not recognise cryptocurrency as legal tender or coin,” Quartz India quoted him as saying. However, some people mistook his speech as meaning that cryptocurrency was illegal. The CEO of local crypto exchange Unocoin, Sathvik Vishwanath, clarified to news.Bitcoin.com: “The finance minister was clear: cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in India. He did not say that they are not legal in India. There’s a huge difference.”

On Friday, Modi appointed Nirmala Sitharaman, who served as the country’s Minister of Defence until May 30, as the new finance and corporate affairs minister. She is India’s first full-time female finance minister.

Crypto Community’s Campaign

The Indian crypto community had been campaigning to Jaitley and other lawmakers for positive regulation and the end to the banking restriction. The RBI issued a circular in April last year, prohibiting regulated financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses. Banks subsequently closed accounts of crypto exchanges.

Nischal Shetty, CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, started a social media campaign for positive crypto regulation 213 days ago. While wishing Jaitley a speedy recovery, he emphasized that his “India Wants Crypto” campaign “will continue and we’ll ensure that India is at the forefront of the crypto revolution.” Noting that “Positive crypto regulations in India will help create wealth and jobs for millions of Indians” and “Millions of youth in India want to see positive crypto moves by the government,” he urged the new finance minister to introduce positive crypto regulation.

The community now awaits a formal announcement from the government as well as the supreme court hearing on July 23. The court is expected to address two crypto-related issues: the regulatory framework recommended by the Garg committee and the banking restriction by the central bank.

Do you think the Indian government will introduce crypto-friendly regulation? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, India TV, and The Economic Times.

Are you feeling lucky? Visit our official Bitcoin casino where you can play BCH slots, BCH poker, and many more BCH games. Every game has a progressive Bitcoin Cash jackpot to be won!

Tags in this story

Arun Jaitley, banning, Bitcoin, BTC, crypto, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Digital Currency, Finance Minister, India, Indian, Regulation, Subhash Chandra Garg, Virtual Currency

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 11/8/2018

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Thursday 8th November 2018. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

SHADOW CABINET – During its five-year tenure, the incumbent Government of Barbados led by the island’s first female Prime Minister Mia Mottley, will be closely monitored by citizen organization, The Shadow Cabinet. The recently formed group which is led by youth and community activist Corey Lane, also includes social development and community activist Kemar Saffrey, community worker Melissa Savoury, social commentator and the first youth Prime Minister of Barbados’ Youth Parliament Jason Carmichael and leadership specialist and missionary Imran Richards. The organization was established because of the changed political landscape following the May 24 election, with the Barbados Labour Party recording a landslide victory and securing all 30 seats. For the first time in the island’s history, there was no Opposition. The frontbench position normally left to the Opposition has been assumed by Lane and his team of young independent thinkers who seek to not only scrutinize the policies and actions of Government but also provide sound alternatives and educate the masses as well. Interim chairman of the Shadow Cabinet, Corey Lane told Barbados TODAY that the body sought to use social media and traditional forms of media to reach the public. They will also be employing the use of an app, Cit View, where Barbadians can receive real time information on policies passed in Parliament and ask questions. Lane said the organization had no political preferences and would not serve to act as a mouth piece for Government or other political institutions. “I have fundamental problems with adversarial politics because at every step of the development of a small nation like Barbados you have 50 per cent of itself fighting against itself. A nation against itself cannot stand which is why we are saying let us have some intellectuals, let us have some independents, let us have some voices both young and old analyzing what is happening,” said the interim chairman. However, as the island embarks on the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) Plan, there has been much debate about its last in first out approach. “Simultaneously with modernizing Government, you are using the last in first out which mainly displaces young people. So you are going to modernize the Government system with the older people in the system. Obviously that cannot be the best way going forward. “I believe that a good mix of experience and youthful creativity and exuberance could augur well for the Barbadian economy and society,” Lane said. The community activist also commended the Mottley administration for its quick response and carefully thought out policies during their 164 days in Government but said the ball was dropped in its delivery. “Where my disappointment comes is really in the implementation, the nuts and bolts of the engine room. I think that is where they are falling down,” Lane said. Lane also expressed concern over the lack of youth engagement and conversation on the country’s changes and the public’s reluctance to educate themselves on the country’s economic future. “A lot of people listen to rumor and heresy so that is why this body needs to come, do the reading, do the research and do the unbiased analysis as much as possible,” he said. The Shadow Cabinet will be made up initially of ten members and will seek to have a full slate of 21 Shadow Ministers by January 2019.  (BT)

‘IN POOR TASTE’ – LASHLEY ON ‘SICK MP’ COMMENT – Former St Michael South East MP Hamilton Lashley has described as being in “poor taste” a call by Democratic Labour Party (DLP) General Secretary Guyson Mayers to gear up supporters for a possible by-election because of a sitting MP’s illness. The comments were an apparent reference to his successor as MP Santia Bradshaw, who has gone public with her fight against breast cancer. “I would not be part of any talk of a by-election as a result of [anyone’s] health because I want them to get better and that would mean that the individual would continue to fulfil their role. Right now at this moment any talk of by-election is out of synchronization with reality and in poor taste. I believe all parties should be wishing the [sick person] well,” said Lashley. It was during a meeting of the DLP’s three St. Philip constituency branches last month that Mayers told  the party faithful: “We do not have five years put down; we have a Member of Parliament who is very ill, and no one knows if or when there will be a by-election in that constituency, and we hear there are rumblings in the party with one of your (St. Philip) candidates whose head is on the cutting board, so we have to be in a state of readiness in case things fall apart, as they sometimes do.” The DLP General Secretary did not state the constituency or the name of Members of Parliament to whom he was referring. But Lashley told Barbados TODAY that while he is not clear to whom his former party colleague was referring to, such talk could be seen as insensitive to anyone fitting the bill, which may include Bradshaw. Back in August during a meeting with her constituents in the presence of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Bradshaw announced that she had been recently diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer. “I come to you tonight in the spirit of openness… a few weeks ago I discovered a lump in my breast… the good news is that it is treatable because they have found it early,” she said at the time. On Tuesday, Bradshaw returned to Parliament for the first time since beginning treatment for illness. She received a rousing welcome from her colleagues in the Lower House. Lashley extended best wishes to his successor and implored all political parties to do the same. “First of all, I want to wish Bradshaw a very speedy recovery and believe everyone across the political divide should wish well. We cannot let politics get in the way of how we treat one another and how we behave to each other as human beings,” Lashley stressed. (BT)

CANCER MEDS DELAY – SOME CANCER PATIENTS in Barbados are having difficulty sourcing vital chemotherapy drugs. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) says there is no shortage, but there are problems with equipment which mixes the drugs and a temporary solution has been put in place. Reports reaching the DAILY NATION indicated the hospital had run short of the required medication, with some people turning to Trinidad to source them. Management at local pharmacy Collins declined to comment, while president of the Barbados Cancer Society, Dr Dorothy Cooke-Johnson, said they were offering assistance. “We are aware the QEH is having difficulty with the medication so we have been providing some for a few patients, those we already have been assisting in some way. I do not know why this is happening as I have not enquired, but I hope it can be rectified soon. It’s too difficult a situation for a country to cope with, not to have chemotherapy drugs,” she said. Hospital chairman Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland sought to allay any fears, saying the hospital was not short of drugs as this would be catastrophic. (DN)

20 YEARS TO FIX HOUSING MESS – Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development George Payne fears it will take 20 years to fix the housing “mess” he said was left by the last Government. Payne said the National Housing Corporation (NHC) was grappling with millions of dollars in losses at housing projects across the island. The St Andrew MP also told the House of Assembly yesterday that while the authorities could “point fingers at individuals” regarding some unspecified financial matters in housing, “we just do not have the evidence to go further and it is a loss that we will have to accept”. He noted there was an NHC waiting list for Barbadians seeking housing, but the country’s housing stock was “depleted”. Payne did not foresee this problem being solved within the next five to ten years. The minister was wrapping up debate on a resolution to vest Crown lands at Chancery Lane, Christ Church, in the National Housing Corporation. The resolution was passed. “We have a situation now where in the present economic situation, notwithstanding how we might feel in terms of the Government being responsible for housing everybody, it is more or less an impossible task,” he said. “What we have seen in the past ten years is a number of structures. You may call it a so-called housing programme by the Democratic Labour Party. Some of us have been critical of the National Housing Corporation but obviously even the National Housing Corporation has been sabotaged by the last Government.” He said the NHC lost $4 million on the first phase of houses built at Lancaster, St James, and a $1 million loss on the second stage. This was in addition to about $500 000 lost on the housing project in Parish Land, St Philip. “As I speak, Constant [St George housing project] has just been completed and . . . the average cost per house is something like $270 000 and the houses were sold at $100 000,” he added. The attorney also referred to “a situation during the past ten years where contractors were assigned to various developments [and] the National Housing Corporation was not at all involved. “I am not saying that the minister was the person who personally selected those contractors, but you have situations where the contractors were selected, the ministry had no knowledge with respect to the selection of the contractors, none of the contracts went out to tender, the National Housing Corporation at the level of the chairman and the management of the National Housing Corporation did not know about the contractors,” he told the Lower House. The NHC’s challenge also included people not paying rents owed, and the minister said there were situations at the NHC “where tenants were specifically told not to pay rents, and rents have accumulated to the tune of $59 000”. In such circumstances, said Payne, “it is difficult for us to figure what we will do with respect to those persons who have applied to National Housing Corporation for housing because . . . the housing stock has been depleted.  (DN)

BAD PATH TO TAKE – Every effort must be made to ensure some public transportation remains in Government’s hand, and not allow the private sector to control it all. That was the call from the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) yesterday, as it gears up for a meeting with Transport Board workers on Sunday to discuss the organisation’s future. “We have been meeting with the Transport Board and it has put forward an idea of the vision, which the ministry and the chairman of the board together have for the future of transport,” Sir Roy Trotman, consultant to the BWU general secretary, said during a Press conference at Solidarity House. “And my concern is that we have to guard transport systems. If there are three important things in which a Government in office has to treat as a first social obligation [they] are medical care, education and transportation. (DN)

NEW ROUTE – Route taxi and minibus owners have delivered a fresh wish list – including a long-standing call for a bus fare increase – to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the bus owners’ spokesman said today.  “That [bus fare hike request] is still very much on the table,” Mark Haynes, the AOPT public relations officer told Barbados TODAY.  The president of the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO), Morris Lee, said the proposals followed the Prime Minister’s instructions to the body.  Industry stakeholders, including chairman of the Transport Authority Ian Estwick and Director Alex Linton met recently at Parliament Buildings to discuss progress on the proposals. But officials have continued to decline spelling out their details. “[The meeting] was just an update on what the Prime Minister has asked us to do, that we have done and sent back to her. We are waiting to hear what the Prime Minister’s response is going to be,” Lee told Barbados TODAY. “The Prime Minister told us to prepare a proposal that speaks to improvements in the sector. We did that. She further had instructed that when it was done, to pass it onto the Minister of Transport and have further discussions with him, which we have completed. And she indicated that after those discussions were completed that the Minister of Transport would report back to her,” he said.  The APTO president said that after this process was concluded, the Prime Minister would then summon another meeting to discuss the state of the transport industry.  “We have done what we were supposed to do in terms of compliance and therefore we are awaiting a response to the compliance that we have essentially participated in,” he added. Back in late August, one of the groupings of PSV owners insisted it still wanted a fare rise following talks with Prime Minister Mottley and Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance, Dr William Duguid. Amid reports of a likely increase in fares from two to three dollars, the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) has said it would continue to demand an increase for ZRs and minibuses until an agreement was reached with Government.  “The cost of the fuel tax [which took effect on July 1] has really placed a burden on the sector. We have that still on the table and we are in talks with the Government on an increase. We have been asked to submit proposals and we acceded to Government’s request,” Haynes stressed. The PSV owners have also complained that the new fuel tax of 40 cents per litre on diesel and gasoline, and five cents per litre on kerosene, was having a devastating impact on their businesses with spending for route taxis increasing to $6,741 from $2,250, while minibus operators are paying out $10,861, up from $3,625. Following the July 10 talks with the Government, Lee had said the owners were optimistic that their cries would be heard.  “We had a very productive meeting. Essentially the Government recognizes the significance of transport to Barbados and the contribution it has made over the years. We have agreed to come together on this because we understand that it would take more than one meeting. We have been given a blank sheet on which to draw on in terms of what we want to bring to reality,” Lee said then. The operators have also been seeking duty-free concessions on new vehicles. Despite calling for a bus fare hike, Lee expressed confidence that a solution could be arrived at that did not increase the burden to commuters or put additional drain on the public purse. (BT)

