Guest Columns

Sometimes a song, phrase or expression lodges itself in your mind as if on repeat play. The one that is in my mind is the recent statement by former CEO of SWMCOL, Ronald Roach, which was reported in the Trinidad Guardian on 7 July. “We have not placed sufficient emphasis …

“As a community, our non-tolerance of intimidation and harassment is unequivocal. Ms [Colleen] Holder has our unwavering support and no resource will be spared to pursue and apprehend the culprits…” The following Letter to the Editor, which condemns the threats and criticism levelled at Oropune resident and former TV6 news anchor Colleen …

In the mid-60s, Paul Simon wrote: “And in the naked light I saw/ten thousand people maybe more/ people talking without speaking/people hearing without listening/ people writing songs that voices never share/and no one dared disturb the sound of silence..” These lines are about us, our crime situation and the impertinent …

Like a socially awkward dinner guest who knocks down the glass of water, Colleen Holder and her committee have disrupted the myth of public housing management. Oropune Gardens is not a den of ‘do-nothings’ who live off the public purse. The residents want to live there and have created several …

Let us call them simply ‘moments.’ I use the neutral term to refer to those momentous instances when you spot an error that is so glaring that you could not ignore it even if you wanted to. On Wednesday 26 June, I had four such moments, which I should like …

“Never before in the United Nations’ history have we had so many refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers… the world must do more to prevent forced displacement, address its root causes and support solutions for those affected by it. It requires greater resources, and more political leadership… unprecedented cooperation by …

The allocation of foreign exchange to Jane and Beharry Public continues to be inequitable and discriminatory. The ordinary citizen cannot get foreign exchange but franchises keep popping up all over the place. Clearly if you operate in the right circles you can get foreign exchange at will. Who needs another …

The Police’s seizure of Mr Devant Maharaj’s phone in pursuit of information, re the recent credible bomb threat, raises important questions about the evolution of the media and the preservation of press freedom. The importance does not arise merely on the issue of the action taken but we need to …

The insightful story by Suzanne Mills about her mother’s struggles is useful to highlight how the media wrestles with framing the large issues of life. It raises the issue of how we define who is a good editor. Is the metric the profitability of the media house, or is it …

“At around 2 or 3pm, the commencement of crunch time, some editor, perhaps even I, would stick our heads out of our offices and ask, ‘No murders yet?’ […] As the murder toll rose, I asked Therese [Mills], ‘What’s the point of these crime front pages? We’re not making a sliver …

I drove past the Petrotrin refinery one night and felt the stillness that darkness provides. In my imagination, I saw the stare of thousands of eyes from the darkness. It is now six months since Petrotrin chairman Wilfred Espinet wielded his axe, with the full permission of the current government, …

Back in the mid-80s, when I was in Form 3 or 4 at St Benedict’s College, a film was shown about the Rapture—an event in which the ‘righteous’ would suddenly be swept up into the clouds to be with Jesus and away from the horrific tribulations that would befall everyone …