New…Parliamentary dispensation

Parliament – especially its National Assembly arm – has its old and venerable traditions. One of them being a studied show of politeness when addressing or referring to other members. This is supposed to lend an impersonal tone to the proceedings. Your Eyewitness knows there are a lot of newbies in this 13th Parliament and hopes they’ve been briefed!!
Firstly, MPs can’t address each other directly – even though they may be sitting next to each other!! They can only refer to them as “The Honourable Member Miss or Mr So-and-so” and do this through the Speaker – who must be addressed as “Mr or Madam Speaker”!! Only someone from your side of the floor can be addressed as “My Honourable Friend”!!
One problem your Eyewitness can see coming up tomorrow is when it comes for Govt MPs – and even the Speaker – to refer to Sanction Man – who looks like he’ll be voted in as the new Opposition Leader – as “honourable”!! They’ve protested that he shouldn’t even be sitting in the House since, as a fugitive from American justice who refuses to clear his name, he’s anything but honourable!! Your Eyewitness suggests that he be addressed from across the aisle as the “Honourable Sanctioned Member…”!!! And from his side by folks like the APNU posse who support his elevation as “My Honourable Sanctioned Friend”!! It may sound jarring and may even cause some cognitive dissonance – but what the heck?? That’s par for the course in politics, innit?
Now tomorrow, of course, matters will start off by the Opposition MPs selecting the Leader of the Opposition (the LOO). While APNU’s Parliamentary leader Chicken Man has said they ain’t opposing Sanction Man, his deputy hinted things mightn’t be as straightforward!! What could he have up his sleeve??
Tomorrow, the rest of the day will be taken up with the Finance Minister just reading the Budget 2026. This has been (kindly) referred to as watching grass grow and (not so kindly) as having a molar extracted!! There’s always a bet on from the visitors’ gallery as to how many MPs will fall asleep!! These, of course, will be featured quite prominently in the tabloids!!
The action will really begin on Tuesday when Sanction Man – the presumptive and possibly the most presumptuous LOO – is expected to lead off the Opposition response to the Budget just presented!! The Speaker, of course, is expected to enforce the Parliamentary rule that speeches can’t be read but must be delivered extemporaneously!!
Sanction Man’s usual “I’ll get back to you shortly” just won’t cut it!!

…runnings
With the extradition of Mad Maduro – to face charges for narco-trafficking – the associated illegal gold smuggling controlled by the sindicatos that accounts for 80 per cent of Venezuelan production has had to regroup!! With their army links now monitored so as not to tee off the Yanks, more of the blood gold will be coming over to Guyana to be “laundered”. Along with cocaine!! Hence the recent Interpol operation.
Starting this year, the London Bullion Market Association requires refiners to publicly identify supplies from “red flag” locations like Venezuela!! Sanction Man Daady said his son wasn’t involved with the gold smuggling to Miami – he focused on mining!!
How much of his declarations came from Venezuela??

…helpers
From comments made recently by Sanction Man’s Daady about Speaker Nadir – which echo Sanction Man’s oft-quoted rants about ingratitude – they seem to expect total subservience after helping folks!!