So, will the elections be this year or next? The final decision on the election date is not a thing to be negotiated or debated by the prime minister.

Alleged PUP corruption has been the main plank of the UDP’s general election campaigns of 1998, 2003 and, now, 2008. For its part, if the Opposition seemed to have been caught without a plan from June 2007 onwards, it’s because it didn’t have one.

Taken together or singly, these three can decimate the population, wreak socio-economic havoc and bring the country to its knees. They do not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, class, ethnicity or anything else.

At the start of every hurricane season, NEMO and the Belize Red Cross run television and radio advertisements advising the public about the start of the hurricane season, the need for a family plan and other hurricane safety tips. As is the case with their personal health, many people ignore these precautions until the last minute.

Mr. David Gegg ... has been involved in Belize tourism for 35 years, is in many respects a pioneer of Belize tourism and has an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit. He dreamt of doing a marina project on the shoreline of the West Landivar area of Belize City. But his dream was a nightmare for some residents of West Landivar.

In Belize the preoccupation is not with how liberal or conservative the Supreme Court is. Far more basic than that, people look to see whether justices of the Supreme Court are controlled by the government of the day or are susceptible to corruption.

The Government of Hugo Chavez has so far given a US $5.6 million grant to Belize, US $50 million loan to assist with the bond offering and a further US $10 million grant is in the pipeline. Leaders of other countries have received the Order of Belize for doing much less.

If not the most sensational post-independence Commission of Inquiry, then, certainly, the inquiry into the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has been the most controversial. With the report of one Commissioner, Mr. Justice Lord, out and that of Commissioner Bailey-Martinez expected shortly, what is likely to be the consequences of the Report(s)?

Mr. Hyde’s analysis of Said Musa, made over thirty years ago, remains instructive to an understanding of the political nature of the man: “Said has the patient wisdom of a sage, and I sense he will last longer and leave a deeper impression on Belize than Assad." Interestingly, the analysis of Said Musa remains largely relevant and insightful thirty years later.

Two MPs did not attend the Convention. They have twice been fired from Cabinet and are viewed by many within the party with mistrust and suspicion. For students of politics, the case of the missing members of parliament, makes for an interesting political case study.