ROAD CHECKS VITAL – If Barbados undertook proper inspections of its major roads and highways it would save the country some valuable money when it came to road repairs. So says consultant engineer to Government, Grenville Phillips II, who is responsible for overseeing the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance’s ongoing roadworks on the ABC Highway. He was speaking to the DAILY NATION Tuesday night as crews from C.O. Williams Construction were digging up asphalt on the section from West Road to the streetlights at the top of Hinds Hill, St Michael, in preparation for repaving. During the process, they discovered a number of deep cracks that had penetrated the underlying surface. Phillips said a continuous road inspection programme would also cut down on the time it took to fix them. (DN)

CONCESSIONS LEAKING REVENUE? – A top official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that Barbados and other Caribbean islands review the tax incentives they currently grant individuals and businesses. Deputy Division Chief in the Caribbean Division 1 of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department Dr Arnold McIntyre, expressed concern that regional governments could be losing millions of dollars in revenue from these concessions. This, he said, was not healthy given that the region was struggling economically. “When we look at what is underpinning these large deficits and we look at the revenue side, we have pervasive tax incentives,” McIntyre told the 33rd Adlith Brown Memorial Lecture at the Grande Salle of the Central Bank of Barbados on Tuesday night. He said IMF estimates suggested that legislative and discretionary tax incentives being granted by some Eastern Caribbean states were leading to revenue losses of between four and nine per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). “We have significantly undermined our revenue base. In many ways, the granting of tax incentives has been seen as a single panacea to overcome the widespread distortions and inefficiencies in the countries. That is, we have provided a solution but we haven’t tackled the problem,” he said. Pointing to Mauritius, McIntyre said that country’s parliament had decided some time ago to remove the ability to grant tax incentives from the authority of the minister, adding that “there is a lesson there” for the region. He said Caribbean economies also had weak expenditure controls, pointing out that there was especially “significant” fiscal risk in relation to state-owned enterprises. He explained that in the region central government finances amounted to about 8 per cent of GDP, compared to the five per cent of GDP in emerging markets. However, the economist said when government expenditure extended beyond central government to include the non-financial public sector, that wage bill could reach up to 20 per cent of GDP. “We have built up a very large state and what has happened, it has become costly and we don’t have the growth rates and associated revenue streams to maintain it,” he said.   (BT)

JOB SEARCH – Scores of displaced Government workers have been interviewed by recruiters from Ross University, which is set to start operation in Barbados from January next year. The interviews were held at the Warrens Office Complex, between 9 am and 4 pm. on Wednesday. Many of those interviewed had submitted their application letter and resumes online. There were also those who received word the interviews were taking place and turned up at the location, with their qualifications, asking for a chance to be interviewed. “Ross put out their vacancies and anybody can apply to those vacancies. Given the fact that we had persons displaced, she [the Prime Minister] had made the arrangement with Ross to interview Government workers and give them an opportunity to get their foot in the door,” Acting Director of the Barbados Employment and Career Counseling Service, Yvette Walcott-Dennis, told a Barbados TODAY team. The Acting Director said she was happy displaced workers were given a chance to be employed once again. She said her department was happy to be able to facilitate the process. “I think the interviews are going very well. Initially they had said they would interview about 75 persons, but today we had around 90 workers that we entered to be interviewed, and some persons still turned up anyways because they would have heard from a friend or something, and we asked that they be accommodated. “But, understandably, we know that we cannot accommodate everybody. The whole process though is a Ross initiative, they are filling their vacancies, we are just coordinating this end to assist the displaced public workers,” Walcott-Dennis said.  (BT)

CHILD CARE BOARD HEADQUARTERS TO CLOSE EARLY TODAY – The Child Care Board has advised that its headquarters, located at Cheapside, Bridgetown, will close at 12:30 p.m. today, Thursday, November 8. This closure is to facilitate attendance at a funeral for a former employee. Director of the Child Care Board, Joan Crawford, has advised that this closure will only be applicable to its headquarters and all other departments will remain open. (BGIS)

FRAUD OF NIS CHECKS – The National Insurance Department is reminding businesses that before they disburse cash for National Insurance Scheme (NIS) cheques, they should enforce strict procedures to verify the validity of cheques and the identity of the recipients of the funds. The department issued this reminder today, and indicated that it had received reports of fraudulent activity involving pension cheques. “Businesses are cautioned that banks, credit unions and post offices are the authorised institutions for the encashment of National Insurance cheques, therefore honouring such cheques would be at your own risk,” the department warned. (BGIS)

CCJ PRESIDENT RESPECTS THE OUTCOME OF REFERENDA IN ANTIGUA, GRENADA – President of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Justice Adrian Saunders, said that the court would continue “ongoing initiatives with justice sector bodies” in Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada despite the population in those two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries voting in favour of retaining the London-based Privy Council as their final court.  “While the news is not what we hoped for, we respect the people of both nations and their decision,” Justice Saunders said in a statement following Tuesday’s referenda in the two countries. “One of the positives that came out of this exercise is that there was sustained public education in both nations and the conversation about the CCJ intensified. We can see the fact that there was more interest in our website, ccj.org, and on our social media platforms, on LinkedIn and Twitter.” “As we begin to implement our strategic plan for the 2019-2023, which includes a renewed focus on public education, we will certainly be taking advantage of the increased audience, and the interest that has been piqued, to provide more information about the work of the Court,” Justice Saunders said. The governments in Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada had hoped to join Belize, Barbados, Dominica and Guyana as the only CARICOM countries that are full members of the CCJ that was established in 2001 to replace the Privy Council as the region’s final court. The CCJ, which has both an Original and Appellate Jurisdiction, also functions as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the 15-mdmber regional integration movement. Justice Saunders said despite the defeat, the CCJ “will naturally continue ongoing initiatives with justice sector bodies in each of these countries, and the wider Caribbean, through the JURIST project and otherwise”. The turnout in the referendum in both countries were low. In Grenada, of 21 979 votes cast, some 9 846 persons voted to adopt the CCJ as the final Court of Appeal, while in Antigua and Barbuda, there were 9 234 votes against and 8 509 votes in favour of the adoption of the CCJ.“These results will not, of course, deter us from serving with distinction those nations that currently send their final appeals to us. As well, the Court will also continue to process and hear applications from all CARICOM States, and from CARICOM itself, in our Original Jurisdiction, and our justice reform work in the region will also continue,” Justice Saunders said. The CCJ noted that Grenada has an Original Jurisdiction case currently before the Court and that the JURIST Project, which is a multiyear justice reform project being implemented by the CCJ on behalf of the Conference of Heads of Judiciary of CARICOM states, is working on a Sexual Offences Model Court to be housed at the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda in 2019. The CCJ Academy of Law is also hosting a legal conference in Jamaica in December 2018 at which jurists from both countries, as well as the wider Caribbean, are participating, the CCJ added. (DN)

JUDICIAL REFORM A MUST – Opposition Senator Crystal Drakes says with a price tag of over $30 000 a year to house an inmate in HMP Prison Dodds, Barbados has to look at “serious judicial review and reform”. She is also suggesting Barbadians should engage in self-examination to discover the motivation behind the kind of violence sweeping across the island. In her contribution to debate on the Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Bill 2018 earlier today, Drakes was worried about the rampant gun violence plaguing Barbados as well as the high level of incarceration at Dodds. She noted the Barbados Prison Service 2016 report put that figure at the end of December of that year at approximately 919 offenders, and argued because of what it was costing taxpayers to keep prisoners behind bars, “we now cannot simply say lock them up and throw away the key”. The Opposition Senator commended the Government on moving “towards a more holistic approach to sentencing” in amendments being made to sections of the existing laws. Government Senator Crystal Haynes supported the Amendment stating Government was taking meaningful action to address the crime situation. With 950 cases awaiting trial, it was appropriate she said, to have appointed three judges to address the backlog. “We really have to have a deeper conversation on how we as Barbadians see justice; how we administer it along with enforcement of penalties such as fines, community service, curfews,” Haynes said. She also suggested restorative and rehabilitative programmes should be discussed “openly and frankly”. (DN)

SENATOR MCCONNEY: START CRIME PREVENTION PROCESS EARLY – Government Senator Kay McConney has said if we use the current systems we have in place to deal with deviant behavior among school children more effectively, we should see a difference in the levels of criminal activity on the island. She made this point during her contribution to the debate on the Offences Against the Person Bill Amendment, which seeks to do away with the mandatory death penalty in murder cases. She mentioned the success of the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Juvenile Liaison Scheme, which caters to children up to the age of 16. “That scheme not only deals with the child but also their parents. Police officers charged with looking after it do not only deal with children who end up in trouble, but they also speak to principals about any potential ‘problem children’ in their midst. The last statistics I got from them date back to 2010, and showed that only about 20 per cent  of the children they were tracking found themselves back in the penal system after coming under the programme, which meant that 80 per cent of them stayed on the straight and narrow path.” Another programme she mentioned was the Princes Trust, which she said has reaped considerable success in its two years in existence here. “We have had  four cohorts with 12-15 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 and there are residential and community projects associated with it. So far, some 70 per cent  of the students who have passed through it have either gone back to school, vocational training, or found jobs.” Senator McConney said, “This level of primary intervention is important, and we should also consider studies determining the levels of peer contagion among our youth, that is, the people our children associate with influence their behaviour for better or worse, as this might be helpful in the long run.” Senator Lindell Nurse agreed with her suggestions, adding that “Every child should be involved in some sort of extra-curricular activity, whether it is Cadets, Scouts, Brownies, Guides, music, dance or sports, as these will keep them busy and bring about a level of discipline that will help them to resolve conflicts.” He also said a bigger issue was at hand. “We are fixing the legislative part of it, but you cannot legislate behavior and there are a lot of psychological issues behind criminal activity. Unfortunately Barbadians still stigmatize mental health conditions, but seeing specialists in that field may be helpful to people who find themselves in these situations.” (BT)

