Guest Columns

Grief was palpable in her Facebook post; a jolting reminder of the savage, indelicate and arbitrary nature of life. Akili Charles had been gunned down in the night, mere days after his legal challenge to the criminal justice system had been supported by the Privy Council. Those accused of murder …

The fiery protests that dotted our land in the same week we commemorated the anniversary of the storming of the Parliament may rattle some. A few commentators hinted that the underlying causes of the 1990 insurrection are still present and wondered whether we are witnessing a rekindled fire.  What is …

Like a passing cloud, our discussions about the SEA performance of our children have come and dissipated. While we anticipated that there would be some learning loss due to the effects of Covid on our schools and our children’s education, the results are astounding.  In every tier of the results, …

“[…] The number one roadblock is trust… Innovation presents a challenge to the status quo. Without trust, there can be no support for this kind of change.  “The ‘command and control’ model, used in private and public sector entities, does not lend itself to innovation. We must allow broader participation …

Many of us remember pivotal periods that form our life’s perspective. For me, it was the late 60’s and early 70’s.  I was a child in the Oval on 30 August 1962 when Dr Eric Williams inspired us, schoolchildren, by telling us that our future was in our schoolbags. I …

“[…] Those who benefit most from the inequalities of racism and supremacy that we continue to live in today are, in Dr Martin Luther King’s words, more efficient and effective with the limited time that they are afforded.  “That leaves us—who are progressive, who dream of a better world—with the …

I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to news that dulled the effulgence of the light that usually comes over a city like Madrid in early June. A message from my brother that Patrick White had died.  “At school when we were all students it seemed normal,” my …

Joel Nanton, the chair of the Department of Journalism and Media at COSTAATT, passed away yesterday at the age of 47—after a three-year battle with illness. Wired868 joins the rest of the media community in expressing condolences to his wife, Hollene, and their three children, as well as to his family …

Our national anthem urges us to have “boundless faith in our destiny”. It affirms that “here every creed and race find an equal place” and “may God bless our Nation”.  Do these lofty words meet reality? Do these words apply to the people of Laventille, or are they to be …

Mark Twain is credited with the saying: “We have the best government that money can buy.”  Locally, we have not been shy about accepting money from unaccountable sources. Our non-existent rules about political campaign rules enable greedy political investors to corrupt our nation and destroy trust.  As Chinua Achebe observed …

The ultimate sin today is criticising a group, especially on moral grounds. We live in a nihilistic post-shame era. There are no permanent standards, just the shifting judgment of the crowd.  We have a culture of oversensitivity, overreaction and frequent moral panics, during which everybody feels compelled to go along. …

We love to major in minors and yet, in so doing, shine lights on the majors that, the higher up the social ladder you are, the more you choose not to see. I’m talking about what everybody’s talking about. No, not the illegal US-created proxy war in Ukraine; no, not …