Premier: Cayman not ready to go it alone
UK and Cayman Islands flags outside the Government Administration Building, George Town
(CNS): The decision by the British government to amend the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill to require its overseas territories to establish public registers of the beneficial owners in their jurisdictions has stirred up the topic of independence again, but Premier Alden McLaughlin said the Cayman Islands is not ready yet. Speaking about the UK taking the view that it can legislate for Cayman when there is a disagreement, he said the islands would have to consider its options but that there was much merit and benefit in retaining the British association.
“I don’t think we are at this stage ready, as country, as a people, as a government, for independence,” McLaughlin said. “Independence requires a whole new set of skills and abilities that we are still developing. There are only relatively few of us who have the international experience to deal with it,” the premier told Orrett Connor (aka OC), the host of Radio Cayman’s For the Record and a former Cabinet Secretary, who offered to come out of retirement should independence happen.
McLaughlin said he wasn’t saying that Cayman should never contemplate independence.
“But if that is what we want, we must plan for it and we must be ready for it,” he said. “There are a whole range of countries that have stepped off the precipice before they were fully ready. We can look around and see a number of what I would call failed states who were not ready for that massive step.”
But McLaughlin indicated that independence was not the only option and that the government was not going to simply lie down and let the UK do whatever it wants.
“We are the subject of a constitutional order. All of us are creatures of that Constitution… and all of us are subject to it, starting with the governor. The governor does not exist in a vacuum; the office is a creature of the Constitution and the UK is as bound by that constitutional order as we are,” the premier said. “We are going to hold them to it.”
With plans to take on the UK government’s decision in the courts, the premier said his government was planning a sustained campaign because it was wrong in principle for members of the British parliament to decide on things that affect the Cayman Islands so fundamentally when most of them don’t even know where Cayman is.
McLaughlin said that it was a very serious matter, but whether Cayman would be forced down the road of beneficial ownership or not, the financial sector was resilient enough and would survive. The issue, he said, was about the UK’s willingness to discriminate against and legislate for the overseas territories.
“We have to sort those things out as our continued survival, let only prosperity, depends on those sorts of things… We cannot go back to the colonial days… We have come too far,” he said, as he noted the amount of time he spent working on and fighting for the new Constitution in his earlier political career, which gave Cayman much more autonomy.
“We can’t go back to the days where a British government takes the decisions for this territory,” he added, as he pointed to the top constitutional lawyers government has retained. “We are going to fight this with everything we can,” the premier promised.
Category: Business, Financial Services
Hmmm…this “Africanized” man grew up in an “Africanized” country which boasted a standard of living far superior to that of the “Europeanized” countries of the “Europeanized” folks in the room.
Apparently, they share that opinion as evidenced by their relocation to said “Africanized” country.
(Interestingly, the lower the concentration of Africanized people in Cayman the lower the general standard of living – oddly now mimicking almost every other western society. Very strange.)
No shade – jus keepin it a buck, ya’na’mean?!
– Who
* Presumed correlations along racial lines only works in the absolute ignorance of historical context.
The year is 2018. Anyone with that mindset ought to read a book…actually, dont – because sanctioned and accredited western miseducation brought us here.
Caymanians deserve independence! Good thing for them they don’t have it.
I knew that my comments about “Africanized” places woud draw some ire by other readers, but I think that this issue is relevant to the question of Cayman independence. Another truth is that the native born population in Cayman are genetically related. A native “white”, “brown skin”, and “black” Caymanian shares a great deal of common ancestry with most other native borns. However, unfortunately, in spite of their common heritage, Camanians don’t enjoy the same degree of cultural unity that other places do. The UK government has served as an impartial buffer and arbitrator for the the cultural rifts that exist between Caymanian groups. Perceived racial resentments and ethnic lifestyles are a prime cause of many of those rifts, and without the UK it will be more difficult to bridge them.
Also, the presence of the UK draws a number of Caymaniams together: in opposing the UK. We can all agree about the crazy Englishman from West Bay at the Super Service who asks that we hurry up in pumping his 50 cents of gas because it’s almost cocktail party time!
I say, keep the UK.
Bro Caymaniansdon’t know what they want.
I suspect that the British linked or white Caymanians in favour of keeping the UK while black population what’s to go it alone.
Your post is a disgrace to a relatively decent vocabulary.
– Who
If he was, maybe he would have got PR.
How sad that on a British territory CNS feels that they need to explain to Caymanians and residents alike the nationality of flags on their lead picture.
CNS: Most of our readers live here or have Cayman connections and I’m pretty sure they would all recognise both flags, but we also have people visiting this site from a range of countries who might know. That’s how the internet works.
@5:43 pm
“Settled” you say, okay then.
Btw, we see you’ve been reposting various versions of the watered-down same crap all throughout the thread.
Colonialism is the same beast, regardless of how much blood was spilt on the land in question.
(Not to mention the transient nature of the people of the western Caribbean and Central America. Most Caymanians have links to Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Cuba, Panama etc – and whether or not Grand Cayman witnessed extreme brutality, it still started off as a slave society and all members were exposed to and influenced by regional hardships. Furthermore, you can speak to any older Caymanian and they can tell you the exact spot where they “used to hang the darkies” along the South Church street coastline.)
Cayman’s earliest recorded “settlor” was a Bodden – who most likely resembled the family that owns the local beverage company.
However, we also have many local Boddens who have features and appearances on the other end of the spectrum.
Considering that at the time of emancipation Cayman society was 50/50 in terms of slave owners and slaves – I will let your astute mind figure out what is what in this respect.
Hint: They ain’t at the same family reunion in 2018 despite sharing the same surname for the past 300 years.
The term “settled” is a most disgusting one and truly enraptures the mindset of the perpetrator.
It suggests the supposed inherent right of the invader to do as they feel in a land / country / region with no regard for those that existed before them – or those that they dragged along as property.
Let us call it was it was or end the conversation as some are too cowardly to face actual history.
Who the hell is @543 p.m. ???
Anonymous, you need to reply under the persons comment. Don’t understand where youre coming from :/
Nice try.
You understand full well where I’m coming from.
It is time we invite the United Nations decolonisation committee here to educate us. There are clearly too many persons here that are totally ignorant of what “political independence” means, and they only understand “economic independence” and buildings.
If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail. Political independence is eventually coming whether we are prepared or not. Let us plan together. A massive educational drive needs to be done by those elected to government otherwise it will be seen as a dereliction of duty.
There are too many among us who only understand what they see physically built with concrete blocks and mortar due to their limited outlook. We have an economy that is too dependent on construction. More advanced thinking is needed.
Agree with you 11.25 pm and I will add – we would do well to have a functional two party parliamentary system in place for a while to demonstrate our political maturity, and additionally demonstrate our ability to formulate and manage proper national and departmental budgets. Crawl comes before walk, and walk before running! Independence should be the culmination of a development process, and not an emotional knee-jerk reaction to any one issue. The Premier is quite correct in what he has stated. Steady as you go Captain.
I have rarely read so much misjudged rhetoric as displayed in these comments.
Th UK Government has made no decision to impose a Beneficial Ownership Registry upon the Cayman Islands, or anywhere else.
All that has happened is an amendment to a bill was approved by a majority vote in the House of Commons at the second reading stage. The bill still has to complete its second reading and then go to the House of Lords, who may well change it or delete it altogether.