TIME WASTING – A prominent local attorney-at-law is fuming over what he sees as blatant time-wasting in the Barbados court system. This morning a frustrated Andrew Pilgrim QC questioned the logic of scheduling cases for dates that the magistrate is on vacation, thereby adding to the slowdown of an already overwhelmed system. Noting that that the issue is by no means new, Pilgrim, an outspoken and respected lawyer, expressed fresh annoyance in statement sent to Barbados TODAY. The release came after his clients, businessman Arthur Charles Herbert and Christopher Glenn Rogers, had their matters adjourned until March 27, 2019 when they appeared at the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Sitting Magistrate, Douglas Frederick is currently on vacation. Meanwhile, co-accused Walter O’ Neal Prescod, a sailor, will return to court on December 4, this year. “Almost every media house yesterday referred to the fact that Charles Herbert, Chris Rogers and Walter Prescod will have to return to court for a new date and they will have to wait to have their matter resolved. I just wonder if anybody in Barbados is getting the bigger picture here that we adjourn matters to dates when we know there will be no hearing, deliberately wasting the time of litigants,” said Pilgrim, who argued that the occurrence only served to delay justice. In his four-minute lament, the attorney contended that it was not only his clients whose time is being wasted but he predicted that for the remainder of the month close to 40 litigants per day will turn up to the court in question in vain. “On every day probably during this month 40 or more Barbadians will turn up to the District ‘A’ Court Number one. There will be no magistrate and their time will be wasted for the entire day and their cases will not be advanced whether to be dismissed, tried or otherwise. It is a complete waste of our time that was avoidable,” he pointed out. This morning Barbados TODAY contacted the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court Barbara Cooke-Alleyne QC, but efforts to get a comment on the claims were unsuccessful. However Pilgrim made it clear that there could be no reasonable excuse as vacations were planned in advance so therefore provisions should have been made. “ Either those cases should have been adjourned to a period when the magistrate would have returned or they should be dealt with by a magistrate who was put on while he is not there. Is it so hard to work out when the magistrates are going to be on vacation so that you could have someone holding on for them? If that is the case, then adjourn the matters to a date outside of the vacation,” he stressed. Pilgrim said “This is a whole month that is going to be a waste of time for 40 litigants everyday. This is time that Barbados does not have to give. We need our people to be productive instead of standing in a line outside of a court to get a date on which nothing will happen.” (BT)

NEW COURT DATES FOR DEATH ROW CONVICTS – Almost a dozen inmates who are currently on death row at Dodds prison will have to be resentenced once the Offences Against the Person Bill 2018 is amended. That is the word from Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, as he spoke today during debate on the amendment which seeks to repeal the mandatory death sentence for persons convicted of murder in Barbados. He said the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the island’s highest appellate court, had already ruled that it was unconstitutional. “They are currently 11 persons who are on death row in Barbados and based on this ruling, they will now have to be resentenced because their sentences are now considered by the CCJ to be unconstitutional,” Dr Walcott said. “There are 62 persons awaiting trial for murder and six for manslaughter. If we were not to pass this bill today, it would put our judicial system in a quandary. You would have 68 persons who are there to have trials done and at the back of that, at the end of it all, judges will know that they are confined by the mandatory death sentence, but if they convict someone and sentence them at the end of the day they know that the CCJ has already ruled that that is unconstitutional.” Dr Walcott explained that the amendment was not about removing the death penalty from the statute books. However, he contended that Barbados had signed on to several conventions which clearly state that a mandatory death sentence was not lawful. “I believe that we are in a bind. We have survived over the years. We have discussed and we have utilized our mandatory death penalty and we have debated it. We have made promises to amend it. We’ve made promises to the UN and we’ve made promises to the Inter-American Court of Justice, but I think our reckoning time has now come.  (BT)

REPORT ORDERED – The Magistrate’s Court has asked for a probation report on a 26-year-old man who pleaded guilty to drug possession. When Chad Aaron Lynton, of Corner of 4th Avenue, New Orleans, St Michael appeared before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant today he admitted that he had five grammes of marijuana in his possession yesterday. Police were on duty in Lynton’s community when he was seen riding along a footpath. He jumped off the bicycle when he saw the police and began walking back in the direction from which he came. He was detained when he entered a nearby shop. Lynton was given a February 1, 2019 date to return to the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court after his $1,500 bail was accepted. (BT)

BAIL ON ASSAULT CHARGE – A 26-year-old Guyanese man accused of assaulting his wife is now on $5,000 bail. Khayum Kharoon Nazmoon who lives at No. 2 Apartments Villa Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael is alleged to have committed the offence against Premawattie Katwaru on October 22 occasioning her actual bodily harm. The prosecutor had no objections to bail but asked Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant that the accused surrender his passport to the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court and requested that he stay away from his wife. The order was made and Nazmoon, who was represented by attorney-at-law Samuel Legay, was released after his surety was accepted. The accused will make his second appearance in court on January 29, 2019. (BT)

COSTLY TRIP – Drug trafficker Tyrique Kheele Michael Cuffie who arrived in Barbados on Monday with more than his personal effects in his suitcase is facing two years in prison. The 21-year-old Canadian from Lombard, Toronto, was sent to HMP Dodds today after he was unable to pay a $20,000 fine by the end of the day’s sitting at the Oistins Magistrate’s Court. Cuffie arrived at the Grantley Adams International Airport on around 3:39 a.m. Station Sergeant Glenda Carter-Nicholls said he then proceeded to customs where his suitcase was searched and 20 vacuum-sealed packages containing a vegetable substance were found. “I know drugs in my suitcase,” Cuffie allegedly told police when asked to account for the 7.6 kilogrammes of marijuana which had an estimated BDS$60,800 street value. Addressing Magistrate Elwood Watts, Cuffie apologized for his actions before the fine was imposed on the charge on importation. He was convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the charges of possession, possession with intent to supply and possession with intent to traffick the illegal substance. (BT)

NSC LIGHTS STILL OFF – THERE was still no light at the end of the emergency meeting, as the floodlights at a number of National Sports Council (NSC) facilities will remain off for the time being. A furious NSC chairman Mac Fingall says the issue of tampering and vandalism of token boxes must come to an end, following the thousands of dollars which the sports council lost due to illegal usage of the lights. It comes after a more than two-hour long meeting on Tuesday night at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium chaired by Fingall, at which players, coaches and administrators of local sports took the opportunity to voice their concerns about the situation. General secretary of the Barbados Football Association (BFA), Edwyn Wood, director of cricket at the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), Stephen Leslie, and president of the Barbados Road Tennis Association, John Chandler, were all present. Two weeks ago, Fingall revealed that Barbadians had cheated the NSC out of a large sum of money. He said at least $560 000 was lost in lights last year.  (DN)

SENIOR FAILURE – Despite an abysmal international record after 10 years in West Indies colours, middle-order batsman Kieron Pollard’s place in the team has been justified by outgoing coach Stuart Law. Speaking after the Windies’ loss in the second Twenty20 International against India yesterday, Law said Pollard was a motivator in the dressing room and quite capable of performing on his day. Pollard has made 20 runs in two innings so far and his solitary over in a tight situation in Kolkata went for 12 runs and shifted momentum towards the hosts. India were reeling at 57 for 4 at one stage. But Law said Pollard brought much more to the table, and not just on the cricket field. “Pollard brings a lot, both on and off the field. With the youngsters in the squad, it’s someone like Pollard who motivates them in the dressing room. “He’s a senior member of the squad, and we all know what he’s capable of when he gets going. But yeah, Pollard isn’t in the side only because of what he brings inside the ground. He’s one of the biggest motivators of the youngsters, and he’s just a game away from reminding us why he’s such a T20 force. Look, Pollard himself would not be pleased with his show on the tour so far, and he’ll be itching to finish the series in a blazing manner.” After 101 One-Day Internationals, the burly Trinidadian has managed just 2 289 runs at an average of 25.71 with three centuries and nine fifties. The white ball specialist’s record in T20I is even worse, having played 58 matches, scored 788 runs at 19.70 with just two fifties. His List A record is just slightly better with 3 134 runs at an average of 26.55 with three centuries and 15 fifties. In 433 T20s played across the globe in franchise cricket, Pollard has amassed 8 531 at 30. 14. Law addressed the potential of the squad, noting there were a number of fantastic cricketers in the team “We have got some fantastic T20 players. But, now it’s just about playing for pride. It’s time for them to dig deep and play for pride, and give it everything in the last game. If we play anywhere near to our potential, we can beat any team on the day. We need to improve a lot to get to that stage.” “The team does have a lot of potential, and ‘potential’ is a horrible word because talk is cheap and actions speak louder. But it’s the experienced guys who need to stick their hands up and do the bulk of the work. They’re supposed to usher the youngsters in, but they’re not quite doing that. It’s a young team, though, and they’re learning on the job. Regardless of being the current T20 champions, we don’t have the same team here and learning on the job against India in India can be mighty tough.” The West Indies will now travel to Chennai earlier than the hosts as the India players embark on a two-day Diwali break. But with the series already decided, there’s an opportunity for them to field left-handed hard-hitter Sherfane Rutherford possibly in place of Pollard, and the left-arm quick Obed McCoy in the final T20I to see what those two bring to the table. Captain Carlos Brathwaite bemoaned the fact that West Indies were without two designated opening batsmen. Brathwaite said that the makeshift approach taken by the management – with regards to their opening pair – had forced the West Indies to always have a rocky start with the bat in the series. In the first game in Kolkata, West Indies’ opening pair of Denesh Ramdin and Shai Hope – neither batsmen are regular T20I openers – lasted all of 15 deliveries, scoring only 16 runs between them, while in Lucknow, a new opening pair of Hope and Shimron Hetmyer fared only marginally better with a combined tally of 21 runs in 22 deliveries. With Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis opting out of the series due to personal reasons, Brathwaite said that the team was simply trying to make do with the resources that were available to them. “We didn’t come to the tour with an out-and-out opener, so we are still trying to find our best opening combination. There were a few theories in the first game and also this game, on how we wanted our batting order, for different reasons. Ultimately neither worked, because we failed to get a good start. But we’re working with the players we have on tour, and it’s difficult to choose the best batting pair, but we’re trying. Up until a theory works out, it will look bad and give the pundits something to say,” Brathwaite said. While expressing disappointment at the team’s bowling in the second T20I – including his own – Brathwaite heaped praise on right-handed batting all-rounder Fabian Allen, who bowls left-arm orthodox spin. Alleyne has bowled well in both matches so far. “The way Fabian Allen bowled in the middle, and he kept the openers under wraps and eventually got Shikhar out. It is hard to look at the negatives sometimes, just need to take the small positives and go away with them.”  (BT)

HOME BOYS BOW OUT – Predictably, mighty United States ruled the pristine conditions and waves on the East Coast at Bathsheba yesterday, but not a single hometown boy advanced to the quarter-finals of the Live Like Zander Pro surfing event at the Soup Bowl. Jacob Burke, Caleb Rapson and Ocean Gittens all failed to make it through to the quarters of the event named in memory of Barbadian surfer Alexander Venezia, who died last September. The United States landed 14 of the last 16 spots, with Japanese-American Taro Watanabe, delivering the best wave score of the day, an impressive 9.5, that comprised four impressive manoeuvres.  Burke was arguably the best of the Barbadian juniors on show, but he had to settle for third place in Heat 5 behind Crosby Colapinto of the United States and Thomas Debierre of France. This event for entrants under the age of 18, carries a first prize cheque of US$2 500.  (DN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 55 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[stickyyouthstudent]

No 10 rejects Brown's warning about world being at risk of 'sleepwalking' into new financial crisis - Politics live

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the publication of the latest batch of government no deal Brexit planning papers

Dominic Raab’s Today interview - Summary

12.32pm BST

In an interview with the Guardian, the former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown said that the world was in danger of “sleepwalking in a future [financial] crisis” because there is not enough cooperation between governments and central banks globally. My colleague Larry Elliott wrote it up here.

Related: 'The world is sleepwalking into a financial crisis' – Gordon Brown

Since 2008 we have built one of the most robust regulatory systems in the world designed specifically to ensure financial stability and protect taxpayers.

We have, obviously, reformed regulation to put in place one of the toughest systems in the world and we have made it easier to deal with any issues that emerge on the banking front.

12.24pm BST

The Daily Mail has backed Theresa May’s plans for a soft Brexit and described Conservative MPs plotting to oust the prime minister during the negotiations with the EU as “traitors”, my colleague Jim Waterson reports.

Related: Daily Mail backs May's Brexit plan and brands rebel Tories 'traitors'

12.05pm BST

The European commission has responded to the UK government’s claim that, in the event of there being no Brexit deal, it would not pay the EU the £39bn already agreed, the Telegraph’s James Crisp reports.

