Occasional Digest

Until 2008, this holiday was known as Baron Bliss Day as the day is dedicated to Baron Bliss, who willed nearly two million Belize dollars to a trust fund for the benefit of the citizens of what was then the colony of British Honduras, now Belize.

Henry Edward Ernest Victor Barretts was born in Buckinghamshire, England in 1869.  He took the familial title of Fourth Baron Barreto in his early adulthood. He was a successful engineer, justice of the peace and man of substantial family wealth (from the manufacturing of gun parts).

In 1911, at the age of 42, Bliss became paralyzed from the waist down, probably as a result of Polio.

He had become wealthy, and gained his title, through a series of inheritances. This wealth allowed him to retire and sail to the Caribbean and indulge his true passions for fishing and sailing. He spent time in the Bahamas and Trinidad, before settling down in British Honduras where he spent the rest of his life, living on his yacht – never actually visiting the Belize mainland.

In early 1926, he was told that he had a terminal illness and changed his will to leave his fortune to British Honduras.

Bliss died on 9 March 1926 and was buried in Belize City and a lighthouse was built in his memory.

Most of his fortune was placed in a trust fund for the benefit of the citizens of British Honduras. Over the years, the trust has provided more than $2 million to fund projects across the country.

Soon after his death, the government declared 9th March to be Baron Bliss Day, a national public holiday.

A MAN is never more than 480 minutes from being able to neck pints of delicious, refreshing beer, it has emerged.

Booze-lover Martin, not his real name, has calculated that between lengthy stints of going to work and being asleep, he is never more than eight hours from being able to indulge in a crisp, tasty pint of lovely beer.

He said: “It sounds like one of those unbelievable facts, like how space is only 62 miles away. But it’s true for all of us, unless you’re teetotal.

“Think about it. If you have a drink before you go to bed, you’re just eight hours away from your next sip. And that’s only if you don’t get up in the middle of the night for a cheeky top up after going for a wee.

“According to HR I can’t drink at work, but there’s nothing stopping me from having a cheeky swig in the car park at 8:59. Then it’s simply a case of watching the clock count down to pub time. If I get really desperate I can usually get away with a half during lunch.

“Long-haul flights aren’t a problem thanks to the drinks trolley. I can’t see myself having to wait more than eight hours unless I get stranded on a desert island or there’s prohibition. Even then I reckon I could figure something out.”

He added: “It’s little babies I feel sorry for. They have to wait 18 years, or if they’re cool, 11.”

International Women’s Day was first established at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen. German women’s rights activist and Marxist theorist Clara Zetkin was the one who tabled the idea.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Denmark celebrated the holiday for the first time on March 19th 1911, with the Soviet Union the first to make it a public holiday in 1917. The date of 8th March was adopted internationally in 1921.

IWD was declared a national holiday in Mongolia (1957); Angola (1961); Ukraine (1965); Cuba (1966); Vietnam (1975); Mozambique (1975); Zambia (1996); and Kazakhstan (1998).

In 1977, the United Nations declared 8th March as International Women’s Day, a day each year when the world should celebrate, recognize and remember women and the accomplishments they have made to society. Each year has a theme:

The theme of International Women’s Day 2025 is ‘Accelerate Action’. Collectively, we can Accelerate Action for gender equality. At the current rate of progress, it will take 134 years, roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity in 2158, according to data from the World Economic Forum. Focusing on the need to Accelerate Action emphasises the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres. So, together, let’s Accelerate Action and speed up the rate of progress worldwide.