Please send letters for the website, clearly marked FORUM, to Julia Dawson at: julia.dawson@emap.com or The Architectural Review, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7EJ, England. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN RIPOSTE: DESIGN TALENT IN BARBADOS SIR: I am sorry that Beechley and Moore writing in AR July 2006 (Pirates of the Caribbean) find the local architectural scene so depressing – their illustrations were particularly gruesome – and whilst it's true that the traditional rape and pillage of earlier centuries has accelerated in the hands of offshore developers and their so-called designers that can't seem to tell a hurricane clip from a termite, there are nevertheless a number of architectural gems and some excellent homes and restorations tucked away in the old plantations and forgotten islands. In trolling around for a local architect to handle a particularly sensitive site, and with a quite small finite surface there are fewer and fewer of these around, I came across www.obmi.com, founded in 1936 by a couple of French Canadians, whose subsequent Directors have been trained in world class universities including Jamaica (you can bet your life that the current AR is in each of their half dozen or more offices throughout the islands), and who have provided a hands on stable for much of the present local talent. However, this talent is easily steamrollered by the monied external market and its offshore agents, by so-called design and build firms and UK style PFIs, in small environments that simply can't accommodate the ugliness of non design or perhaps building at all. Perhaps the greatest current environmental threat is the UK/US driven panacea for 'buy to let' estates of ticky-tack, the ICC cricket World Cup which has hit once beautiful Barbados and the non-authentic response of non-indigenous so-called hospitality operators to the world tourist market. As ever, the discrimination of Developers and Development Controllers is the key, this is the area where Beechley and Moore are right to be depressed – there is certainly the design talent available. In the meantime thank God for periodic hurricanes and the ability to grow a table leg with just a drop of water! Yours etc STEVE OSGOOD Sydney Buildings, Bath, UK