(It is saying it is not prepared to renegotiate the sum - although in practice, if the withdrawal agreement were to collapse and the EU wanted to recover money owed to Brussels, there would in practice have to be a renegotiation.)

.@EU_Commission responds to @DominicRaab in today's @Telegraph , where Brexit sec said UK would not pay Brexit bill if there is no deal. Spox said: "We will not be revisiting those areas of the Withdrawl Agreement that are now settled , including the financial settlement. " 1/

.@MargSchinas goes onto quote @JunckerEU speech yesterday. "The president said yesterday that we stand ready day and night to reach a deal. .This is something we owe to our citizens and business to ensure UK withdrawal is orderly and there is stability afterwards". 2/

Presumably there would not be much stability if UK refused to pay bill, which EC has always argued represents a settling of accounts (money owed) before leaving. Other Q's in play is whether UK would be legally liable or not.. ENDS

11.56am BST

In the Commons George Eustice, the fisheries minister, is making a statement about the scallop dispute with the French. He told MPs that the negotiations intended to resolve the dispute had failed.

Related: Talks to end 'scallop wars' between UK and France collapse

11.33am BST

Downing Street has confirmed that the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, attended today’s special no-deal Brexit cabinet meeting, after he was spotted at No 10.

The Canadian, who has just extended his term for six months to provide some stability over the departure period, was at the meeting for the first half an hour, to update ministers on the bank’s plans, Theresa May’s spokeswoman said.

11.24am BST

Here is Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP and chair of the Commons home affairs committee, on the Home Office’s decision not to introduce protest-free buffer zones outside abortion clinics. She said:

This is a very disappointing response from the home secretary.

The whole point of having this review was because existing powers are not working or are proving cumbersome and difficult for councils or the police to use.

11.01am BST

The Home Office has rejected calls for buffer zones to be introduced outside abortion clinics across the country. In a written ministerial statement, Sajid Javid, the home secretary, said introducing protest-free areas outside clinics to prevent harassment of patients “would not be a proportionate response”. He went on:

Having considered the evidence of the review, I have therefore reached the conclusion that introducing national buffer zones would not be a proportionate response, considering the experiences of the majority of hospitals and clinics, and considering that the majority of activities are more passive in nature.

10.31am BST

And here is a full summary of what Dominic Raab told the Today programme, including lines from the interview not already mentioned.

It’s not a threat, it’s statement of fact as part of our no-deal planning that, yes, we would be mindful of our strict legal obligations, but the amount and the phased way it is set out in the withdrawal agreement would fall away because there would be no deal.

It’s not a threat and it’s not an ultimatum, it’s a statement of fact. I don’t say anything outside of the negotiation room that I haven’t and wouldn’t directly to our EU friends and partners, and I think it is well understood on both sides.

The reality of the ERG proposals, and the approach of saying we would accept the EU’s offer of a Canada deal, is not to look at the small print. The EU is offering in relation to the Ceta [Canada-EU trade deal] arrangements not just the deal that they have with Canada but a backstop arrangement which for all practical purposes would leave us indefinitely in the customs union. And that’s part of the offer they’ve made. So there isn’t an easy way round this.

In the past months, whenever we needed unity in the Union, Britain was at our side, driven by the same values and principles as all other Europeans. This is why I welcome prime minister May’s proposal to develop an ambitious new partnership for the future, after Brexit. We agree with the statement made in Chequers that the starting point for such a partnership should be a free trade area between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

But we also ask the British government to understand that someone who leaves the union cannot be in the same privileged position as a member state. If you leave the union, you are of course no longer part of our single market, and certainly not only in the parts of it you choose.

We’ve had some good news from businesses like Vodafone and Three. They have publicly said they wouldn’t introduce any roaming fees for UK consumers travelling on the continent.

What we have said is we would like to see other companies following suit, but, in any event, we would legislate for a limit on roaming charges to make sure in a no-deal scenario that we protect British consumers.

9.42am BST

In his Today interview Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, was also asked about the dozens of Conservative MPs who have indicated that they are opposed to Theresa May’s Chequers proposal. He effectively delivered an ultimatum: they would either have to back the Chequers plan, or see the UK leaving the EU without a deal, he said. In other words, it would be “deal or no deal”, to coin a phrase.

When it was put to him that, if May did come back from Brussels with a deal based on her Chequers plan, he replied.

No, I don’t think so. I think we’ll come back with a good deal. I think it will focus minds. And I think colleagues will look at the choices they’ve got and we all have to be responsible for that.

I do appreciate the concerns on all sides ... But when push comes to shove, there will be the choice between the deal that I’m confident we can strike with the EU and the no deal scenario. And we are making sure we are ready for the latter. But I think it would be by far the optimum outcome to have a negotiated deal, and I think that will focus everyone’s minds.

This is the crux of it for the govt - they hope, in the end, that there simply won't be enough MP s who'd risk it - Raab says.... “There will be a binary choice between a deal and no deal and I believe that will focus minds.”

9.23am BST

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, is in Downing Street for this morning’s cabinet meeting about a possible no deal Brexit, according to Steve Back, a photographer who covers Downing Street and who tweets as @PoliticalPics.

Breaking: Mark Carney the Gov of Bank of ENGLAND just been smuggled into back door on No10 to join the Cabinet Brexit meeting in top range electric car made in the USA

9.15am BST

One of the more interesting political developments of the last few years has been the growing rupture between the Conservative party and big business. The Tories used to be effectively the political wing of the CBI, but Brexit has changed that and we saw a relatively small, but nevertheless telling, example of that this morning when Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, criticised John Lewis for saying Brexit was contributing to a collapse in profits.

The company announced a dire first-half profit performance this morning. Sir Charlie Mayfield, its chairman, explained:

These are challenging times in retail. Profits before exceptionals are always lower and more volatile in the first half than the second half. It is especially so this half year, driven mainly by John Lewis & Partners where gross margin has been squeezed in what has been the most promotional market we’ve seen in almost a decade.

With the level of uncertainty facing consumers and the economy, in part due to ongoing Brexit negotiations, forecasting is particularly difficult but we continue to expect full-year profits to be substantially lower than last year for the Partnership as a whole.

Well, I think it’s probably rather easy at this moment in time for any business that isn’t doing rather well to point to Brexit. But let me just give you the facts; this week we’ve had economic growth accelerating, we’ve had real wages accelerating, we’ve had Relx, the Anglo-Dutch business information company, revise its structure to be headquartered in the UK. So, actually, we have got positive news on the economy this week ...

I don’t doubt that some of the uncertainty around these negotiations will have an impact on business. That’s why we are putting all our energy into getting the good deal that we want with our EU friends and partners ... All I’m just gently saying is that it is rather easy for a business to blame Brexit and the politicians rather than to take responsibility for their own situation.

Related: Day-to-day effects of no-deal Brexit stressed in new impact papers

Continue reading...

[teejagz-blog]

Former housing minister Gavin Barwell has been appointed as the new Downing Street chief of staff.

Mr Barwell, who lost his Croydon Central seat in the snap election called by Mrs May, will bring ‘considerable experience’ to the post, the Prime Minister said.

His appointment comes following the resignation of Mrs May’s closest aides Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who had served as joint chiefs of staff.

Mr Barwell previously was Minister of State for Housing and Planning

Speaking today, Mrs May said: ‘I’m delighted that Gavin Barwell accepted the role as my chief of staff.

‘He has been a first class minister and is widely respected.

‘He will bring considerable experience of the party to the post.

‘As I said yesterday, I want to reflect on the election and why it did not deliver the result I hoped for.

‘Gavin will have an important role to play in that.

‘I look forward to working with him.’

Former housing minister Mr Barwell said: ‘I voted for Theresa May to become Prime Minister.

‘I believe she is the best person to heal the divisions in our country that last year’s referendum and the General Election have laid bare, getting the best Brexit deal for the whole country and leading us towards a brighter future outside the EU.

‘I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as her chief of staff.’

Mr Timothy and Ms Hill resigned as joint chiefs of staff to Theresa May after the Tory election disaster.

Mr Timothy admitted to a mistake in how he drafted a social care policy for the manifesto seen as a major factor in the electoral setbacks that left Mrs May clinging desperately to power.

But he claimed the wider Tory campaign had failed to spot a surge in Labour support even while the Conservative vote soared to ‘historically high’ levels.

Both issued statements defending Mrs May today after a former No 10 aide today revealed a ‘toxic’ atmosphere in Downing Street.

Mrs May had been under pressure to fire both of her top advisers in the aftermath of the shock losses which wiped out the Conservative majority in Parliament.

The resignations could help hold off a challenge to Mrs May’s Tory leadership. The PM is reshuffling her Cabinet today as she tries to shore up her position.

Katie Perrior, who resigned from Downing Street when the election was called, revealed the pair ran a dysfunctional No 10 obsessed with crushing enemies.

A former aide to Theresa May revealed the ‘toxic’ atmosphere in No 10 when it was run by her joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill (pictured together at Tory HQ today)

Mr Timothy and Ms Hill have been blamed for the disastrous Conservative election campaign which saw a shock loss of Tory seats.

Writing on the Conservative Home website, Mr Timothy said: ‘I take responsibility for my part in this election campaign, which was the oversight of our policy programme.

‘In particular, I regret the decision not to include in the manifesto a ceiling as well as a floor in our proposal to help meet the increasing cost of social care.

‘But I would like to make clear that the bizarre media reports about my own role in the policy’s inclusion are wrong: it had been the subject of many months of work within Whitehall, and it was not my personal pet project.’

Mr Timothy insisted the Conservative campaign secured an ‘historically high number’ of votes on Thursday – more even than Tony Blair managed in 1997.

But he said: ‘The reason for the disappointing result was not the absence of support for Theresa May and the Conservatives but an unexpected surge in support for Labour.

Katie Perrior, who resigned from Downing Street when the election was called, revealed the pair ran a dysfunctional No 10 obsessed with crushing enemies.

‘One can speculate about the reasons for this, but the simple truth is that Britain is a divided country: many are tired of austerity, many remain frustrated or angry about Brexit, and many younger people feel they lack the opportunities enjoyed by their parents’ generation.’

In a blast at the Lynton Crosby-led campaign, Mr Timithy added: ‘It failed to notice the surge in Labour support, because modern campaigning techniques require ever-narrower targeting of specific voters, and we were not talking to the people who decided to vote for Labour.’

Mr Timothy claimed Mrs May was the Tory politician best able to respond to this shift in the electorate in a signal of how the PM may attempt to cling to her post.

In her own statement, Ms Hill said: ‘It’s been a pleasure to serve in government, and a pleasure to work with such an excellent Prime Minister.

‘I have no doubt at all that Theresa May will continue to serve and work hard as Prime Minister – and do it brilliantly.’

Senior Conservative MP Nigel Evans welcomed the resignations this afternoon as he blasted the ‘daft and bonkers’ manifesto drafted by Mr Timothy.

Michael Fabricant, another Conservative MP, was more sympathetic tweeting: ‘Sad in many ways, though understand why, Nick Timothy quit.

‘He was main architect of Brexit, including need to leave Single Market.’

Ms Hill and Mr Timothy (pictured in No 10 in May) were Mrs May’s gatekeepers in Downing Street and were known as having absolute power over access to the Prime Minister

Mr Timothy (pictured last June) took the blame for his role in the electon disaster today but dismissed claims he had personally forced a controversial policy on social care into the Tory manifesto

Since the results began rolling in yesterday, Mr Timothy and Ms Hill have been blamed for the disastrous election campaign which saw a shock loss of Tory seats.

