View Point

It has been the impetus for a few soca men and women to develop the capacity for serious money-making but, overall, the International Soca Monarch (ISM) has, for years, done a great deal to put the genre several steps back. It has encouraged unhealthy sectionalism and underdeveloped the soca music …

And so it has come to pass that today is the very tomorrow we had so feared yesterday. In almost every sphere—the economy, education, agriculture, health, national security, transportation—we are living the logical outcome of over 50 years of policy failures. This is why the Prime Minister needs to rethink …

Last Sunday’s appreciation of Jit Samaroo was warmly received.  One of my Trinidad All Stars comperes suggested that I deliver some more evocative J’Ouvert morning descriptions. I will do so shortly with the added stimulus of the material he provided, but I must first return to the great economic uncertainty. …

The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) is urging Finance Minister Colm Imbert to adapt a different stance to his predecessor, Larry Howai, and immediately release information relating to CL Financial’s financial statements and creditors, as ordered by Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh since 22 July 2015. The Transparency Institute reiterated its …

She might be a woman just hurting for her country. But the image of a tearful Minister of Trade Paula Gopee-Scoon pleading for loyalty to country in this time of recession, personifies the psychology of helplessness that poses additional risk to the economy. While reduced revenue could send an economy …

As a nation, we can do nothing about the plunging price of oil except watch with alarm as crude slides below US$30 a barrel. Even if we ramp up production, which has fallen by approximately 50 per cent over the past decade, it will make little sense. At this point, …

On Friday January 15, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi launched a defence for Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s decision not to have Housing Minister Marlene McDonald step down, despite her admission that she enquired about a HDC house for her common-law husband, Michael Carew, in 2008. McDonald was Minister of Community …

A few of the Caribbean’s finest entertainers like Alison Hinds, Superblue, Marcia Miranda and Mairoon Ali, along with Canboulay, East Indian and sailor dancers have performed at my home. They have done so on the little home made stage next to the mango tree that Farook and Steve would build when …

The following is a press release from Fixin’ T&T, which calls for the immediate removal of Housing Minister Marlene McDonald pending an investigation into her conduct: FIXIN’ T&T insists that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley immediately remove Ms Marlene McDonald as a Government Minister pending the outcome of investigations into …

Last week, the people of La Brea taught the nation a much-needed lesson in organisation, representation and the holding of power to account. While it was their dramatic protest that caught public attention, the more powerful story was in the multi-layered depth of the community organisation underpinning the protest. Operating …

“I don’t know who Jit Samaroo was, but listening to others speak, he must have been a great man…my condolences to his family.” The Princes Town caller had phoned in to the TV6 Morning Edition show on Friday, which was devoted to pan arranger Jit Samaroo, who died the day …

Last Sunday my fellow columnist, Sunity Maharaj, wrote forcefully about the removal of the cuisine vendors from the Savannah. She pointed out that many things which emerge from the peoples’ sector get hammered by the authorities rather than receiving a helping hand with facilities, guidance or strategic co-operation. As a …