Tag Archives: Martin Daly

The arts and culture milieu is my ground and grounding. By that I mean it is both my happy place and helps to keep me “reel”—best translated, I suppose, as the opposite of becoming a blinged-out, undiscerning and indifferent poser. And so it was that, on the first Saturday of …

Put plainly and simply, it is not possible to maintain the socio-economic status quo and at the same time expect to reduce violent crime. That is one reason why the announcement by the Prime Minister that there will be “talks” on crime is not impressive. This announcement was made in …

To all my readers, good morning this New Year’s morning. Can we reach out to each other and resolve to make the ritual “Happy New Year” greeting mean that we will co-operate on a sustained basis to mitigate the adverse effects of the neglect of our needs and partisan political …

“How much for the vehicle yuh driving?” This question was one amongst the torrent of words thrown at Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan and Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Faris Al-Rawi (demoted from attorney general) in the course of a walking tour in Bamboo No 2. …

The Prime Minister last Sunday, in a speech before the PNM Women’s League, expressly acknowledged that Trinidad and Tobago is in “a situation of unacceptably high levels of crime”. This is an important acknowledgement after all the years of dismissive responses to the high levels of violent crime pioneered and …

My first column on the subject of hope was written in July 2002. Currently, it is not possible to avoid a retrospective tone in these columns. This is because those in leadership positions in many sectors in our country have evaded confronting the widespread and rampantly growing societal problems with …

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 …

A regular reader, who messages me occasionally, opened a WhatsApp exchange about last week’s Budget debate in the House of Representatives with the question: “Have you heard the comments targeted at citizens made in Parliament?” She added: “Honestly, whenever I think they can’t get any worse, they do. I do …

On Monday last there was another terrifying incident of gun killings in which high powered firearms were used. This took place around 5pm, in the vicinity of the Pennywise Plaza, La Romaine, in the course of an armed robbery of cash in transit.  This Pennywise incident contains many manifestations of …

It ought to be becoming clear to all that the lame excuses which are offered for the dire results of our failing governance are reflections of rudderless leadership, of which we have been excessively tolerant. Public dissatisfaction has condemned the Office of the President to regular memes. I only bother …

Having over a long period described the issues confronting us and analysed where they would lead if left unattended, it is deeply painful to see the predicted outcomes dragging us further and further down. So much of what is dangerous and disturbing in Trinidad and Tobago today has its origins …

Sadly, the wonderful atmosphere of last Wednesday’s celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Independence may be merely a transient feel good moment given the sorry state of our country. The work week began on Monday with remarkable chaos as a result of the confluence of continued protests, ostensibly about the …