View Point

“[…] the way this history is taught and culturally remembered casts a shadow over our collective consciousness, reifying imperialism and white supremacy … the idealisation of Columbus’ so-called discovery means romanticising oppression, corruption, mass murder and rape…” The following is a joint submission from the Warrao Nation, Partners for First …

There is much common ground between the mechanisms inherent to the narrative of film and calypso. Departing from the same basic treasure (‘the story, the story and the story’), the two media call for different types of interplay between creators and audience. The merit of the really good calypsonian is …

Culture. It’s a fairly amorphous word; difficult to pin down to a simple meaning. Slippery to define, except perhaps by looking at various characteristics that have come to be associated with it. For me, it is essentially the way people live. That is big and broad and open to all …

As a small boy, I grew up knowing that my single parent mother was in a sou sou.  Many decades later I have lived to read that the current governor of the Central Bank was surprised to learn of the extent of the practice of sou sou. The czars of …

What do Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s rebuke of the civil servants and the closure of Chaguanas’ MovieTowne have in common? Are these connected to the car tax exemptions furore? Why is there chatter about the foreign exchange rate and fear of liquidity and solvency for businesses and our government …

“[…] The Judiciary’s decision [concerning the filing of indictments by the Office of the DPP], taken unilaterally and without any prior warning or timely communication, to renege on the agreement which had been arrived at in good faith and which it was sought to maintain equity and fairness in the …

“[…] In all the instances that we have dealt with as an organisation, they go back home to the situation. It is a cycle. It goes round and round…” In the following guest column, Groots T&T founder Delores Robinson speaks to journalist Robert Clarke: Delores Robinson took a late-night call. …

It is not only Dr Bird who goes head-to-head with the director of The Birds. Sir Alfred was a master of reminding audiences of what may lie beneath surface reality and of bringing them chillingly close to it. Grandmaster Aldwyn ‘Lord Kitchener’ Roberts’ does so in ‘Love in de Cemetery’ …

“[…] Since the lockdown, I have had two clients last week, and the week before I had one client. I have not received any calls for appointments this week. Before Covid, I would get four clients a day, give or take…” Just when Trinbagonians thought that we were ‘marked safe’ …

“[…] There is a projected decrease on personnel expenditure from the 2020 figure to the 2021 figure of $377,504,500. Personnel expenditure, therefore, is being slashed in half. “WASA employs approximately 5,100 permanent, temporary and so-called contract workers. If personnel expenditure is to be reduced by 50%, it is only logical …

“[…] The late Gordon Draper, MP for Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West was given leave of absence for almost an entire Parliamentary term to pursue private business. MP Maxie Cuffie fell ill early in his Parliamentary term, was hospitalised for much of it, and suffered no loss of income. …

There is within me an old-stager constantly reminding me of how fundamentally cinematic calypso (the good traditional stuff) is. All the tools directors, storyboard artists, camera operators and screenwriters have at their disposal are unfurled by calypsonians in 32 lines plus chorus (see? the unapologetic old-stager), adhering to the block-development …