STEVIE AND SHAUNAE THE OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS: The Golden Twins in Tokyo. It was Steven Gardiner's turn on 5 August 2021 to win gold in the 400 metres at the Olympics. The next day 6 August 2021 day belonged to Shaunae Miller Uibo. Gold again for The Bahamas in the 400 metres. We predict one day she will be our Minister of Sports. CONGRATULATIONS and well done. 6 August 2021. OUR PHOTO OF THE WEEK. They celebrated each other in the stands.
NEW SANDALS FOR EXUMA: The Davis administration on 21 November 2025 signed a landmark heads of agreement with Sandals Resorts International for the $100 million redevelopment of Sandals Emerald Bay into the new Beaches Exuma Resort. The signing ceremony, held at the Office of the Prime Minister, formalized plans for the two-year transformation of the existing property into a family-focused resort. Our photo of the week shows the Prime Minister Philip Davis with Sandals Executives and Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, MP for Exuma. Our photo of the week.
The expression has been used many times over the last week, to describe the Leader of the Opposition and his band of merry men and women: “unhinged”. That seems apt in the circumstances of a person who is a real motor mouth. He cannot stop talking and what he talks is rot and lies. He started off his campaign in Golden Isles for the bye-election by alleging that a bag of passports was found on a Bahamasair plane and that an employee of the company was fired as result of it. The fact is there was no bag of passports found. He was asked to produce the evidence. He could not do so. He doubled down and then tried to change the subject. He was followed on the public platform by other FNM members who told one lie after the next, He conducted himself in a violent manner at the polls and engaged in mud throwing throughout the campaign. The most disgraceful scene, however, was the Leader of the Opposition leading the blockade of the departure of the ballot boxes for safekeeping in police headquarters. The FNM agreed on a set of procedures and then decided that they would not follow those procedures. He then led a mob to try to stop the ballot boxes from leaving. We call shame on this and say this is not an example for a leader of the opposition to set. It is a nasty race to the bottom. We urge the people of Golden Isles to look past this and vote for Darron Pickstock and the PLP on Monday 24 November 2025, election. Day. Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 22 November 2025 up to midnight: 549,247; Number of hits for the month of November up to Saturday 22 November 2025 up to midnight: 3,289,536; Number of hits for the year 2025 up to Saturday 25 November 2025 up to midnight: 34,600,807;
In the Golden Isles campaign, you would have thought that the campaign from the FNM side would have been about issues: how they would govern differently and what policies they would implement to help the people of Golden Isles. Instead it has been just one attempt or the other to talk nastiness and filth, make accusations without the facts to support them and to throw mud at the PLP. Michael Pintard started it off with the lies about a bag of passports on the Bahamasair plane. He doubled down on the lies and when challenged to come clean, refused to do so. So much so that the Nassau Guardian for God’s sake had to tell him come clean. He didn’t, he just doubled down on the lies and tried to shift the story. Duane Sands, the party chairman, had another tack. He attacked the presiding officer, saying that the man was conflicted. No evidence of the conflict, just evidence that the FNM agreed to one set of rules about ballot boxes and then didn’t want to abide by the rules. Instead an FNM mob tried to bum rush and block the departure of the ballot boxes on advanced poll night. Their Fox Hill candidate went further with the delusion that someone connected with the PLP broke into his office. The evidence is that he may have orchestrated the whole thing in order to make that claim. It’s a real race to the bottom, trying to outdo the nastiness and filth of the Coalition of Idiots headed by Lincoln Bain.
The following is excerpted from an editorial by the Nassau Guardian on 20th November 2025: Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Michael Pintard cannot reasonably expect to be regarded as a credible prime minister in waiting if he continues to make sensational claims that he cannot substantiate and then doubles down when asked to present even the slightest evidence. In recent days, Pintard asserted more than once that a “bag of passports” was discovered on a Bahamasair flight headed south. The weight of that claim demands evidence. Pintard presented none; he presented no documentation or a witness willing to go on the record. Instead, when questioned, he fell back on vague references to what he “believes” and what he has “heard”. Pintard should be more responsible, especially when dealing with matters that get at the core of national sovereignty. Instead, what we have seen from the leader of the opposition in recent days is a troubling refusal to distinguish fact from hearsay and a willingness to play into the worst fears of an already anxious public. At this point, Pintard is doing very little to separate himself from Lincoln Bain and the Coalition of Independents, a group that has thrived on making outlandish and unverified accusations while stoking xenophobia and resentment, particularly toward the Haitian diaspora in The Bahamas. Bain’s entire political strategy is grounded in rumor, suspicion and inflammatory rhetoric, often with no factual foundation. It is a naked attempt to create political inroads by playing to fear and frustration rather than reason. Many of us understand that Bain’s tactics, although gaining traction in some communities, are fundamentally wrong and corrosive to national unity. That Pintard now appears comfortable walking that same path should give every fairminded Bahamian pause.