So, despite journalistic hyperbole, this is still very far from being a faite accompli.
But that would spoil the story.
Hey Rick, maybe you didn’t get PR because you’re a tragic loser?
sour grapes Rick ..get off the sauce
Cayman is nothing more than a British invention and strings pulled from the UK. Caymanians don’t even own Cayman
Rick is a poor quality troll. Shame he is not as smart or witty as he thinks he is.
Cayman will go independent when Mr. Dart is good and ready. Not before.
Oh are we still having that big party in London next week spending all kinds of money to celebrate the “special relationship “ between the back stabbing British establishment and the poor colonial subjects lol …. what a joke us Caymanian are so fool kissing up to a bunch of people who couldn’t care less about us unless they get something in return …. best all the free loaders being paid to party go instead to stockholm syndrome anonymous. There is a good meeting each week at the Cabinet Room 10 Downing Street ….
Dear Rick , just cause you hung like a chipmunk , don’t blame Caymanians !
Bro Caymanians are a confused bunch of folk.
Caymanians have themselves to blame for the mess they are in.
You all living 50 years in the pass with bankrupt thinking mentality.
Banana Republic is the furture for Cayman but you all not alone the Virgin islands are the same.
Troll, troll, low grade troll. Go back under your bridge.
You mean the Dart tunnel?
An independent Cayman just means it is available and needs to be taken over. They have failed and continue to fail at just about everything. Kicking out the UK and or expats just means kicking out that which keeps this island running. Go independent and soon go under and lose everything. The only question is who would take it then?
I agree, Cayman is currently being taken over as it is.. All we will do is replace one conqueror for another. The next maybe worse.
Idiot. No one conquered Cayman, it has always and only ever been settled by the British as a British Crown Territory. It was settled in the name of King George and has never had any other state control since the British started settlement in the late 1600’s or early 1700’s. Before that it was part of the Spanish Jamaican territory, only relinquished by Spain, (who never settled the land) by the Treaty of Madrid.
Like it not bobo, this is as British a territory as it gets, although slowly consumed by regional and international immigration ever since.
Of course, the other option is to join the old Jamaican motherland, go independent and lose everything. It’s not working so well for Jamaica, Honduras, Bahamas, Belize and almost the entire continent of Africa. Although it must be the fault of others that some of their leaders starve, murder, rape and repress their own people.
And looking North, the US are probably regretting getting rid of a constitutional monarch and replacing him with a dictatorial dumbass who will send US sons and daughters back to the Middle East right now.
Yeah I know my Caymanian history bro, it was a figure of speech. Sorry I guess I should have said what I said in less sarcastic terms.
We have never regretted getting rid of the monarchy a single moment. Tend to your own knitting.
We might not be ready Mr. Premier, but lets get ready, and we will, with you or without you.
Interesting. But isn’t the very industry the UK is attacking, primarily run by UK expats in Cayman anyway? I think either way, Cayman’s financial services industry is done or UK expats are gone with it. Why would independence be necessary then?
1:16pm, who were the people that brought us to the top and created the financial services in the 1960-70s? I am positive it wasn’t created or started by expats. Expats came along after its inception. These islands were never an liability to the UK, so get your facts straight. We survived before, we are surviving now and shall sirvive hereafter.
I think I would have to disagree with you on that one. Think of all the successful firms that exist here: Walkers, Maples & Calder, Butterfield. All were founded by expats. Sure, local politicians may have passed legislation that allowed the financial services industry to exist, but such legislation was recommended and requested (and to a large extent formulated) by expats. If you believe that Cayman’s financial services industry would exist without expats and foreign capital then you are sorely mistaken.
Wasn’t Cayman National (which is the only genuinely Caymanian Class A Bank, as far as I can see) started by ex-Barclays International staff? All the rest seem to be local branches of international or regional banks. Butterfields are Bermudian (originally the Bank of NT Butterfield). I would be interested to know how many of the private banks are genuinely Caymanian. I’m pretty sure most were set up by overseas companies and individuals to manage their wealth.
Poor rick didnt get into the land of milk and honey and can u imagine people of lower status and darker color than him made it. Mann that is just a real travesty of justice eh? sold erryting and head down to Caribbean bigg up himself to his x girlfiend that he is now big time govna and now right back home being an internet troll, Crying aalll day about he cancelled wuk permit aaaah mann aaa feel it for you bobo the anger the bitterness is killing you slowly ehh. should have kept you damn hands to your self bobo?
Almost choked on my tea and crumpets with this one, lol!!
– Who
😀
Almost you say? Let me send you over some crumpets, and see if we all get lucky second time round.
LMAO this island really makes my day daily! So when we gain our “INDEPENDENCE” from the UK what will we have to show for it? Our so called “Christian values” and ya can’t dance or play music on a Sunday,Tortuga Rum cake, turtle meat, a bustling black market tax evasion haven, selling out to DART, Cayman OVERPRICED airways, Politicians who majority of the time only looking out for themselves & need your vote to continue the LIES & $$$$$$$$$ with the country still in limbo oh and how can we forget that good old “Cayman Kindness!!!!!!!!!!! Geee where do I sign up?
You must love your country bro. Don’t be so negative. It’s expats that are causing these problems according to natives
Truth hurts
The expats can only do what the natives have allowed them to get away with…..
Natives not in charge bro
Rick old buddy, somebody must have messed with your life.
Have a banana and go swing in the trees.
It can do wonders for your head, I promise you.
Rgds, Banana Republic PR
Rick got kicked out of Cayman that is why he is on here..ask him why?
Never even been to Cayman and would not want to.
And yet here you are commenting on things in a place you haven’t been or ever want to be. Troll HR hired a gem didn’t they.
Caymanians are an amusing bunch of folk. This site me makes me laugh.
It’s easy to point fingers at other people. Should try the hard road and point them at yourselves. It’s Caymanians that made the decisions that got this island where it is today. Caymanians will also make the decisions that will shape the future. That being said, Cayman is currently in a good place and the damage these imposed public registers will do should make natives reconsider what they want the island to be.
To blame expats as if they are a bad part of this island and caused all the problems is an easy strawman argument to make. Expats just here to earn a living and not here to take over the island.
At least you understand, seems the rest on here can’t reason and understand logic.
don’t sign up , just stay in your own country… leave us to ours
That’s the problem, and you clearly don’t understand what self determination means. You expect us to have a physical item called independence.
No independence means your mother has allowed you to strike out on your own without her taking any more decisions for you. We take most of our decisions nowadays anyway.
We’ll get independence from PROSPERITY, just like Jamaica did.
Some of you commenters here are so foolish. I hope you’re not Caymanians. Independence is a likely option, and still we have folk who refuse to PREPARE for this national move! Instead redicule it. I am not saying the time for Independence is now, but what upsets me, I bump into alot of delusional thinking Caymanians and materialistic ones too who think our future is all golden under the UK umbrella. It’s just mindboggling. Are they this naive and unprepared??
Speaking of naive…had we not already borrowed a half Billion dollars (half of it due to be rolled in Nov 2019 at whatever terms may exist then), and not been in need of a further Billion+ more (unfunded pension and health liabilities), you might have a workable business case. We don’t currently have the revenue to support a downgrade to a Baa2 rating, and it looks like up to $110mln/year in recurring is on the chopping block. This is a serious financial crisis for the CIG and the Cayman Islands and we need leaders that understand the stakes. Preferably sophisticated non-elected business leaders. The elected leadership had months to see this coming and failed. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to lash your future fate to that wagon.
