View Point

Andre Tanker orchestrates—there is no better word—perfect harmony between musical movements and plot movements. Key to that harmony is the articulation of a fusion that proved a prophetic precursor to the diversity of musical forms taken for granted in Trinidad today. At a time when ‘Trinidad music’ meant almost exclusively …

“Revisiting Bim four and a half decades later, thanks to the 40th Anniversary Film and Music Pack, I find the film’s imperfections all the more endearing, its shortcomings charming. Perfection in any home-grown Trinidad film product back then would have been out of sync with place and context; it remains …

“Thanks to State intervention in almost every sector of the economy over the years, we have developed and enjoyed a comfortable standard of living subsidised by the State… That has provided real opportunities for many as well as lifted large segments of the population out of poverty. “However, it has …

Randy Glasgow, the well-known production company which bears his name and which put on a slew of shows locally every year, has been elected to head the newly formed Trinidad and Tobago Promoters Association (TTPA). Another four members, including Secretary Colin Miles, were on Tuesday elected to form the Executive …

“Doudou!” “Darling! “Darkie!” “Red ting!” “Sweet ting! “Slim ting!” “Tick ting!” “Tall ting!” Their catcalls come at us from all sides, across the street, across the room, in the Stadium, in the Oval, in City Gate, at the taxi-stand, everywhere. Their candid remarks about our bodies are delivered without hesitation, …

“The royal wedding is in itself an urgent reminder of the need for reparations. The extravagant lifestyles of the monarchic family draw upon ill-gotten gains that have their roots in slavery. The opulent wedding ceremony was also no doubt connected to wealth that came from the subjugation of black and …

“Bro Keith, the Rastaman have ah saying, ‘Idetate to utter.’ Know it? It means ‘Think before you speak.’ Are you trying to take us back 60 years? Your position is the same as in the colonial days when pan was seen as a noisy instrument produced by rogues and vagabonds with no ambition …

“The vast and overcrowded peninsula of India […] is in its native condition most miserable and no better in a moral point of view, as exhibited in the picture which Sir Emerson Tennet draws of the Tamils of Ceylon: ‘[…] Sensuality and gain are the two passions of their existence, …

Anyone with a copy of The Daly Commentaries or a good memory will know that these columns have repeatedly condemned the dreadful expression “collateral damage”. On Monday last, that phrase was disparaged in an editorial in this newspaper entitled “Crossing the 200-murder mark.” Unfortunately, it is “more than a few …

“The aloo pie vending bourgeoisie, the saheena ladies and lords, the noblemen who sell nuts and fruits in traffic—all hiding in plain sight—are the wealthiest of all. Even Anthony Bourdain wasn’t invited to their houses for dinner! “[…] Ever wondered why there are 30 different doubles vendors called ‘D Original’? …

Congratulations are in order for the Minister of Labour, Senator Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, on becoming the first Trinbagonian woman to stand up and be counted in the #MeToo epidemic! The good Minister took the brave step of announcing in a Sunday Express article that she too had been a victim of …

What is a right? Rights are such a fundamental thing; everybody has them and governments and courts and other powers-that-be are constrained to respect them. It certainly is not unusual to hear people declare vehemently, “That is my right!” Also commonplace is “I have the right to [insert comment of …