Last week’s column raised the issue whether each of the two main political parties are captive to the power wielded by wealthy businessmen. I did so in the light of Mario Sabga-Aboud’s boast about the power that his community had. I also made sure to include in my inquiry the …

Anthony Bourdain is a chef, a food and travel writer and television personality. He has significant credibility evidenced by his winning a Peabody award and several Emmys. Our country was recently the subject of an episode of Bourdain’s well-known television series Parts Unknown. Its broadcast has stirred controversy among a …

It is difficult to move away from the current controversies swirling around the judiciary. With the revelation, last Sunday, of Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar’s version of what took place between her and the Chief Justice regarding unfinished cases—part-heard matters—the plot has thickened. It is now common ground that on the evening …

In relation to the huge Marcia mess created by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC), there is no need to explain again the critical difference between the powers vested by law to deal with errant public officials and the complementary role of public opinion. Robust public opinion encourages accountability …

On Thursday last, by a vote of nearly 2 to 1 in the case of each resolution, the members of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, (LATT) the governing body for lawyers, declared their loss of confidence in the Chief Justice. By a similar margin, it dealt with the …

Just two Sundays ago, I discussed the inability of our public officials to beg our pardon when they blunder. They show contempt for our intelligence and our own experience when they spin improbable explanations for obvious blundering. The Government has had a very bad fortnight of blunders and ‘no beg-pardons.’ …

The furore arising from the appointment as a High Court judge, subsequent resignation and the purported “restoration” of Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar, the former Chief Magistrate, as a magistrate has not died down. However, as the story emerges, public opinion now contains feelings of mercy for Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar. I am …

“[Avason Quinlan-Williams] has very recently been appointed a High Court judge and we are absolutely satisfied that the public interest requires that the determination of the disciplinary tribunal be released, so that the public can be assured of the propriety of the appointment of Mrs Quinlan-Williams to the office of …

My deceased mother, Celia, had a number of priceless expressions.  Many of them applied to persons who got “too big for their boots.” Getting too big for your own boots could be a gradual process. When it happened overnight she discerned that it was an immediate attack of “position-itis”—a condition …

The statement issued on Tuesday by the JLSC is little more than a confession that it failed to do independent due diligence of its own and was duped as a consequence. This is obvious from the core defence of the JLSC that: Reasonable due diligence is satisfied by seeking an assurance that …

The Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) blundered when it appointed Mrs Marcia Ayers-Caesar to the office of a Judge of the High Court. At the time of the JLSC’s decision to appoint her, Mrs Ayers-Caesar was the Chief Magistrate and had a list of unfinished cases before her. One …

The current Government has fatally underestimated the resistance to the proposed property tax. If it does not make concessions on the methodology of its introduction and of its implementation, the property tax will become a poll tax when it leads to defeat at the polls. Of course, much of the …