And the “lender of last resort”, who underwrites all that borrowing (and in fact has the credit rating to enable Cayman to borrow it in the first place) is……..
… the (on these shores, at least) much-despised and derided ordinary British taxpayer, who will, if Cayman defaults, be forced to stump up the cash to pay off Cayman’s debts. I can guarantee that the average Brit will not be impressed if that happens. Look forward to direct rule and overcrowded gaols.
I agree bro. Take your independence now a send expats home that way you don’t have to complain about those getting PR and Status.
Run you county with Caymanian only. Let Caymanians hire Caymanians and not expats stop work permits now.
Cayman is the next Singapore without expats taking over your country
Sad little man. Run along troll.
Sorry Rick, Cayman is never going to be Singapore. We lack a critical mass of Chinese astute discipline. On the other hand, adopting caning as a penalty for some of the “let go beasts” in Cayman might be a good idea.
lol … oh wow … see all those flimsy comments!
The Independence fear mongering lot has begun! These are the same cowards who will take the next flight out because they care little about the dignity of these islands in the first place! Sadly, these stupid Caymanians would, like they always do, watch a foreign power destroy us first, and then be the ones to complain about it.
Talk about loyalty.
I agree bro. Time for all Caymanian natives living abroad and paying taxes to another country to return to their home land. Quicker you get Caymanians to return is the faster you can take back your country.
All expats cowards leave now
Umm yeah right. As a returning home Caymanian I question whether it was the right thing to do. I felt like I needed to be home, tired of the New York lifestyle. Been home for 5 months and only just now started working, doing the same job I did in NY for about the same pay AFTER taxes. Believe it or not and I hate to say it but I had a better life in NY. At least my garbage was picked up regularly.
People here talk about independence and I believe Cayman could hold it’s own, it would be an adjustment but it would survive. Once the CIG gets their act together and cleans house from top to bottom. Like someone said earlier, we can’t even get our garbage pick up schedule right and we want independence? Someone else said that every Monday morning paper shows another case of civil servant corruption from the top to the bottom and this is the type of system we want seeing us into a brave new independent world?
I am all for it but unless MAJOR changes are made and we clean house BIG TIME WITH BLEACH AND COMET I see doubts of success in the independent future. If Cayman goes independent before this happens then I’d have to seriously consider my future in my own country. I wouldn’t trust half of our current elected officials with driving me to Fosters and you want me to trust them to drive us into the future with independence?
I may or may not agree with Alden on a lot of things but he is 150% right on this. As we are now we are NOT ready.
No Caymanian should ever have to leave Cayman to work in another country and pay taxes. That was the point I am making.
Bro you smarter than most Caymanians. Some on here don’t even read between the lines that I write.
Rick you are a complete idiot. I’m glad people with proper sense are in charge and not some wannabe Donald Trump like you.
MAGA!
Trump is just another bought and paid for Zionist.
In years to come we will see who are the real idiots.
Caymanians will be pushed out from their own country.
Cayman will be all white
“Fear mongering” aka making likely and truthful observations about the current state of Cayman and our relative immaturity and unpreparedness in relation to other nation-states
You want to roll your dice and gamble with the likes of Mckeeva and Alden in charge you can go ahead but you aren’t gambling with my future or the future of my family
Their is nothing cowardly or disloyal about being critical,cautious and skeptical over the current state of affairs in Cayman
Purely out of concern for a people and place that I regard highly and wish well, let me point out a few hard facts.
There is no country with an “Africanized” population that is doing well in measures of the Western context, and in terms of wealth, safety, health, and social well being. Botswana and perhaps Bermuda might be an exception. Otherwise, the greater the “Africanized” componets of a country, or place, the more dishonesty, corruption, dirt, disorganization, and the like, one will find in that place.
On the other hand, individuals of ANY genetic or cultural hew, including those of the African variety, can and do frequently display the positive human character traits, such as intelligence, wisdom, dilligence, charity, and the like, that we all prize.
That being said, in terms of the health, safety, and general physical and social welfare, it seems that the greater number of people who are “Europeanized”, Christian, and Protestant, there are in a given place, the better off the whole population will be in general.
The bottom line is that keeping the Cayman islands as closely connected as possible to the UK is in the best interests of the general population of the Cayman Islands. I want the native born population of the islands to be wealthy, healthy, exposed to personal opportunity, and as personally happy as one can be in this fallen world, and I truly believe that staying with the UK is the best way to achieve that goal.
Cayman will be the first best Africanized country.
How many more times, you are not African.
Believe me, Africans don’t like you and they don’t want to be like you. Call yourself any made up African name you like, dress in as much leopard or zebra skin patterned clothing as you feel comfortable in, but you ain’t African after 200 years of inmancipatio. No more than daft Americans insist on being called Irish or Italian after generational inter marriage and acceptance of being American in the first place.
You, or rather some of you, are the product of white settlement and generational inter marriage between immigrants, including Jamaicans, Latinos etc….. The rest are the product of successive waves of international settlement.
You are not and have never been an Africanised country, hell, your not even a recognised country!
Your heritage is and has always been British since day one. Live with it.
If in doubt, take an Ancestry DNA test and see how much of the dreaded white or Latino blood runs through your veins. Then drop the African crap.
All men came from Africa bro
Is this similar to how an Irishman will half-kill you for mistaking him for a Northern-Irelander?
Or is this a more feasible and sensible divide?
Asking for a friend…
Cayman is notorious for jumping on the best band wagon. No back bone at all
Best band wagon is PR fees while garbage piles up
Seriously Rick… turn off the PC and go read a book.
I did, I read the history on Cayman . I am sure most Caymanian don’t even know their own history. Most will fail the PR test , that’s if they can read
…said the white-privileged propagandist, and racially-discordant expat who STILL clings to the long disproven Apartheid-era notions that skin colour has bearing on moral propensity and situational temptation. There are two “hard facts” we can rely on for certain: firstly, that it doesn’t; and secondly, that your dim racial views are incompatible with longterm residency in the Caribbean. Thanks for your concern, but it would be best for everyone’s sake that you pack your bags and be on your way back to your redneck backwater where you can safely wallow in your whiteness.
That was more racists than the original message poster. Typical, most racists people are the first to scream it against other people.
Actually, the go-home safety warning is really good advice, and significantly less racist than the white guy ascribing character traits based on skin colour, or expressing shocked-delight at the exceptions to his negro thesis. The 31 others that joined him can share the same plane…you know how the rest goes.
I’m safely wallowing in my whiteness right here on my beach on your island. Mmmmm
Don’t hang out there too long now – you know your kind is allergic (cancer) to the source of all life on planet earth aka the Sun.
If that ain’t a warning message from nature to stay where you biologically belong, I don’t know what is.
Have you seen the colour of the original Australians? That wasn’t by accident, but by natural design.
That’s what my thatch cabana is for.
Natural design? I think you mean: the result of evolution
You judge from skin color? Really?! What a racist viewpoint?!
Yes, a predominantly white country may be prosperous under the global capitalistic money system. It may pride itself over the dollars and skin color. But MARK MY WORDS, man-made systems or race does not make them better off than the many predominantly black countries I know.
