“[…] The main argument in defence of what’s in effect a Machel Monday redux on Carnival Friday was that ISM was dying anyway, so what’s the problem letting Monk have his way and have the day? “It’s a strikingly bad argument. If your beloved relative is dying, you don’t finish …
Read More »Orin: T&T and the executive presidency—a note of caution from Guyana
“[…] The Electoral College will meet later this month to choose President Paula-Mae Weekes’ successor, and there’s been much discussion about the presidency as it is—whether it should become an executive office, and even whether it should be abolished. “[…] With an executive president, [former prime minister Basdeo] Panday argues, …
Read More »Orin: Sports, politics and bandwagons; the 2022 W/Cup was pregnant with resonance
“[…] North versus south, developed versus developing, small versus big, rich versus poor, colonists versus colonised. Matches were pregnant with meaning and resonance outside of football. “[…] The World Cup, Olympics and sports in general are proxies for fights over politics, history and geographical hegemony… Caribbean people in the UK …
Read More »Orin: The good, bad and the ugly of the 2022 World Cup
“[…] I told someone who knows Radanfah Abu Bakr that I liked the former T&T defender’s analysis. He replied: ‘Radanfah understands that less is more.’ “[…] CNC3 […] has had good moments, but overall coverage hasn’t been good enough. Things got off to an unpromising start when analyst Jan-Michael Williams …
Read More »“It’s past time it was held in Arab world!” Putting the “world” in the World Cup
“[…] It gets baking hot in Qatar, folks. Deal with it. The next tournament will be jointly hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada. Have you ever been to New York in July? “We have to put the ‘world’ in the World Cup, and it’s past time that it was …
Read More »Orin: Time to leave Port of Spain—the case for decentralisation or flexi-schedules
“[…] We need to move some work out of the city to ease the traffic choke hold on this island every weekday. I’ve argued previously that ‘the daily Great Trek’ north and west to Port of Spain and back is a mad and unsustainable ritual. “[…] State and private sector …
Read More »Orin: The dog ate my homework—the pros and cons of working from home
“[…] We had fun doing Zoom meetings in our boxer shorts, out of sight of the camera; but some realised that they’d mostly prefer to do work stuff from an office. In long pants, preferably. “Some missed the water cooler moments, where they could talk about what Ian Alleyne had …
Read More »Orin: The daily Great Trek; on T&T’s traffic woes and decentralisation of workplaces
“[…] There are no economic findings that I’m aware of, on how much the country loses by having a significant proportion of its workforce stuck in traffic every day. But there’s widespread recognition that there’s an economic cost, and that it’s probably a steep one. “For much of the past …
Read More »Orin: Don’t deflect, KPB; show self-reflection and humility, and apologise
“[…] In aiming a retaliatory blow at Robinson-Regis, the Opposition Leader struck at Afro-Trinbagonians in general. That’s a big deal for someone who has led the country, and aspires to lead it again. “[…] If you continue playing the tape, [Kamla Persad-Bissessar] does go on to pay tribute to African …
Read More »Orin: Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana need ‘reset’ from lingering political animosities
“[…] When the incumbent David Granger administration tried to stop the party of Bharrat Jagdeo and Irfaan Ali from taking office after an election they’d won in March 2020, some in that party felt that Dr Keith Rowley was soft on Granger, in contrast to his Barbadian and Vincentian colleagues …
Read More »Media Monitor: What is Akeal Hosein’s best potential pathway into the lucrative IPL?
Seventeen West Indies players will play in the 2022 Indian Premier League. Yet the Caribbean’s most dependable limited-overs bowler of recent years will not be among them. In spite of all he has done over the last year, Akeal Hosein went unsold at the IPL auction. That opening paragraph is …
Read More »Orin: How the IPL complements West Indies cricket rather than detracts from it
“[…] For two months’ work in India, Guyanese allrounder Romario Shepherd, in what will be his first IPL tournament, will take home a salary of just over US$1m before taxes and other deductions for local cricketing entities. “Other players are making more—we’ll get to that in a while—but Shepherd had …
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