The discovery that a large group of people benefitted from the exercise of ministerial and satellite power in their favour in what appears to be preferential circumstances should undoubtedly have attracted scrutiny from the media. The fact that the benefit was the allocation of houses by the Housing Development Corporation …

I have noted with interest the Prime Minister’s statement that it is unacceptable for citizens to be gunned down in cold blood. This was followed by a statement from the Minister of National Security expressing concern about killing and brutality across the country. Regular readers of my columns and those …

When I was in the Senate, in 1996, I spoke and voted in favour of the grant of the Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation holiday, which was celebrated again last Wednesday. At the, time I referred with affection to Earl Lovelace’s great literary work, The Wine of Astonishment, which tells of …

The recent departures of Raymond Tim Kee and Marlene McDonald from the respective offices of Mayor of Port of Spain and Minister of Housing respectively are still reverberating around a discussion of what is the degree of inappropriate behaviour that requires departure from office or denotes unsuitability to hold high …

On Wednesday last, I gave the third in a series of presentations put on by the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies. My presentation was entitled Professional Organisations and the Public Interest. One aspect of my presentation was an examination of why we are so often silent in the …

This time last week, a familiar depression settled on me. It is best described by referring to some of what I wrote in November 2010, six months after the so-called “People’s Partnership Government” was in office. At that time, I suggested: “The bottom line is that a mere six months …

From my very first year as a columnist in 2002, I criticised our dysfunctional national security system and took up then, by their names, the cases of several murder victims. I have consistently continued to do so. Even then, murder was already being carried out with impunity. There was no …

Last Sunday’s column asserted that “the segregation in Carnival is a reflection of our wider society in which the worth of individual citizens is assessed not by merit first, but by reference to wealth, shade, address, connections and perceived status.” The fall out from the remarks of now departed—forced to …

Two of my previous reviews of Carnival unequivocally set out issues within the festival that are troubling, particularly if Government is to continue funding the festival at the significant levels that it does. Last year’s review The minority sport of Carnival, referred to “the obvious acceleration of Carnival’s decline into …

Port of Spain suffers from personality disorder, for a long time now, and so does many of its environs. This disorder, sometimes described as split or multiple personality disorder, is defined by Psychology Today as “a condition wherein a person’s identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personalities.” Each …

Last Sunday’s appreciation of Jit Samaroo was warmly received.  One of my Trinidad All Stars comperes suggested that I deliver some more evocative J’Ouvert morning descriptions. I will do so shortly with the added stimulus of the material he provided, but I must first return to the great economic uncertainty. …

A few of the Caribbean’s finest entertainers like Alison Hinds, Superblue, Marcia Miranda and Mairoon Ali, along with Canboulay, East Indian and sailor dancers have performed at my home. They have done so on the little home made stage next to the mango tree that Farook and Steve would build when …