This & that: Notting hill pics, the PM’s blog and Barbados tragedy edition

Colours of Notting Hill: Over at Global Voices, Nikipedia has posted a selection of photos from this year’s Notting Hill Carnival celebrations in London.

The Manning blog: The Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago is blogging! Would love to know who’s behind this, but on the other hand, maybe I wouldn’t — knowing who it is might just spoil the fun. Hazel “Breakfusses” Manning chimes in from time to time.

Barbados apartment tragedy: Barbados Free Press posted three lengthy reports (one, two, three) on the collapse of an apartment containing five people into a cave in Brittons Hill, Barbados. According to BFP’s last post, it is “highly unlikely there are survivors”. The latest post had attracted 79 comments when I last checked. Barbados Underground and Pull! Push filed reports as well. YouTube user izellajaouda has posted a video of an eyewitness’s account of the collapse recorded from the local television news, and another video from the Voice of Barbados radio station shows a car being rescued from the site.

This and that: Politics and religion edition

If you believe as a matter of faith that a certain book is blasphemous, and therefore dangerous for the faithful to read, then you have a simple solution. Tell the faithful that they must not read it. If they are truly faithful, they will obey, and be saved from the perdition you fear for them. If they are not of the faith, or have lapsed in their faith, then to read a blasphemous book will only damn them a little bit further. That is really, as a mindful officer of the faith, none of your business—your only concern is to ensure the obedience of the faithful.
- Nilanjana S. Roy in today’s Business Standard (read it before it’s relegated to “premium subscriber only” status).

As few people in this place seem to read, for “book” you may substitute “lifestyle”, “sexual orientation”, “style of dancing”, “style of dress”, “social practice” etc, as required.

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And speaking of mindful officers of the faith, Prime Minister Patrick Manning has denied that the TT$42.3 billion fiscal package he presented yesterday in parliament is an “election budget”. But in an election year, what party in its right mind would present anything else? Don’t they wish to stay in power? Unless 2007 isn’t really an election year. . . .

Technorati Tags: trinidad, caribbean, politics, religion

Wearing a hole in the iPod

Technorati Tags: brazil, maria bethania, music, tropicalia, brazilian

The Global Voices Show #5

I’ve just posted episode #5 of the Global Voices show. Take a listen:

Technorati Tags: global voices, podcast

Human Rights Co-ordinator

The Commonwealth Foundation is looking for a Human Rights Co-ordinator for the Caribbean. This could be you.

Hurricane Dean info - Dominica

A number of comments have been left at Global Voices requesting information on the situation in Dominica post-Hurricane Dean.

thedominican.net looks like it could be a useful source. It also has a forum where people are posting reports and information.

Bracing for Dean

Click To Play

These were the scenes this morning in Diego Martin, Trinidad, around 930am. Hurricane Dean isn’t even within spitting distance of us, so imagine what it must feel like in the islands further north, some of which - Dominica and Martinique, for instance - have already taken a beating, and where hurricane warnings and watches are in effect.

Over at Global Voices, Janine Mendes-Franco has posted a report on the reactions from the Caribbean blogosphere as the region braces for Dean.

Home again

I’m back in Trinidad and still haven’t reported properly on BlogHer even after all sorts of cool people have written about meeting me (thanks, cool people! At least I took lots of photos). Putting me particularly and rather dramatically to shame (and not just for blogging about BlogHer) is Beth Kanter, an old Global Voices colleague whom I first met at the second GV summit in 2005, and who has been conducting a very successful fundraising campaign for a bloggers’ conference in Cambodia.

I’m hoping the fact that American Airlines left my luggage in Miami last night will net me some sympathy. And be thankful that your dog is probably not the Fake Steve Jobs either.