
Question for you: Why do you write a blog? No, it’s not a trick question … you’ll understand in just a minute. To answer my own question, I write …
Artificial Intelligence? No Thanks
Question for you: Why do you write a blog? No, it’s not a trick question … you’ll understand in just a minute. To answer my own question, I write …
Artificial Intelligence? No Thanks
A few days ago I posted about my experiment with Artificial Intelligence and concluded that it’s not something I have any desire to use. But, since …
One Final Experiment With AI
Is our democracy being watered down? I am beginning to wonder. On Thursday, January 19, 2023, the Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure and …
Don’t stifle our voices, says citizens’ group to parliamentary committee
In 1956, 300 locations were selected by the University of Leeds for a nationwide survey of dialect. How did people use language and what were the …
Dialect and heritage
It’s more than ironic that on Halloween, more eyes and minds in Jamaica are focused on what seems to be violence spiralling out of control. The reposted blog by Emma Lewis echoes many feelings and fears. It’s reflected, too, in a similarly reflected column by Dr. Garth Rattray, in today’s Gleaner:
We can speculate where the Jamaican situation may go sooner rather than later. One scary scenario is that things deteriorate to replicate what is now the anarchy in Haiti. That’s a truly terrifying prospect.
This is not a comfortable thing to write about, but I must. Because it is about our everyday life, our way of life. How Jamaicans manage, daily, on this beautiful island. It was Twitter that got me thinking. One tweet recently observed that there is a dark and heavy atmosphere. This, despite the COVID era […]
Many Jamaicans are nervous. Guess why? — Petchary’s Blog
Lots of old faces from both the recent Truss and Johnson Cabinets are back around the table, which seems to fit his idea of “continuity”: “We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together,” notably, ‘he retained several of Truss’s appointed ministers including Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt. He kept several senior figures in place, including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Suella Braverman as home secretary (interior minister)’:
Here is the list of Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet Ministers:
The first Cabinet meeting was held today, and then it was on to Prime Minister’s Question Time:
Many of the UK press have been gentle, so far:
Early political assessments in the left-leaning media are lukewarm to negative:
Sunak talked about “bringing integrity back” but appointed four MPs who’d had to resign, previously, because of scandals. Well, politics is the art of the possible:
Most notably, Suella Braverman is back as home secretary! ‘Sunak has brought the sensationally low-competence, low-calibre Suella Braverman back as home secretary. What has she ever achieved, bar “annoying all the right people”?’, Marina Hyde wrote. This appointment will shock and baffle many, though the simple logic may be that she embodies current Tory Party thinking on immigration issues.
This seeming ethical self-contradiction may be a thorn that keeps pricking.
As the reality of leading comes to apply pressure, the Chancellor’s fiscal statement delayed from October 31 to November 17, and been upgraded to include the UK’s medium term fiscal plan to “put public spending on a sustainable footing, get debt falling and restore stability”:
As asides, it’s remiss to not lampoon some of the resignations; that from Jacob Rees-Mogg is a pure gem that is pure buffoonery:
St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers, cobblers in other words 🤣😳🤔
Finally, you have to not lose sight of what government has lost: Nadine Dorries, this is (not) your life! 😳🤔🤣🙄
Earlier today, the UK got another new PM-its 3 within 2 months!-(he’s had his audience with King Charles around 11am UK time), after Liz Truss tendered her resignation last week (demitted office, formally, in an audience with the king) and the Tory Party set a short timetable to nominate a new leader.
Only one person met the threshold of 100 supporters (publicly over half of the nearly 360 Tory MPs were said to be supporting him.
That’s even though ripples were made by a former PM, Boris Johnson, who came back from his Caribbean holiday to cause tongues to wag furiously, over the weekend. But, he withdrew on Sunday, saying the 57 supporters known publicly really represented 102 backers. As one wag quipped, 57 is 102 in base 19 🤔😂
The only other declared candidate, Penny Mordant, withdrew during Monday. Her declared support was well below 50.
What will he bring, as a former chancellor of the exchequer, especially over areas other than economics and finance? As he’s said, and all Brits know, “these are trying economic times”.
He’s got lots of other big issues to tackle, early on, including those with the EU and the Northern Ireland protocol. But, there’s also the matter of trade deals, including with India. But, Mr. Sunak has no political credentials in foreign affairs. He also is untried in the political arena on most matters.
Much will be made of the possible advance in multicultural aspects of British life.
Sunak’s grandparents left India and went to East Africa, and he’s now the first PM of British-Asian origin. He’s a practising Hindu, and it was ironic that he got the nod, yesterday, the same day as Diwali began (a holiday for Hindus, Sikhs and some other faiths).
He’s the youngest PM in modern times, at 42, since Lord Liverpool in 1812.
He has so far not crowed about ‘I told you so’ about the disaster that may be called ‘Trussonomics’, but he did predict what such policies would bring in.
Can he do what’s necessary to unite the country and his party?
Amazingly, Liz Truss never contacted the first ministers of Scotland or Wales during her brief tenure!
General election demands swirled, as opposition parties smelt blood near the crashing and burning Truss administration, and the obvious question arose about what real public mandate the Tories had to run the country.
His (multi-millionaire) and his family’s (billionaire) wealth was and will be a topic of discussion, for some. For me, it’s a non-story for the leader of a party linked historically to wealth and privilege.
Liz Truss was defiant to the end:
Sunak’s first speech as PM was a bit better than his first as leader, yesterday, hitting good sombreness and laying blame gently on his predecessor:
Liz Truss resigns, after 44 days in office (September 6-October 20) becoming shortest-serving prime minister in UK history.
The jokes were rolling out faster than leaves falling from sycamore trees, and will likely keep rolling for a long time:
As one BBC commentator noted, Liz Truss will likely be a feature of pub quizzes for all time.
Well, they said a day in a long time in politics!
Watch this new film for a full understanding of how the UK’s economic prospects have been shredded:
Thanks, to Sue Goffe, for ploughing her furrow, as usual. Of course, the essence of this could and should have been shared with the public from the outset, instead of blustering propaganda. Local media’s inability or unwillingness to dig deeper is again in view.
I have serious doubts about any Jamaican politician’s sense of information-sharing as a simple public good.
In early September 2022, news came that a new and “iconic” sign had been built in Negril. There was much public discussion about the sign – its …
Cost of the Negril Sign: A Simple ATI Story
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