The money systems which you applaud can always crash. And then you will see how strong a country and its people really are!
RIck is a real punk and he cant help it. didnt get a workpermit so he has turn into an anti Cayman troll. i just want him to know when i go to sleep every night i dont loose one second of my beauty rest thinking of his ass watching out for Cayman on the internet on his no brand monitor. yes and when i go to my white pristine beach and crystal clear waters and sip my fresh Pina Colada i never get upset about his ras not being here either. I have in fact upgraded him from a half ass to a complete @$$#ole and if anyone doubts his status let him just keep posting $#@!
All unna racist.
Racist ?
Bro I for Caymanians ruining their county and not taking directives from the UK.
In years to come Cayman will have an all British accents and will be the only white carribean country.
I’m a white Caymanian with white Caymanian parents with 2 white grandfathers and a 1 white grandmother with 7 great grandparents who are all Caymanian as well. What are you trying to say Rick? Get off the color hateraid troll.
That’s impressive Naya Boy. It sounds like your jobless lifestyle affords you plenty of time. Now, go fill up my drink and get me napkin, please 🙂
You’re contradicting yourself TWT.. “But MARK MY WORDS, man-made systems or race does not make them better off than the many predominantly black countries I know.” So if race doesn’t make them better? Why say predominantly black countries, these “predominantly black” countries can fail just as easily and return to the same state of chaos as the “predominantly white” ones. One of our major problems is we bring color into it to begin with. Like Morgan Freeman said when asked how to stop racism he said to stop talking about it, stop bringing color into it and see me a s a person and not a black man.
Funny how we never hear that advice given to Jews re anti-semitic offences.
In fact, I believe there was an entire weekend political conference in the UK dedicated to TALKING about just that recently.
In fact, while we’re at it – the #MeToo movement should also just stop talking about sexual harassment and abuse of women in general…and miraculously, it will all just go away.
Happy days!
– Who
*Morgan may often play the voice and face of God – but God, nor a genius, he ain’t.
The stop talking about it blanket ain’t that big bobo. @1:27 is making a point you failed to get. What he is reiterating from Morgan Freeman is stop saying “hey blackie” or “hey cracker”. How about simply “hey you”? There is no need to bring color into it. In a sense the same can be said for abuse to women, instead of not talking about it why not switch that with “stop hitting” or other such examples.
Talking about it perpetuates it. I know my grandfather had nothing nice to say about white people, he wasn’t a slave, he was moderately successful in business and so was his father but it was hate brought down from the generation before and passed on parents to children for generations. My father isn’t as bad and he told me he hated the way his father went on and admits because of always hearing it, it passed on to some degree.
He told me he has always tried to not say things like that around me or my sister because he understands children mimic parents and wanted us to grow up with as little parental caused exposure to that as possible. We have discussed it logically and objectively as to why we say the things we do and how does calling someone a derogatory name affect us both and what did that particular individual do to me to warrant it.
Truth is we bash whites daily but the average white person in this day and age has done NOTHING to us to warrant it as we have done NOTHING to them. It is just hate passed down generation to generation. Even those that wrong us most likely 95% of the time do so because that is how they were brought up and probably see nothing wrong with it because that is the environment they grew up in which is not right and I pity them.
My daughter is dating a white guy and he genuinely cares for her. He treats her well, has a promising future, good head on his shoulders and respectful to me and her mother. I care more about that than the color of his skin. Do I wish he wasn’t white? I’d be lying if I said no but I am mature enough and reasonable enough to know that is my father, grandfather and great grandfather talking. My daughter loves him and that is more important to me.
The world is WAY too small for this color BS or this nationality BS. Ever look at sci-fi movies and all the aliens are one name, appearance? I guess we need to intermix our species a whole lot more to get to that level to be able to call ourselves Human instead of American or Caymanian.
Anyway, enough off topic ramble.
Cayman independence is a good thing, we can handle it. Just not with most of the crew now serving on the ship or most past captains. We need to prepare, sit down and seriously and rationally discuss it and make plans in the event it goes forward. We have a good thing here, let us try to maintain it or even better it and show the world 1.) we can do it ourselves, 2) we can do it better.
You are lost. Coming in here with this kumbaya foolishness. The only person can stop racism, are the people who create and benefit from it. Guess who that is?
Black people have no power to stop shit. Who holds the wealth holds the cards. You have no problem with your daughter dating someone outside your ethnicity because its a leg up. If you are honest with yourself, you’d understand. Your father saw the game for what it was/is. He didnt have to be a slave to see the game. Even if it was against the law to think of him as 3/5 human, the mentality still followed.
Why is it, black people must get over history and not learn from it, but it is okay for other ethnicities to remember theirs?
Intermixing is an idiot notion.The only reason that is a solution on your plate is for financial benefits. If the majority of black people where rich, you wouldn’t care about things like that. you would stick to your own too.
In anycase, we will always be seen as the bush babies that can not look after ourselves. We will apparently need the mother country to govern us and send your rubbish here to tell us what we should and shouldn’t do.
Be the change your country needs. Learn from your peoples history and help create a future, cause as history as demonstrated, when queenie comes, dont think she’s going to leave anything or anyone standing.
To add:
Im pretty sure Im going to get the whole, ” how can anyone live with so much anger and hatred” not everyone is like that. Well let me quote Muhammad ali;
”There are many white people who mean right and in their hearts wanna do right. If 10,000 snakes were coming down that aisle now, and I had a door that I could shut, and in that 10,000, 1,000 meant right, 1,000 rattlesnakes didn’t want to bite me, I knew they were good… Should I let all these rattlesnakes come down, hoping that that thousand get together and form a shield? Or should I just close the door and stay safe?”.
Prevention better than cure.. ‘member that.
Time Will Tell
I’m going to give you a piece a reality for free, those predominantly black countries you speak of are being held together by predominately white countries. (AKA intervention)
They were massacred and destroyed by those white countries. read a book and try to understand how and why things are the way they are. They are kept in those conditions for the purpose of white countries self preservations . The fear of retaliation is something else.
If I did not know better would say your name is Theresa May
Reading RICKS comments. Apparently, he is turning this topic into a Cayman versus Expat issue! And he is trying to portray those supporting a mature Independence as anti Expat.
I wonder who he thinks he’s fooling. Cns, must we put up with his repeated comments?
I think somebody ruffled his feathers ?
Bro Caymanians are confused they don’t know what they want.
I support an independent Cayman and getting rid of expats.
No Caymanian should ever be without a job in their country or have to migrate to make ends meet.
Why are you allowing expats to buy your prime real estate? real Caymanian can’t even afford a home.
Why are your immigration dept letting in driffwoods in?
In a few years time Caymanians will be servants in their own country.
OMG!! I agre*choke*… sorry.. I agr*choke*… AGREE!!!! with Rick. Caymanians soon will become servants in their own country and real estate prices are ridiculously out of control because of foreign buy and sell.
The truth will hurt Caymanians.
They already are servants
You are basically saying that you think you live amongst a population infected with genetic inadequacy. Why should any Caymanian debate these issues with you when you base your argument on that sort of premise? This is the definition of prejudice. You have revealed yourself to be prejudiced and ruled yourself out of all positions of responsibility, as you do not conform to the expectations of social well being for others that you claim to want. Your tone is condescending and presumptuous. Many people think like you because their only interaction with Caymanians is at Immigration. What they don’t appreciate is that there are thousands of competent Caymanians ,who would do any job well, employed in the private sector, able to compete with the wider world, who would never allow the country to fail. It’s not like we haven’t been learning anything the past 50 years since things started to take off.
