Martin Daly

The public is thoroughly confused by the torrent of words wetting us down about Darryl Smith, member of parliament for Diego Martin Central, a safe PNM seat. What are the issues and what were the roles of the various high persons who had conduct of the main issue? The main …

We have already entered what is clearly going to be the silliest of the silly season of election time. The silliness always has the potential to become deadly. Its near-disastrous level is the result of currently having an opposition that has a mountain to climb to regain public trust and …

It was a surprise and perhaps something of a mark of appreciation that Noble Philip reminded readers of what I said in 2000, while I was in the Senate, about the shameful conditions at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital. Insightful commentator that he is, Noble Philip lamented our lack of …

Mall Panic screamed this newspaper’s front page very shortly after my column on malls becoming hotspots. Next, an editorial, acknowledged what its editors and commentators already knew: “Today, the failure to stem the tide of crime has made mall-shopping as vulnerable as shopping on the roadside.” The editorial linked crime to …

In last Monday’s budget statement, there were glaring omissions common to the two brief statements relating to the creative industries and tourism respectively. The following is the sum total of what was said about the creative industries sector: “Carifesta XIV, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, underscored the strides we have …

Two ladies in the early afternoon—to which we refer colloquially as after lunch—park a vehicle in an area, not isolated from one of its entrances, and enter a shopping mall. An hour later, as they are exiting the mall, they see a man standing adjacent to their vehicle. They have …

We are probably not paying much attention to the decision of the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday last when the British Prime Minister’s decision to advise the Queen to suspend the British parliament was declared to be unlawful, null and void and of no effect. The decision represents a complete …

Monday last was a grim day for the pursuit of transparency and accountability. Both the prime minister and the chief justice took the usual futile refuge of chastising the media and metaphorically shooting all other messengers, oblivious of the message from responsible quarters that they should give an account of …

It is fundamental that citizens are entitled to understand and, if appropriate, criticise decisions made by the Government or public authorities; and also to be fully informed about the involvement and role played by the key decision-makers, whether Ministers or Cabinet appointees to Boards. This fundamental right is confirmed in …

When our politicians fail us, rather than responding on the issues, they commonly pursue attacks on critics and angry dismissals of so-called negativity. They are however so blinded by their own rhetoric and the flattery of their satellites that they do not know where to look for—let alone properly to …

As violent crime continues to overwhelm us, I noted last week the prime minister’s apparent adoption of the concept of violence as ‘a public health issue’ and his intention (unnecessarily as we shall see) to seek the assistance of a foreign expert on the subject. The concept has been around …

On behalf of all the angry people that clamoured for this to be exposed, let me lay it out at the outset: The Ministry of Culture needs properly to account for the distribution of tickets for the main stage events of Carifesta, which was ill-considered, unfair and discriminatory. That each …