Some things you cannot believe. On 15 October 2025, Lincoln Bain, who we call the chief of the Coalition of Idiots aka COI, went to church the Salem Baptist Church and sang Amazing Grace and then apologized to Michael Pintard with Mr. Pintard sitting in the church for calling him a crackhead. Mr. Bain is a greater actor than Mr. Pintard. The crackhead comment came after a heated exchange outside the House of Assembly just the week before. Mr. Bain went further on his page on Facebook on 17 October 2025 to say that Mr. Pintard did not have to accept his apology, he was doing it not for Mr. Pintard but that God had inspired him to do so. God gets blamed for so many things these days. Be assured though that in Mr. Bain’s case these are the tears of a clown.
File photo of presentation of instruments to Rick Fox Over the past month, the Bahamian/Canadian basketball star Rick Fox has been teasing the public with statements on his Facebook page that indicate that he is thinking about venturing into the political arena. It is still at this point playing too coy but in a small society it doesn’t last long before the proverbial monkey puts a question to his ma? Are you PLP or FNM? At the moment it looks as if he is FNM. His latest statement about free speech and his appointment with the honorific as Ambassador not limiting his freedom of speech, was preceded by a statement from the Leader of the Opposition Michael Pintard. Mr. Pintard never one for keeping his counsel was running on and on, on a radio programme about what a great man Mr. Fox was and how he would love for him to join the FNM. It appears that they are in a courtship. The political rumour is that Mr. Fox has agreed to run on the FNM ticket in the Garden Hills constituency. It is not for us to give advice to someone who is a neophyte to local life and who has spent more than half of his life in the heady atmosphere of Hollywood and the NBA, but small town politics is a different game, and hanging around one’s buddies at the bar in Albany is not the basis upon which to make a decision to launch a campaign for Prime Minister. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell spoke best with the support of The Tribune: an honorable man knows what to do when he has reached the point where he no longer supports the appointing authority that gave him his job. That’s all that need be said at this point.
The Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in a voice note on Wednesday 19 November 2025 said the following while congratulating the newly appointed Ambassadors for The Bahamas. The Tribune carried the story under the headline: MITCHELL HINTS FOX SHOULD RESIGN OVER POLTICAL COMMENTS. Here is a verbatim report of what he said: “First, let me restate a longstanding and well-understood principle of diplomatic service: All ambassadors tender their resignations upon the confirmation of a new government following a general election—even when the same political party is returned to office. This is not unusual, nor is it new policy. It is simply the accepted convention that ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the government in office. An ambassador represents the government, its policies, and its positions abroad. If at any time an ambassador finds himself or herself unable to faithfully carry out that mandate because of differences of opinion with the appointing authority, the honourable course of action is clear. No instruction is required; honourable people know what must be done in such circumstances.”
The following appeared in The Tribune’s Editorial of Thursday 20 November 2025 as advice to the basketball star Rock Fox, who is an ambassador at large for The Bahamas and now is seeking it appears to take on a political role. The editorial wrote these words under the headline: A RESIGNATION IS CORRECT STEP: “The former NBA star clearly has strong opinions—and that is a good thing. He is more than entitled to share them—but he should not do so while still bearing the title of ambassador. “The title should be occupied by someone who does not openly favour one side or the other, who stays apolitical, at least when it comes to matters of election campaigning. “Indeed one wonders why, if Mr. Fox is at odds with this administration’s handling of matters, he would wish to keep the title anyway.”
At the age of 81 and frail, Al Collie, the successful musician and businessman, a strong PLP, was allegedly shot 4 times in his bedroom not by criminals but it is alleged by the police, in the wee hours of Wednesday 19 November 2025. The plan is to charge him on Monday 24 November 2025 with having an unlicensed firearm and maybe even shooting at the police. The story is that Mr. Collie who lives on the western foreshore at Rock Point was in his home at 1 a.m. in the morning and heard a scream from his housekeeper. The housekeeper had been the subject of a home invasion before and had been tied up. Mr. Collie discharged a warning shot. The invaders unidentified responded by breaking down the door to his bedroom and discharging reportedly 18 shots from automatic weapons. They reportedly hit Mr. Collie reportedly four times. On the face of it this story makes no sense. Mr. Collie and his family were mortified that he got shot by the police and that his house was invaded by the police with a report that he was trafficking drugs and guns. The report is that they found two guns. The one he allegedly discharged for which there is a license reportedly and the other was reportedly unlicensed. The whole thing is ridiculous. Mr. Collie has spent nights in hospital in custody and remains in hospital awaiting the charges. It must be shocking to him having helped to build this country that the next generation could invade his house end up shooting him and narrowly escaping death. That is a story repeated all around in our country that knows little or cares little about antecedents and history. It was lucky that a police, officer was on duty who finally realized who they had shot and provided the appropriate medical care. But time and again citizens of prominence in a bygone are mistreated by the next generation and treated like dirt. Just saying.