“…out of concern” he says.
Alrighty then.
Anyway, “Time Will Tell” and “10:27” have both done a great job of setting straight the intellectually dishonest idiot.
– Who
And Protestant? Meaning being a member of a “church” founded by Henry the 8th? You are making me die of laughter fool.
It is best to fight this fight from the inside instead of the outside. There are strategies that can be deployed by small countries like Cayman that can actually result in significant influence over an extended period of time. These strategies however require that Cayman be on the inside.
A country where they can’t even pick up garbage. And every Monday morning some Caymanian civil servant is under investigation .
Great makings of a banana republic
Rick. Foolish, short-sighted comments.
At least alleged civil service corruption gets civil exposed here “every Monday morning”.
As always, we are held to a higher standard – in other countries (big and small) similar persons would get elected to higher office!
At least, in Cayman we are working to make our civil service better.
Yeah they get exposed then get a big pay packet and go on pre retirement leave. After nearly 30 years the scam continues while expats get booted off the island for pretty infractions.
Cayman civil service is filled with lazy workers and have no pride and hold the public to ransom, if you happen tobe an expat wanting service then wish you all the best .
Again banana republic in the making .
Well if we kicked Caymanians out of the country for petty infractions there would be no one left but turtles, chickens and iguanas. Hell they might run things better.
Man Rick, Cayman really messed up your wires. Get a job, move on my friend, find another partner. Btw, sorry that you lost to an Islander!
In their eyes what they have is a step up from what they had. Nothing. Independence will be a huge step back. Especially considering they no longer own most of the island and businesses. Cayman can not afford to go independent. Who would pay the bill?
Lol like jamaica is any better. PUHleez.
Anyone calling for Cayman to go independent is a straight up fool.
I think we can handle independence
Prime Minister Alden
Deputy PM Franz
Minister for Tourism Moses
Minister for Financial Services Wayne
Minister of Finance Roy
Minister for Health Ezzard
Minister for Works Arden
Minister for Education Dan Scott.
Minister for Home Affairs and imm. Saunders
Speaker Mac
Governor General Kilpatrick
Bernie can deal with the garbage
A powerful lineup. But the voters won’t go for it.
Remember archer lost to Kenneth. But that was mostly Archer fault.
Archer lost because the voters are stupid and drank the cool aid of promises!!!!
Bryan is a total empty suit like Obama….a communist communis.
Methinks we overrate ourselves.
Methinks Cayman is overrated
Your simplistic view is precisely why we cannot.
And how do you propose to pay their salaries with half the Island population and business gone ?
Clowns, So you prefer to live off expats forever ?
And it takes a fool like yourself to associate yourself with clowns!
Sorry George was referring to clowns at 9.26pm. These Caymanian folk don’t like to use their real names. It’s like they are ashamed of have something to hid.
As if we can tell Rick is your real name.. Remember folks if you saw it on the internet it must be true.
Rick is my real name. I don’t hide like Caymanians do or stab folk in their backs
riiiiiight
Lol OK RICK! Maybe you should change the R to a D in your REAL name. You act like one. -_-
@RICK, your bitterness and need to reply to every comment is truly entertaining, please do carry on.
I am glad you are amused. I get lots of laughs on here.
Yes I do prefer to live off expats forever. Who do you think you are living off of? The local industy?
*industry
Yes that is correct. Just keep going as we are, let Mr.Dart and the Chinese get the new port going and whatever other projects they feel we need. We are experiencing great growth and prosperity so why upset the mango cart.
ha ha ha… so you recommend we continue relying on the Uk to us prosperous?
Thieves up there alot of dem.
no we must rely on Mr. Dart and our great premier as they know what is in our best interest.
You know how you can spot hot air toward independence?
Anonymous…
Singapore
The one example. Jamaica, Bahamas, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Barbados, Trinidad…dare I even say USA?
US did good kicking the British out. Egypt is doing well. Uk is visiting India more often now to get piece of their pie. Canada is wonderfully independant. What has independence to do with whether a country is well off or not?????
Its the people!
934
Jamaica and Zimbabwe are basket cases with impoverished people. Losers but they are independent. Big deal. No one wants to visit these slum sh…. Hole places.
You cannot class Trinidad or Barbados in that mess.
Those two counties have very tough work permit laws. Plus they have very educated folk living there. Trinidad is known for exporting international labour to oil and gas companies whereas Cayman exports nothing but complains.
Trinidad problem is crime.
Cayman is a want to be country with wishy washy natives that have small minds.
100 per cent agree. Trinidad and Tobago is easily the most developed Caribbean nation with a very educated population, most of whom came through the public education system. The technology and amenities available in Trinidad are on par with first world nations and money flows like water among the country’s upper echelon, but does not trickle down to the lower classes. This results in anarchy, manifesting in extraordinary and shocking crime.
Arguably, the vice of crime and corruption is as a result of wanting too much too soon – the fight for independence in 1962 for a country that wasn’t quite ready. Trinidad and Tobago took it a step further a little more than a decade later and shook off the last shackle, becoming a republic.
The lesson to be learned here is get prepared. Independence is inevitable and our politicians know it. They have been talking about it for decades yet seemingly nothing has been put in place to prepare the country for what is an ultimate event.
The UK politicians were never going to stop where the public registry is concerned. That issue or the same sex marriage issue will be the hand that forces independence.
Cayman cannot have its cake and eat it too. We are a direct competitor with the UK and their agenda will always be first. Taking the UK to court and holding up our constitution as a signed document will only work for a while, just like the premier’s registry that was “approved.”
Get prepared. Get a 15, 20, 25-year development plan in place – a clear path to independence. Stop talking about we’re not ready. It’s time to have the tough conversation with the population and prepare a plan for execution.
Otherwise, best sit down and shut up. Mother expects obedience from her children.
But T&T is one of the most violent countries in the Caribbean, so what’s your point?
They dont dish out work permits.
And what’s the population of Singapore? Oh yeah, it’s over 5 million..
Singapore is a fantastic success story, but the population is all Asian.
Singapore folk work , awaits for garbage pile up tobe collected
Lets be honest, when we go independent the first thing we have to do is cut cost. The biggest pie in the sky is the civil service and their free medical, dental and eyecare bill. That would be the biggest savings. All financial services would start to decline as the populace finally realize we don’t have anything to sell besides a life style. Other Caribbean islands are failing even with all of their exports and have basically become more crime ridden by the day. We would follow suit and start doing more criminal businesses and more professional and local wealthy residents would leave. Property value would definitely fall. So if you have any rental property that would fall as hotel rates would also. Just look at the public beach history? Its a free for all. No no go look. So more police presence less tourists. Please I’m getting high blood pressure. I have predicted the financial industry decline from years ago. The USA is in decline, they need to get more money. They keep creating more laws to go after the banks. Look at the Jamaican decline, who is taking over slowly, open your eyes.
We have only one thing we can do “compromise”. Accept it. Cut a deal with UK for more benefits for our people like free medical,dental,eyecare for free. They cover the bill cause we are not going to have more money. They pay for infrastructure improvements, roads schools and university free. Everything we are losing by not having a financial industry. Think about what more we need?
