The administration of many ministries of government is in continuous decline, while the politicians have wasted tons of money and seek to blame each other when the decline is exposed as a crisis. In that scenario, the politicians and the ministries put out paid advertisements, Facebook posts and media releases, …

Both Professor Emeritus Dr Ramesh Deosaran and Darius Figuera, well known criminologist, last week expressed distaste for the Government and Opposition “continuing to pursue petty political agendas” while the proposed talks on crime cannot get started. Figuera condemned both sides, saying that they are “clearly in general election mode engrossed …

Upon arrival at the Green Market in Santa Cruz, two Saturdays ago, I bumped into a professional couple—each highly placed where they work.  One of them asked me to write some more about the pan and the peace dividend. The week before what I am about to describe, I met …

My close friends are worried for the safety of commentators on violent crime. In my case, they firmly believe that I have done enough in analysing the untouched core of criminal activity. At that core, regardless of which political party is in government, is the troubling intersection of party politics, …

BC Pires, renowned writer and journalist, recently deceased at age 65, was encouraging when I became a weekly columnist.  Whatever the bite of his satire, BC could always be kind and affable. On one occasion I met him by chance on the steps of the Hall of Justice and he …

I am thinking amphitheatre for pan and for a place into which to throw those who damage the institutional integrity of our supposedly independent constitutional bodies to be subjected to public heckling. Unlawful and deeply troubling actions such as those taken by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission against Marcia …

In the aftermath of the annual ritual of the presentation of the Budget, three of Trinidad and Tobago’s most credible and authentic practitioners in the arts and culture were reported in the Trinidad Express newspaper, last week, as expressing reservations about what is passed off as Government support for culture …

So let’s get to the promised fish broth story. I am an All Stars sailor. I became a Carnival Tuesday sailor when mas completely surrendered to the big truck phenomenon. Both before and after returning to sailor mas, which I had loved as child, I repeatedly advocated for the sustainability …

A reader, who enjoys the historical perspective contained in many of these columns, asked me recently whether there is a program that I use to source those of my columns written many years ago. The answer is that as a weekly columnist writing in the information age for 21 years, …

In a column published 20 years ago, in mid-May 2003, I described the subject of crime as priority numbers one, two, three, four, five and six. The column went on to identify to which aspect of crime each of the numbers related. Number one was, of course, the murder rate. …

There is a discernible season, which commences on Independence Day on 31 August and ends when the annual National Awards Ceremony takes place on the evening of Republic Day on 24 September, which falls next Sunday. That period may be categorised as a season because it characterized by certain events …

I first used the phrase “panyard model” in a column published on 1 February 2007 entitled Restating the Case for Pan.  That was 16 years ago. With acknowledgement to the earlier seminal advocacy of Lloyd Best for schools in pan, I hope that readers will permit me to take some …