“Skinner Park does not have a legal football field for approved senior competitive games, by which I mean games that are above under-15 level,” said Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees Association (TTFRA) president Osmond Downer. “There should be no argument—none whatsoever.” On Friday, Udecott Corporate Communications and Marketing manager Roxanne …
Read More »Good marketing, poor pitches, worse salaries, and never-say-die Army; Radanfah on maiden TTPFL season
“[…] The Mahaica Oval has no dressing rooms. You have to change under a tent in the car park—and this is a brand new venue. It is a sporting complex with no room for sporting personnel to change. Do you understand what I’m telling you? “[…] Most clubs have told …
Read More »Where’ve the butterflies gone? Our eco-system’s in danger, fixing it can also heal T&T’s anger issues
Opposite West Mall, on the Western Main Road, a mysterious derelict colonial building—rumoured to have been a church—stood like a prehistoric dinosaur skeleton peeking out from hectares of bush. As a child, when adults said bush they always conveyed the idea of something unwanted and to be cut down so …
Read More »Dear Editor: Asinine Thinking by Udecott left 200 motorists stranded in POS Parkade
“It is asinine thinking to hold 200 motorists hostage in a car park because there is a glitch in your system. This is exactly what happened on Monday April 15 at the Parkade in Port of Spain. “[…] This unfortunate situation comes on the heels of the Piarco incident which …
Read More »Daly Bread: Bélé djouba; how long will govt dance around potential of arts and culture
The djouba is a joyful dance of West Africa, said to have been brought by slaves and diffused throughout the Caribbean and the Americas. It also refers to certain musical rhythms executed on the tambour-djouba drum. It is strongly present in the culture of Martinique. Caribbean dance—much, but not all …
Read More »Daly Bread: Challenges to the use of power; and semi-legal State greed
When Abraham Lincoln said that you could not fool all of the people all of the time, he could not have known that information technology would come to bear heavily on both the ability (fake news) and inability (investigative reporting) of the powerful to fool the people. Lincoln would be …
Read More »Shhhhhh! The stony shell of silence that surrounds Sandals’ entry into the sister isle
With the support of my colleagues from Disclosure Today, I have been conducting research into the underlying commercial arrangements for the State-owned hotels in T&T. Those are the decisive details which drive projects of this nature and from which the substantial public benefits ought to flow. The unhelpful responses from …
Read More »Slaying in Sabganistan: Crime Watch star mugged by CNC3
Trinidad and Tobago’s fake war on crime suffered another major imaginary setback today as pseudo-crime fighter Ian Alleyne was bumped off after a weeklong civil war in Sabganistan. It is alleged. (Nice one, Tony Deyal). Alleyne’s departure follows a so-called exclusive investigative report on construction work at the Brian Lara …
Read More »An accidental leader: Raffique Shah considers the legacy of late ex-PM Patrick Manning
The end, when it came, brought relief from some five years of suffering, and pre-empted additional torture from treatment for cancer, which many have described as being worse than the disease itself. Patrick Manning’s sister, Petronella, who is a medical doctor, said as much in her grief-stricken state. And his …
Read More »Board Games (Part Two): Afra Raymond continues look into State boards
Part One of my look into State boards prompted a series of extremely interesting responses, so I will continue this examination of the State Controlled Agencies. This term includes State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) such as UDECOTT, Caribbean Airlines and Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL), as well as Statutory Agencies like WASA, TTEC, CDA, …
Read More »Letters page: Looking at Afra Raymond’s controversial JCC exit
Afra Raymond resigning from JCC is no trivial matter, yet it is surprising how social media comments, and corner talk are missing the heart of the issue. The implications for the future of governance and transparency in Trinidad and Tobago is at serious risk when a reasonable request for transparency …
Read More »Moonilal leaves Canada dry on SNC-Lavalin contract
The People’s Partnership insisted, during the last general election campaign, that they would stop foreign “smart men” from plundering the treasury and, arguably, got off to a good start by elevating home-grown smart man Jack Warner to a series of senior Cabinet positions. But the State might have slipped back …
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