Guest Columns

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar selected her Cabinet today to serve Trinidad and Tobago, five days after her United National Congress (UNC) party was elected with 26 seats to the People National Movement’s 14. Persad-Bissessar was sworn in on Thursday, alongside her attorney general John Jeremie. Today, she appointed a further …

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar began her term in office with a message of love and optimism today, as she took the oath of office alongside new attorney general John Jeremie at President’s House in Port of Spain. The rest of the Cabinet should be sworn in on Saturday. Persad-Bissessar, who …

The People’s National Movement (PNM) has appointed Arima MP Pennelope Beckles as its opposition leader. Beckles, 64, was endorsed by the PNM’s General Council today after producing writing support of six from the opposition’s 13 MPs: Symon de Nobriga, Marvin Gonzales, Colm Imbert, Kareem Marcelle, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, and Keith …

Former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley vowed to resign as political leader of the People’s National Movement (PNM), just two days after the party’s disastrous showing at the polls. The PNM was routed in the 2025 General Elections under the joint leadership of Rowley and Prime Minister Stuart Young, as …

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela, May 1995. Ezekiel Ramdialsingh’s murder on 15 April received wide coverage in our newspapers. One even had it as a front-page story. But the description given to him was “an aspiring …

Trade unions have been critical players in the struggle for workers’ rights, improved living conditions, and societal equity throughout history. This is particularly true in the Caribbean, where the influence of trade unions extends far beyond labour relations, embedding itself into the political, social, and economic fabric of the region. …

Poui drizzling delicate pink blossoms like confetti over a population with little to celebrate has provided a welcome respite from the ashen pall that has been hanging over our heads. The impulse to photograph the trees rising majestically over their fragrant carpets has become the latest pastime. It is a …

I do not believe that the Dragon Field initiative is dead. The rumours of its end are greatly exaggerated. For context, I advance this quotation from the influential US Politico newsletter. It was written about the tariff situation of last week, but it can easily fit our situation. “He likes …

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities.”  US President Abraham Lincoln, 1854. This week saw the United National Congress (UNC) struggle …

We are living in difficult times. We are witnessing the world, as we know it, turn topsy-turvy. But we want to be seduced into believing that there is a magic wand that will restore us to the glory days when oil and gas prices were high. We want to be …

“[…] The [Appeal] Court ruled that, despite modern thinking and growing public support for human rights, parts of our Constitution still protect colonial laws. The judges admitted their limitations: they don’t make the laws, they interpret them. The real work, they said, is for Parliament. “That ruling […] was a …

“[…] Both the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal noted that the motivations of the JLSC [in the Marcia Ayers-Caesar case] were not malign. “[…] In my view, reforms are needed of both the Constitution and the Judicial and Legal Services Act. The basis of the reforms must be …