People in the UK get “free” medical care because it is funded through taxation….
But it works..
You can certainly go independent with all 40,000 citizens if you think it will be fun and rewarding. Then you will be a dwarf country like Pluto is a dwarf planet. All the countries your size are really corrupt and unsuccessful with unemployment rates of 25% or more. Try to be happy with having your own island and don’t kill your golden financial goose by trying to be a country.
Cayman does not have 40000 citizens, plus there is no such status as a Cayman citizen.
Sigh. You will have citizens if you go independent, and there may well be 40,000 if you do. It would not be wise to assume only “born” Caymanians will be citizens. The UK would likely protect anyone here over 5 years as one of the requirements of independence. Please think these things through before getting all riled up for independence. Whatever the population is you will be a dwarf country among a hundred other dwarf countries
Expats can’t even get PR or Status and you want 40000 status holders here. No Caymanian not going to want that many expats getting PR here.
With douchebag expats like you trolling the news feeds who can blame us!?
Never even been to Cayman and would not want to.
If we ever go independent you better learn Chinese. They’ll end up building a cruise dock/military base.
Wait a second ?
Let’s say you are a poor black man married to this very rich woman who has a huge problem with you making another income on the side. She wants you to stay dependant on her, and has no respect for your personal abilities, culture, and success. And strangely she is a very worrisome person. She does not want you to make monies on the side. She sees her money equals power and is able to keep her man subdued to her wishes. So as well, she wants to know who you meet and who meets you. She wants to know your contacts and future contacts you have on your phone and emails. She wants to know if she’s getting a good share of your income!
And to talk to your wife about your privacy, about having mutual respect, and how you enjoy the results of doing your own business. You talk to her but she doesn’t get it. She makes demands upon demands, and even threatens you!
So Cayman, what do you do? She is your wife? And apparently, she is benefiting you in a lot of ways – even a socalled good reputation. She has this money-power-control problem and don’t want you to have any privacy or financial independence that is a threat to her. So what do you do?! She is all out to clip your pretty wings!
You see folks, alot of Caymanians will put up with this abusive relationship. They will stick with the UK even if she humiliates them. They say benefits outweigh her wrongful deeds ?
I guess I am an odd Caymanian. Because I don’t put up with nonsense! As for me, I “know” there is big God! Materialism has not affected me. If this woman don’t get it, I am ready for a divorce! I may lose all what she got, even my reputation, but I am willing to go independence and fend for myself. I am a born Caymanian. I catch my own fish, and no one will control my happiness.
Out ?????
You very obviously just don’t get it. The UK would not put up any resistance to the Cayman Islands going independent. It is the choice of the people of Cayman and despite the so called premier saying he is not ready to go it alone, it is not up to him, it would have to be a referendum. What hte premier often forgets is that he is here to serve the people. Unfortunately we don’t see a lot of that going on.
I must have missed where the Premiere said the he is not ready to go it alone so the country could not go. I think he merely offered his opinion as to the readiness of the country to go independent which he is entitled to as is has many other readers who have done so on this blog.
Yes you did. The premier is not interested in working for the people but, that is ‘merely and opinion’.
Anecdotes and metaphors are helpful… until they aren’t
Running a country isn’t about catching fish, or being dominated economically by a spouse
Get that through your skull
Since you are a poor black man and for some reason you failed to mention the color of this Rich woman’s ethnic makeup…. Only thing I can say [you] are a sissy boy.
Oh dear, most Brits have no idea where Cayman is on the map and don’t care. The government has too many problems with brexit to care, which is probably where this started. Get over your self. You are not on the radar, never mind these conspiracy theories.
Most Brits cant afford the flight. The ones that do, don’t want to leave Cayman lol Brits in general are poor. The government and the Arabs are the rich ones in the Uk lol. I dont see rich people leaving their homes/countries to find a better life..
So damn true it is almost painful.
– Who
As a Caymanian I know I won’t fail. For hundreds of years we have lived and for thousand more we will too.
Im not afraid
you will be….you will be.
Oh stop it…if they want independence they should get it. Some have no idea what will happen and truly believe it would be a golden future, but unless they have the brains and power of Singapore ( which is not the case), they will suffer. Not our choice to make.
Give them independence and they’ll likely become Jamaica #2
We know how that’s worked out
Why focus on Jamacia?
Scare tactics.. its the norm for them
haha..easy Yoda.
I agree with you bro. Take your independence and get rid of expats. Run your island as you see fit.
5.58pm With the ever increasing rate of global warming you had all better learn to swim.
we will be fine…most of us have US papers btw even the Minister of FS and we will go forth with our University educations (From Canada, USA and UK) that our country smartly agreed to finance for us and go out into the world and send money back just like we very successfully did before. Smartly that world will only on the rare occasion include the UK as they have low wages and a small economy.
You have just described pretty much any country. What is your point?
At 5.58. Do you have the stamp on your passport to indentify you as a true Caymanian. Lots of fake Caymanians running around these days
So the honourable premier plans court action on the basis that the UK is legislating and most of them doing it don’t know where the Cayman Islands are? Good luck with that one. Geographic knowledge is not relevant.
As a Caymanian, the day we go independent is the day I leave. We are far too small to be independent and without the UK legal system, financial responsibilty etc., we would soon be nothing but a dot in the ocean, no one would care about.
Oh please go. Mama’s calling for your breast feed! Go to her in england !
Just the sort of remark one would expect from someone who does not understand independence or basic grammar.
Let me know when so I have plent time to sell up? Thanks
Orrett Connor would come out of retirement if independence would happen?
To do what, pray tell?
Orrett Connor and Steve McField have been playing the race card for a long time on that taxpayer funded show on Radio Cayman. OC did nothing as Cabinet Secretary, just acted as Mac’s gopher or whoever else was there. That is not what a Cabinet Secretary is supposed to do. He made it clear he did not want to retire when he did but it was absolutely the best thing he ever did.
So basically the Premier is saying, he wants to challenge the UK government in their own Courts … but if they should win, he will allow them to do what they do because we are not ready for Independence ?
Ummm … Cayman, I hate to say this, but I really feel Premier Alden is not up for the job on this serious matter! We need a leader who has backbone! This is no time to be talking negative about Independence! Yes, alot of people are not ready for Independence – but we need a Premier who CAN GET PEOPLE READY – ho has vision and can rally people and make alliances! A leader who can make us know he is willing to lead out PROMPTLY on that serious option is all else fails!
He is correct that we are not ready for independence but he needs to get persons like Travers, Ridley, and Paget- Brown on board with the overseas lawyers he is in discussions with instead of the two names i hear being banded about , no disrespect to them but this mess really needs skilled and qualified lawyers.
Wayne Panton, please come out of retirement. These islands need your expertise.
Unless the schools and attitudes to raising kids are fixed, you will never be ready. That’s where your independence starts, with an educated next generation who gets we are in a big world, and cannot do what you want these days.
While I agree with you, the schools and attitudes werent as bad as it is now until expats started to tell people what they could and could not do with children. When a white child acts out, its nothing.. when a black child acts out.. call the police. smh
Well, he would have to be right ol’ fool to outrightly declare; “We’re going independent!”
So long as we are actively preparing behind the scenes for the inevitable.
For trust and believe, the UK already has a, recently refreshed, blueprint for the destruction of the industries and economy of this non-White, former colony – as it masterfully executed in EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE before us.
