Guest Columns

Is it too late to post this? Our 9-day memory cycle kicked in already? I was thinking we should forget cricket and football and make chess our favourite game, like it is in Russia. For one thing, it will teach us to think several moves ahead. And another thing, we …

Apoplectic, my fo’daymorning walk pardnah Bobby would later describe my state. In hindsight, I had to agree. Unapologetically apoplectic. Don’t blame me. Blame the pair of presenters on duty on the 7 ‘o’ clock news on CNC3 on the night of 30 January. They had ignited my ire. Had lit …

“[…] Another response I took issue with was ‘let the market decide’ whether ISM survived or not. Some of those sentiments came from folks with a UWI education paid for by the state. “T&T as a society decided that access to higher education wasn’t going to be according to means. …

“[…] The crime situation is very terrible. Being a parent, I do not believe in condoning wrong things. It’s really sad that these things happening in Mayaro now. Mayaro is coming like a little Laventille…” Mayaro resident. Express, 24 January 2023. The resident was referencing the slaying of three youths …

It is one of those rare occasions when every praise song being sung is true. Not one word has been misspent—generous, gentle, erudite, kind, gracious, pioneering—it is easy to endorse them sincerely. Since his passing, Gordon Rohlehr has invoked the kind of gratitude and love that truly befits the colossal …

“[…] The main argument in defence of what’s in effect a Machel Monday redux on Carnival Friday was that ISM was dying anyway, so what’s the problem letting Monk have his way and have the day? “It’s a strikingly bad argument. If your beloved relative is dying, you don’t finish …

What is teenage life if not fun as we explore new boundaries? You meet new secondary school friends and, with that, you form new relationships, including romantic ones. You try thinking independently for the first time, even as there is a confusing rush of hormones never before experienced. What is …

“Pan is in good hands,” they said—after experiencing the energy and exuberance of the Junior Panorama finals at the Queen’s Park Savannah. But is it? The Presbyterian schools dominated the 2023 competition. Guaico Presbyterian Steel Orchestra scored a hattrick by winning its third National Primary Schools Trophy. NAPs Combined (students of Naparima …

Over the last two weeks, we have witnessed an unceasing commentary on Ms Christine Kangaloo’s supposed lack of fitness for the presidential office. At first, there was the sentiment that there was no need for a president. This position quickly got corrected when the legal ramifications of the post were …

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” Aldous Huxley, English writer. In the present furore about selecting a new president, it appears that we, as a nation, and our leaders have rubbished our history. We …

Straight out of the gates, on 2 January 2023, the news hit like a bucket of cold water. As though we did not know enough about the new year’s challenges, Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF managing director, predicted: “[…] 2023 will be ‘tougher’ than last year… We expect one-third of the …

“[…] The Electoral College will meet later this month to choose President Paula-Mae Weekes’ successor, and there’s been much discussion about the presidency as it is—whether it should become an executive office, and even whether it should be abolished. “[…] With an executive president, [former prime minister Basdeo] Panday argues, …