The debacle that has engulfed the two former attorney-generals is illuminating. We have had a ringside seat to see how powerful men among us run their affairs. We understand clearly how little our daily pain factors into their calculations. We see how reckless they can be because of the lack …
Read More »Dear Editor: What would be cost in blood of Dr Deyalsingh’s plea to arm “the citizenry”?
“Dr Varma Deyalsingh has suggested ‘arming the citizenry’ with guns when he addressed the 3rd Sitting of the Senate […] on 13 October 2022… He was cursorily cautious to include with ‘proper checks and balances’. Knowing what those proper checks and balances would be and how to keep them ‘proper’ …
Read More »Noble: How the cookie (nation) crumbles—Vincent, Vishesh and the cost of T&T’s failing institutions
The presentation and discussion of a national budget usually focus on competing ideas about the future of a country. The process is a statement about the development of the country. In 2020, Branko Milanovic, a reputed US economist, wrote, “the most important role economic policy can play now is to …
Read More »Scotty Ranking’s TP story, some more supermarket surprises and shrinkflation
There’s a coalpot somewhere in my storeroom. And I own a bicycle. Truth is, I down here long. So I don’t need any advice from any MP about how to prepare for what’s coming. I really down here too long fuh that. And after reading Scotty Ranking’s recent piece on …
Read More »Noble: What empty Budget chatter reveals about T&T’s future and leadership
“Words are the clothes thoughts wear” — Samuel Beckett, Irish writer. The Budget debate and its fallout sent me scurrying to recall Beckett’s writings. He is the author of “Waiting for Godot”—a play the late James Lee Wah introduced to me in the early 70s. The state of play on …
Read More »Noble: Cutting down our youth in their bloom; the murderous Fyzabad four won’t be the last
The killing of the four Fyzabad youths narrated on the soundtrack of the sad stories of their parents is depressing. These young criminals were in their early 20s. But while we scratch our collective heads, we should recall that these are not the first children involved in murders. In 1993, Prisons …
Read More »Noble: Guarding the guards—“poor people [dying] to protect property from other poor people with guns”
This week, the shooting to death of the two security guards, Jeffrey Peters and Jerry Stewart, and the four bandits reminded me of Mahatma Gandhi’s quote: “The future depends on what we do in the present.” It is highly disingenuous to wring our hands and bemoan the state of our …
Read More »Noble: The confidence-trick and the Central Statistical Office; T&T urgently needs data handling upgrade
One of the most dangerous things in life is to have someone ‘sweet talk’ you while being inauthentic. They say all the right words you want to hear, but the words do not mean a thing! The Joint Select Committee on the Central Statistical Office (CSO) had words but nothing …
Read More »Noble: How the neo-liberal myth of ‘Me, Myself and I’ poisoned T&T society
Our teachers’ day of ‘rest and reflection’ is entirely unsurprising. It is the natural outcome of events that began in the 1980s. The chickens have come home to roost. But even now, we, the society, are unprepared to confront the significant issues. We are stuck at “we want we money now”! …
Read More »Guyadeen: As a descendant of the First Peoples of T&T, I won’t cry for Queen Elizabeth—and here’s why
Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday 8th September 2022 the death of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth, as per her official title. That announcement seemed to evoke powerful emotions from around the world and not just among the Royal family and the British people. The world is now in mourning. All …
Read More »Noble: Listen to Afra and get cracking on public procurement legislation
Harvard Business Review (April 2019) warned that perfectionism is a double-edged sword that can either motivate you to deliver high-quality work or cause you much anxiety and slow you down. Are we witnessing this play out with the many iterations of the procurement legislation saga, or is it something else? …
Read More »Noble: With ‘boundless faith’ in our destiny; give praise despite the challenges, T&T!
“Forged from the love of liberty, in the fires of hope and prayer, with boundless faith in our destiny. We solemnly declare: Side by side, we stand Islands of the blue Caribbean sea. This our native land. We pledge our lives to thee. “Here every creed and race find an …
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