Barbados Nation Co Uk Sources of barbados nation co uk resources from the Web

The government continues its efforts to reduce unemployment, encourage direct foreign investment, and privatise remaining state-owned enterprises. Unemployment has been reduced from high levels of around 14% in the past to only under 10%.

In the early 1970s, jazz fan and critic Carl Moore launched a project to keep jazz alive on the island, while Zanda Alexander's performance in Bridgetown in 1972 is said to be the first Caribbean jazz festival. Oscar Peterson's 1976 performance in Trinidad also inspired Barbadian musicians, as did the radio program Jazz Jam, which was broadcast starting in the mid-70s on the Caribbean Broadcast Corporation. In 1983, however, the Belair Jazz Club closed, and was not replaced by any long-term clubs.

Barbados has an independent judiciary composed of magistrate courts, which are statutorily authorized, and a Supreme Court, which is constitutionally mandated. The Supreme Court consists of the high court and the court of appeals, each with four judges. The Chief Justice serves on both the high court and the court of appeals. The court of last resort is the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council in London, whose decisions are binding on all parties. Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the governor general on the recommendation of the prime minister after consultation with the leader of the opposition.

Some hotels also provide visitors with shuttles to points of interest on the island. Hotel shuttles generally leave right outside of the Hotel's lobby. The island also has an abundance of Taxis-for-hire, visitors staying on the island may find this an expensive option, most hired-taxis will take you to points of interest but they can be expensive, visitors also have the option of car and vehicles rentals in Barbados, presuming they have a valid drivers license from their native country. Many of Barbados' annual visitors are repeat visitors.

Barbados has one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates in the world and is currently according to the UN, the #1 developing country in the world. The island is a major tourist destination.

The smaller of the two events is the Congaline Festival, which takes place during the last week of March. The Crop Over Carnival which includes various musical competitions, and other traditional activities usually kicks into high gear from the beginning of July, and ends in its entirety during the first week of August.

Though one might assume the island deals with severe tropical storms and hurricanes during the rainy season it actually does not. The island gets brushed or hit every 3.09 years and the average number of years between direct hurricane hits is once every 26.6 years.

Jazz is a genre of music from the United States which reached Barbados by the end of the 1920s. The first major performer from the island was Lionel Gittens, who was followed by Percy Green, Maggie Goodridge and Clevie Gittens. These bandleaders played a variety of music, including swing, a kind of pop-jazz, Barbadian calypso and waltzes. With little recorded music on the island, radio broadcasts such as Willis Conover's Voice of America had a major influence.

From 1958 to 1962, Barbados was one of 10 members of the West Indies Federation, and Sir Grantley Adams served as its first and only prime minister. When the federation was terminated, Barbados reverted to its former status as a self-governing colony. Following several attempts to form another federation composed of Barbados and the Leeward and Windward Islands, Barbados negotiated its own independence at a constitutional conference with the United Kingdom in June 1966. After years of peaceful and democratic progress, Barbados became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on November 30, 1966.

Traditional trading partners include: Canada, the Caribbean Community (especially Trinidad and Tobago), the United Kingdom, and the United States.