I’m Highly Curious

  

 

 

I am highly curious

Of the PM’s moves,

How this snap election thing

Is become her groove.

 

What, pray tell,

Is her reason for such?

I really wish she would come out

And tell us as much.

 

Be transparent Mam,

As you did promise,

Why are these snap elections

So high on your list?

 

Is five years too much

To handle at a time

Or is getting a fresh mandate

Niggling at your mind?

 

 

 

Atherley then Ralphie,

Forming an Opposition

And putting a blot on the outcome

Of the elections.

 

 

 

Are rumblings within

Your well-oiled machine?

Are senior members of the party

Causing you to scream?

 

Tell us Madam PM

What is upsetting you

And causing you to end the term

Before you are through.

 

Constitution incomplete

Promised in twenty-two,

But a general election imminent

Announced by you.

 

A snap general election

A year before it is due,

I tell you Madam PM, I am curious

And others are too.

 

If you do this again

Fifteen years would be eleven:

Three and a half twice plus four

Creates a problem.

 

Three terms of eleven years

Rather than fifteen,

I would feel rather short-changed

If you see what I mean.

 

So, Madam PM

What is this all about?

Are you just calling snap elections

Because you have the clout?

 

Or was it, I ask you,

To assuredly settle a score

By removing a thorn in your flesh

That makes you sore?

 

Did you run out steam

And preferred a fresh start

Or did you want to show the wannabees

They are not smart?

 

 

 

Would you be disposed

To do like the USA

And have a fixed date for elections

And proceed in this way?

 

Highly curious

Madam Prime Minister,

Please answer me truthfully

And do not defer.

 

Stewart Russell © January 24, 2026

 

Making Sense of Nonsense 2

 

 

Three and one-half years in

A general election was called,

As far as I can see, fellow Barbadians,

This must have taken some gall.

 

I assume that the tendency is

To map out a five-year course

But I guess all the goals were achieved

So, a new mandate was enforced.

 

It will be five years this month

Since the 2018 election

But we are in the 2^nd year of a 2^nd term

And seemingly without a reason.

 

Why was an election called

With about a year and a half to go?

Madam Prime Minister of Barbados,

I surely would like to know.

 

You see, Madam PM,

Of this nonsense I am trying to make sense

And I must confess, Madam PM,

I genuinely mean no offense.

 

I know COVID-19 arose

And this was quite unexpectedly

And you had little or no wriggle room

But to decree an emergency.

 

This is why while still in COVID

I just could not understand

Why you would call an election, Madam PM,

In the midst of an emergency plan.

 

Were you scared of something else

Besides the COVID pandemic

Or was this another strategic move

So prevalent in politics?

 

Given your own policy, Madam PM

To always keep us well informed,

I must admit this one was quite a baffling

Departure from your norm.

 

I had heard some rumours

Which back then, I refused to believe

About some within your party

Questioning your right to lead.

 

To me that was such nonsense

That I dismissed it right away

Since you are an advocate for transparency

As I have heard you say.

 

And that is the reason why

Like Lieutenant Columbo I have been baffled,

Trying to make sense of that nonsense

Has been a humongous struggle.

 

Perhaps you could ease my discomfort

And simply tell me the reason why

But I do not intend to hold my breath

For this is the surest way to die.

 

 

 

And I would like to live

For one day the reason will come out

When I will make sense of this nonsense

And that is without a doubt.

 

Stewart Russell © May 3, 2023

 

Mr. Prime Minister Sir

 

Mr. Prime Minister, hear me a while

I know that speaking much is not your style

But I ask Sir that you regard that rejected file,

The one that’s been placed at the bottom of the pile.

Not you alone Sir but I guess all of the MPs

From ever since have been preoccupied with our economy,

Yes, the economy is important and must be looked at

But something else is more important; I will state the fact.

Morality is the point I make Sir; it’s at an all time low

Immorality Sir is this country’s greatest foe

And the only way Sir to combat this trend

Is to heed the suggestion I am about to send.

People who talk less I am inclined to believe

Are the ones who listen more and thus able to perceive

That the underlying problem re: this economy

Has been the stark and blatant scourge of immorality.

We find him and her in every society

We treat immorality as a thing but it’s a human entity

He or she Sir carries a face just like you and me

And postures like a friend but is our enemy.

Such are difficult to spot even though they move

They are very particular but can fit any groove

They work in high offices, in the middle and the low

Some are very difficult to spot; both you and I know.

 

 

 

I know, however, Sir, that we live in a (democracy)

And that we feel we need to operate to please everybody

You would note Sir, democracy is written in parentheses

But also note Sir this is nothing about the B’s or D’s.

I simply want to advocate Sir that we acknowledge God

He has been the people’s guide, not Satan, the Fraud

That has blinded our eyes as the Bible indicates

And thus causes his victims in sin to participate.

I know Sir, that it is considered taboo to talk about sin

And that Christians are losers that can never win

And though even in parliament God is often mentioned

I wonder sometimes if we have a relationship with Him.

  

You see Sir when one has a genuine dependence on God

That one is not easily tricked by the Devil, the Fraud

Immorality is not his practice; no not at all

And thus in any situation on God he would call.

Occasionally I would listen to a “call in programme

And some seem to think that Christians should be damned

They see the Bible as contradictory and confusing

And often their submissions are nothing but abusing.

I observe Sir the restlessness in those that oppose

I do not mean the Opposition; that I must disclose

I am not a political partisan and who knows me knows

I prefer to be godly in my views and I hope that shows.

I am not a political scientist or an actuary

I am not an economist or a legal luminary

I don’t even know the Bible as well as some may think

But I know Sir from this I will never shrink.

There is a relationship between the economy and morality

For those who administer must be trustworthy

And whether in high office or working in low degree

All who serve must do so honestly.

 

 

 

I say Sir root out dishonesty wherever it’s found

All that hinders integrity ruthlessly pull it down

Expose all corruption whether by lawyer or by clown

And send a very strong message to all that are around.

Implement integrity legislation as promised in the past

Apply it impartially to every creed and class

And though friends may be exposed in such a shake-up

That’s what they chose; let them drink the bitter cup.

For to continue along this current track

Where the economy must be revived via tax after tax

Is like pouring water into a barrel full of holes

Or trying to empty the sea using the smallest of bowls.

Thank you Sir for this opportunity

To put this case to the populace of this country

Do not renege Sir or refuse to implement this policy

Take it through its process, yes, but do so urgently!

To further delay is to bring undue harm

To a nation that is already bombarded by fear and alarm

Gripped in the throes of a legal system that is slow

Please bring integrity legislation; let transparency show.

Prove to all and sundry in this country once again

That Barbados has a godly heritage that it will retain

Regardless of the pressure brought from those outside

We will hold to the biblical standards and on God rely.

There are some things I do not understand re: the Bible

But its moral guidelines should be clear to all people

If from this moment we would model its basic principle

We would quickly get our economy out of all this trouble.

 

Honesty would prevail, yes and integrity too

You would be fair to me and I would do justly by you

Matthew 22:39 would be our principle for life

Loving one’s neighbour would rid this economy of strife.

Of course this kind of love can only be found in Christ

It was he who became love’s ultimate sacrifice

His was the love that is unselfish and self-denying

The love that is unconditional and forever undying.

I know we won’t find this in any economic textbook

But neither would we find the embezzler and the crook

Economics is about theories, not the nature of people

The Bible treats to that better as a matter of principle.

Stewart Russell © December 2017