“At stake here is the constitutional right to freedom of expression, which is ventilated not only during the Carnival season but is an entitlement which belongs to all citizens protected under the Constitution and the common law, subject only to the law of defamation or other statutory constraints…” In the …
Read More »London is the new capital of calypso; 21 year old bard’s Imagination takes him to crown
The fresh-faced Ronaldo London, 21, is Trinidad and Tobago’s new king of calypso, after he defeated 15 contestants to seize the 2019 Calypso Monarch crown last night at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain. London, who sang last, won the favour of the judges and the audience with …
Read More »Dear Editor: Where is good governance when NCC chairman, ‘Gypsy’, appears in Extempo final?
I raised one brow when Colin Lucas moved from being Chairman of the National Carnival Commission to becoming the Acting Chief Executive Officer. But my both eyebrows raised when he was succeeded by former UNC Minister of Culture Winston “Gypsy” Peters. Seamlessly moving from director to executive is not a …
Read More »Dear Editor: Weekes weak week; an illegal appointment can’t be ‘redressed’
I note with some amusement that President Paula-Mae Weekes ‘suddenly discovered’ an error was made in the paperwork leading up to the appointment of Judge Charmaine Pemberton as a member of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC). “She explained what the error was: ‘While the relevant instrument of appointment …
Read More »Griffith: “If my critics [are] that desperate… I am on the right track!” CoP responds to Fixin’ T&T, Express and TTPSSWA
Fixin’ T&T: “Any attempt to condition the public to accept Police dressed in military style fatigues as ‘normal’ must be immediately stopped. Militarisation of our Police Service is a giant step towards becoming a military state. “[…] This Commissioner seemingly has nothing but contempt for process and infinitely more dangerous, …
Read More »MATT: Griffith must be more temperate; media cannot only report selected viewpoints
The Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago would like to put on record that the duty of all journalists is to report all sides of a story not just selected viewpoints. While the Commissioner of Police, Gary Griffith, is free to express his opinion on how journalists conduct their duties, …
Read More »Dear Editor: Tobago remains colonised by Trinidad; and Sandals could have been the game changer
“Unless and until Tobagonians, at a deep psychological level, understand that they have been colonised by Trinidad for over one hundred years and continue to be so colonised; until they understand, at a deep intellectual level, that the country, Trinidad and Tobago, is a legal and political construct and any …
Read More »Dear Editor: Senior citizens being denied departure tax exemption due to dual citizenship
“Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who are 60 years and older are exempt from paying the airport usage fees, usually called Departure Tax. But a recent instruction to the airlines by the legal department of the Immigration Office has modified this privilege and I think wrongly so. “The airlines have …
Read More »US Embassy: US offers $20 million to offset ‘Maduro-made humanitarian crisis’ in Venezuela
“The United States is staging emergency humanitarian assistance in the region in response to Interim President Guiado’s request for aid… “These efforts follow Secretary Pompeo’s January 24, announcement that the United States is ready to provide more than $20 million in initial humanitarian assistance to the people of Venezuela, as …
Read More »Dear Editor: Dangerous precedent for govt to seize Mahmud and Ayyub; so why the silence?
“[…] I consider it a very dangerous precedent that the Government can so easily take custody of people’s children. If the argument is that the boys need some sort of specialised care that the mother cannot provide, then why won’t they still placed with her and visited by relevant personnel?” …
Read More »Dear Editor: Consumer Affairs must hold banks and cable companies liable for glitches
“It cannot be right that we dutifully pay our bills—plus interest and often at considerable financial sacrifice—for what may be considered essential services in this current era without reciprocal accountability which is not even questioned by the media on most occasions.” The following Letter to the Editor on questionable treatment …
Read More »Baldeosingh: Why was intervention good for segregated South Africa but bad for Venezuela?
“What I find quite strange, though, is that nearly all every spokesperson and organisation and commentator taking this stance [of non-intervention in Venezuela] are the very same people who, 30 years ago, were equally adamant in calling for the governments of the world to take stern action against the apartheid …
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