Live Wire

Political analyst and UWI lecturer Winford James has the simmering THA election scandal all figured out. The Sunday Express revealed that TOP minority leader Ashford has a multi-million dollar mansion he claimed to have financed, in large part, from selling cucumbers and pumpkins. Presumably, Minister Roodal Moonilal’s famous batches of …

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has publicly warned soca star Machel Montano that beating up fans at night clubs can be expensive business. “We are very proud of his talent,” said Persad-Bissessar, at the bbpTT Grounds in Mayaro yesterday, “but when you break the law, you have to pay for it.” …

Local Government Minister Suruj Rambachan toured Beetham Gardens yesterday with the acting Police Commissioner and Defence Force Chief and promised 100 URP jobs. Presumably, Beetham residents are less squeamish about $69 than East Port of Spain. Beggars, as people of means keep telling themselves, cannot afford to be saints. Rambachan …

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC reminded Trinidad and Tobago of her sharp legal mind and selective memory on the weekend as she pointed out that her former minister Collin Partap was “innocent until proven guilty” and questioned the haste with which DPP Roger Gaspard moved to charge him for drunk …

How to make a bad situation worse: Step one. Find a desperate and alienated group on the fringes of society. Step two. Insult the group and threaten them with State-sponsored violence. Beetham residents upset at a shortage of employment opportunities and perceived neglect by the Government reacted on Wednesday by …

The Integrity Commission publicly and erroneously named and shamed Brian Manning, son of former Prime Minister Patrick Manning, for failure to declare his assets in accordance with the Integrity in Public Life Act. Yesterday, the Integrity Commission responded publicly with a timeline of the error, which sought to lay the …

A faint and emaciated Wayne Kublalsingh had his hunger strike violently interrupted yesterday afternoon as human rights activist Ishmael Samad grabbed his forearm and tried to drag him upright to make a citizen’s arrest. “I think he was the person who, when nine of our citizens were hanged he was passionately …

UNC Ministers Surujrattan Rambachan and Devant Maharaj have broken their silence over the supposedly callous removal of citizens from their territory on the grounds of progress. Not over one hundred Debe villagers, mind you, but 14 St James market vendors who are to be moved into a food court by …

Jack Warner once created a death trap for football fans at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in 1989 by selling 20,000 tickets more than the venue could accommodate. Sixteen years later, he hijacked Trinidad and Tobago’s 2006 World Cup ticket allocation and resold them to local fans through his family company …

Twenty-year-old Enterprise resident Jesse James was one of two weekend slayings, which took Trinidad and Tobago’s murder tally in 2012 to 358. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, 294 United States soldiers were killed during that same time period. Anyone feel like draping a US flag over his or her shoulder and heading …

Dr Wayne Kublalsingh continues to gamble his health on the compassion, transparency and sense of justice of the People’s Partnership government and its leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Arguably, it is akin to leaving your Oreos with the Cookie Monster and expecting to come home to chocolate chips. Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal, …

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, as he suggested during the section 34 debacle, is very particular about what responsibilities he attaches to his post. And facts and truthfulness appear not to be part of his job description. After attorney Reginald Armour SC complained that the AG inflated his legal fees from …