Spoken word poet Charnell Lucien waxes lyrical on the great Covid-19 dilemma: More from Wired868 Should T&T government set Carnival 2022 as our pandemic end goal? “There is a difference between managing and leading, and so far the government has been doing the best it can Read more Letters to …
Read More »PAHO: Children face significant Covid risk, but countries must do everything ‘to safely reopen schools’
“[…] With each day that children go without in-person schooling, the higher the likelihood that they drop out and never return to school. For some of the most vulnerable children—particularly for our girls—this can have lasting consequences. “Experts agree that the pandemic has triggered the worst educational crisis we have ever seen in the …
Read More »Dear Editor: When will our young people be allowed to return to the field of play?
“[…] We were already behind before Covid-19 hit; how far off the pace would we be when and if football, or sports on a whole, is ever reopened? “Players and coaches alike are all feeling left out as we hear at every press conference news of sectors being opened or …
Read More »Noble: ‘Disadvantaged youths losing opportunity to improve life chances and contribute to national economy’
I am not a professional teacher. But I enjoy teaching and have been leading a group of pre-teens in an under-privileged area (what Bishop Harvey called ‘the belly of the whale’) for the last few years. In the light of the debate about school reopening and the announcement of the …
Read More »Dear Editor: It’s illegal, under OSHA, to force employees to pay for PCR tests
“Many employers are trying to force workers who have not been vaccinated to take a PCR test… Of course, the expectation is that workers will pay for this—and at anything up to $1,400 a test, it is hardly worth going to work. “You’re not going to work to pay the …
Read More »Tye: T&T’s governance model ‘breeds deep mistrust’—as such, ‘forced vaccinations’ would be a mistake
I certainly empathise with the government as they are navigating difficult decisions in the management of the economy and society during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, the issues facing the society are mostly not due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but deeper social issues that have never been properly addressed by …
Read More »Demming: Independence 2021: another opportunity missed
I have a vivid childhood memory of standing on the pavement with my friends waving our little flags to mark the end of colonialism and the start of Independence. Annually, I walked from my home in Quarry Street to the Queen’s Park Savannah to enjoy the military-style Independence Parade. Later …
Read More »Daly Bread: Rapid-fire threats posed by Delta variant and CoP’s FUL flurry
The Delta variant is a rapid-fire version of the Covid-19 virus. It is capable of killing many and killing quickly. There are also a growing number of pediatric cases—children having been spared from the original virus. Two weeks ago the New York Times reported that ‘one in five ICUs (intensive …
Read More »Daly Bread: Sandals, smelters and steel orchestras—as music stops, T&T must consider future
Our governance arrangements and political style have left us in an uncomfortable void. Our country is not nearly as well managed as we could make it. We have not employed an enlightened combination of the country’s resources, citizen commitment and fairness. There are not many countries that have achieved satisfactory …
Read More »Kangalee: Pandemic, yes, but is achieving herd immunity more than a pipe dream?
“[…] What bothers me, though, is how can we achieve herd immunity in the school system or in the country as a whole, when we are dealing with a pandemic which is a world-wide phenomenon? The vast majority of people on planet earth have so far had no access to …
Read More »From vaccine hesitancy to hierarchy: will any port do for Covid storm?
“[…] Pfizer is widely perceived to be at the top of the tree, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson just beneath that, followed by Oxford AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sputnik. I don’t know the extent to which this is driving decision-making, but I’ve heard several people say that they’re prepared to wait …
Read More »Demming: Dear Trinidad and Tobago, we must ‘become the leaders we wish to see’
Every time Honourable Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley opens her mouth my phone lights up with comments, video clips and messages of longing for a prime minister like her. Just stop it! We have whom we have; just deal with it—because in the natural flow of things, that will …
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