A Monument to Myopia

In one episode of the UK radio comedy the Goon Show parliament debates criticisms of extravagant and wasteful spending by the government. Defending against the naysayers the Prime Minister points out that no lighthouses were built in The Strand (think Broadway in NY) last year, only a single tunnel was constructed from the House Of Commons to the The Folies Bergère in Paris and it was lit with plain chandeliers and not gold and diamond encrusted ones as originally planned.

He finishes with a flourish, "Efficiency, Gentlemen, that must be our watchword. Efficiency! No expense will be spared to ensure money isn't wasted".

The comedic hallmarks of the Goon Show, twisted logic and demented schemes are,  in the Cayman Islands, the engine of its politics. For example government 'saves' money by doing something that didn't need doing in the first place in a less expensive manner.

The $9million  'Hurricane Hilton' shelter on Cayman Brac sounds a lot like a lighthouse on Broadway to me.

Brac politics is basically family politics. The political foundation of MLA Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, whose brainchild the Hurricane Hilton is, is a large extended family that procreated an entire Brac constituency to vote her into. They vote for her, she votes for them.

Some wags say Juliana O’Connor-Connolly's twin surnames are to maximise electoral appeal on the Brac, however, more and more, you hear a shorter name, 'Juju'. And though names may be shortened to convey affection I guarantee this diminutive isn't for that.

'Juju' has especially unfortunate heathen connotations for an in-your-face type of Christian like Juliana, being a name applied to traditional West African magical beliefs.  You know witch stuff.

Wikipedia defines Juju thus:

"An object of any kind superstitiously venerated ... and used as a charm, amulet, or means of protection; a fetish".

Hmmm  -  sounds familiar.

Juliana was flaunting her 'protective' credentials, the better to be venerated, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hurricane Hilton - groundbreaking in the sense that ground was broken not in the sense of something original happening - policians have been dreaming up these overblown, self-agrandising projects for the last two decades.

In her speech Juliana played the martyr, the target of outrageous press and blog commentary and all because of her vision to provide 'her people' with the best hurricane shelter other people's money can buy. She was above it all however going on to state:

“When one studies history, one finds that great buildings were rarely appreciated until the person who had the vision had passed on and you read about it in the obituary,”

Juilana your political vision is so shallow it could be used to calibrate a laser for eye surgery.

 

Endangered Species

Concern for conservation and preservation in the Cayman Islands is on the rise.

Wendy Ledger wrote recently in CNS -  A sea change ahoy -  about grass-roots environmental (and cultural) concerns that may coalesce to form a new political party.

If that were to happen then, ironically, yet another species, the MLA Parrot,  would be immediately and critically endangered.

In contrast to other parrot species, which can be highly communicative and intelligent, these ones are quiet most of the time although, as a group, (or an 'Assembly of Parrots' to use the correct collective noun) they can engage in noisy, ritual territorial displays. But they seem most content spending their days building and feathering large nests.

Until recently the public have tolerated these birds, some finding their mimicry, ostentatious preening and sometimes colourful antics amusing, but that mood is changing. Increasingly they are viewed as pests and a danger to Cayman's environment.


Do they have a future?  Possibly - for the ones that can adapt quickly enough.

Cat Fight - well, kinda.

Stop it Girls! Or at least wait until I can find a camera.

Babbity Barwick (a real person) was taken to task by Knal N Domp (the assumed persona of a late-middle-aged male Insurance Pro.) for being lukewarm in her affection for her adopted Grand Cayman home,  - as reported in the Financial Times "A gilded cage" (sic)


Not that Knal has ever had a bad word to say about Cayman
 


On reading the infamous article I was astounded by the nerve of the woman - these are actual quotes

"has a lovely coastline, gorgeous sea, beautiful beaches and big skies"

"The large variety of restaurants, though, are good"

"The Caymanian old-timers are real sweethearts, very moral and stoic."

and if those hate filled words don't make your gorge rise here's the clincher:

".. it is bliss here"

Given such provocation can Knal's ad feminam riposte be overlooked?

For those like Babbity Barwick, living in Cayman is something that has to be endured- like English sex- and whilst enduring, think only and constantly, of England.

Hmmm ... maybe Knal needs to take a look in the mirror: I mean apart from when he's having sex with himself.