View Point

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” Late US president John F Kennedy. This quote comes from Kennedy’s inaugural 1961 address. He had been gripped by the poverty he saw while campaigning. In his first official act, he …

For obvious reasons, this is an appropriate time to point out that the vision for the panyard model did not just reach; and also to remind readers of how long I have been advocating for the panyard model, which I met already established on the ground. A little over 17 …

“When politics is involved in business, they don’t thrive. In most of these companies… there is a significant inflow of politics.” Gokool Seemungal, National Enterprises Limited (NEL) shareholder. “We adhere to the philosophy that cash in the shareholders’ hands has greater value than ours.” Ingrid Lashley, chair of National Enterprises …

On 3 February 2021, as Trinidad and Tobago was gripped by a search for 23-year-old clerk Andrea Bharatt, blogger Rhoda Bharath—a UWI lecturer—sounded an alarm over the behaviour of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), then headed by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith, in the discharging of its duties. “Oh …

As readers are aware, I take an empathetic side with those who are dealt blows in a society, which—although mitigated somewhat by the prodigious work of volunteers and the voluntary organisations—has a cruelly indifferent socio-economic structure compounded by unenlightened governance. As recently as April this year, in connection with the …

“In the way of the world, things happen. As one writer previously wrote, ‘there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face…” Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds, Express, 5 July 2024. The preening, self-important Minister Hinds evidently did not recognise that he was quoting Macbeth and …

“[…] It takes a lot of hard work, late nights, missing out on family time, some friends become enemies, a lot of social media bullying. “Holidays for the public are work for us; [there are] threats made on your life, just to name a few…” Wired868 sheds light on the …

“[…] We don’t see here as part of Trinidad. We see here [as] a diseased part that we wish would go away. I tell people if your left kidney is cancerous and you ignore it, it will kill you. “If you focus on the parts of your body that are …

At the end of last week’s column, I described the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) after the results of its recent internal election as “the Kamla Persad-Bissesar re-embedded UNC”. In the week since that column was written, factionalism has broken out in the UNC. The governing People’s National Movement (PNM), …

“[…] The late Basdeo Panday told us that ‘politics has a morality of its own’. That characterisation is certainly true of the practice of politics, well-known for back-stabbing, lying, and hypocrisy, here and indeed everywhere. “[…] But surely there are some areas of national life which should remain uninfected, if …

In the mid-60s, there was a proposal to move people out of what was then called Shanty Town to Morvant. Lord Blakie (1965) summed up the resistance among the people there: How they want them to move/ They say they eh going nowhere/Build big house in Morvant/ But if they …

“[…] More recently, the Opposition Leader suggested that, should her party form the next government, all off-duty police and prison officers will be issued licensed firearms provided by the State.  There are an estimated 7,000 police officers and over 3,000 prison officers in the country. “Let us, therefore, be very …