Two weeks ago, I asserted that the proposed closure of the Petrotrin refinery was a socio-economic earthquake attributable to the State enterprise fault line that runs right through our economy. That earthquake has produced its tsunami. It is a tsunami of grief. The question is this: Do we understand that …
Read More »Daly Bread: Petrotrin is epicentre of socio-economic earthquake; T&T won’t escape reverberations
At least 1,700 workers are reportedly about to lose their jobs at Petrotrin without reprieve because the money-losing oil refinery at Pointe a Pierre is being shutdown. These workers recently had the benefit of an interim five per cent pay rise conceded in response to strike notice given in January …
Read More »Daly Bread: Six, seven, eight or fate; an earthquake wake-up and Naipaul desperation
The subject of today’s column was to be what I term the ‘Naipaul desperation’. However, everyone will currently have a story about where they were and what they feared in the moment of the terrifying earthquake we experienced in the afternoon of Tuesday last. Do we appreciate how powerless we were? …
Read More »Daly Bread: The Khamal car caper; and T&T’s preference for personality over process
Khamal Georges, the CNC3 television anchor and journalist, has my total sympathy having recently suffered the terror of a hold-up at gunpoint when his motor vehicle was taken from him. I have interacted well with him. He is not likely to take badly my commentary on the typical Trini comess …
Read More »Daly Bread: Our true treasure trove; T&T must let culture relieve the gloom
Being uncertain whether the appointment of glory Gary as Commissioner of Police, will make a difference, I am referring to some of our steadily growing international successes in arts and culture in an attempt to relieve the murderous gloom. This sector holds the key to diversification of the economy, despite …
Read More »Daly Bread: Beware of submission to misconduct; and the budding relationship between the CJ and AG
It appears that Chief Justice Ivor Archie has lost his appeal to the Privy Council in his attempt to restrain the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) from investigating allegations of misconduct made against him in the media. The Privy Council did not call upon LATT’s lawyers to respond …
Read More »Daly Bread: Galleons and ganja; why decriminalising marijuana should be on national agenda
The maintenance of an efficient sea bridge between Trinidad and Tobago is a very serious matter. The recent failures of the sea bridge greatly damaged the economy of Tobago and the credibility of the current Government. Undoubtedly however, the procurement and much delayed arrival of the Galleons Passage has become …
Read More »Daly Bread: The temporary death of celebrity; T&T’s lessons of humility from the World Cup
World Cup 2018 ends today and I have discerned some lessons of general application. Not many in this region would have foreseen that France and Croatia would be the two teams in the final. Even fewer would have foreseen that Argentina, Brazil and Germany would have failed as early as …
Read More »Daly Bread: Evading accountability; how the JLSC tried to mamaguy judicial community
One year ago, the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) brought itself into disrepute and tarnished the institutional reputation of the Judiciary by the blunder of the appointment and “un-appointment” of the then Chief Magistrate, Marcia Ayers-Caesar, to the High Court Bench. The JLSC never begged pardon for its blunder …
Read More »Daly Bread: We dance to survive; Rosa Guy’s score and our Police Service’s fail
At the end of this column I will adopt the words of a recent editorial in the Trinidad Express newspaper on violent crime even as the murderers, whom we have undoubtedly empowered, laugh in our faces. Meanwhile, I have been dwelling on the richness of our culture and its potential …
Read More »Daly Bread: Music in Districts’ glorious potential, lengthening Carnival calendar and why Pan Trinbago is not missed
“Stay in tong!” I shouted those words on Sunday last, in appreciation of the scintillating performance of Coffee Street, San Fernando band, Skiffle, in Adam Smith Square, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, at the second event put on by the Music in the Districts programme. This event confirmed that other pan …
Read More »Daly Bread: The true meaning and effect of “culture;” Eric Williams’ legacy squandered
What a weekend last week: Carib Dance made a brilliant and authentic statement of the legacy of Beryl Mc Burnie in celebration of seventy years of the Little Carib Theatre and Starlift steel orchestra got the memo that changeovers from band to band must not stall. Ten minutes between bands …
Read More »