View Point

When Trinidad and Tobago is boiling over with trouble and nonsense, as it is currently, my Freeport compere says to me ‘topic, topic, topic’. So where to focus this week’s column? Should I comment further on the Tobago House of Assembly (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to break the six-six electoral …

‘The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.’ — John Philpot Curran (1790). As a nation, we are sliding into a place of great sadness. The economy’s growth engines are shutting down, and there is a collapse of law and order. Daily, it becomes more …

Watson Duke, would-be prime minister of Tobago, held a news conference recently. Not for the first time with this high-profile personality from the sister isle, things did not exactly go swimmingly. I say ‘sister isle’ but for how much longer, I wonder. Trinidad and Tobago remains one country but that’s …

“[…] No forced-labour camp in Trinidad and Tobago or anywhere in the world should celebrate enslavers while ridiculing their victims. What prevailed at Lopinot was not just inconsistent with basic human decency and the espoused values of our republic but also with the truth that the historical evidence supports …” …

“[…] [Griffith’s] defence of the arresting units in this matter—without a proper independent investigation or indication of concern about the coroner’s report—with a complete disregard for the truth, is abominable. It is even more so as he bears the responsibility for setting up SORT, a team from which arrested the …

“[…] Thousands have been retrenched, with more losing their livelihoods every day. Thousands can’t get a salary increase for more than eight years now. Prices going through the roof. And to rub salt in the wound of working people, they proposing to cut our NIS pension. This is how working-class …

Which bowler has captured 355 wickets in 111 Tests and 400 more in his 322 ODIs in 15 years spent in the international arena on both sides of the watershed year 2000? Here’s a helpful clue: he is a vassly experienced former Sri Lankan fass bowler, who has just opted …

“A La Romain man who was shot and killed on January 10,” CNC3’s Jesse Ramdeo reported just over a month ago, “has died.” You laugh. In spite of yourself.  Raucous mid-morning laughter had also filled the Guardian newsroom way back in the 1990s as the word got around. Crime ace …

Crime and the lack of personal security have featured in calypso through the years.  For example Caruso’s ‘Gun Slingers’ (1959) celebrates ‘beating them [criminals] with the cat’ while Sparrow’s ‘Royal Jail’ (1961) is about revenge as captured in the line ‘licks for them criminals’. If calypso is the people’s commentator, …

“[…] Mr Khan must know of the hundreds of people missing and presumed dead in T&T. Those are counted by the population as homicides. No perpetrators have been found. The hangman’s noose swings empty and idle. “… Mr Khan must know that in the finding of guilt, the criminal justice …

Distressingly amid the national uproar over our women’s ill-treatment and murders, we gravitate to accepting a ‘macho’ solution that wreaks violence upon those who threaten us.  We should reflect on how likely this path would take us to our desired goal of safety for all, particularly our women. Will we …

Two questions demanded an answer last week during the second Donald Trump impeachment proceedings. Fascinated by the phenomenon of fascism’s fight for a firm foothold in what once was democracy’s fortress, few had missed round one last year. This time around, many watched very little, including the final vote. After …