Daily Archives: February 5, 2022

Some of the girls Im coaching have been messaging saying I cant believe you were there. The incredulity described by Ed Joyce, the former Ireland international and current womens head coach, pretty much sums up the universal reaction to crickets involvement with Allen Stanford.

Formerly Sir Allen, this Texan tycoon, financial fraudster and supposed billionaire even managed to get himself knighted. That is, until the honour was revoked when his crimes came to light. Well get to that.

In 2012 after an FBI and US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, Stanford was found guilty of running a Ponzi scheme, defrauding countless investors of billions of dollars. Money laundering was also allegedly involved in his story (though Stanford was never charged with laundering offences), as were drug cartels and extra-marital affairs. Stanford remains in prison currently serving a 110-year sentence.

The exact numbers involved in his company, Stanford International Bank, are difficult to quantify. What is certain is that upon his sentencing, Stanford was ordered to surrender $5.9 billion.

The bizarre tale of this criminals investment in cricket took place back in 2008, but has been catapulted back into the public eye thanks to two recent documentaries, both called The Man Who Bought Cricket. One was a podcast produced by the BBC, the other a three part video series on Sky.

To be fair to the countless other nations that play the sport, it was solely English and Caribbean cricket that Stanford temporarily bought. His involvement started in 2008 and ended the following year when he was taken into custody.

Stanford based himself in Antigua. Being the islands largest employer, he was widely seen as a hero, hence the knighthood. He also pumped his (well, it probably wasnt his, as we now know) wealth into West Indian cricket.

According to the Sky documentary, Stanford wanted to build his profile in the UK, so - ever the showman - he flew to London and landed a helicopter at Lords, English crickets spiritual home.

The England Cricket Board (ECB) welcomed him with open arms. What he had to offer was $20 million in prize money for the winner of a one-off match in the stadium he built back in Antigua. The competitors were to be England and a Stanford Superstars side - essentially the West Indian national team. It was the richest single payday in the history of team sports. The ECB asked where to sign.

England went to Antigua in October 2008. They were joined by Middlesex, the winners of a domestic English tournament that year. Trinidad & Tobago, champions of the equivalent Caribbean competition, also tagged along since England and the Superstars needed warm-up games before their contest. Middlesex and Trinidad had a one-off cash showdown between themselves, but it was for $280,000, far less than the $20 million figure offered to their international counterparts.

Eagle-eyed Irish viewers of the Sky documentary would have noticed a few familiar faces. Joyce was there alongside fellow Ireland international Tim Murtagh, both playing in Middlesexs distinctive pink jerseys.

For many, the idea of the big money games just wasnt cricket. Joyce makes his attitude towards the Caribbean trip abundantly clear: Honestly from our point of view we were on holiday.

It didnt seem strange at all. This super wealthy guy thought it was a good idea so we didnt question it. Not many people would have known who Allen Stanford was before, so it just wasnt a big deal.

Myself and my wife got married just before it, we were supposed to go on honeymoon straight after the summer to Argentina and we ended up going to Antigua for a cricket tour instead. It typified our relationship; she calls herself a cricket widow, sacrificing her honeymoon for a tour.

Murtagh echoes similarly positive sentiments: To be fair the whole thing was really well run. People picked us up from the airport, they all had the Stanford clothing with logos on, the buses had Middlesex plastered on the side, it was all professionally done. We stayed at a place called Jolly Beach, an all-inclusive resort.

The ground itself was quite picturesque, nice grassy banks around it, but I remember the facilities being pretty ropey.

These facilities ended up costing Joyce and his Middlesex teammates a bit of cash. During their $280,000 match against Trinidad & Tobago, an expensive dropped catch was blamed on the grounds lighting.

I dropped a bit of money for the lads alright admits Joyce. We didnt get much of a score but it wasnt a great wicket and we actually were doing quite well, but then I dropped Darren Bravo at long on.

Murtagh adds some important context in jest, but to be fair to his former teammate, he is quick to point out a mitigating floodlight issue at Stanfords ground that caused catching problems for all the teams: Bravo went on to score the runs that won them the game! The lights were so low at the ground that any ball that went up above them, you lost sight of it - they were terrible. Ill give him (Joyce) a little bit of leeway there but he definitely spilled a catch that might have cost us.

