Franklin Khan: A thousand armies of the PNM empire will descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun! Raymond Tim Kee: Then we will fight in the shade. Well, Mr Live Wire paraphrased slightly but it appears to be time for a royal battle. Four days later than …
Read More »Anatomy of a political suicide: Mr Live Wire, Tim Kee… and the Easter Bunny
It’s been a tumultuous weekend for Trinidad and Tobago, as two of the country’s larger than life characters appear to be on a collision course, after a startling public statement, subsequent inflation of egos and gathering of defiant supporters as well as the potential for a legal challenge. But enough …
Read More »Roffey rear-ends Express; Tim Kee debate goes bottom up
Saturday 13 February 2016 would go down in Trinidad and Tobago media history. Or at least it should. Finally, the One Caribbean Media (OCM) group, which includes the Trinidad Express newspaper and TV6, has chanced across an image deemed so graphic that it could not, in good conscience, share it …
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 …
Read More »When politics fails, people die; Sunity Maharaj on trouble in Laventille
And so it has come to pass that today is the very tomorrow we had so feared yesterday. In almost every sphere—the economy, education, agriculture, health, national security, transportation—we are living the logical outcome of over 50 years of policy failures. This is why the Prime Minister needs to rethink …
Read More »Rowley vs Rowley; Live Wire eavesdrops as PM draws up new crime plan
Scene: Office of the Prime Minister. Dr Keithos convenes an urgent meeting to tackle the murder rate, which has climbed, risen and worsened but not spiked. Keithos: (Speaking softly to Energy Minister Nicole Ollivierre) So, Nicole, how is it going so far? Nikki: (Beaming) Good day, Prime Minister. It is …
Read More »Sunity scrutinises Gov’t approach to recession, Carnival 2016 and Marlene
She might be a woman just hurting for her country. But the image of a tearful Minister of Trade Paula Gopee-Scoon pleading for loyalty to country in this time of recession, personifies the psychology of helplessness that poses additional risk to the economy. While reduced revenue could send an economy …
Read More »Destiny in our hands; How T&T can respond positively to falling oil prices
As a nation, we can do nothing about the plunging price of oil except watch with alarm as crude slides below US$30 a barrel. Even if we ramp up production, which has fallen by approximately 50 per cent over the past decade, it will make little sense. At this point, …
Read More »Standing in last chance saloon: Daly demands sensible approach to 2016
Once again I am unable, on the opening Sunday of a new year, to write in a positive mood, even though last year, 2015, was a fulfilling year for me, as I waded deeper into the very positive, but under resourced, world of arts and entertainment: assisting in getting St …
Read More »Keithos, Fazeer, Machel: Live Wire reads T&T’s New Year Temperature gauge
Scene: Office of the Minister of Satire. The phone rings. Mr Live Wire: Hello? Caller (singing): Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind… Live Wire: I hope you referring to Kamla. Caller: What? No my brother. Auld Lang Syne means to ‘times gone past’. I am calling …
Read More »Rambarran v PNM Gov’t exposes lie of Central Bank’s ‘independence’
Just when we most need our leaders to stand together and assume their joint responsibility for guiding T&T through the rough waters of an economic downturn, we get instead a fireworks display of cheap shots. Hostile relations between a Dr Keith Rowley-led Government and the Governor of the Central Bank …
Read More »Sunity: Tackling Health’s special interests is Dr Rowley’s biggest challenge
Within minutes of its appointment, a shot was fired across the bow of the new Health Care Delivery Review Committee reminding us, lest we had forgotten, of the trials of bringing change to the public health sector. In condemning Committee chairman Dr Winston Welch, former Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan …
Read More »