Mr Timothy blasted Lynton Crosby (pictured) for running a campaign that failed to spot the surge in Labour support

It has been claimed they were responsible for talking Mrs May into calling the snap election and that the PM only agreed to do so on the promise of a 100+ majority.

Ms Perrior today revealed the ‘stench’ caused in No 10 by the duo, who have worked with Mrs May as gatekeepers and attack dogs for years.

She told the BBC Today programme: ‘Being in the Home Office for such a long time with that being her top team she became accustomed to that being it.

‘Of course, running the Home Office is very different from running the country.

‘Trying to make that change to Number 10 was more difficult than she possibly anticipated.

‘I used to wonder why because actually she needed to broaden her circle of advisers, she needed to have a few grey hairs in there who have been around the block a bit, who could say don’t do that, don’t make enemies when you don’t need to.’

Ms Perrior described meetings in Downing Street where Ms Hill would come up with ‘crazy’ ideas – but that Mrs May would rarely overrule her.

Theresa May (pictured at No 10 yesterday) is reeling after losing seats in a disastrous election campaign

Writing in The Times, Ms Perrior described a bizarre encounter on the day of the Copeland by-election when Ms Hill demanded Boris Johnson be deployed to the constituency – despite the campaign being over and the only goal being to get out the vote.

Ms Perrior wrote: ‘Fiona protested and the prime minister overruled her, saying: ”Fiona, I’d like to know what the point of all this is. If Boris goes up there today, he will be in tomorrow’s papers and that will be too late. Anyone who knows anything about campaigning knows that”.

‘The room fell silent. I wanted the floor to swallow me up. The prime minister had, for once, dared to raise her voice, a rare moment.

‘Normally we would all sit there while Fiona would raise some batshit crazy idea and not say a word. This one clearly had the prime minister rattled. As it was, Parky oversaw a stunning victory in Copeland and was vindicated.’

In her BBC interview, Ms Perrior said both of the top aides did not respect long-serving ministers.

She revealed: ‘There was not enough respect shown to people who spent 20 years in office or 20 years getting to the top seat in Government.

‘They would send people text messages – rude text messages – which is not acceptable.

‘What the prime minister needs at a time that you’re going through Brexit is diplomats not street-fighters.

‘They only really know one way to operate – and that is to have enemies and I’m sure I’m one of them this morning.’

Mrs May (pictured yesterday and right with husband Philip after the results) will hope the resignations of her most senior aides will help her keep a grip in No 10 in the aftermath of the disastrous election

Asked why she quit as Mrs May’s communications director, Ms Perrior added: ‘Every month that went past I felt I’ve done pretty well for holding on because it was pretty toxic.’

Former minister Ed Vaizey today admitted Tory MPs were feverishly speculating about Mrs May’s future.

Asked if there were phone calls being made between Tories about the next leader, Mr Vaizey told the BBC: ‘That’s so 20th century. It’s all on WhatsApp.’

He added: ‘We all talk on WhatsApp … lots of MPs are in lots of different groups.’

Vaizey said he hoped the election result would soften May’s stance on Brexit, adding: ‘I hope in the next few days we will see a clear acknowledgement that a ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ is off the table, that we are going for a Brexit that is going to secure jobs and investment.’

Before the results emerged yesterday, Mr Timothy was already under fire for inserting into the manifesto at the last minute the social care pledge which blew up the Tory campaign.

Labour spinner Damian McBride reflected today that the state of the Tories was ‘bad’ when ever his colleagues from the Gordon Brown era thought so

Mrs May has been criticised ever since taking over No 10 last summer for keeping decisions within their secretive triangle of three.

Ms Hill and Mr Timothy have worked with Mrs May since she was Home Secretary.

One senior backbencher said: ‘Obviously some people are talking about changing personnel. I think that’s very much a matter for the Prime Minister to decide for herself.

‘If you start changing your advisors then you have conceded something quite important. But I do think there needs to be a real effort to make sure there are open lines of communication.’

Before the polls closed yesterday, one Minister described the Conservative campaign as the ‘worst in living memory’.

They said: ‘Is it the end of the Nick and Fi show? Everybody wants it to be but she [Theresa May] is very stubborn.’

Another backbench Tory added: ‘There have to be lessons learned. There’s a lots of people with grey hair who Theresa could use. If the manifesto had been properly passed by them they would have put a stop to it.

‘Manifestos are usually apple pie and ice cream. Instead we got three spoonfuls of arsenic and – surprise surprise – people didn’t like it.’

Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill (pictured this morning), Mrs May’s joint chiefs of staff, were warned their extraordinary controlling role at No 10 cannot continue even if their boss keeps power

Mrs May has been criticised ever since taking over No 10 last summer for keeping decisions within their secretive triangle of three.

The influential ConservativeHome website, edited by former MP Paul Goodman, said the ‘consensus view’ among Tory backbenchers and ministers is that the Prime Minister’s authority has ‘received a blow from which it is unlikely to recover’.

Mr Goodman said they believed Mrs May’s two closest advisers, joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill ‘must go’ and there could be major changes to the Brexit process, single market membership ‘may now be on the table’, the website said.

He added: ‘All this, remember, is on the assumption that May somehow gains a working majority, or is Prime Minister in a hung Parliament.

‘In the latter circumstance, a second election in the autumn will be likely.

‘With the threat of a second election hanging over their heads, Conservative backbenchers would be unlikely to mount a leadership challenge, but May’s days as leader would be numbered.’

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BREAKING NEWS: Theresa May appoints former Housing Minister Gavin Barwell as new Downing St chief of staff Former housing minister Gavin Barwell has been appointed as the new Downing Street chief of staff.

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 5/30/2018

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Wednesday, 30th May 2018. Mid-Week Nation Newspaper (MWN), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

CABINET MEETS FOR THE FIRST TIME – GOVERNMENT ENGAGED in its second straight day of meetings yesterday as Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Cabinet met for the first time. From around 9:30 a.m. affiliates of the 26-member group could be seen making their way into Government Headquarters ahead of the planned 10 a.m. start. While most, including Mottley, declined to comment, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan briefly told the MIDWEEK NATION that a proposal for the Social Justice Committee, which was mentioned in the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) manifesto, would soon be on the way. “You know we have some issues to deal with and so they engaged with the Social Partnership yesterday [Monday] and they’re doing it again on Friday,”  he said. There was also a pledge in the BLP manifesto to broaden the Social Partnership framework to include a Social Justice Committee which would see the inclusion of groups such as the church and civil society in the discussions. “There are non-governmental organisations, religious organisations, community organisations that are not a part of the tripartite arrangement right now, but in a few weeks they should have a proposal on how they are going to incorporate them,” he added. Meanwhile, Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey said yesterday’s meeting would see a number of logistical matters addressed. He said he was pleased to be heading that new ministry and underscored the importance it was taking worldwide. “The blue economy is a very interesting portfolio; I’m very happy to have it,” Humphrey said. “If you follow what’s happening in the United Nations and across the world, issues with the blue economy are starting to take precedence. In fact, in the G7 Summit, one of the things that came out was the need to address the blue economy,” he added. According to the World Bank, the blue economy involved “the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health”. It added this encompassed renewable energy, fisheries, maritime transport, waste management, climate change and tourism. (MWN)

MINISTER LOOKING TO CHANGE BLOCK CULTURE – A transformation of the block culture will be among the priorities of new Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment, Adrian “Medic” Forde. After arriving for his first day on the job Monday at his Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall, St Michael office, Forde said he was excited to be involved in such a ministry. “I really have an interest in redefining the blocks because persons believe that block life is just about guys sitting down in the ghetto doing nothing. I want to see the blocks being economic centres [and become an] oasis of businesses,” he said. The Christ Church West Central parliamentary representative, who toppled former Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth Stephen Lashley, said the business strategies he successfully initiated in that constituency would be expanded to wider Barbados. He added he planned to traverse the country with the objective of turning blocks into businesses. “I really think we have to get those blocks working. I will be going around Barbados to ensure that the blocks don’t just remain a block culture where people believe that they sit down and do absolutely nothing, but that there are businesses on the block,” he reiterated. Forde said this vision would be combined with the creativity of young people. “We have to give them the wherewithal so that they can develop and become self-sufficient and global citizens. That’s my dream, so I will work with alacrity to ensure that we have a change in the direction and meaning  of the blocks. “Obviously, it will have an impact on the community at large because if you redefine the blocks, inadvertently you change the concept of community life, where persons have more respect for each other and there is growth,” the former community leader noted. The pharmacist also emphasised economic equality in Barbados. “There must be fairness across the board where persons from the bottom of the spectrum feel that they have a sense of entitlement. There must be social justice,” he said, while making reference to the Barbados Labour Party’s manifesto proposal of assisting small business people within communities. The former secondary school teacher said it was a “surreal” feeling to be chosen by Prime Minister Mia Mottley to head the Youth ministry. “It is something that I have been doing for the past 20 years, working with young people. I believe young people will provide the wheels for the new millennium, in terms of whether it is the green economy, the innovative sector or e-commerce,” he said. “I think there is an untapped potential with young persons and there is no better creative mind than the young people of this country. Barbados must be able to be gassed by the efforts of the young people in terms of the engine. “So I am happy to be involved in a ministry that will transform Barbados because I think that we have to build a creative economy, and we can only do that by using the tentacles of young people, the creative imagination of young people,” he added.  (MWN)

ANOTHER ADAMS IN THE MIX - RAWDON ADAMS, the son of Barbados’ second Prime Minister, Tom Adams,  has finally been baptised in the politics of Barbados. He is among the 12 Government senators named by new Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Saturday. The 49-year-old Adams, who was 16 when his father died in 1985 of a heart attack while in office, returned to Barbados from France in 2017 to head the financial technology company Bitt Inc. as chief executive officer. Educated at Harrison College, Adams was based in France for 20 years. He holds degrees in economics and political sociology from the University of South Carolina and the London School of Economics. He has an impressive career background in finance, having worked as an expenditure analyst in Britain’s Finance Ministry. He also worked for Rank Xerox in the United Kingdom and General Electric Medical Systems in France in finance roles, ranging from revenue analysis, research and development cost control, and inventory management. In 2000, he co-founded Sparrow Holdings LLC, an investment company focused on finding undervalued companies quoted on the United States and UK stock markets.  Adams has been a keen observer of developments in Barbados. In 2010 he delivered the annual Tom Adams Memorial Lecture, in which he demonstrated the charismatic oratorical flair which his father and grandfather, Sir Grantley Adams, the first Premier of Barbados, were known for. He has an older brother, Douglas, while his mother, Genevieve, also lives here in St Philip. (MWN)

