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 …
Read More »Daly Bread: Delusions of dispelling dejection through fete and sporting feats
The prominent sold out fetes this June provided precursor vibes of the 2023 Carnival season as fete goers celebrated “we outside again”. The coming season was loudly announced by the Tribe band launch in July, which drew large crowds behind music trucks on Ariapita Avenue. Other promoters remained at event …
Read More »Noble: Burning the town down—a “plot of distraction and diversion more treacherous than the 1990 uprising”
The fiery protests that dotted our land in the same week we commemorated the anniversary of the storming of the Parliament may rattle some. A few commentators hinted that the underlying causes of the 1990 insurrection are still present and wondered whether we are witnessing a rekindled fire. What is …
Read More »Dear Editor: ‘Monkey business’ from politicians and police could turn anyone to crime!
“[…] I want to suggest that the ‘monkeypox’ virus, which seems to have us agog at the moment, originated in Parliament—for decades home to political baboons and chimps in our country. “Whatever the host, whether the strain is/has been PNM, UNC, COP, NAR or ONR, the infected behave the same …
Read More »Dear Editor: Griffith’s NTA swells the ranks of professional politicians; dare we give them rope?
“[…] Do I really need a cabinet? I guess I need a team to contest the elections. But after that, I will—as I attempted to do back then—tell all of them, and especially the minister of health and the minister of sports, how to run their affairs. “And my son …
Read More »Salaah: Portrait of Watson Solomon Duke, commoner with eyes on the crown
‘Send in the clowns’ is the title of a classic song written for a play launched on Broadway all the way back in 1973. I think it should have been dusted off and polished up and used as the signature tune for the play Watson Duke is making to take …
Read More »Missing the Faris for the trees? Mr Live Wire gets another political lecture from a mysterious man
(Scene: A dapper gentleman examines a humble lodging with notable admiration.) FAR: I love the more intimate office space, boss. I can get from one end to the next far quicker than at my last office, which is bound to make me even more less-dynamic. The decor is more than …
Read More »Dear Editor: Did Watson Duke not take the THA oath of office by accident or design?
“[…] While reading the oath of office, at the swearing-in ceremony for members of the Tobago House of Assembly on Thursday 9 December, 2021, Watson Duke uttered the words, ‘I will bear true faith and allegiance to Tobago and Trinidad’. “This is clearly not what the oath says…” The following …
Read More »Demming: All MPs who’ve served for more than a decade should resign now—you’ve failed!
Black Stalin’s lyrics in his 1988 calypso ‘We could make it if we try’ have been occupying a space in my brain. He sang: ‘So the Treasury broke and they say that recession jamming/And so to foreign countries Trinis start migrating/ They lose faith in their country, they say we …
Read More »Demming: Politicians should collaborate across the aisle for the common good
A friend recently lamented the advantages people who live in the north of our island have over people who live in the south. My impatient response showed my disgust with these silly discussions about north v south, Indo v Afro, prestige v secondary schools, Westmoorings v Beetham and the full …
Read More »Vaneisa: 95.9% of votes went to PNM or UNC, will T&T ever escape ‘race, ethnicity and tribalism’?
There is something poignant about what Steve Alvarez said as he walked away from politics. He had wanted ‘a new Trinidad and Tobago, one where the races unite under one political organisation to seek that which is best for our nation’. He’d built his Democratic Party of Trinidad and Tobago …
Read More »Demming: Covid-19 demands leaders collaborate across party lines
Social media lights up every time Dr Michelle Trotman speaks about Covid-19, although she admits that she is not a ‘Facebook person’. The authenticity with which she delivers is endearing at a time when our officials just don’t understand how to engage the population. Dr Trotman spoke to us with …
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