The tactic is evil, inhumane, tactless, unnecessary and quite frankly, (collective) crimes against humanity. (Granted, they don’t really regard us “Men Fridays” as humans – but you get the point.)
Sadly, it is their culture and they simply cannot help themselves.
It is a most fascinating hard-wired flaw that shows itself time and again.
Never should we expect better or afford the UK the benefit of the doubt.
She is what she is. History tells her sordid story…well.
This is Cayman.
– Whodatis (Gambino)
😉
If you were saying this crap in a country that really observed human rights instead of self entitlement, you would be arrested for hate crimes and racism.
You spew racist bile yet you accuse the UK people, many of whom are non-white, of being culturally racist when you are the very antithesis of good old, chip on the shoulder racism yourself.
This was never a colony in the true sense, it was never conquered, it was settled by British white settlers alongside Jamaicans. You are an embarrassment to your history and your people, who largely deplore your retarded views of other nations and their people.
And by the way moron, this isn’t a non-white territory, it is a multiracial society made up over a couple of centuries of inter marriage and successive waves of immigration from Britain and all over the Caribbean.
You need to get out more and look around, you have many VERY WHITE generational Caymanians that can truly trace their blood back to the likes of Issac Bodden etc….
Go to the Brac and meet the Ryan’s or any of the other generational families that came over the pond. I wonder if you can trace your blood lineage so clearly, probably not, you sound like one of those ‘generational Caymanians’ whose history goes back only 50 years.
You are the worst kind of bigot, hypocrite and nationalist, you should have the guts to stand for your beliefs in public and identify yourself. But no, you are a coward who throws stones from a distance believing his/her own delusions and justifications for being vile.
You are a vacuous creature of little value to your society or people, go back under you rock.
And no, I’m not British or even white, just a human being who hates your kind of poison.
He need some milk!!! ???
Who just got owned!! Lmao
Umm, no.
History is never “owned”, my friend – no matter how eloquent or deflective the misguided retort.
In any event, it is quite interesting how a single term (non-White) in a much broader post can conjure up such passions.
The truth is often a very ugly and harsh reality so no one should be surprised.
Moreover, it has been stated many times already that the British MP’s / govt don’t even know where is the Cayman Islands, so the respondent’s cute, watered-down version of local history is completely irrelevant to the developments at hand.
In typical fashion, the UK govt does what it does at colonial times like these – with little to no regard for the Men Fridays that may be impacted as a result.
(Interesting how it is a different approach for the more quintessential Crown Dependents.)
Yes, I know, different constitutional framework and so on – but that only compounds the disparity and proves the case, frankly.
There are hundreds of years of historical evidence, leading up to current day, at our disposal.
Cayman would be quite foolish to ignore it all and expect treatment different to what has transpired thus far.
On what basis?
On the basis of not wanting to upset Mother England??
GTFOH wit dat B.S., son 🙂
It is what it is, and it is not complicated.
– Who
* Very odd reaction in the room, as Brits are normally fiercely proud of their history.
Doesn’t appear to be the case this time around though.
Weird.
You just got owned. Now sit down and shut up!
Actually he didn’t. Plebs wouldnt understand though.. Bless your heart
Whatever you say, Anonymous Who.
Nope, wasn’t me.
But many thanks to the actual poster.
– Who
You, the respondent, and your colleagues can wish for Who to “shut up” – which ain’t gonna happen btw – but what you can’t “shut up” is the truth of British colonial history…as outlined in my original post.
– Whodatis
Just tell me where I’ve lied and I’ll shut up.
– Who
*And for the millionth time – I am NOT speaking about “UK people” – I am speaking of the UK government.
There is a difference.
You be good now …
Do you sit on your finger when you try ( and fail) to spin?
Considering I have absolutely no clue what you’re on about – I’m gonna garner a guess and say; “No”.
– Who
6.07pm Exactly my sentiments but I could never have expressed them so eloquently.
I am not sure f**kwit goes far enough to describe your absurdity.
3.34pm When did they let you out of the lunatic asylum?.
You wouldn’t be the first to regard truth as madness.
– Who
Or vice versa
Independence will be the last nail in our coffin. Corruption and thievery within the government is bad enough as it is! The truth is we will NEVER be ready for independence.
Born Caymanian.
I hate pessimistic cowardly people. They will make us go to the dogs ?
Im a Caymanian and Im not scared of Independence! And Im not a fool to believe in us!
Amen..we did it before and we will do it again…UK only come around since about 1980 and we had been here for how long …with cars,houses and beaches and all that.
We went to the USA to work when we needed it not to England cause it too far too cold and tthey dont really have an economy.
“We did it before”, What was it that we did again? Live in huts, shitting in holes in the ground, catching fish and hoping hurricanes didn’t send us into oblivion?
We act as if Cayman was some successful nation and the UK came in some sort of hostile takeover or invasion, there was nothing here, we built what we have under the UK and that is the truth whether you accept it or not
Caymanians were the ones holding the whips here, something Who seems to leave out of his analysis
Many of those families still here today
We take the whole Imperialist, UK colonialism talking points and dog whistle from other areas of the world, and act like it applies here when it clearly doesn’t
They didn’t even acknowledge us for decades
Americans were the ones holding the whips over their fellow (3/5 th) Americans.
What’s your point?
Also, why are you involving Who in this sub-thread?
Something sticky I said elsewhere?
– Who
* Come what may, and contrary to your ill-wishes, Cayman will be just fine.
Utter moron.
Historic racial reality coward.
– Who
Amen! Well said..They may some day tell us to go and then what?
Be a coward or stand up and be counted!
Lets just take a look at the state of Cayman right now since we are so ready for independence
Can’t collect garbage regularly in a timely fashion
-Widespread corruption, nepotism and cronyism
– crime left virtually unchallenged with few arrests not to mention the fact that rules and regulations are often ignored and uneforced by relevant departments and groups
-Lack of real border protection from illegal guns and persons
-A bare-bones, strained and overburdened judicial system where trials and proceedings and suits can drag on for years, the DPP and police seem unable to work together to secure even the simplest convictions (in anything not regarding financial services)
Aging infrastructure that needs to be expanded or completely remodeled (courthouse, schools Police stations, the prisons)
-Low level or nonexistent professional and public standards and regulations in place and regularly enforced
-An government “tax” base entirely built on ever expanding and unsustainable public consumption fees and duties rather than actual taxes
-Incompetent and inefficient government authorities and and departments (Licensing, DEH, Port Authority etc etc)
– Lacklustre and sub-par education standards and facilities
Lack of reliable affordable public transportation leading to traffic jams and the unsustainable mass importation of vehicles with a small and limited road space and parking especially in town
Natural disaster and emergency preparedness is a joke, (look at the SoL fire, or the Tsunami warning)
Etc Etc Etc
Many of us in Cayman have lived here and nowhere else for our whole lives, and we think these things are acceptable truths in society when I can assure you they are not, no one is demanding perfection, but if you are going to claim we are ready for independence we need to be doing a lot better than this
?oh please … like …. every country on the globe has these problems with or without independence!
What’s your point!
Please stop spewing nonsense over the net. I am sure your UK has a terrible list plus corrupt politicians
You’re missing point of the comment. You have what, 60,000 people on island and still manage to ef things up.