BANISH OLD GUARDS – The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) needs “a cleansing and a purge” to rid itself of the old boys’ club who have kept it back, a member of the old guard has said. In a frank assessment of the state of the party, former Minister of Social Transformation Hamilton Hammie LaLashley charged that too many of the old guard were determined to hang on despite the embarrassing loss in last Thursday’s general election. “I know I am going to get cursed for it but I am accustomed to it. The party needs a cleansing and a purge,” Lashley told journalists at a news conference at the Marcus Garvey Resource Centre in The Pine, St Michael. The social activist, who held the St Michael South East seat for both the DLP and the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) between 1994 and 2013, said the time had come for a complete overhaul of the party, along with a change in thinking from “the old traditional way of doing things”. He called on those who hold positions of power in the DLP to put country before party and step aside, even as he expressed scepticism that they would willingly relinquish control. “There would be a number of the older members who have already resigned their official position and it gives us a pathway forward into the future. However, you would meet up on the old heads who believe that they have a God-given right to make the final decision,” he said. “It is quite obvious to me that a number of the old boys and girls have to sit back in an advisory capacity and let younger, brighter persons take the lead. The Democratic Labour Party has to be very serious. It can’t be the old boys club anymore. We need a new dynamic force going forward in the future,” he stressed. Joining Lashley at the news conference was his protégé Rodney Grant, the losing DLP candidate in St Michael South East. Grant suggested that his party had lost its soul, claiming it had moved away from the principles established by its founding father, Errol Barrow. Grant was seen as one of the DLP’s brightest prospects after he was hand-picked by the hierarchy to contest the seat which the BLP’s Santia Bradshaw had won by only ten votes in 2013 over  Patrick Tannis, who since switched allegiance to the Bees. However, he became a victim of the near 30 per cent swing against the DLP, suffering a massive loss by 2,704 votes. He attracted just 1,099 votes, or 21.84 per cent, to 3,803 by Bradshaw, who garnered 75.56 per cent of the votes cast. The smaller parties, Solution Barbados and United Progressive Party (UPP) polled 131 votes between them. Today, Grant argued that the party needed to return to its core principles of people-centred politics if it wished to become relevant again. “There has to be a return to the social democratic stance on which Barrow built the Democratic Labour Party,” he told journalists at a news conference at the Marcus Garvey Resource Centre in The Pine, St Michael. “We have to find a way to get back there and the party has to find a way to get back to that point on how it engages with people going forward into the future. This is the key thing that must engage the party going forward, it can’t be anything but people-centred,” Grant stressed. In a stinging commentary of the DLP’s performance in the election, in which it polled just 33, 985 votes, or 22 per cent of the 153,745 ballots cast, Grant suggested that the Dees had been relegated to virtually third party status. “This defeat almost puts the Democratic Labour Party on the same platform as the UPP, BIM [Barbados Integrity Movement] and some of the other parties. The thing that sets the Democratic Labour Party apart from the others is its history,” he said. It was only yesterday that the man in charge of the DLP’s disastrous election campaign, Robert Bobby Morris, said the party would do some introspection, while pointing out that defeated Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had already served notice of his intention to quit. Morris said party officials would therefore put their heads together and bring about a transition of leadership to take the DLP into the next poll. The party took the initial step toward preparing for the future when the various organs met yesterday to review the outcome of last Thursday’s general election. “Agencies of the party were discussing and getting views on the experiences of what happened in the election,” General Secretary George Pilgrim told Barbados TODAY. He added that the executive council would meet tomorrow to set a date for a post mortem which would involve DLP members who sat in the last Parliament. (BT)

‘HAMMIE LA’ WANTS DLP TO ACCEPT OFFER OF SENATE SEATS – A member of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) old guard and his protégé have stopped just short of ridiculing stalwart Robert Bobby Morris’ advise to the party to reject any offers to take up seats in the Senate. Former Minister of Social Transformation Hamilton Lashley and the man who sought to mimic his every political move, Rodney Grant, today said it would be a dereliction of duty if the DLP does not accept the seats, which would open up through a proposed constitutional amendment. As matter of fact Lashley identified Grant, the losing DLP candidate in St Michael South East, and Henderson Williams, who was whipped in The City, as his picks to take the offer extended by Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Lashley, who assisted the campaigns of both Grant and Williams, argued that to reject the offer would be an insult to voters who maintained their faith in the DLP despite the massive nationwide shift in support. “There are obviously persons who had faith in the DLP and put their support behind them and to miss this opportunity would be to dismiss those persons who went out to the polls and this would make us guilty of the same old behaviour of which we have been accused,” Lashley said as he offered his views on the way forward for the DLP after Thursday’s humiliating loss to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in the general election in which it mustered just 22 per cent of the approximately 153,745 votes cast, compared by 72.63 per cent by the BLP. At a news conference at the Marcus Garvey Resource Centre in The Pine, St Michael, Lashley, who jumped from the DLP to the BLP and back to the DLP before he retired from active politics, told reporters the DLP must focus on rebuilding the party through young talent. Therefore, he said, it was only fitting that the newcomers be given the opportunity to serve in Opposition, albeit in the Senate.the newcomers be given the opportunity to serve in Opposition, albeit in the Senate. “The Democratic Labour Party has to be very serious now. It can no longer be an old boys club, and it is a new dimension. I know the old boys and old girls club would like to pick from among themselves. I strongly believe that one of those persons has to be Rodney Grant. The other should be a young person like Henderson Williams,” the former representative for The Pine said. Like Lashley, Grant jumped from the DLP to the BLP and back to the DLP in order to contest the recent poll in the seat which Lashley first won in 1994 while still a member of the Dees, before jumping ship to join the then Owen Arthur administration during the period of Arthur’s so-called politics of inclusion. He held onto the seat until his retirement in 2013, but returned home to the DLP after it defeated Arthur in 2008. Grant, who has been a Lashley disciple, today shared his mentor’s position on the Senate issue, as he admonished his party to grab the opportunity with both hands. “If there is an opportunity to represent the country I believe that they [DLP] should take it. Although the electorate dismissed the entire DLP candidacy, I believe that any opportunity to speak on behalf of the people is good for democracy. I think democracy would be weakened without any opposing voice,” Grant said, while going on to state that he would also respect the DLP’s decision to fight on behalf of the people outside of Parliament. With just 33, 985 votes, the Dems suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the BLP, failing to win a single seat in the 30-member House of Assembly, meekly surrendering even its bedrock, St John, in the process. Had it won at least one seat, it would have had the opportunity to name two senators as provided for in the Constitution, which makes provision for the Opposition to appoint two senators in the 21-member Upper Chamber. However, in the absence of an official opposition, newly-appointed Prime Minister Mia Mottley revealed on Saturday she had discussed a proposed amendment with Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, which would allow the party securing the second largest number of votes in the election to name the two Opposition senators. However, Morris quickly shot down the idea telling Barbados TODAY in a interview yesterday, such an arrangement was unnecessary since his party would prefer to earn its place in Parliament. “My view is the Democratic Labour Party would be getting back their seats and claiming rightfully by that action, their place in the legislature in due course. I think that is going to happen. So I don’t think there is any necessity to create a position specially at this point in time. The Opposition in Parliament is not the only type of opposition that is possible. But I don’t think the Democratic Labour Party wants to be compromised in terms of their participation,” the former campaign manager said. (BT)

NEW MINISTER GETS UPDATE ON SEWAGE CRISIS – Two days after he was sworn in as Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams got down to work today on the worrying sewage crisis on the south coast. Abrahams met with General Manager of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) Ketihroy Halliday to discuss the sewage leaks that have been plaguing the commercial and tourism belt between Hastings and Worthing, Christ Church for well over a year now. “I would be a negligent minister if I didn’t,” Abrahams told Barbados TODAY when asked if he had reached out to the BWA on the vexing problem which has forced the closure of some businesses on the south coast. However, he declined to provide any details of the talks, saying a statement would be issued shortly. The talks came on the same day that the Mia Mottley-led 30-member Cabinet met to address critical issues affecting the country. The previous administration led by former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had said a lasting solution to the chronic sewage flare-ups was the construction of a new treatment plant, and that it was approaching the Inter-American Development and the Caribbean Development for financial assistance. Even so, the BWA had begun to dig a number of injection wells to facilitate repairs to the compromised sewer lines, Charles Leslie, the BWA’s director of engineering had said the wells would have been ready by the middle of this year. (BT)

EXPANDED SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP UNDER WAY, JORDAN SAYS – Newly elected Minister of Labour Colin Jordan today promised that the Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration would stick to its campaign pledge to expand the Social Partnership. The BLP said in its 76-page manifesto for the May 24 general election it would invite additional members to the partnership, including non-governmental organizations.   Following yesterday’s meeting of the Social Partnership at Government Headquarters, which was described as upbeat by those who were present, Jordan, who has responsibility for Social Partnership relations, told Barbados TODAY the inclusion of more partners was still on the cards. “There are ongoing matters that the Ministry of Labour and the Social Partnership will look after. The one I can tell you about right now is from our campaign manifesto, which seeks to include and expand the Social Partnership to include religious and non-governmental organizations. “At this point it is tripartite – we have Government, unions and the representatives of business – but one of our early areas of focus in terms of transforming Barbados is to include some others in the dialogue,” Jordan stressed. However, Jordan, who comfortably won the St Peter seat in last week’s general election, admitted he was still unsure how the inclusion of the new members would proceed. “We just have to work through the mechanics of it to see how it will be done. The Social Partnership is a main area of focus. We met with them and we are in focus immediately. We are not sure what form it will take but we will work through that in the coming weeks,” he said. “It is clear in our manifesto and that is what we will be proceeding with. We have always seen our manifesto as a social contract with the people of Barbados. They elected us based on that and we are going forward with the implementation of policies based on the manifesto,” Jordan stressed. The Social Partnership is set to meet again on Friday. (BT)

NO QUICK EASE – The island’s private sector is warning consumers not to expect an immediate fall in prices after Government removes the hated National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL) on imported and locally produced goods. President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Eddy Abed, who yesterday joined the Social Partners in talks with Prime Minister Mia Mottley, said he was confident the newly-appointed leader would keep her campaign promise to repeal the onerous tax. However, Abed cautioned that it could be up to five months following the repeal before prices begin to fall. “Therein lies the problem because although the NSRL may be repealed today the adjustment of the prices would only occur when the inventory is replaced. One must be realistic,” he told a news conference at the offices of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) where the private sector body signed a memorandum of understanding with the BIDC to increase collaboration over the next two years. It was in his 2017 Budget presentation that then Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler announced a 400 per cent rise to the NSRL introduced the previous September – from two per cent to ten per cent of the customs value of imported and locally produced goods  – as part of an austerity package as the administration sought to curb a burgeoning deficit problem. During the campaign for the May 24 general election the BLP pledged to repeal the tax, a decision Abed said would cost the Treasury $141 million which “will have to be made up somehow”. The BCCI head said the private sector and the labour movement had been tasked to come up with a means of making up for the shortfall. “We have been asked as part of the private sector association and the trade unions, to give suggestions as to how the shortfall in revenue will be made up,” said Abed, who refused to give details, only adding that “surely it will be made up”. Asked how businesses would be kept in check once the tax was removed, Abed suggested that competition would take care of that. “There is nothing more wonderful than competition, frankly. If you are prepared to lose market share or if you are prepared to get the wrath of irate customers going on social media then I say to you, carry on,” he said. The BCCI head said now that the general election was out the way there was a general “feel good” atmosphere within the business community with some indicating that the “dark clouds have cleared”, despite the continuing economic problems. “The reality is that we are still in the same mess we were in before. We may have a new driver driving the bus but quoting from our new Prime Minister ‘many hands make light work’. This is a job that will require all of us to participate in,” Abed said while describing the economic situation as sad, and calling for urgent implementation of the necessary corrective steps. “So from that point of view I think people are a little resistant. They would like to get a greater sense of the short-term measures that will be implemented and the medium and long-term measures as well, and that causes a bit of hesitance.” However, he said many businesses had made it clear they intended to proceed with some of the plans they had placed on hold for at least the last six months. “I fully expect not necessarily within a day or week, but within three to six months, you will see activity. I am absolutely certain that we will see activity,” he insisted. The business executive said that in addition to the struggling economy the lengthy wait for the general election to be called was a main reason for the lack of confidence and uncertainty which led to little or no investment. However, he said with a new Government in office, confidence was returning. “People want to have a greater sense of how things will be solved. We are all aware that there will be some pain but it must be gain with that pain. It can’t just be pain,” he said, adding that businesses were aware that a lot of work had to be done in order to turn things around and protect the value of the Barbados dollar.  (BT)

