View Point

Under the deluge of data and detail, Trinidad and Tobago remains a society run by the old privilege of “contact” with power rather than the individual’s right to information. Know the right person and all is yours; demand your right to know and chances are you will hit the wall …

Owing to my commitment to take part in Raoul Pantin’s play Hatuey I was unable to write a column last Sunday. I was therefore unable to make timely comment on the contentious Budget debate and the feeding trough for favoured lawyers exposed in the course of that debate. Happily the …

A homemade video of a child being abused and forced to drink milk is yet another window opened into the culture of violence in T&T. You can be sure that had the perpetrator and amateur filmmaker known that police would be searching for them, they would not have uploaded that …

Say “Employer” to someone and (s)he expects soon to hear “Employee.” And ditto if you reverse the order. So I wasn’t really surprised when Wired868 stopped talking about “Barra” and started talking about “Barry.” But I stopped reading Monday’s Express story about the MP for Princes Town with the first …

CAISO (Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation) executive chairman Colin Robinson has criticised recent “homophobic” remarks by Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Darryl Smith and Facebook posts from the account of Finance Minister Colm Imbert. However, CAISO has also condemned the response by their target, UNC MP Barry Padarath, …

If a mere ten percent of the sums of money quoted by almost every new PNM minister as having gone to waste or astray under the previous government is factual, then at least a billion dollars was squandered or stolen during the tenure of the People’s Partnership.   If the …

Civic watchdog group, Fixin’ T&T, has called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to remove former Petrotrin executive chairman Malcolm Jones from his new portfolio as member of a Standing Committee for the Ministry of Energy. The following is the full press release from Fixin’ T&T: FIXIN’ T&T calls on …

So thorough has been the brain-washing that it is virtually impossible for many to connect our present dysfunctions to their obvious origins in the past. The social values and taste patterns that drive the high import bill, the historic fear that inhibits the productive sector and ostracises risk-takers, the power-seeking …

Bull, princess and stink—the three words that had the biggest impact in our Budget debate and debate about the debate by Trinidad and Tobago parliamentarians. Contributions in Parliament were generally poor. Few of the elected members analysed the vital macroeconomic matters which all of us have to deal with. Even …

Though I am not  a big fan of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, I have to admit that there are pockets of dialogue which I have never forgotten. One such scene goes as follows: Elizabeth: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal. …

Changes in the format of the post-Cabinet press briefing announced by the Honourable Maxie Cuffie, Minister of Communications, have understandably raised questions by journalists. Over several administrations, the post-Cabinet press conference has been used as a forum where ministers of government made themselves available, on rotation, to answer the media’s …

Political patronage is like a sno-cone with plenty syrup and heavy condensed milk. Even when it is bad for you in the long run, it feels so good as to banish all thought of the long run. For as long as it lasts, it is delicious—until it becomes dangerous. Then, …