Guest Columns

‘Bond, James Bond’ is an immortal catchphrase. No youth of yesteryear would forget Dr No and Sean Connery.  In that first movie in the franchise, Sean Connery said his name is ‘Bond…’ then closes his lighter—‘James Bond’. Those words lived through many years.  This scene rushed into my memory this …

True story: ‘In 1919—over 80 years after Emancipation—a Trinidadian petitioned the King for compensation for 31 freed persons previously owned by his grandfather, which he claimed had never been paid.’ It’s one of the astonishing tales recounted by Professor Emerita Bridget Brereton in her newly released book, History Matters: Selected …

“[…] For many decades, T&T’s highly productive energy sector funded disproportionately high standards of living in its non-energy sectors, including the public service. However, production in the energy sector has been in decline since 2010, masked temporarily by extraordinary recent increases in energy prices.  “[…] In such difficult circumstances, governments …

A ‘harden’ child is a stubborn child who has to feel the wrath– usually in the form of ‘licks’–to understand the lesson. Trinidad is a ‘harden’ child—repeating its experiences without learning from them.  When the country is splintered and only the rich can survive, you are looking for trouble. You …

After a time, poor service wears you down—lowers your expectations to the point where you feel special when you actually succeed in completing a transaction, or most of the processes get by smoothly.  This is my lucky day, you murmur happily, just because it took only one hour to pay …

Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize winner, once lamented: “Colonials, we began with this malarial enervation: that nothing could ever be built among these rotting shacks, barefooted backyards and moulting shingles; that being poor, we already had the theatre of our lives.”  Yet, he is at one with Chinua Achebe, the towering …

Everybody knows, but nobody knows. This is the state of our politics and the conduct of some parliamentarians.  In 2000, Jamaican singer, Shaggy, had a hit song, ‘It wasn’t me’, in which he denied infidelity even when there was incontrovertible proof. Only at the end, he admitted that that line …

Two Fridays ago, I visited my neighbourhood’s favourite food store. I had gone to pick up one item. I saw an older man being helped by a woman as I entered the aisle.  Nothing appeared unusual, just a younger person helping an older one with his purchase. However, everything turned …

Having admitted that he hardly knows anything about ‘sub-continental Indian/Hindi naming conventions’, Winford James proceeded to write a column in last Sunday’s Guardian that revealed that he did not even bother to inform himself before presenting readers with an interpretation that was breathtakingly appalling. Declaring that he is ‘a big, …

Keith Smith left us in early February. I know that but I still don’t remember the precise date. And one February afternoon this year, a phone call from a former colleague brought back a fond memory of him. A timely one. “Covid’s over,” she complained, “but I still cyar see …

We all have soundtracks that mark our lives, some inexplicably. As a pre-teen, I heard a haunting song that I have never forgotten and which appears to be appropriate in today’s Trinidad and Tobago.  ‘Sad movies always make me cry’ was one of the first songs on Billboard. It told of …

‘Send in the clowns’ is the title of a classic song written for a play launched on Broadway all the way back in 1973. I think it should have been dusted off and polished up and used as the signature tune for the play Watson Duke is making to take …