Mostly sounds like the UK to me but with better wages.. Apparently you’ve been living in a bubble
One is not able to repair stupidity.
What happens though if England wants to rid itself of us like they did the rest of Europe..We may not like it but we better prepare ourselves that it could happen..
The UK since this Liberal Brexit foolishness has become like the wild west… Nothing is well thought out and more than likely the rest of Europe will have to kick the UK out of the European Union because they will never be ready.
“Liberal”? I’m sure Brexit is fueled by all that is NOT Liberal!
“Liberal Brexit foolishness”
Except as I point out time and time again, the UK has been and is currently under a CONSERVATIVE government
Brexit was promised by the Conservative PM David Cameron, and is being carried out by a Impotent yet still fully Conservative PM Theresa May
Everything bad or negative is “Liberal” by definition in Cayman, cause we have the worst of both worlds
The garbage US Conservative worldview and the mixed in with our own “understanding” of Europe taken from thousands of miles away
Leave the US out of it. We’re the ones actually using your “financial sector” and buying your condos so don’t f it up.
Amen
And also the ones having difficulty getting bank accounts in Cayman
The Liberal Democrats were opposed to Brexit.
We better start preparing ourselves. We may not want it but like the UK did with the rest of Europe we could be left to paddle our own boat…don’t think they give two $hits about you or Cayman in general..We are a fly in their ointment..Better start getting use to it..
They care as much about you as they do about any other group of 50,000 citizens. You can punch above your weight but not too much above.
It was the Germans who invaded Europe. In ancient history the Brits, French, Spanish all did it…you need more history lessons
They created the financial environment those years ago. With the Brexit they will need us again for the same purpose since Europe financial services will be more trouble for them. It’s a cycle and we’re cresting the top again.
I thought you want to put a stop to PR and Status. Now is your chance.
Cayman is indeed not ready for independence, especially with the group of officials we have running the country. We all need, for now, to communicate with the UK as best we can and in the meantime, try to develop ourselves so if we must go independent we will not fail.
Too many countries go independent prematurely and never recover from it. We need to think about the well being of our kids and grandkids and not be selfish now.
And alot of countries are independent and doing well ??
So whats your point. You’re scare mongering is so repititious. All like you will allow the UK to rape this country. You will stand by and watch this.
How is the UK raping this country, What does the UK need that we have?
I think it’s the other way around. Cayman raping expats via work permits and not granting PR and Status to those that have done more for Cayman than natives
How is it works my out for Jamaica or Haiti?
You may not have a choice.
Alden & the government know what would happen on the announcement of implementing independence for Cayman from Britain: nothing short of an en-mass exodus.
One can only hope.
Amen!
Make dem leave! More vacancies available. And on your way out, please don’t hit your heads on the plane door! ?
Caymanomics
Sure, just get your torches back out so you can read the time on your Rolex. A caymanian ran country = a failed country
I thought Caymanians want mass exodus of expats and those that play the status role and have a second country.
hahahahaha…….
cayman can’t manage its own affairs.end of story.
but they still want to treat qualified expats who run this place like second class citizens…..
No need for any back and forth on this but if you review your comment with the condescension you wrote it with – who exactly is being treated like a second class citizen here?
Lmao you sound like a “qualified” idiot!?
You are the kettle calling the pot black…you are doing exactly what you are accusing Caymanians of doing…
Stop be decisive and offer a more productive response..You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t love it here..Stand with us and try to fight this cancer we call the UK. Parliament.
1. Cayman needs Mother to guarantee the debt book, and our profligate leadership looks dumb when they fail to acknowledge, or pretend to overlook, that reality. Independence is a non-starter, unless we’re also talking about choosing voluntary default.
2. We need to offer alternative enhanced-disclosures to help find and punish the bad people that might be lying on KYC forms or otherwise abusing the anonymity BOTs provide. Perhaps access to our UBO registry could be public, but with registration and administrative metadata to discourage republishing, and at a pay-to-play fee level that weeds out those that are just idly curious.
3. We need a unified BOT counter to argue for the preservation of some minimal level of compliant privacy that everyone can live with. One that honours UN Charters, while providing the tax and law enforcement transparency we’ve already committed to.
The people supporting independence ridicule and demean persons (like myself) against the idea of handing the reigns over to the people who can’t organize weekly garbage collections
Say what you will, about the UK, Imperialism, and whatever other songs you sing, Cayman is not ready, and we have no one to blame but ourselves, our politicians spent the last 20 years squabbling over a nonexistent throne and the right to have “Hon.” in front of their names
Instead of preparing for the eventual severing of ties we have been sitting on our thumbs and now that we have had a disagreement or feel as if they have overstepped, people think the right idea is a hasty divorce ( must be why the “family unit” is so strong these days)
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Caymanians excel at pushing the blame on others when things don’t go our way, whether its expats the FCO, or otherwise
When are we going to start holding our own accountable?
I support the eventual ideal of Caymanian independence. not for independence’s sake but so we can determine as a people a future for ourselves in only the way that we can
But I recognize it is an ideal a far off eventuality, and not a reality currently or in the foreseeable future, and that is the difference between myself, and the faux-intellectualism prevalent in these islands
Diogenes
Ummm..have you paid attention to the musical chair fracas and circus that is the British government and society today?
If that is meant to be an example, then Zeus help us all.
3:37 Your comment just proved Diogenes point.
And your comment is devoid of national “self-respect” and integrity.
We are not all as cowardly as you.
? oh for crying out … and I guess you will be riding a rainbow float parade, watching our lil island sink.
How nice.
The future is now Dio! Not til these overseas lords wreck up our financial center!
Link up with someone else…..the British empire really isn’t really that much of a powerhouse anymore anyway…..how bout US? They don’t seem to have to worry about tax evasion or money laundering regulations Delaware of the Caribbean…Aldart’s benefactor probably wouldn’t be too happy with that though.
Sorry, don’t want you. Will you take California?
poster is right…UK is done like toast.
If we have to leave here you bet its to the US or Canada because they have a real economies.
The UK is ranked 27 in per capita GDP which means it better to work 26 other places.
Canada.. they have their $hit together.
And Canada’s legal system matches up better with Cayman than US
Beer
Not independent. So when it comes to the crunch, the UK gets to decide. That is what not being independent is about.
I don’t like my government, but god damn I know when to back em.
Thank you Mr Premier. This is a fight we can and will win.
According to some who reside in these very comment sections we should step out purely to step regardless of the likely end result
I don’t even like the Premier remotely, but at least he has the sense to admit we are not ready for independence as much as he and his cabal would like to get his claws on it
For over 30 years this buzz word “independence” has been popping up its head every now and then. I always wondered and wrote repeated on CNS that I thought we should have been having discussions about it becoming a reality. I remember persons responding that the statement was rediculous and how we don’t have the wherewithal to even think about that. I was not advocating it, I just wanted the powers that be to discuss the possibility that one day we might have had to make the choice. Everyone always referred to the negative comparison with other Caribbean neighbors but at least by having that comparison we would have a blue print of what not to do. I wish we had been seriously discussing the pros and cons. It’s like preparing for s hurricane and hoping to God it does not come. We are now between the devil and a hard place and two years is really a short time.
NO!.. your spelling is ridiculous.. :p
I can fix spelling, you cannot fix stupid. Unless you are a teacher you won’t get paid for correcting spelling either so go knock yourself out.