Andrew Strauss dropped one of the easiest chances Joyce helpfully points out, referencing the then future England captain. It was a tricky ground to field at.

Stanford was obviously not involved in the cricket, but he still did everything he could to make himself the star of the show. Murtagh recalls a strange encounter when the Texan entered the Middlesex changing room to say hello: The dressingroom in sports is a sanctuary and not even members of management from your own county or country come in there.

He (Stanford) constantly had a TV crew with him the whole time, so he walked in, shook everyones hand, sat down and had a beer with us. It was friendly and chatty enough but the fact that this bloke just bowled in was bizarre.

Everyone went along with it since he was bankrolling the whole thing, it was like be nice to this rich American bloke that none of us know, play our games, have the trip and then get out of there.

Joyce agrees: It was his ground, his rules.

Stanford clearly thought that his cash gave him power over the players. He tried to further show them who was boss during Middlesexs clash with England. The Sky series details how, in the middle of the game, he popped up on the grounds big screen with one woman sat on his knee and his arms wrapped around two more. Some of them turned out to be wives and girlfriends of the England players. You can guess their reaction, given how the partners were put in such an awkward position, even if Stanford claimed to not know who they were.

Joyce moved clubs to Sussex the following season and two of his new teammates, Matt Prior and Luke Wright, saw their partners caught up in Stanfords off-field carnival. The episode and the Antigua experience as a whole did briefly come up in conversation: It was a talking point between the lads since they were part of that England team but they didnt talk about the tour that much because they didnt win their game (the Superstars won the $20 million).

I do remember the girls, they were just having a good time, thinking who was this guy with all this money, having a few drinks.

They (the England players) were higher profile than we were and I remember them not being particularly happy about the whole thing. I can understand why, big schedules for those guys, big superstars and theyre almost being paraded by an American businessman (acting in this way).

There is of course a more sinister side to this Caribbean jolly. It was an all-expenses paid holiday with a bit of semi-serious cricket for Middlesex, but given what we now know about Stanford, whose money actually paid those expenses?

Nobody blames the players, they were just fulfilling a schedule handed to them by organisers. The real questions should be aimed at the governing bodies that associated their talent with Stanford.

It affected peoples lives and you felt bad admits Murtagh. I guess he used that money to pay for us to fly out there, to be put up in the nice five star resort, so now thinking back its the first time you realise it was normal peoples money and their life savings, money they never saw again.

We relied on the ECB to have done their due diligence and worked out if it was the right thing to do.

As Joyce succinctly adds: Thats where the ECB have egg on their face, getting into bed with a massive crook.

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Allen Stanford - the American crook who bought cricket's soul in the Caribbean - The Irish Times

Royal Caribbean (RCL) - Get Royal Caribbean Group Report and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) - Get Carnival Corporation Report endlessly attempt to one-up each other. If one cruise line adds indoor skydiving, the other one installs a roller coaster. We've seen aqua theaters, laser tag, skating rinks, bumper cars, and an ongoing attempt to squeeze bigger and better water slides onto a cruise ship.

It's an arms race that makes sense because Royal Caribbean and Carnival both cater to families. If a better water slide, a Broadway show (Royal Caribbean), or having restaurants created by Food Network personality Guy Fieri (Carnival) gets people to book, then those innovations make sense.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival operate like Disney World and Universal Studios.It's an endless series of new ideas and innovations that pushes the other stretch the reality of the experiencesthat can be offered on a cruise ship.

If one didn't have the other, cruise passengers probably would not have virtual reality experiences, bars that move between multiple decks, another bar that's run by robot bartenders, innovative escape rooms, and so many other things.

This war for customers has also led to a bigger is better mentality. Royal Caribbean has led the way with its Oasis Class ships a five-ship fleet which will add Wonder of the Seas -- the biggest cruise ship in the world -- later this year. Carnival has been slow to answer as its largest class, the Excel Class, only has one member, Carnival Mardi Gras,

That's going to change (relatively) soon and it ups the ante as Royal Caribbean works on Icon of the Seas, the first member of its latest class of ships.

