Akins Vidale

I remember a family friend saying to me, when I first expressed my interest in electoral politics, that I should follow one important rule: “A closed mouth gathers no feet.” There was no confusion about what this meant as there is no shortage of examples of our politicians tripping over …

I can still remember the accolades coming in from many quarters for the impressive PNM candidate for Tobago West in the 2015 General Election. I refer, of course, to Shamfa Cudjoe. It took one short month in office for the newly appointed Minister of Tourism to declare to the Parliament …

Two Tuesdays ago at a meeting in Mt D’or, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert boasted that there were only two people who knew the contents of the budget, the Prime Minister and himself. The subsequent applause for this revelation is symptomatic of the nature of our state. We are accepting …

In my previous pieces, I often referred to George Orwell’s 1984. Indeed in this country maintaining sanity is a Sisyphean task. Your concept of reality is questioned on a daily basis. Just when you think you have your wits about you, your grasp on reality is challenged and you spend …

I want to start by quoting some comments on the impact of wage increases on the economy. High wages wrenched by the trade union movement, led to capital intensive investment since investors preferred to use more machinery rather than pay the high cost of labour High wages were jacking up …

I must give credit to my colleague Earl Best for the title of this piece given that, on this rare occasion, he was faster out of the blocks than I was. The news late last night was that Housing Minister Marlene McDonald had been fired. Don’t pop that champagne just …

Although I am not the architect of this design and did not create our plantation, I have none the less been waiting for you. You have posed many questions. Although the last six months has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably Trinbagonian. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, …

In 1963, Malcolm X referred to the assassination of President John F Kennedy as a case of “chickens coming home to roost.” He had made this statement in response to a question after a speech delivered in December of the same year. He was suggesting that the failure of the …

Though I am not  a big fan of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, I have to admit that there are pockets of dialogue which I have never forgotten. One such scene goes as follows: Elizabeth: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal. …

Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) party organiser Akins Vidale makes a case for the Trade Union Movement (TUM) to be seen as a viable political third party: The pats on the back have been too many to count since the 2013 Local Government National Debate. However, on too many occasions, …

HL MENCKEN suggests that “under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.” I could find no quote more discomforting in its truth about the situation here in Trinidad and Tobago. There …

I had been considering several topics to write on and then inspiration (if I can call it that) came by the way of an ill-conceived attempt to stir my sense of humour. The message on my phone read as follows: I phoned the vet the other day and said, “I …