View Point

The PNM Manifesto 2015 begins: “In summary, we in the PNM envision a society where integrity and morality in public life is of the highest priority and the Government serves the public good above all else, and where decisions are made and actions taken by the Government in the best …

Trinidad and Tobago lives on nervous energy. We are constantly rattled and are set talking, messaging and posting, prompted by extraordinary and usually negative events. At times, things happen so quickly that another event erupts into the headlines before the shock and full implications of an earlier one can be …

The labels ‘domestic abuse’ or even ‘intimate partner abuse’ do not capture the terror experienced by our women. The media has, this week, creditably stepped up in their responses. The Guardian led with a front-page editorial and, commendably, the Express put male leaders on the spot to state their position. …

“In this video, Samuel Stafford stated: ‘The UNC has a bunch of businessmen…. there are certain high profile businessmen in UNC [trying] to keep the crime rate up and destabilise the country…’ “[…] Given that this is an election year such an offensive statements appear designed to inflame political and racial …

“Based on our faith and understanding of Islam, we are sworn to the protection of the realm of Trinidad and Tobago and to peaceful coexistence with persons of all faiths… “The AIATT—nor any Shia Muslim organisation or person of Trinidad and Tobago as far as we can tell—[is not] a …

US Justice Louis Brandeis, in his book Other People’s Money, explained: “Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants.” He leveraged the view that ‘public opinion … is full of sunlight … selfishness, injustice, cruelty, tricks and jobs of all sorts shun the light’. This is appropriate to the …

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a chilling, although realistic, admission about murder in our country and its clear and present danger at all times and in every place. The prime minister was commenting on the murder and robbery at a Tobago supermarket in which a security …

The following is the final instalment in Dr Claudius Fergus’ three part series on African textured hair: a historical, cultural and legislative perspective: Unlike what obtains in many Caribbean Commonwealth states, Trinidad and Tobago’s Education Act does not define responsibilities of students or speak to the obligations of principals toward …

“[…] The work ethic [in Azerbaijan] is completely different. People [here] once they are told what they need to do, they usually follow instructions and carry it out to the letter of the law. This can be good and bad because you do want people to have the ability to …

One does not have to be a legal expert to recognise that hair-shaming, such as reported in the St Stephen’s College incident, is a violation of our Constitution—‘the supreme law of Trinidad and Tobago’ (Article 2). I want to submit further that the incident is also a clear violation of …

The ghoulish picture of our police commissioner over the dead body of a murder suspect (Express, 28 December) reminded me of Nietzsche’s aphorism: ‘He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster… if thou gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into …

The scale of natural justice weighs negatively against the Ministry of Education for allowing 2019 to end without unambiguously prohibiting discrimination against natural African hair texture and basic African hairstyles, and mandating school administrators to root out the practice whenever it rears its ugly head. Ultimately, it might necessitate amending …