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Carnival Mardi Gras entered service for the cruise line in July when the company came back from the pandemic. It has been sailing out of Port Canaveral, Fla., since its debut.

"Mardi Gras has been five years in the making and today's arrival is a historic milestone for our company not to mention a truly emotional moment for everyone here at Carnival Cruise Line," said Carnival President Christine Duffy in a June press release. "This ship offers so many innovations and ways for our guests to choose fun that we are certain that she will quickly become a guest favorite. And as we look forward to our restart in guest operations, Mardi Gras' arrival is symbolic of the excitement and anticipation we have about the future at Carnival Cruise Line."

When fully operational, Mardi Gras carries 1,750 crew members and up to 6,500 passengers. The ship, Carnival's largest, offers "the first shipboard version of the hit TV show "Family Feud," and dine in more than two dozen restaurants with venues from Guy Fieri, Emeril Lagasse, Rudi Sodiman and the line's Chief Fun Officer Shaquille O'Neal.

Now, Carnival's best-in-the-fleet ship has two sister vessels that will begin sailing soon.

"This fall, more excitement arrives when Carnival Celebration arrives home to PortMiami. Carnivals next Excel-class ship will share all the fun guests are enjoying on Mardi Gras, like BOLT (the on-board roller coaster), plus some exclusive features as well," Carnival shared in a press release.

The third Excel-class ship, Carnival Jubilee, will be the first in the class to not sail out of Florida. It will operate out of Galveston, Texas, beginning in the fall of 2023.

Royal Caribbean has moved its Oasis class Allure of the Seas to Galveston to compete. In addition, Wonder of the Seas will sail from Fort Lauderdale beginning in March before it moves to home ports in Barcelona, Spain; and Rome.

Royal Caribbean President Michael Bayley hyped the new ship in a press release.

Along with taking the revolutionary Oasis Class ships to a new level of wonder, innovation and adventure, Wonder sets the stage for the spring and summer vacations families and all travelers alike are looking forward to in the new year," he said, "The combination of brand-new features and favorites that span thrills, entertainment,dining and nightlife is unparalleled, and its what will make our latest and most innovative ship the worlds newest wonder and the ultimate vacation in the Caribbean and Europe.

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Carnival Tries to Answer Royal Caribbean's Biggest Move - TheStreet

Shares of Royal Caribbean Group RCL, -4.76% fell 1.5% in premarket trading Friday, after the cruise operator reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and revenue that missed expectations again, as the omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 led to cruise cancellations and service disruptions. The net loss narrowed to $1.36 billion, or $5.33 a share, from $1.37 billion, or $6.09 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, the adjusted loss per share narrowed to $4.78 from $5.02, but was wider than the FactSet loss consensus of $3.92. Revenue rose to $982.2 million from $34.1 million, but was below the FactSet consensus of $1.04 billion. That marks the sixth-straight quarter the company has missed revenue expectations. The company had started gradually resuming cruise operations in December 2020. Given the impact of the omicron variant, the company expects to operate about 95% of its planned capacity in the first quarter, and expects to be cash flow positive in late spring. "Following a record U.S. black Friday and cyber weekend, the spread of the Omicron variant resulted in a softening in booking volumes and an increase in near-term cancellations," said Chief Financial Officer Naftali Holtz. "Similar to our experience following Delta, we expect bookings to materially increase as we get further beyond the peak of cases." The stock has dropped 10.6% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.52% has lost 4.3%.

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Royal Caribbean stock falls after wider-than-expected loss, another revenue miss - MarketWatch

Marjoleine Kars, Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast. The New Press. 2020.

Price: USD $27.99 | 362 pages

Tom Zoellner, Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire. Harvard University Press. 2020.

