In August 1959, at the peak of his fame, Miles Davis was taking a break from a recording which he was making downstairs an equally famous club called Birdland Jazz Club. He was on the pavement when a white policeman told him to move on. “Move on for what? I …
Read More »Daly Bread: Siq transit gloria; is govt’s limited Covid-19 testing a ‘calculated risk’?
My headline today is not a typographical error. As suggested below, it is still uncertain whether the government’s policy of Siq, that is separate, isolate and quarantine is a sound enough response to our Covid-19 crisis. We just don’t know yet. Sic transit gloria mundi is the full classic incantation …
Read More »Daly: Credibility in a crisis; why are health-related questions ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘mischievous’?
In our post-colonial society, we have never solved the problem of what checks and balances ought to be placed on the exercise of the constitutional power of the political bosses, namely the Executive, which we elect to govern us at periodic intervals, usually every five years. It is a long …
Read More »Daly bread: A more fearful future; soaring crime, falling oil prices and coronavirus
We washed and put away our sailor costumes last weekend. That induced a stronger nostalgia than usual for the carefree days of Carnival generally and, in particular, for Carnival Tuesday as All Stars sailors. The nostalgia was a brief antidote to the keen awareness that murders—albeit unrelated to Carnival—remained an …
Read More »Daly Bread: Swallowing the Carnival wrecker and other camels
Carnival post-mortems are usually futile because the vested interests in Carnival are so strong that those with the power to make changes will not attempt to solve congestion on the parade route, the marginalisation of traditional mas and other problems. Nevertheless, all praise to Pan Trinbago, under the presidency of …
Read More »Tobago’s turn to party: Daly on Panorama’s Presidential delay and THA bacchanal
The late ‘De Fosto’ opened his 1993 Carnival song Is My Turn with words: “For too long I have been knocking on the door. Now I fed up, I don’t intend to knock no more. This time I going to break it down.” He then launched into ‘now is my …
Read More »Daly Bread: Prime bands in prime time; we may be at a new beginning in pan
Everything is set for a thrilling indigenous musical contest at next Saturday’s Panorama Finals and I open this column with an appeal to anyone who loves pan and our country’s youth to put aside their bad experiences with previous ridiculously lengthy Panorama Finals and attend the event. This appeal is …
Read More »Daly bread: Trying a new direction; will Panorama lead by example?
I do not need someone from foreign to tell me that gangsters are fully in charge in many communities, and I dun know that the politicians look the other way and frequently consort with them. It is a reprehensible failure on the part of the elites and belated moaners that …
Read More »Daly Bread: Just an expensive red box, unless politicians can think outside of it
Her Excellency the President spoke a little over a week ago at the re-opening of the Red House, the seat of our parliament. As a self-described emissary of the people, she brought a message to the parliament to the effect that whatever the politicians are doing within the Red House …
Read More »Daly Bread: Wrong again! Crime crisis not addressed by either political party
The PNM is vulnerable. The UNC is still suspect. The population is fearful and angry. The PNM, having no answer to rampant murder, is trying a t’ing to keep the UNC’s suspect reputation fresh by alleging that those who stand to gain when the murder rate spikes are fomenting it. …
Read More »Daly Bread: Facing the music; the problem of accountability in crime and in pan
Last week commenced with the prime minister making more shallow statements about the prevailing rampant murder in response to meek and mild interview questions. In local parlance, the TV interview was sorf. Today I am asserting that facing the music is a common problem for the prime minister regarding rampant …
Read More »Daly Bread: Grow room of topics; the bad news never ends in T&T
Trinidad and Tobago lives on nervous energy. We are constantly rattled and are set talking, messaging and posting, prompted by extraordinary and usually negative events. At times, things happen so quickly that another event erupts into the headlines before the shock and full implications of an earlier one can be …
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