Good morning. I am Miss Violet. I have been watching the news and I have several things to say about the state of Caribbean civic preparedness, sporting achievement, and mosquito policy. Please sit.

THE SWIMMERS EARNED THIS

I want to be clear that the CARIFTA swimmers did not land at Piarco to polite applause because they were expected to do well. They earned that reception through months of training in pools that are not always in ideal condition, with coaching that is not always funded at the level it deserves, representing countries that do not always have the national sports budgets to justify the results they somehow consistently produce. When we celebrate CARIFTA athletes we should celebrate them knowing the full cost of what they accomplished. That cost includes everything that was not provided and had to be overcome anyway.

THE DENGUE WARNING REQUIRES ACTION NOT ACKNOWLEDGMENT

PAHO has issued its warning. The director has used the word “escalating.” I have watched Caribbean governments acknowledge PAHO warnings for twenty-five years. Acknowledging a warning is not the same as responding to one. The response to dengue is specific. It involves yard-by-yard inspection programs, public education that goes beyond billboards, community health workers who know which neighbours have uncovered water containers, and sustained fumigation that does not stop the moment cases decline. All of this is known. All of it can be done. The question each April is whether it will be done or whether we will discuss it until August and then respond to an outbreak. I am asking not to go through the outbreak this year. Just this once, let us do the prevention.

JUNIOR TENNIS AND WHAT HOSTING MEANS

Barbados hosted the COTECC juniors. Young people came from across the Caribbean to compete in Wildey. They went home having played on good courts against good opponents in a country that organised the event properly. That matters. When we talk about Barbados punching above its weight in regional affairs, this is part of what we mean. The courts. The organisation. The consistent willingness to show up as a host. It is not glamorous work. It is necessary work and we do it.

SIR RONALD IS RIGHT ABOUT TRADE

Sir Ronald Sanders wrote this week that Caribbean nations are being driven away from US trade dependence, not choosing to leave it. I want to add something to his point. Being driven somewhere is not the same as choosing to go there, but it is also not a reason to refuse to walk. If US trade policy is pushing the Caribbean toward diversification, the correct response from Caribbean governments is to diversify with intention rather than to resist a shift that is already happening. Barbados has trade relationships with the UK, Canada, and increasingly with regional producers. We should be deepening all of them with the same energy we spend lamenting what the US is doing to our tariff structures.

ANTIGUA ON APRIL 30

I will say only this about the Antigua election: twelve years is a long time to govern. It is long enough for a government to have done things that need explaining and long enough for voters to have formed firm opinions. Whether those opinions favour continuity or change is for Antiguans to decide. What I hope is that they decide it clearly, that the process is clean, and that whoever wins acknowledges who they won for. Caribbean democracy is fragile in proportion to how seriously we take it. Take it seriously.

Miss Violet is satire. Her dengue policy recommendations are entirely sincere.