“All blood must be tested to determine at least ‘type’ and, one would expect, for other possible infections, including hepatitis, sickle cell, etc. “Clearly this is not the case with the blood bank in T&T. This explains how not one, but several persons, have become infected with transfusions. What is …
Read More »Dear Editor: What you should know about Asperger’s; and why it matters
“Whereas autism is often reflected in poor academics and developmental issues, children diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome usually possess an average or even above average IQ, which means they are not easily diagnosed since they are not inhibited from succeeding academically. “However they may be mislabeled as ‘difficult’, ‘antisocial’, ‘awkward’ and even …
Read More »Water, water everywhere but is it safe to drink?
“For years we have heard from environmental experts about the impact of leachate from our landfills and the negative impacts that can have on groundwater. We have only recently heard that our potable (drinking) water may have traces of lead. “Just that idea is frightening since lead is a pervasive environmental …
Read More »Emma’s Mama: A tragic, moving short story on a victim of incest
“Hold she down dey!” her mother said to her two brothers. “Yuh is too much of a bad little girl, always lying and making up story. And now look what you gone and do!” “Leh mih go! Leh mih go!” Emma Thomas screamed, twisting her little body this way and …
Read More »Apology to Dr Rowley; Shah offers concern for PM’s health and opens up on life with Parkinson’s Disease
I had no idea that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley might have been seriously ill when I slammed into him last week for failing to take full charge of his responsibilities to the country. Upon reading that Dr Rowley might have an ailment which requires him to have a series of medical …
Read More »Bush Diary 2: A camera man, a producer and a presenter walk into a forest…
Paolo Kernahan, fresh from completing the second Bush Diary DVD, suggests we take a closer look at our natural environment: Three men, loaded like mules with camera equipment and supplies, stand at the forest’s edge. The romanticism of producing a local nature documentary series in Trinidad and Tobago got them …
Read More »And Justice for Some? In Defence of the Trinidad and Tobago’s Industrial Court
The Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago is a superior court of record, which gives it a status equivalent to that of the High Court of Justice. It is also a specialized court with its own peculiar jurisdiction and is responsible for the dispensation of social justice. The principal role of …
Read More »Lazy and crooked or overworked and undervalued? The Public Service dilemma
Generally when one is asked to give their opinion on the Public Service and public officers in Trinidad and Tobago the following terms usually come up: lazy, corrupt, red tape, run-around and poor service. Yet is this image fair? My answer would be yes and no. This answer comes from …
Read More »Zig Zag, Zika and severance: How our political system gets it wrong
The currently very serious matters of Zika and the non-availability of severance pay have once again exposed our habit of rarely developing solutions to problems and limiting our energies to combative debate and protest, in the course of which officialdom invariably makes authoritarian pronouncements and tries to take unilateral action. …
Read More »Waste worse than corruption: Raffique Shah points out cost of our nasty ways
A recent World Bank report ranked Trinidad and Tobago as the country that generates the most “municipal solid waste”, on a per capita basis, in the world. Every man, woman and child in this country, on average, every day, generates—according to the World Bank data—a mind-boggling 14.4 kilograms of garbage. …
Read More »Shah: Don’t take Mittal’s mill even for free; how T&T fuelled Lakshmi Mittal
Trinidadians are hell, I tell you. Take their almost instantaneous sympathy with the 600-odd steel workers who found themselves jobless last week when ArcelorMittal shut down its plant in this country. Sure, that means at least 5,000 family members facing very uncertain times if not utter devastation. Those who have …
Read More »Man, mosquito and money: Raffique on Zika war and State spending
Dr Sherene Kalloo launched a broadside yesterday against Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and his almost jokey war against the Zika virus, pre-empting a column I had already half-written, titled “Man vs Mosquito.” Dr Kalloo argued that Minister Deyalsingh’s declaration of war against Zika and the Aedes Egypti mosquito by deploying …
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