“The vast and overcrowded peninsula of India […] is in its native condition most miserable and no better in a moral point of view, as exhibited in the picture which Sir Emerson Tennet draws of the Tamils of Ceylon: ‘[…] Sensuality and gain are the two passions of their existence, …
Read More »SALAAM: Talk yuh talk, Madam President; but when will T&T see the light? When will the wicked no longer reign?
In a powerful and moving maiden address to the nation she now heads, newly installed President Paula-Mae Weekes urged us all to “…confront the darkness and declare that it will not take over.” I wonder about her tense. From early boyhood, I have repeatedly heard that what is to is must …
Read More »Dear Editor: Enough! Time for Arima to walk the talk and stop criminals in their tracks
“The anti-violence walk has now been transformed into the more positive ‘Arima Walk for Peace’ and the timeliness of the call to Arima people to join with us—this hits a raw nerve—will be seen tomorrow when we expect to actively involve many hundreds of ordinary, decent, hard-working people in a …
Read More »Dear Editor: Anti-Gang Bill no panacea for crime; change of culture of Police Service needed
“The Anti-Gang Bill, sunset clause or not, suffers from the same ills as every other piece of legislation in Trinidad and Tobago: to be effective, it must be enforced! For enforcement to take place, the Police Service needs to do a better job, a much, much better job. To ascertain …
Read More »Dear Editor: Requiem for my murdered sisters on International Women’s Day
“[…] I have no good wishes or aspirational sentiments. I’m not checking milestones women have achieved or the records we have smashed… I am preoccupied by our extinction at the hands of our men—our husbands, partners, baby fathers, lovers. “Who can celebrate on Women’s Day when there is so much …
Read More »Dear Editor: What’s TTPS’ plan, Mr CoP, for pulling back runaway murder and crime?
“If the current average rate of about two per day is sustained, by the end of the year, we can expect there will be some 700 homicides (aka murders). (But) that sort of figure is plainly ridiculous, outrageous for a country with only some 1.3 million people.” The following Letter …
Read More »No Holders Barred: Commandment to unwed girls: Thou shalt not open thy legs!
My heart is breaking for that young woman. You don’t know how it breaks my heart to know that the Ph.D student whose car was stolen some days ago recovered the vehicle but without her marine samples and research. It truly hurts. Although I don’t have a doctorate—yet!— I can …
Read More »Not Condemning: The tragedy of Laventille, Desperadoes, crime and bandits
Trinidad and Tobago has always been dreadful at organising anything but Carnival. Nowadays, we can’t even organise that properly. And it is killing us, in some ways, literally. The example of Desperadoes and the Laventille Hill is instructive. Laventille has been problematic but it has produced some of the most …
Read More »AV ROOM: Last year’s Beetham events and our new year’s crime-fighting resolution
It is a new year but what does that mean? Well, my resolution for the new year is 1366 x 768, for which I would like to thank Nigel, the IT tech who has repaired my laptop. In trying to answer the meaning of the new year question in a …
Read More »Two robbers and a coast guardsman walk into a bar; the case of the thwarted hold-up
Scene: COSTAATT campus. In an effort to spice up its media programme, the tertiary level school has hired Mr Live Wire to teach “Principles of Journalism” to students and would-be journalists. The class is in session… Live Wire: Okay, class, so today we are going to look at a real-life …
Read More »Master’s Voice: Between a marabunta and a jep nest; our two July days of infamy
Monday was the anniversary of that infamous jailbreak, two years ago, and I should originally have submitted this piece to be published on that day. But I think that it’s better if it appears today, between that 24 July anniversary and the anniversary of another infamous episode in this country’s …
Read More »STREET VIBES: Fuad, we Khan take no more! T&T sick of doctors’ irresponsible behaviour
To say that the level of irresponsibility in this nation is lamentable is an understatement; we could accurately use much stronger language. But the discovery of a foetus in the refrigerator of a doctor’s office in South gave us a clear demonstration of precisely how pathetic and irresponsible some people …
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