Well Election Day for the Golden Isles voters is on Monday 24 November 2025, one day away from the date of this column. The answer for the Golden Isles voters to the proverbial question, who ya voting for is Darron Pickstock and the PLP. It should be clear after the performance of the FNM and the COI during this past week and during the total campaign that they are not fit and proper to be elected. Michael Pintard, the Leader of the FNM, in particular is not fit for purpose. He seems mentally unhinged and unfocused and was engaged in a series of prevarications that show again, he is not fit for purpose. We reject Lincoln Bain of the Opposition COI as a liar and scum without a safe mental anchor. That leaves the choice clear as day Darron Pickstock as a stable, safe, young, faithful and hard working alternative. He will do the right things for Golden Isles. He will support the continuation of the government’s policies. He is a safe bet.
The late Terence Bethel The following statement was issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the PLP on International Men’s Day 19 November 2025: 19th November 2025 As we mark International Men’s Day, I deem it an honour and privilege to salute the men in our country. While the immeasurable contributions of men transcend political persuasion, this day in the Bahamas should forever identify with the Men’s Branch of the PLP born out of the dedicated work of the PLP’S then vice chairman, the late Terence Bethel. He was the central and forceful figure who drove the idea across the region and globally. His successors in the men’s branch, Keith Cox, Corington Burrows and Joseph Johnson, continue to lead the work. The idea came to me as I watched the inspiring work of the Anglican Church Men. The church and our party share a common mission today. Sadly, Terence Bethel died on New Year’s Eve 2020 with his mission firmly grounded yet unfinished. In memory of his wonderful life, we, the men of the PLP, remain committed to his work. As Chairman of the PLP, I take pride in my record of fierce advocacy for the education and wholesome support for our boys and men. We need good boys and men to partner with our girls and women to build a stronger society. Today, we pay tribute to all those men who help to shape and build our nation by way of their various constructive roles. We wish them well. May God continue to bless our men, and may our brother Terence rest in peace. END
This report first appeared in The Nassau Guardian on 21 November 2025: The unemployment rate in The Bahamas dropped to 9.3 percent in the second quarter of 2025, newly released statistics from the Bahamas National Statistical Institute show. The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2025 was 10.8 percent. “Unemployment declined in the second quarter of 2025, with the number of unemployed persons falling to 22,470, a reduction of 3,455 persons relative to the previous quarter.,” according to the latest Labour Force Survey. “The number of unemployed males declined to 10,690 from 12,630 in the previous quarter, while female unemployment also decreased, falling to 11,780 in the second quarter from 13,295 in the first quarter. “The unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2025 was 9.3 percent, representing a decline of 1.5 percentage points from 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2025. The unemployment rate for males and females each declined by 1.6 and 1.3 percentage points, respectively. “Among youths, the unemployment rate stood at 20.3 percent, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2025.” Analysis shows that the number of discouraged workers in the country was 2,270, representing a decline compared to the previous quarter. This category refers to individuals who are without work and available to work, but are not actively seeking employment because they are not optimistic about their chances of finding a job. The total labor force in the second quarter was 241,090 individuals – 121,840 males and 119,250 females. In the second quarter 2025 (April to June), there were 218,620 employed individuals, representing an increase of 3,895 persons compared to the first quarter 2025 (January to March), according to the survey.
The Paula Hanna Miller, sister in law of former Prime Minister Perry Christie, was buried following a ceremony at St Agnes Church on Friday 21 November 2025. Governor General Dame Cynthia Pratt, Prime Minister Philip Davis, Chester Cooper, Deputy Prime Minister, Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pia Glover Rolle, the Minister for the Public Service and JoBeth Coleby Davis, the Minister of Transport attended the service.
From Facebook: Fred Mitchell having a chat with Kirkwood Evans aka Goldie at the burnt ot place of his former establishment at the Fish Fry Arawak Cay. 21 November 2025
From Facebook: Ministers Myles LaRoda and Fred Mitchell wish Darron Pickstock Well in the by-election for Monday 24 November 2025 at the final campaign rally on Thursday 20 November 2025
From Facebook: I was honoured to meet the head chef Jeffery Edgecombe Jr, back of house in the kitchen at Government House as he prepared bread pudding for desert for the next function at Government House. I was taken there by my old friend and butler at Government House Eduardo Cox. Thank you gentlemen. The Finance Minister has just signed off on a new career path and this goes with a brand new kitchen that can handle all Government House catering. Fred Mitchell MP Fox Hill 17 November 2025
