Guest Columns

“[…] What is perhaps most instructive from the data on Trinidad and Tobago’s national culture is our incredibly low score on long-term orientation (17 out of 100 vs 77 out of 100 in China and 50 out of 100 in the US). “It demonstrates a low propensity to sufficiently consider …

“[…] Advocates of this strategy contend that traditional interdiction efforts intercept only a fraction of maritime drug trafficking operations, whereas the systematic destruction of vessels and the targeting of personnel establish a more robust deterrent effect. “The strikes have implications that extend beyond the immediate legal proceedings. Critics contend that …

It isn’t something I do—but when Alta, the Adult Literacy Tutors Association, contacted me to ask if I would write something to bring some attention to their Readings Under the Trees event, I could not refuse. Their annual event, held at the Royal Botanical Gardens (I am surprised that it …

Someone suggested rather irately that I write about how the rich and powerful operate with a different code, with such impunity that they get away with behaviour that is abhorrent to the moral masses. Several people have been raising indignant voices, and the air is vibrating with their vehemence. I …

“Trinidad and Tobago could only progress if Laventille does,” Winston Dookeran said in May 2010. Have we moved beyond this idea? Have we accepted that crime is not a group problem? It is not an “Afro problem”, an “Indian problem”, or a “PNM problem”. Crime is a national problem, and …

In the rhythm of life in Trinidad and Tobago, and across the wider Caribbean, we know the power of a good “bacchanal.” One moment, a public figure—or perhaps a private citizen caught in the crosshairs—commits a transgression; the next, the digital hive mind descends. On Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram, …

“[…] Trinidad and Tobago has very low levels of reported trust given its GDP per capita… Most people do not trust the police. Most people do not believe justice is meted out fairly… There is even mistrust in the Road March competition with year-on-year allegations of the ‘Soca Mafia’. “[…] …

My father considered music of any kind to be unpleasant noise. In his later years, when he became a bible-toting Witness, he listened to some form of gospel. But as children, we were not allowed access for a long time. He was rough about it. I came to really hear …

A dear friend sent me a despondent message in response to my lament about divisive and crass online comments. “I want you to identify for me anyone else who has integrity that you know of personally in the world, because I can’t find too many,” he said. My first reaction …

From the first US strikes against small boats in Caribbean waters in September 2025, military intervention in Venezuela was not a matter of if, but when and how. Those questions have now been answered. In all this, the world’s surprise at the bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of president Nicolás …

Looking for a document amongst my stack of old papers, I came across a column I had written in April 1998 for The Independent, a paper whose closure I still mourn. It began playfully enough, with me saying that my four-year-old daughter proudly proclaims herself to be West Indian: “Ambitious …

“[…] It is clear that this Administration, having outsourced its decision-making with respect to relations with Venezuela, has not learnt from or are not aware of Henry Kissinger’s warning—though uttered in a different context—that: ‘it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.’ “[…] …