Guest Columns

Distrust of politicians and public figures is a mainstay of democratic politics. Trust and distrust go hand in hand.  We have institutions as a check on untrammelled forays by politicians, but we also use public opinion as a brake. The savage lampooning or ‘fatigue’ of the unfortunate George Chambers—‘done see’/‘duncy’—signalled …

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong,” — H L Mencken Last month, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley reportedly said ‘tough decisions will have to be made to correct the educational imbalances’, as he anticipated ‘an honest and open discussion’ which would lead …

“[…] The PNM administration seems allergic to institutions which are independent within the executive and run by unelected persons.  “It is clearly one of the reasons for the pre-emptive assault on the Office of the Procurement Regulator rendering it a eunuch, so that the hands of elected ministers will not …

Every now and then it feels necessary to step back from the daily bombardment of unpleasant news that can wrench your spirit into a forlorn space. It helps to summon cheerful thoughts that remind us that there is beauty around us, and that life very often goes on inside our …

“[…] The role of the masses is also seen in their response to NJAC’s call for the transformation of the Trinidad and Tobago economy […] where for the first time Africans and Indians began to set up businesses right across the nation, which they also supported to guarantee their success. …

How can our women become more careful when they do not know whether or not an approaching man would rape or kill her? She, by just being in the public, is at risk. Take for example, Juliet Tam, who in 1985, left her Arima home to exercise and just disappeared. …

There was an outpouring of sympathy for the Venezuelan children and women, who were brought to our shores, after enduring cold weather and the high seas. And that is as it should be. However, there is no wailing for our own fates as represented by this turn of events. This …

“[…] We note that the European Union has been totally silent with respect to the voter suppression in the US and the attempts, which have failed so far, by Donald Trump, Michael Pence, Mike Pompeo and other top Republicans to carry out a veritable coup d’etat in the US by …

I grew up hearing an anecdote that the late former member of parliament for Diego Martin West, Johnny O’Halloran, and a contingent went to Venezuela to negotiate the purchase of a boat, and the only member of the contingent who could translate Spanish into English was the cook. So, the …

The following is the tenth column in a NJAC series on their contribution to Trinidad and Tobago society after the ‘Black Power Revolution’ of 1970: Reflecting on the 1970 mass people’s movement in Tobago brings to mind Lord Nelson’s calypso All Ah We Is One Family. Tobago’s entry into the …

“We will never bring disgrace to this, our city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many. “We will revere and obey the city’s laws …

Our history records Trinidad and Tobago’s fisherfolk dodging bullets from or being arrested by Venezuela’s Guardia Nacional for supposedly being in Venezuelan waters. Today we continue to metaphorically dodge different kinds of bullets from our Venezuelan neighbours. For years, the back-and-forth confrontational posturing was a trickle—the fisherfolk dispute, or the …