PRIVATE SECTOR WANTS TAX RELIEF FOR FUNDING START-UPS – The Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has revealed plans to apply to the newly elected Mia Mottley-led administration for tax write-offs to established businesses that invest in start-up companies. BCCI President Eddy Abed said the private sector grouping had raised the issue with the last administration but there had been no action. Explaining that capital was a critical component to new businesses, Abed said established companies could help to provide the funds needed if there were tax incentives. “We see our role . . . as assisting some of the capital requirements of the young start-up companies who historically have been yearning for finance by way of debt or equity, and we would like, with the assistance of the incoming Government, perhaps to look at a tax write-off that our members can use to invest in these smaller companies,” Abed told journalists at the signing today of a memorandum of understanding with the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC). “A lot of them are starved for finance and frankly, a good idea is only as good as getting it into the marketplace and we see our role in assisting in that,” he said. The business executive said the BCCI was in the process of putting together a proposal to present to the new administration, making its case for a tax break in those circumstances. “The idea is quite simple. If you are putting out venture capital you do so because you are expecting a greater return than what the banks are currently giving you and equally because it is a start-up that capital could be lost. So you need to know the downside is covered, you can write off the capital should you lose it and if you don’t the advantage or attraction is for the greater return,” he explained. Abed said this would “free up Government” from having to provide financing for those businesses, adding that the private sector understood how to run businesses and the approximately $8 billion sitting in the banking system here needed to be invested. The two-year agreement between the BCCI and the BIDC provides a framework for the two organizations to collaborate in a number of areas, including sharing of resources, training, promotion and market research. It also has as its objective, the facilitation and promotion of cooperation within the business community and increased commercial activities for businesses locally and internationally. Sonja Trotman, the chief executive officer of BIDC, said the intention was to grow local companies and increase exports. “We know that the chamber here can use their resources and their membership and relationship with chambers throughout the region and throughout the world . . . so we can see using that kind of relationship to help us to touch base and develop relationships with persons in the international arena so that we can collect information, identify market opportunities and promote Barbadian products and services,” Trotman said. (BT)

SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE COMING SOON – With the Social Partnership meeting yesterday and set to meet again this Friday, Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations Colin Jordan says the Social Justice Committee could soon be established. Jordan was speaking to the DAILY NATION before the start of the first meeting of Cabinet this morning when he made the announcement. “You know we have some issues to deal with and so they engaged with the social partnership yesterday (Monday) and they’re doing it again on Friday,” Jordan said. “There is also a pledge in their manifesto to broaden the social partnership framework to include a social justice committee. “Because there are Non-Governmental Organisations, religious organisations, community organisations that are not a part of the tripartite arrangement right now, but in a few weeks they should have a proposal on how they are going to incorporate them,” he added. The Social Justice Committee was one of the agenda items which the Barbados Labour Party announced in its manifesto. According to the manifesto, that committee would see the inclusion of additional groups such as the church and civil society added to social discussions.  (MWN)

MORE SECURITIES SERVICES NEEDED – Amid a growing need for quality security services, a senior police officer is suggesting security guards regard themselves as another arm of law enforcement. The observation came from Assistant Commissioner of Police Oral Williams, as he highlighted a shortfall in the police force of just over 200 officers. “The increase in demand for police services by private persons and organisations has stretched our police resources,” Williams said in a feature address to the recent 30th anniversary awards dinner of A&C Security Services. He reminded the audience that the role of a watchman or unregistered security guard was a punishable offence under Barbados’ laws and such services were “a thing of the past”. Williams said over time there had been a general increase in crimes committed against property, to include burglaries, theft and trespass. “This list is by no means exhaustive. We need the assistance of private persons and security to assist us in preventing and detecting crime, arresting and prosecuting offenders,” the Assistant Commissioner said. He identified the market for security services while underscoring the importance of building a professional security outfit for Barbados. Williams asked whether insurance coverage was provided for employees, whether a code of discipline, job descriptions, a speedy grievance procedure as well as “reasonable rates of pay” and other considerations to encourage employment as a security guard were in place. “Have you done background checks on existing [people] and do you intend to have them done on prospective employees?” he queried. The importance of loyalty and professional service, as well as risks on the job and attempts of inducement by criminals, were underscored by the senior police officer. “Just remember that if you are paying nuts as wages, you will attract monkeys,” Williams stressed. (MWN)

LEGAL LASHES – A week ago, he was the minister in charge of the transport ministry and it was under his watch that an ugly incident occurred on May 3 in the River Terminal that led police to bring criminal charges against two public service vehicle (PSV) workers. However, as fate would have it, Michael Lashley’s Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government was swept from office in the May 24 election in which the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was catapulted into office. Immediately, the Queen’s Counsel sought solace in his legal practice, and today made his first court appearance on behalf of the two embattled PSV employees. In fact, while in the past Lashley would have had reason as minister to complain about the behaviour of these private transport operators, today he stood solemnly in defence of 34-year-old PSV driver James Anthony Andrews, of No 236, Apple Hall Terrace, St Philip, and 30-year-old conductor Travis Tremaine Brathwaite, of Sealy Hall, St Philip, who are facing separate charges following the recent incident with police, which was caught on video and made the rounds on social media. It is alleged that on May 3 around 8:45 a.m. Andrews, the driver of ZR42, loitered in the area of the Nursery Drive Road for the purpose of soliciting passengers and was not properly attired with boots, shoes or sandals and such apparel approved by the Licensing Authority. He is also accused of assaulting Police Constable Donette Cadogan, as well as threatening to rob and kill her. Andrews pleaded not guilty to the charges. Brathwaite also denied obstructing, assaulting and resisting Police Constable Denis Murray in the execution of his duties on the aforementioned date, as well as damaging a shirt belonging to the Crown. The duo was remanded to HMP Dodds on May 4 when they first appeared before Magistrate Graveney Bannister who had deemed the allegations against them to be “serious”, given that they were reportedly committed against officers in the line of duty. However, today the two accused were granted $2,000 bail each when they appeared before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant, with Lashley stating he was not ruling out filing a charge against one of the  officers involved in a violent clash with his clients. “I believe given the instructions from my clients I certainly will have to look at bringing a cross charge against the police officer,” he revealed, adding that he was concerned about the current trend of accused persons being tried on social media. “I find that a lot of matters that are sub judice are being tried on social media. Accused men are being tried and convicted on social media and even with this matter there was a lot of hue and cry and persons making conclusionary statements about the matter and I think it is wrong,” he said. The former Minister of Transport and Works said presiding judicial officers “should really send a warning to people on social media to really leave these cases out. “Because some of them could be indictable matters that have to go before judge and jury and if you are out there on social media and you are influencing persons who likely will make up a jury, the question is whether this person will have a fair trial under the Constitution,” he added. The matter is due to come back up in court on June 7. In the meantime, following last week’s humiliating general election defeat, Lashley, the former Member of Parliament for St Philip North, said he was currently concentrating on his law practice and not his political future. Lashley, who lost his St Philip North seat by just about 1,600 votes to BLP first-timer Dr Sonia Browne, said it was early days yet. “But I am back in the courtroom now, so I feel good. I am not ready to talk [about the election] I am concentrating on my practice. I spent years in here before Parliament so it is a natural step back for me. I appeared in many criminal assizes so it’s just a natural transition,” he told reporters on the precincts of the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court. He thanked the people of his constituency for their confidence in him for the past three election cycles. “I am concentrating on my practice . . . . All I can say is that it will continue to help the people in St Philip, particularly in my practice of law, and assist those who need help, particularly the needy and of course the schools and other organizations. “I just want to thank the people of St Philip North for reposing their confidence in me from since 2003 and want to thank them for their support,” he said.  (BT)

SKEETE SENTENCED TO NINE MONTHS IN JAIL – A 29-year-old man who was unable to compensate his victim has been sentenced to nine months in prison. Jamal Ahmal Skeete, of Bedford Lane, Greenfield, Roebuck Street, St Michael, had previously pleaded guilty to damaging a car window belonging to Ivan Roachford on February 14 without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Skeete needed to compensate Roachford $300 for the damage. However, when he reappeared before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant yesterday he was unable to pay the sum and was sent off to jail. However, his three months and 11 days on remand will be taken into consideration. (BT)

NO BAIL FOR CLARKE – A 24-year-old man, who allegedly escaped police custody while being charged for an offence, has been remanded to prison. Rodney Darian Clarke, of 6B Bottom Close, Wildey, St Michael, was not required to plead to the charge of sending the menacing message, “I gine kill you. Everyone in the Pine will know me. It gonna be war”, via computer to Shameka Blanche on April 26. The offence allegedly occurred in the District ‘B’ jurisdiction. He is therefore due to appear before the magistrates’ court there on May 31 to answer the charge. Today Clarke was also not required to plead to the offence of escaping police custody along Constitution Road without the use of force on May 16. However, Prosecutor Sergeant Cameron Gibbons objected to his bail based on the strengthen of the evidence against him and the need to protect Blanche from the accused as there was already another matter pending before the court pertaining to the alleged victim. “I don’t have a computer. I ain’t message nobody because I ain’t got no computer. I feel frustrated, I trying to get my little girl,” Clarke said in his application for bail, which was denied. He returns before the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on June 26. (BT)

BISHOP YET TO FIND A SURETY – A 19-year-old man will spend a second night at HMP Dodds after he was again unable to find a surety. Anthony Junior Bishop, 19, of Chapman Village, St Thomas, yesterday pleaded guilty to loitering at the Cheapside Terminal, The City, on May 27 with intent to commit theft, as well as to possession of cannabis. He was interviewed by a probation officer and was offered bail but was unable to get someone to sign on his behalf. There was little change to the teen’s situation today and he was again remanded to HMP Dodds for another night. He will get a third chance at bail tomorrow. (BT)

OFF TO DODDS - A 28-year-old man is currently on remand at Dodds prison, charged with murdering Nicholas Blagrove. Richard Barry Boyce, of 2nd Avenue Kellman Land, Black Rock, St Michael, appeared before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant for the second time in less than 48 hours, accused of committing the indictable offence on May 19. Blagrove, 34, of Promenade Road, Bush Hall, St Michael, was reportedly among a group of men who were liming and playing a game of dominoes at Seales Avenue, Tudor Bridge, when they were approached by a man armed with a gun who fired several shots. Nicholas was hit and died at the scene. Boyce was not required to plead to the capital charge after the magistrate read it out to him in the presence of his attorney Naomi Lynton.     It was only yesterday that he appeared in the No.2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court charged with five other men for a number of offences under the Firearms Act. His co-accused were remanded to the St Philip penal institution for the next 28 days but Boyce was kept in police custody. He returns to the No. 1 District ‘A’ Court on June 25 with his co-accused. (BT)

FAMILY DEVASTATED OVER VAGRANTS DEATH – Police and family members have identified the decomposing body of a male found at Trents, St James as that of a well-known vagrant, who has been living on the streets for years. It was around 9 o’clock this morning that the gruesome discovery was made of the body of 60-year-old Trevor Clavier Marshall, alias Jungle, whose last known address was 1st Avenue, Jackson, St Michael. Lawmen say Marshall’s lifeless body was found on the ground under a canopy of trees. The discovery was made in a track, about 50 metres from the main roadway opposite the Frederick Smith Secondary School, by a man who was rummaging the area for bottles. When Barbados TODAY visited the Jackson, St Michael home of Marshall’s sister Joan Greenidge this afternoon, she was too devastated to speak. However, his nephew Dwayne Cave said he was at work when he got the tragic news “that Jungle had passed away”. He also revealed that his uncle was briefly hospitalized last week, but later discharged himself and had not been seen since. Cave also said that while he was close to his uncle when he was a child, the two had drifted apart after Marshall decided to live on the streets. “Everyone has their habits and I guess he had a habit too and I guess that could be one of the reasons [that he went on the street],” Cave, said suggesting that his uncle was battling drug addiction. “At the end of the day, the family still looked out for him when he would come by, but there is so much you can tell a person and you cannot make them do something that they would not like to do,” he said, adding that Marshall death had hit the family hard. Junior Lampkin, who is Greenidge’s boyfriend, also explained that Marshall, who lost his mother a year ago, frequented their Jackson, St Michael residence from time to time. “He would come and go. . . . He is always on the west coast, St Peter areas and in Garden Land.  . . . That is where he hangs out. That is where he actually lives, down that side.” However, he said the circumstances surrounding Marshall’s death remained a mystery. “No one really knows what happened, but a woman called and said he passed out somewhere, where no one knows [and] then a man claimed that all he did was to drop him to the highway and tell him to go by his close relatives, so if anything happens someone would be there to take care of him and look after his interests. But he never, ever came,” Lampkin said. Police investigations are continuing with an autopsy due to be performed to determine the cause of the vagrant’s death.  (BT)