Price: $29.95 | 363 pages

Former Trinidadian Prime Minister and historian Eric Williams once stated, Slavery was not born of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery. Profound words which reflect the powerful impact slavery has had on societylong after the institution was abolished in the English, Dutch, and French-speaking Caribbean. Considering how plantation agriculture was such a powerful force in Caribbean development and brought such massive amounts of wealth to a handful of owners (mainly in Europe), it is no surprise that some of the most barbarous conditions were found in European Caribbean colonies. The most notable of these was Saint-Domingue, modern-day Haiti, which for a brief time late in the 18th century was the worlds leading sugar and coffee producer. The highly repressive nature of that plantation system eventually exploded in 1792 into the Haitian Revolution, the only successful slave rebellion to create a new country.

Caribbean history, however, is filled with failed slave rebellions. Each is worthy of a place in memory through graceful and compassionate retellings. Two of the books that function in this capacity are Marjoleine Kars Blood on the River and Tom Zoellners Island of Fire. Both books are masterful tales, the first breathing life into what had been a largely forgotten rebellion against the Dutch in Berbice in 1763 and the second taking place in Jamaica from 1831 to 1832.

Kars, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, discovered a forgotten cache of records in the Dutch National Archives in The Hague that covered the Berbice rebellion (a Dutch holding which is now part of Guyana). Noteworthy items included the daily journal of the colonial governor, European correspondence, 500 handwritten pages of slave interrogations, and letters written by the ex-slaves to the Dutch authorities. For Kars, these records were a major find, We have few sources for the eighteenth century in which enslaved people actually speak, and here were their voices captured in old Dutch.

What are the takeaways from Kars book? The plantation system established in Berbice in the 17th century was exceedingly brutal and included sexual violence, starvation, and disease. Dutch control extended from a handful of white families, to their overseers (often slaves with privileges), and finally over a large, enslaved population. The system was reinforced by alliances with the colonys Amerindians, who were often used to hunt escaped slaves. Under such grim conditions, its no wonder that when an opportunity to overthrow the system arose, the enslaved population was quick to embrace it.

The driving force behind the rebellion was a man named Coffij (also spelled Coffy). At first the rebellion was a major success, with thousands of participants who largely drove the Europeans out of the colony. Colonial authority, headed by Governor Wolfert Simon van Hoogenheim, hung by a thread. Although the rebellion persisted for a year, it eventually fell apart under the pressures of internal politics, Coffijs suicide, Amerindian hostility, and starvation. The Dutch settlers of Berbice, aided by the power of their colonial empire, were able to obtain the needed food, weapons, and soldiers needed to reclaim their slice of the Caribbean.

One of the strengths of Blood on the River is Kars appreciation of where the Berbice rebellion fits historically. The author situates the rebellion in the context of the Age of Revolutions, a period of political upheaval stretching from the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 through the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions to the anti-colonial movements in South America in the 1820s. During this era, not only elites but also peasants, Indians, ordinary whites, and slaves fought for greater autonomy and better lives, though how they defined these values differed greatly. Kars makes this point to illustrate how the enslaved people in Berbice were united in their desire to end European control but divided as to what kind of society should replace it.

The question of what kind of society should be formed post-emancipation is at the heart of Zoellners Island on Fire. Zoellners fast-paced story recounts a five-week long rebellion led by enslaved preacher Samuel Sharpe in Jamaica. What began as a peaceful labor dispute in 1831 soon transformed into one of the more memorable uprisings in the Caribbean. Paradoxically, the brutal force the British used to crush the rebellion only helped to draw the institution of enslavement to a faster end. Indeed, the image of freedom fighters refusing to return to enslavement helped fuel a growing antislavery movement on both sides of the Atlantic.

Zoellner provides a particularly gritty image of Jamaican society. He paints a picture of a money-driven, coarse, and sex-hungry upper class who lack any sense of community spirit. Disgusted contemporary observer James Ramsey described Jamaica as the Kingdom of I where the glorification of the individual took precedence over public spirit, over building anything to last, and over the suffering of others indeed, over everything. As Zoellner himself writes, Nothing seemed permanent; almost everything was built for cheapness, utility, and disposal. Those who were best equipped to build a lasting society those of the moneyed overclass were away in England.

