The now concluded Christmas/New Year period annually engenders widespread feelings of goodwill and hope for better things. This seasonal feeling is reflected in the greeting ‘all the best’ as we reconnect with family and friends with whom we may not have interacted as regularly or kindly as we should. This …
Read More »Gilkes: St Akilah Speaking Sacerdotal Stupidness on Sex (again); why Christians get sex ed wrong
“One of my parishioners spent several years in Venezuela. He came back from there with a little boy whose mother he had left, but to whom he was not married. He had had the good luck at my arrival in the parish to marry a communicant. “The mother of this …
Read More »Noble: We can make it if we try; reason for hope amidst despair in T&T
Four days before Christmas, a video showing Mister Shak and Myron Bruce visiting an apparently bedridden Black Stalin was posted. The significance of the event is the evident caring support of Patsy Calliste, who invited the guys plus their enthusiasm to cheer our brother. Being kind and generous, they were …
Read More »Crowne: TSTT is subject to FOI Laws; public can access information subject to exceptions
On 4 December 4 2018 the High Court held that TSTT was a ‘public authority’ under the Freedom of Information Act (the ‘Act’) and therefore subject to the Act’s access and disclosure provisions. Members of the public now have a general right to access TSTT’s official documents, with certain exceptions. …
Read More »Sinanan admits ‘some depletion’ in stock of inspection books but calls criticism ‘bizarre, unfortunate and misplaced’
“The depletion of inspection books yesterday is not the cause [of the current licensing confusion]. The incontrovertible fact is that citizens have failed to utilise the five month period granted to them to become compliant with the law. “[…] The Ministry acknowledges that the rush to have vehicles inspected did …
Read More »Demming: Rowley must communicate vision to T&T and show he is ready to lead
I believe many people want a leader who is able to form a human connection with them using both words and deeds. So my single wish for 2019 is a leader who communicates with us this way. The last time I heard our leader speak was at the PNM Convention …
Read More »… So I shot him
Without warning, the shiny car cut across my vehicle and shot into the sole vacant parking spot. What the hell?! Don’t say you didn’t see me waiting for that park! I honked my horn, furious. The driver didn’t even pretend to be apologetic. He glanced casually over his shoulder in …
Read More »Dear Editor: Gary Griffith is no superhero; we all must do our part to thwart crime
“The resources were always there to curb crime, to make some effort to rein in a sector of people who have no regard for the majority. What was lacking was the will; the desire to make the country better and to do whatever it takes to achieve it. “And this …
Read More »Our modern-day Athens; how redeveloped POS can stimulate T&T and battle racism and xenophobia
“City life forces us to live outside of our comfort zone in many ways. We must share space rather intimately, and therefore learn to live and cooperate with people with different ways of thinking and varying religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. “[…] The city is, in many ways, an incubator …
Read More »Dear Editor: Prime Minister Dr Rowley has duty to trigger investigation into Chief Justice
“When a Minister (or Prime Minister) is asked to exercise his discretion to establish an inquiry (as you are being asked to do), he ‘must do so in a manner that conforms to basic public law principles of reasonableness and due consideration of relevant matters’. “There is a duty to …
Read More »Noble: T&T citizens have not even an orange to suck in bitter economic times
As children, we all took a ‘purge’ during the August school vacations, but our mothers gave us an orange to take away the bitter taste. Now we do not even have a sour orange as—according to Minister Franklin Khan, during his discussion of the latest twist in the Petrotrin saga—we …
Read More »Daly Bread: Leave me with the dutty; laugh and cry in the same cultural yard
Some years more than others, the Christmas message of peace on Earth and goodwill to all persons takes on a tone more urgent than the general warmth of the message. This is such a time. There have been over 500 murders for the year, a number of unsolved disappearances, significant …
Read More »