FATAL BLOW – The untimely death of Omari Jabari Bynoe, of Glebe Land, St George, has cast a dark cloud over the Farm Road, St George community. The 26-year-old was pronounced dead last Saturday, less than a week after he fell from a truck during a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) sponsored motorcade on May 21. Bynoe was reportedly sitting on the railing of a Toyota Hiace pick-up, driven by 57-year-old Ken Forde, of Sargeant Road, Ellerton, St George, when he lost his balance and fell into the road as the motorcade, given by St George South candidate Dr Esther Byer Suckoo, was returning to her constituency office. He was subsequently admitted to hospital in serious condition and despite a brave battle, eventually succumbed to his injuries, after reportedly suffering major brain damage. Even though they were bracing for the worst, members of Bynoe’s family, including his mother Joycelyn, were hoping and praying for the best. With their worst fears now materialized, his aunt Sonia explained today that his death had been particularly difficult for his mother, who has lost her only son. She also said that his older sister Tiffany was devastated by the tragedy. “Everybody break up . . .  . It is a sad, sad situation,” Sonia said. “He gone, gone. There is no coming back. We ain’t seeing he at all, unless it is in the box [casket],” she said with grief written all over her face. Residents in the close knit St George community, including Collin Moore who knew Bynoe from the time he was a child, were also stunned to learn of his passing. Moore, a friend of the family, described Bynoe as “pleasant” and “productive”, adding that he was always willing to offer assistance. He also said that his death had thrown a pall over the entire area. “After we heard he was in the hospital  . . .   [a cloud came] over the community, and even after he passed, you could still feel and know that something really serious has happened in the area,” Moore told Barbados TODAY. “It is a sad loss. All of us are going to miss him,” he added. (BT)

FIFA’S HOME – Barbados is now officially the home of the FIFA Caribbean Development Office. Presidents from 23 regional member associations including Barbados Football Association head Randolph Harris, attended the inauguration ceremony held this morning at Welches, Christ Church. Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football Association [CONCACAF] president Victor Montagliani along with Director of FIFA Member Association Development, Veron Mosengo-Omba and former Manchester United and Trinidad and Tobago-born legend Dwight Yorke, joined FIFA’s first female Secretary General Fatma Samoura in cutting the official ribbon. Shortly after the opening and a brief tour led by the manager in charge of the FIFA development office, Marlon Glean, Samoura said Barbados was specifically chosen because of its central location and infrastructural development. She also thanked the Barbados government for its support. (BT)

DEVONISH MAKING BIG STRIDES – Barbadian quarter miler Anderson Devonish has qualified for the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene Oregon to compete in the 400-meter dash. On Saturday Devonish ran a personal best of 45.97 seconds to place second in his heat to 400M Indoor World record-holder Michael Norman in the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminary Round. The runners-up finish meant that Devonish secured an automatic qualifying spot to the Championships slated for between June 6-9.  It means the 24-year-old Illinois State Red Birds senior now becomes the first Redbird to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Games since 2016 when Ryan Rutherford did the same feat. It will be only his second appearance on a national stage after he competed in the same 400m event back in 2015 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Also representing Barbados at the meet will be Lisa Ann Barrow and former CARIFTA gold medallist and Harrison College sprinter Mario Burke. (BT)

BEST: TIME FOR SELECTORS TO GO - TINO BEST is calling for the heads of the Barbados cricket selectors. Angered by some of the choices, or more specifically, the non-selection of others during last week’s draft for the 2018-19 Professional Cricket League, the outspoken former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler feels the time has come for Hendy Wallace, Sherlon Greaves and Hendy Broomes to make way. Arguing that that the selectors lacked vision, Best proposed former Barbados captain Ryan Hinds as his choice as chairman of selectors and another ex-West Indies player Corey Collymore as head coach. While expressing his concern as a fan and commentator, Best was especially vocal about the omission of all-rounder Roshon Primus and the selectors’ preference of two wicket-keepers, Mario Rampersaud and Tevyn Walcott among their five draft picks for Barbados Pride for the next regional season. Roshon Primus is 22 years old. He bowls quickly. He bowls a heavy ball. He has the ability to score 60. Last year he beat Barbados single-handedly. The opportunity comes up to pick this young man. It is a crying shame. I honestly believe that the selectors are very emotional,” Best told MIDWEEK SPORT. “I believe the BCA should hold an emergency meeting and fire all of that panel. They are not moving off of talent and match winners. They are moving off of emotion. Last season, we lost a game to Leeward Islands in two days. That is the most embarrassing thing ever in Barbados’ cricket. I am a former player. I was hurt and devastated that the Leewards came to Barbados and we were bounced out by Jeremiah Louis and Gavin Tongue.” During last Wednesday’s draft in Antigua, Primus, a beefy all-rounder, was left out in the cold after two solid seasons for Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in which he averaged 23.50 with the bat and took 33 wickets at 25.87 apiece. His most impressive effort was a match-winning performance against Barbados Pride in 2017 when he scored two half-centuries and took nine wickets in a day/night match at Kensington Oval. While Best welcomed the selections of the young fast bowling trio of Keon Harding, Dominic Drakes and Chemar Holder, he also argued a case for the inclusions of batsmen Aaron Jones, Rashidi Boucher, Craig St Hill and off-spinner Chaim Holder. Citing his own non-selection as an example, Barbados said the selcetors’ policy appeared to be one to look to players they viewed as West Indies hopefuls. “You had a situation where a year and a half, two years ago, you get rid of me and Fidel Edwards because you basically said West Indies don’t want us. you don’t want us,” he said. “We didn’t have a problem with that. When you have guys in the squad that CPL [Caribbean Premier League] doesn’t look at, West Indies don’t look at, why are they still playing? Why not bring young Primus in to replace some  of those guys.” Since the introduction of the PCL, Barbados Pride have never won the title as Guyana Jaguars swept to the championship for four successive seasons. In the circumstances, Best is calling for new blood, both on the selection panel and coaching staff. “The panel should be removed after the season Barbados had. I honestly believe Ryan Hinds should be chairman of selectors and Corey Collymore the head coach. You have two young men who know the young players and who are winners in their own right,” he said. “We are not going in the right direction. We picked two wicket-keepers in a draft and left out Roshon Primus. You can’t tell me that those people deserve to be running Barbados’ cricket.  Collymore is a top professional, he knows how to coach people.” (MWN)

HALF PIG, HALF MONKEY ON ST LUCY FARM – Some sort of monkey business has gone on in the pig sty of a Cave Hill, St Lucy farm. And it has produced a half pig-half monkey baby, being referred to as a “porkey”. That was the shocking sight which confronted pig farmer Daphne Boyce when she went to check on her sow, which had given birth to 12 piglets last Saturday. One of them was acting strange, not mixing with the others, and when Boyce turned it over to see what was going on, she just could not believe her eyes. “I say this pig ain’t look right to me. I take a stick and try to turn it over ’cause it was keeping ’pon one side; and when I turn it over, I say no, this got to be a monkey face. I call my brother and I say, ‘Roger, Roger, this pig look like a monkey’.” Boyce said its eyes were close to the forehead like a monkey’s, while it had one pig ear and a monkey’s ear. “It don’t have no snout; it got a mouth just like a monkey,” she said, mimicking the animal’s mouth movements. The little “porkey” also refused to nurse from its mother or mix with the other piglets. Boyce’s brother, Roger Feliciano, who took photos of the strange-looking pig with his cell phone, said he tried to feed it milk with a baby bottle, but that was not successful. The animal died yesterday morning. Boyce said she could not stop the monkeys from “monkeying around” with her pigs since they were rampant in her neighbourhood. “They all ’pon the roof. I got a mango tree there and they does eat all the mangoes. When people ask me if I ain’t got no mangoes in the tree, I does tell them the tree belong to the monkeys.” The 75-year-old woman said this was not the first time monkeys had dabbled with other animals. She recalled one of her friends having a “monkey sheep” a few years ago. (MWN)

TWO NEW JUNIOR MONARCHS FOR 2018 – Two new junior monarchs will be crowned this year. There are no defending champions as they have both aged out of their categories. Last year’s 7-12 Monarch Kiara Carrington ‘Mhizz Kibabba’ will now be competing in the 13-18 category (the winner in the senior category was Teri Sparkle T Williams.) When registration closed on April 20, 2018, the Scotiabank Junior Calypso Monarch Programme in association with IGM Stage Lighting showed record numbers of 48 in the 7 to 12 category, a 50 % increase on the previous year, while there was a marginal increase to 30 in the 13-18 category, up from 21. The results in the preliminary round revealed that three tied for 9th place in 7-12 category and there are six first-timers. In the 13-18 category, two tied for 12th place and there is one first-timer.   (MWN)

CAMP TRANSITION 2018 TO FEATURE JUNIOR AND SENIOR CAMPS – Students making the transition from primary to secondary school are invited to register for Camp Transition, which will be held at The St Michael School, Martindales Road, St Michael, from Monday, August 13, to Friday, August 17.  This year, the camp will again cater to two groups – junior and senior campers – to equip them from orientation to graduation and beyond. The programme for junior campers is intended to help build their confidence while jumpstarting them with techniques for overall success. There will also be a heavy focus on life skills development to help campers overcome the social, physical, academic and emotional challenges that are commonly experienced by students new to the secondary school life. Senior campers will be part of the second Career Success Summer Camp which will comprise students who have already spent two or more years at secondary school. This camp will target teenagers only (13 to 19 years old), ranging from those entering Third form to those who are leaving Sixth form. The emphasis for senior campers will be on career planning to give them a sense of direction through career testing and point them towards the path of success in their respective subjects, skills and careers. Camp Transition 2018 is also intended to ease the transition process for parents/guardians, helping them to build a healthy home-school partnership. As an added bonus, there will be a free seminar, dubbed the Parents’ Empowerment Seminar, on Tuesday, August 21, at The St. Michael School from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Common challenges encountered by parents and children at the different transitional points throughout secondary school will be explored and techniques to overcome these will be shared.  Registration for Camp Transition and the Parents’ Empowerment Seminar will be held on Saturday, June 30, Tuesday, July 31, and Thursday, August 9, at The St. Michael School between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Each camper will receive a copy of the book, Entering Secondary School:   A Survival Kit For Students With Helpful Tips For Parents, along with other relevant resources, while the senior campers will receive additional career-related and educational planning material. For further information, parents or guardians may call Margaret Grant at 250-1960, or e-mail camptransition@gmail.com. (BGIS)

OPEN DAY AT DEIGHTON GRIFFITH SECONDARY SCHOOL – The Deighton Griffith Secondary School is inviting members of the public to its Best Practices in Sustainable Organic Agriculture Open Day, which takes place at the school this Friday, June 1, at 10 a.m. The event is the culmination of a three-year agricultural science project spearheaded by the school’s Parent-Teacher Association and its Science Department. The project was funded by the Global Environmental Facility’s Small Grants Programme and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme. It was designed to reinforce the aspects of the current Agricultural Science curriculum at the school and to expose students to new techniques in crop husbandry. (BGIS)

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