Jamaicas sugar put the island on the global economic map. It also created a class of exceedingly wealthy planters, many of whom became active in British parliamentary politics, forming a critical swing group in determining the outcome of key votes. Zoellner details the divide between the riches of a few and brutal exploitation of the many, To be a successful West Indian planter was to be in possession of some of the most rapidly accruing wealth in the entire British Empire, thanks to a widespread passion for creams, whips, cakes, tarts, pancakes, puddings, and the omnipresent hot tea with sugar. Feeding this addiction on a grand scale was made possible by the labor of the approximately 860,000 kidnapped Africans transported to Jamaica as slaves between 1600 and 1807.

Three major developments changed this situation: the emergence of other sugar-producing parts of the world, a gradual reform of the British political system which put pressure on such practices as rotten boroughs (small and often sparsely inhabited parliamentary constituencies that could be bought and sold), and the growing power of the anti-enslavement movement. The mix of these factors reduced the hold of the planter party over British politics, weakened the economic base of the planter class, and spread the word in the Caribbean that the end of enslavement was coming.

While the road to the 1831 rebellion ran through the brutality of the plantation system, the larger picture must not be forgotten. Jamaica was connected to world events, and there were those among the enslaved that could read and understand that things were changingmainly against enslavement. The external forces included everything from the Haitian Revolution to English parliamentary debates on abolition.

The face of the 1831 rebellion was Samuel Sharpe, an enslaved Baptist preacher who was educated, eloquent, and able to travel from plantation to plantation. He was well-known to both the black enslaved population and the white Baptist clergy on the island, including those with strong ties back to England. What brought the rebellion about was Sharpes belief that King William IV had made the enslaved free and that the slaveholders were keeping a secret. It is alleged that Sharpe said, if the black man did not stand up for themselves, and take their freedom, the whites would put them out at the muzzles of their guns and shoot them like pigeons. Sharpe organized an island-wide general strike, intended to be peaceful, but clearly signaling that the enslaved wanted their rights respected.

Somewhere along the way the protest sparked an outright rebellion, which lasted ten days and resulted in the deaths of 14 white colonists and more than 200 enslaved people. The colonial authorities crushed the rebellion using a combined force of local militia (described as generally worthless and sadistic), British regulars, and Maroons (ex-slaves who had forged their own independent areas with an agreement with the colonial authorities to help with escapes and rebellions).

One of the big mysteries of the 1831 rebellion was Sharpe. Zoellmer captures some of the lingering ambiguity around the man, But even as Sharpe became a national symbol, he still contained an irresolvable paradox in his person. Was he a man of war, who wanted to burn down the great houses and seize the island for black self-rule, as had been done in Haiti? Or was he a man of peace, who insisted on Gandhian nonviolence and only wanted enslaved people to be paid for their work?

No matter the mystery over Sharpe, the 1831 rebellion gave considerable momentum to what Zoellmer calls the final drive to asphyxiate slavery throughout the British Empire. The British public was aghast at the violent downfall of the rebellion, which was revealed to them by figures visiting from the island. By 1833, a bill for the abolition of slavery was introduced and passed by Parliament. Although Sharpe was dead (having been executed in 1832), his hand clearly had an influence on the passage of the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act.

Both Kars Blood on the River and Zoellners Island of Fire are strongly recommended for general readers and university level students, as they provide gripping insights into two important events in Atlantic history, capturing the nuances of enslaved peoples struggle for freedom against brutally exploitative systems.

Scott B. MacDonald is the chief economist at Smiths Research & Gradings, Research Fellow at Global Americans, and founding director of the Caribbean Policy Consortium. He is currently working on a book on the new Cold War in the Caribbean.

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Slave Rebellions in the Caribbean: A Global Americans Review of Island on Fire and Blood on the River - Global Americans

Just one month after commencing Guyana operations, Inter-Caribbean Airways has added five Guyanese flight attendants to their crew and presented them with their signatory wings on Friday.

The simple ceremony was held at the Roraima Duke Lodge where the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados-based airline Trevor Sadler noted that the move is in keeping with the companys local content promise of ensuring a balanced capacity of Barbadians and Guyaneseworkers.

