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FACE TO FACE: Women without apology, without inhibition - the whole world should celebrate her

We are not short on opinions about Bahamas Carnival. From the announcement four years ago, it was a point of division. Between the Junkanoo vs Carnival debate and the desperate appeals from the church, the event has always been controversial and polarising.

EDITORIAL: Three steps to put Minnis and Co. back on track

TOMORROW The Bahamas will mark the first anniversary of an election like no other – the former governing party tossed out like two-day-old stew fish and the FNM swept in with an unprecedented vote of confidence, winning 35 of 39 seats.

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FACE TO FACE: Straight outta Compton - and around the world

You could have been abandoned as a young child, left to fend for yourself in one of the toughest ghettos in America with crime statistics stacked against you, and you could still rise above them to become an international professional basketball player, making money playing a game you love. That’s the testimony of Mahershal Simonet, a passionate and driven man who is making a difference on and off the basketball court. He is a skilful point guard and shooting guard who has played in some 15 countries around the world; now he is in The Bahamas discovering his roots and sowing positive seeds into the lives of children here.

EDITORIAL: The changing face of diplomacy

Among the many perplexing aspects of the bizarre spectacle that is the Donald Trump administration in Washington, the curious rebirth of the concept of diplomacy is one of the strangest.

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WORLD VIEW: Good journalism is like a toothache: it hurts but it warns

REPORTERS Without Borders (RWB) just released its 2018 press freedom report, and, apart from two of them, the lowest mark for rated Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries is “fairly good”. The worst rated, as “problematic”, are Haiti and Guyana. Jamaica is the only CARICOM country rated “good”.

EDITORIAL: Jeff Lloyd's discipline is overdue

LAST week PLP chairman Fred Mitchell lost his way in the murky world of “right and wrong” when he turned his anger on a government minister who was doing his job by letting certain government employees know that their days of cheating the taxpayers of this country are over.

EDITORIAL: Health of Bahamian people must come first

YESTERDAY, The Tribune reported that all but five striking nurses — they officially called it taking “sick leave” — had returned to work after walking out on patients and a hospital that anywhere else would have been condemned for not being up to acceptable standards.

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Diane Phillips: And the award for gross stupidity goes to . . .

If there were profit to be earned, some savvy entrepreneur would create an award that rewards the dumbest ideas ever. The scheme could work just like other awards, except it would be funnier. Like this letter which I received a little while back. It was sent to me by a well-known retailer.

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CULTURE CLASH: Don’t be blind to Cosby - the criminal

Most of us know Bill Cosby as Heathcliff Huxtable. He is a doctor married to lawyer Clair Huxtable and father of five children. He is a funny, playful character with endearing eccentricity. Everyone loves Cliff, and wishes he could be their father. The Cosby family was aspirational, and The Cosby Show gave us somewhere to be when our own lives, homes and families did not quite manage to bring us joy.

EDITORIAL: A presidency like no other, Trump wasn’t kidding

With the election of Donald Trump as US president, many American observers learned for the first time that many government ethics and nepotism rules do not actually apply to the Chief Executive himself. Rules makers apparently assumed anyone elected president would treat the office with the utmost respect, as Barack Obama did.

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FACE TO FACE: Lessons of life learned around the water pump

Take a slow drive through any Over-the-Hill community and you will find a water pump. It’s a necessity in an area where there are still homes without infrastructure for running water.

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RICHARD COULSON'S BUSINESS BITES: Blacklisting – why not fight back?

I have just read press reports that another bill has been tabled in the House to avoid blacklisting, by satisfying - better read “appeasing” - the European Union (EU) in its campaign to extract full compliance on tax matters.

EDITORIAL: Environment Minister on Right Track with Plastics Ban

If Minister of Environment and Housing Romauld ‘Romi’ Ferreira accomplishes nothing more in his five-year term of office, he will still have had a remarkable impact on the future of The Bahamas through his single act of banning single-use plastics by 2020. Ferreira made the announcement during a press conference along with the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation on April 23.

EDITORIAL: Could Bahamas learn from Singapore?

SPEAKING at the CEO Network conference at the Melia Nassau Beach hotel last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis told his audience that the Bahamian economy had grown by about 2.5 percent in the past year, which, he said, could possibly signal its best growth in ten years.

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A COMIC'S VIEW: Life's a riot with Spy Bill vs Spy Bill

LAST week, the ironies of the FNM administration took centre stage. This week, their “hypocrisy” is back for a cameo appearance. THE “SPY BILL” After branding it as a “Spy Bill” during the election campaign, and using it as a major talking point,