“Foodstuffs have a shortage daily, business places burning in the city/ Before they watch these things seriously, the whole meeting is a comedy/ “Ridicule —- fatigue giving, and all of the members laughing/While they having a good time, we catching we royal behind.” Explainer, Kicksin in Parliament (1979). It was …
Read More »Noble: Our Energy future, risks and gratitude—thank you, Mark Loquan
In 1976, Elton John penned these words: “What’ve I gotta do to make you love me?/ What’ve I gotta do to make you care?/ It’s sad, so sad/ It’s a sad, sad situation/ And it’s getting’ more and more absurd/ It’s sad, so sad/ Why can’t we talk it over?/ …
Read More »Daly Bread: Biden goes, yet Persad-Bissessar stays—a teachable moment
Joseph Biden, president of the United States, and our former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who became our country’s constitutionally appointed leader of the Opposition in 2015, have something in common. They have been assessed as electoral liabilities. Biden’s liability was more precisely revealed by the regular opinion polls published in …
Read More »Daly Bread: A basis for general election choices
At the end of last week’s column, I described the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) after the results of its recent internal election as “the Kamla Persad-Bissesar re-embedded UNC”. In the week since that column was written, factionalism has broken out in the UNC. The governing People’s National Movement (PNM), …
Read More »Daly Bread: The cracked facades, as we head towards general elections
Last week I closed by referring to our democracy’s dysfunctional concentration on personalities and tribal loyalties. This dysfunction acts as a distraction and an excuse for our politicians having to propose policy-based resolutions to our problems. It is a dysfunction with a long history. In July 2003 I asserted as …
Read More »Daly Bread: Battling in Opposition space; can Paray or Mickela articulate feasible crime plan?
With increasing frequency, our editorial writers and commentators treat with our dismal crime situation, which is now oppressing the entire country. The Trinidad Express newspaper has emphasized the link between deadly gang warfare and government make-work contracts that have been issued without credible accountability and safeguards for 40-odd years. This …
Read More »Orin: The potential cost of UNC’s civil war
“[…] Ever since she ran in 2015 on a leader-centric election marketing campaign that sold the virtues of Kamla The Leader rather than UNC The Party, she has tightened her grip on her party. “[…] The double-edged sword of making the leader rather than the party the focal point is …
Read More »Daly Bread: Government extends blame game while crime rampages on
For some weeks this column had been focused on the good, the bad and the ugly of Carnival and its component parts. Last week, I returned to commentary on the government charades that are passed off as effective governance—on that occasion, dealing with the haphazard situation in respect of the …
Read More »Dear Editor: Despite “Santa Clausing”, Panday’s legacy is same as other PMs
“[…] Yes, Basdeo Panday was much kinder to certain individuals and organisations than PNM ever was or will be, but the political and economic status quo remained while he played golf with the elites. “[…] What is the legacy of Panday? The same as those before him. Dr Eric Williams, …
Read More »Dear Editor: To Basdeo “Silver Fox” Panday—his positives outweigh the negatives
Trade unionist, actor, attorney at law, politician and Trinbagonian legend, Basdeo Panday has passed. He was well known for his silvery-white hair, charisma and sharp wit and was someone many loved to hate politically and ideologically for his style of leadership over the years—his outspokenness and his skilful use of …
Read More »Dr Gopeesingh: Panday was a trailblazer and probably T&T’s greatest patriot
“[…] Basdeo Panday’s life itself is a story of incredible greatness and inspirational heroism—a poor, rural, Indo-Trinidadian boy, consigned to social and economic marginalization, defying and overcoming every single obstacle, to study law in the UK and then become one of T&T’s greatest trade unionists, politicians, prime ministers, and perhaps …
Read More »Daly Bread: Who they fooling? Crime isn’t priority for PNM or UNC
A reader, who enjoys the historical perspective contained in many of these columns, asked me recently whether there is a program that I use to source those of my columns written many years ago. The answer is that as a weekly columnist writing in the information age for 21 years, …
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