On our entry into this dynamic market, we said that we are committed to training and hiring locals and this is a testament to that promise today, the CEO remarked.

The move was lauded by the Director-General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Egbert Field who urged the new flight attendants to be pioneers of the sector.

Inter-Caribbean Airways did not only talk the talk, you see action and now, you five flight attendants, but you are also ambassadors of Guyanayou are flying that flag of Guyana out there so be aware of it, Field said.

The five attendants were partof a batch of seven that endured a rigorous four-week training with written and physical tests by flight trainer, Milton Hernandez.

According to new flight attendants, the training entailed learning how to open and close doors of various aircraft, types to jumping down slides, and evacuating passengers in a pool to simulate a water ditching.

The newly trained Anna Layne shared with the News Room that becoming a flight attendant was never the plan but a later love for the aviation sector put her on the career path.

This is my third go around and it was my most challenging with a lot of anxiety about the final exam but we made it and it means a lot to me, being an ambassador for Guyana through Inter-CaribbeanI am patriotic, local to the bone so I wanna show the world what we offer in aviation, she shared.

Inter-Caribbean Airways commenced direct flights between Guyana and Barbados on December 17.

The regional airline offers flights to some 27 destinations within the Caribbean and currently, a base in Barbados serves as a hub to other Eastern Caribbean destinations and now, Guyana.

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Five newly trained Guyanese flight attendants added to Inter-Caribbean crew - News Room Guyana

By Daniel Shvartsman

Investing.com Whatever the volatile start to trading in 2022 can tell us about the state of the market, one old stand-by has held true the mega-cap tech stocks, represented by FAANG or FAAMNG or whatever other acronym, lead the overall market for higher or for lower.

Netflixs disappointing earnings came during the worst of market selling. Microsofts impressive earnings report the next week more or less coincided with the corrections bottom (at least so far); Apples helped push the market back in the positive direction.

And this week, the market has seemed to follow the tone of each market giant that has reported Alphabets sterling Q4 pushed markets higher on Wednesday, before Meta Platforms dour guidance dragged the Nasdaq down 3%.

All of which is a long way of saying that Amazon (NASDAQ:) was the latest on the bump with their post-earnings report today. The report met revenue expectations and had an EPS beat fueled by the companys Rivian stake, but even with muted guidance the stock is soaring after-hours at this writing. A sign of where the market goes tomorrow?

Here are three things to watch in markets tomorrow beyond the Amazon reaction:

Expectations for have ratcheted down after the weak with 301K jobs lost in January and murmurings from the Biden administration warning that this may be a disappointing report. actually came in below expectations today, which may be a tea leaf in favor of that interpretation: jobs numbers will be poor and weird due to temporary time off from Omicron related illness, as the milder COVID-19 variant still wrought havoc on work schedules and health of people around the country and world.

The mean expectation from analysts is for the report to show 150K new jobs. lGoldman Sachs wrote in a note that they expect a drop of 250K jobs due to omicron related absenteeism. As ever, what the market is pricing in at this stage remains to be seen.

While big tech names have cleared the decks in a raucous start to earnings season, there is a good batch of pre-market earnings to close out the week. Bristol MyersSquibb (NYSE:) is to show 9% revenue growth and 23% reported earnings per share growth; Sanofi (NASDAQ:) is for a more muted 4% EPS and revenue growth; and Regeneron (NASDAQ:) is to post revenue growth of 86% and EPS growth of 110%.

Amid a week that may show both Omicron headwinds on the job side and end of the pandemic at least as a market factor on the Facebook (NASDAQ:) side, Royal Caribbeans should make for an interesting read-through to the travel sector and projected recovery.

Royal Caribbean (NYSE:) is expected to boast $1.03B in revenue, many times above last years still in the pandemic number, but that is still barely 40% of the two years ago quarter. So the cruise lines outlook will be telling for whether its peers and the travel and services sectors at large are ready to set sail again.

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Jobs Report, Pharma Earnings, Royal Caribbean - 3 Things To Watch By Investing.com - Investing.com