In a powerful editorial last Monday on the occasion of Divali, the Trinidad Express newspaper urged that we look around and see Trinidad and Tobago as it really is: “a country carried by the goodness of its people and their love for this place that we call home”. The writer …
Read More »Daly Bread: “Stay safe”—T&T’s collective vulnerability to violent crime; and the need for national archiving
For the last two weeks I have focused on how successive governments—PNM and UNC, or UNC-led—miserably failed us in providing the equipment and specially trained personnel capable of detecting and interdicting illegal firearms importation through the legal ports. We now have an unqualified acknowledgment from McDonald Jacob, the acting commissioner …
Read More »Noble: Cutting down our youth in their bloom; the murderous Fyzabad four won’t be the last
The killing of the four Fyzabad youths narrated on the soundtrack of the sad stories of their parents is depressing. These young criminals were in their early 20s. But while we scratch our collective heads, we should recall that these are not the first children involved in murders. In 1993, Prisons …
Read More »Daly Bread: Talking scrap; PM and CoP’s discouraging of liming shows govt’s anti-crime failure
As propounded last week and applying the words of the late Oxford legal philosopher, HLA Hart, whom I have frequently quoted, Trinidad and Tobago is now firmly in a situation in which “the laws of the land have legal validity but cease to be effective, leading to a breakdown in …
Read More »Daly Bread: And so it has come to pass; T&T suffering from breakdown in legal control
No, no Mr Jacob, Acting Commissioner of Police, you cannot expect us to be patient and bear with the police in tackling crime. During the 20 years of these weekly columns, violent crime—particularly murder and the impunity with which it is committed—has been a high profile subject. As long ago …
Read More »Daly Bread: Delusions of dispelling dejection through fete and sporting feats
The prominent sold out fetes this June provided precursor vibes of the 2023 Carnival season as fete goers celebrated “we outside again”. The coming season was loudly announced by the Tribe band launch in July, which drew large crowds behind music trucks on Ariapita Avenue. Other promoters remained at event …
Read More »Daly Bread: Half the damn country is chewing up the other half
Not surprisingly the fiery protests against our rulers’ disdainful treatment of many disadvantaged communities are continuing. Here is a comment with its background described below, which may match the perception of many of us who are sincerely troubled about the direction in which decades of “unresponsible” governance is taking us: …
Read More »Daly Bread: Why create new violent crime committee while Ryan and Watkins reports gather dust?
The Prime Minister has previously made casual references to violent crime being a public health issue. However, on Monday last, he stated that his “Government’s intention was to develop a national plan of action that would be driven by a public health approach [which] would involve the defining of the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Nowhere to turn as Govt and TTPS fail to act meaningfully against violent crime
While in a heightened state of mourning for lost and abused children and murdered women, we had another week of ole talk in a continuing demonstration of the inability of Government and the poorly managed Police Service to take meaningful action against violent crime. Even as Minister of National Security …
Read More »Daly Bread: Our enduring epidemic of denial as violent crime ravages T&T
I am frequently drawn by the direct and uninhibited language of fellow Trinidad Express columnist Joanne Paul. In her commentary last Monday, Dr Paul treated with our massive diabetes problem. Interestingly, from my perspective, she came to the conclusion that it was time to acknowledge the truth. ‘Things are …
Read More »Noble: Who really cares? How shallow protests ignore chance for real change
‘Poor children are victims of circumstance/ In life they never really get a chance/Or have opportunities as privileged children do/ The road from the poor suburb to prison leads them/ From broken homes they are condemned to fail/ Their abusive and drug-addicted parents serving time in jail/ Their parents too …
Read More »Dear Editor: Erosion of bail rights for gun possession could be first step on slippery slope
“People never seem to think that a breach of the rights of even one individual, means that that breach can apply to all. It is why the judiciary so staunchly defends the rights of even the most depraved of society…” The following Letter to the Editor on proposed amendments to …
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