Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

“Who Is Going To Be The Brave Soul?”

“Who Is Going To Be The Brave Soul?”

As the British Virgin Islands mark 70th anniversary of having a Legislative Council now renamed to the House of Assembly, Fourth District Representative Hon. Mark Vanterpool is questioning who will be the next Theodore Faulkner to lead the territory towards greater autonomy.
Faulkner who was a fisherman from Anegada, travelled to Tortola with his pregnant wife, had a disagreement with the physician and it led him to speak out against the social ills and overall discontent he felt towards the governance of the territory in the market. There was a major protest on November 24, 1949, and it paved the way the restoration of the Legislative Council and General Elections.

“Until somebody comes to us and say ‘listen, you gentlemen, we think it is time that you cut your navel string from your mother and go on your own.’ When that time happens we will all going to be scrambling and say what we are going to do and how we are going to do it. In the meantime, we need to prepare and move on to see what we can do to move to the next stage. We are learning from 70 years that these good gentlemen fought for us to be able to have our own legislature and sit in here,” he on Friday, December 4, 2020, during a special sitting to mark the 70th-anniversary event.

Hon. Vanterpool added, “It’s a lesson for us to learn, for our young persons to learn that they can aspire to something that they can do that once before they couldn’t aspire to that. What year are we going to aspire to Mr Speaker? That we are going to do the next step? Who is going to be the brave soul? Every time it is raised, ‘Let’s see what it’s going to cost to be independent, let’s do a cost analysis, let’s set up a committee to do the cost, let us set up a committee to do this, a committee to do that.”

Vanterpool pointed out that the BVI has been handling its own affairs for decades, yet the people still believe that the UK is needed.

“Sometimes, we are fearful; we are afraid to stand up and speak up as to where we think we should be and what we should be doing. We are here celebrating today, but there would not be a celebration if somebody even one, was not willing to stand up and to gather help and to get people to understand what it meant to be governed by persons other than yourselves, with no interest in yourselves, when you are capable of doing it for yourself,” he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×