The sinking of the MV Barima remains one of the most heartbreaking tragedies in Guyana’s history. Beyond the statistics of lives lost in the disaster, there is the enduring pain of those families whose loved ones have not yet been recovered, some of whom may still remain inside the sunken vessel. Considerations of the financial cost or engineering difficulty should not be considerations that affect the decision. Raising the vessel is a moral obligation owed to the relatives of those who perished and may still be in the wreck.

“I know my baby is in that boat,” Samantha Ramin told reporters at Charity during last week, where families have gathered since last Sunday awaiting news of loved ones. The body of her young daughter has been recovered. Her baby son is still missing. The M.V. Barima, which departed Georgetown for Port Kaituma on Saturday evening began taking on water and capsized off the Essequibo Coast, some seven miles from shore. Around one hundred lives are feared lost. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. The Minister of Public Works has described it as Guyana’s worst maritime disaster in decades. Few will disagree.

Andy Burnham is due to take over as Prime Minister of Great Britain during next week from the hapless Keir Starmer, who rode to 10 Downing Street on the radical agenda of Jeremy Corbin’s Labour Party, then promptly ditched it, having first helped to raid Corbin out of the leadership. In the 2024 general elections, contested on the basis of the programme devised by the Corbin leadership, the Labour Party won 412 seats and a 33.7% share of the popular vote in the 2024. But in the 2017 general elections, on the same programme, having raised Labour Party membership from 201,000 in 2015 to 504,000 in 2017, the largest in Europe, the Labour Party increased its electoral vote to 40 percent, the largest vote share increase since 1945. Missteps by the Labour Party over Brexit at the elections in 2018 caused it to badly lose the elections, which provided the impetus to ditch Corbin, but to maintain his programme. Starmer’s abandonment of that progressive programme, the policy of abolishing Tory austerity, the radical upgrading of social services and benefits, substantial reforms of the health service, nationalizing of the services, and return to neoliberal solutions, caused his downfall. This brief review demonstrates that left and progressive policies attract support, as they do in diverse places such as New York.

From the Conversation Tree

The disclosure by Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed, of a farm located in the Linden-Soesdyke area and owned by President Irfaan Ali, has been the subject of much comment. The size of the farm, the infrastructure, the wide variety of agricultural activities and modern practices would suggest that it is a modern, multi-million facility with substantial assets. In answer to calls for disclosures from President Ali about various aspects of the acquisition and operation of the facility, President Ali has responded to the questions by stating that his ownership of the farm preceded his accession to the Presidency and its development has been financed by loans. He denied that the farm is of the size and value as alleged by Mohamed.