During an Easter Sunday break from my column, I was forcibly struck by the disconnect between the official messages about Easter from those clothed with high constitutional authority and the grim reality on the ground. Many persons would have been engaged in pleasurable activities over the Easter weekend. However, the …

Of course I am delighted that our new and seventh president, Her Excellency Christine Kangaloo, advocated for the panyard development model as a means of dealing with youth at risk in her inaugural address. For more than a decade, I have been advocating for the model’s recognition while describing real …

Persons in public life frequently exercise power without accountability. As President Paula-Mae Weekes was recently demitting office, we were reminded of the fate of the merit list for the appointment of a commissioner of police that was prepared by the Police Service Commission—but which was, in August 2021, diverted from …

I have a friend who I will call Jarndyce, to protect his identity and save him from victimization. His story is this. Jarndyce is in his sixties and suffered a major failure of his eyesight in January 2020 as a result of glaucoma, which is a clandestine destroyer of sight—because …

The inquiry “yuh get thru?” is commonplace. It means: did you succeed in completing the business or personal transaction you were attempting to do with a third party? The transaction is usually one involving access to a service and the path to such success is routinely frustrating and stressful. Unless …

A disgusting exchange of sly political innuendos erupted and similar exchanges between politicians continued all last week over the possible identity of “senior government officials” allegedly involved in human trafficking activity in Trinidad and Tobago. The highest level of leadership in the two main political parties—PNM and UNC—participated in these …

The hyped-up Carnival 2023 has concluded, but the lack of changes in the traditional infrastructure and other provisions continue visibly to hurt the annual festival. Immediately after Carnival 2020, the last one preceding the forced cancellation for two years because of Covid-19, I asserted that Carnival post-mortems are usually futile …

Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT) has provided quality coverage of this season’s Panorama competitions, particularly through the engagement of knowledgeable commentators. In the course of her closing remarks last Sunday morning when the medium and large band semi-finals concluded after midnight, Michelle Huggins-Watts, musicologist and formidable pan practitioner, commented on …

The phrase “mother of all Carnivals” is overworked. Its use will eventually become as stale as “the greatest show on earth”. Moreover, whatever its short-term marketing benefits, it also has cynical political value when it is used to pump up the illusion of joy in these unrelentingly murderous and (with …

Last Sunday’s Junior Panorama was a scintillating competition. The crowds were so large that, as the Primary Schools category was completed, their supporters were politely asked to leave and make space for the next category, Secondary Schools. The quality of the musical performances of the participants in each of the …

The small band semi-finals at Victoria Square, driven by youthful players as described in last week’s column, was a tasty appetizer for Panorama 2023. What is disappointing is the Government’s failure to use pan music and other performing arts as a year round component of youth development. This disappointment is …

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 …