Global Voices Online

Litblogger Geoffrey Philp blogs about the “eminent Jamaican author, journalist, and historian” VS Reid, who he says “is usually credited, along with Trinidad and Tobago's V.S. Naipaul and St Lucian Derek Walcott, as shaping modern Caribbean writing.”

“Tourism has become the life blood of most of the Caribbean countries and it needs to be re-energized”: Living in Barbados wonders whether the region can be proud of its tourism offering.

Blogging from St. Lucia, Looshan Ramblings notes that “Oil is set to go up again. If the trend continues the first casualties of this spiraling inflation are the poor nations of the developing world.”

Although she is “yet to get a copy of the estimates of expenditure for the 2008/2009 budget”, Looshan Ramblings has a few things to say: “The present administration has no idea…they are acting as if Saint Lucia is on planet Venus and the rest of the world is on earth. Who cares about 7 new hotels when we cannot afford to buy cheese for God's sake…”

As oil prices hit US $120 per barrel, Looshan Ramblings says: “The…continued rise in oil prices will negate any efforts by Caricom governments to reduce food prices as we are so heavily dependent on imported food.”

Barbados Underground reports that St. Lucia's Prime Minister has invited Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago to join the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and says: “We find the invitation to be interesting because the OECS is the only political union which has achieved some of level success in our region.”

Blogging from Barbados, Notes From The Margin reports that Eastern Caribbean territories are bracing for large waves as a result of “a deep low pressure centre that spawned tornadoes and thunderstorms across the US earlier this week.”

“Derek Walcott's prodigious gifts, even in the face of tragedy, continue to amaze me”: Jamaican Geoffrey Philp links to the Caribbean writer's eulogy of Elizabeth Hardwick.