News
The Cost of the Coronation; Many say it was too high
By Dana Malcom
Staff Writer
#UnitedKingdom, May 10, 2023 – As the pomp and ceremony of the first coronation in 71 years fades, many residents in the UK and around the world are now questioning whether the cost for the crowning of Britain’s new king was justified.
The dollar amount has not been revealed by Buckingham Palace but the BBC puts it between $63 – $126 million dollars / $49 – $99 million pounds.
The 2023 coronation of King Charles III was more expensive than the ceremony held in 1953 when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and that of King George VI, in 1937 who was his grandfather. Still, millions watched on television, thousands turned out despite drenching rain to see the spectacle in person.
Commentators have said the inflated cost is owing to the need for increased security, but also the massive productions attached to the ceremony which comes as the country languishes in a major cost of living crisis.
More recently, Inflation in the UK was 10.1% in March 2023, the seventh successive month of double-digit inflation
and food prices reached 45 year highs. In addition, public sector workers are railing against their working conditions and compensation packages. The largest nurses strike in the UK was carried out in February with hundreds of healthcare and ambulance workers walking off the job as they advocated for inflation adjusted pay.
Railway workers continued the largest instance of industrial action in the country since 1989 in February as well with protracted protests set to spread into May; and in April, passport workers followed suit beginning a weeks long strike, prompted again by disputes over salaries.
A YouGov poll indicated 51 percent of respondents were not pleased with taxpayer money funding the event, only 32 percent agreed with the expense.
The UK is also in the hot seat in the eyes of it’s overseas territories, many of whom are still trying to secure funding for parliament buildings of their own and increased investment in National Security. Those issues will likely be raised at the Joint Ministerial Council to be held in the coming days.
The hope from many residents is that the cost will be justified by the money it brings back into the British economy. Hardcore Royals fans flying in to see the event, and exclusive TV viewing rights are all potential sources of income that could level out the expense. But even if that does happen the optics are still in question for many.
The UK is listed as one of the only countries that still practices this type of lavish coronation ceremony. Other monarchies either have no coronation process at all or have their royals say their binding oaths before elected representatives to make their royal stature official.
In Denmark, the crown is only displayed at the monarch’s funeral; in Monaco there are no crowns at all.
There are also rows within commonwealth countries about dumping the Royal pomp and pageantry as head of state, migrating to Republic status and former colonies are advocating for reparations given the admissions related to the atrocities of colonization.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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