It now seems incontrovertible that Greenvale Park Development, La Horquetta, should not have been built at all. The disastrous flood risk that materialised to the material and psychological damage to the residents—now facing the further risk of flood-borne diseases—was the proverbial disaster waiting to happen. Several reports in the media …
Read More »Daly Bread: Angels driving in their limousine; Shadow, flooding and citizen humanity
The thing about liming long is that you have a first-hand memory of plenty things. I saw ‘Shadow’, in a tent, in his first year of performing. I think it was Port Services club but what I am sure about is that I left repeating: “Kitchie boy, water in yuh …
Read More »Daly Bread: Sweetest songs, saddest thoughts; pushing back against mental slavery
It did not take long for a compere to call last Sunday morning to say: “page 27 Express ringing so many bells for us. Look, just what you have been saying.” I turned to the page as he was speaking. There I saw a report that the Barbados Minister of …
Read More »Daly Bread: Sing de chorus; why Tourism Minister should get out more and T&T needs What’s On app
By the time of publication, Sing de Chorus would have completed eight performances—including a morning show for students at a discounted price. Sing de Chorus is a calypso musical written by Rawle Gibbons. It is the first part of his trilogy of calypso musicals tracing the history of calypso from …
Read More »Daly Bread: Breaking useless moulds and transforming Carnival
I congratulate the Minister of Tourism, Randall Mitchell MP, for his reported admission that Carnival has failed as a tourism product. In 2015, I had already described “the acceleration of the decline of Carnival into a minority sport”. Only last week I complained again that our rich and varied musical …
Read More »Daly Bread: We came again; the Big 5 and the future of steelpan
The second edition of the Big 5 concert, comprising prime bands in prime time, took place on the eve of Republic Day. This column is about what such an event demonstrates regarding leadership, management, positive development and self esteem. The event was promoted as We Comin’ Again. The Big 5 …
Read More »Daly Bread: A tsunami of grief; moving on from Petrotrin
Two weeks ago, I asserted that the proposed closure of the Petrotrin refinery was a socio-economic earthquake attributable to the State enterprise fault line that runs right through our economy. That earthquake has produced its tsunami. It is a tsunami of grief. The question is this: Do we understand that …
Read More »Daly Bread: Petrotrin is epicentre of socio-economic earthquake; T&T won’t escape reverberations
At least 1,700 workers are reportedly about to lose their jobs at Petrotrin without reprieve because the money-losing oil refinery at Pointe a Pierre is being shutdown. These workers recently had the benefit of an interim five per cent pay rise conceded in response to strike notice given in January …
Read More »Daly Bread: Six, seven, eight or fate; an earthquake wake-up and Naipaul desperation
The subject of today’s column was to be what I term the ‘Naipaul desperation’. However, everyone will currently have a story about where they were and what they feared in the moment of the terrifying earthquake we experienced in the afternoon of Tuesday last. Do we appreciate how powerless we were? …
Read More »Daly Bread: The Khamal car caper; and T&T’s preference for personality over process
Khamal Georges, the CNC3 television anchor and journalist, has my total sympathy having recently suffered the terror of a hold-up at gunpoint when his motor vehicle was taken from him. I have interacted well with him. He is not likely to take badly my commentary on the typical Trini comess …
Read More »Daly Bread: The charge of the light brigade; a look at govt’s new direction on crime
With hoopla and fanfare, a Commissioner of Police and a new Minister of National Security have been appointed within days of each other. The Commissioner is Gary Griffith, a former military captain and a Minister of National Security when the Opposition UNC was last in power. The Minister of National …
Read More »Daly Bread: Our true treasure trove; T&T must let culture relieve the gloom
Being uncertain whether the appointment of glory Gary as Commissioner of Police, will make a difference, I am referring to some of our steadily growing international successes in arts and culture in an attempt to relieve the murderous gloom. This sector holds the key to diversification of the economy, despite …
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