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 »Dear Editor: PM Rowley can’t count Indians; Dr Mahabir disputes claim of 50% Indian gov’t
“According to Government’s CSO population survey in 2011, Indians consist of 35 percent of the population, the largest ethnic group in the country. Comprising 26 percent in the government, Indian ministers are, therefore, underrepresented and do not find a proportionate ‘equal place’ in Rowley’s PNM administration.” In the following Letter to the …
Read More »TTPS: Text 482-GARY for serious crime; Commissioner takes over hotline numbers
New Commissioner of Police, Gary Griffith, has created a new hotline for serious crime, which is meant to supersede traditional TTPS public numbers such as 800-TIPS. In a release by the Police Service’s Corporate Communications Unit, citizens were asked to send a text or WhatsApp message to 482-GARY (4279) if …
Read More »Dear Editor: PNM’s race-tinged ‘sari skit’ was exploited by gender feminists and critics too
“[…] The sari skit is also being used by the gender feminists—who must be distinguished from equity feminists and women’s activists—to drum up support for their cause. “Just like the politicians using race codes, this brand of feminist wants to create fear, with men as the demonised group, by raising …
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 »Gilkes: Today Beetham, tomorrow…; residents were wrong but there’s a lesson worth learning here
It was bound to happen. What happened to Minister Fitzgerald Hinds in the Beetham was unfortunate, illegal and disrespectful. But it was all but inevitable, given a whole range of things including our society’s religious refusal to examine ourselves and our past and connect that to our present realities. So, …
Read More »Media Monitor: Best reviews PNM government’s continuing “communication” challenges…
Meaning, every competent Communications person knows, is made at the receiving end; whatever the message you intend to send, there is no guarantee that that is the message that will be received by those in whose garden the despatched message happens to fall. Whether or not it bears fruit at …
Read More »Vidale: What PNM’s frisky gorillas and Beetham’s feisty Fitzgerald greeting say about T&T
“Downpressor man Where you gonna run to? All along that day You gonna run to the sea But the sea will be boiling When you run to the sea The sea will be boiling…” Peter Tosh’s Downpressor Man began playing on loop in my head as I watched the clip …
Read More »Dear Editor: Floodwaters, People Power and the Legacy of Mis-development
“Some persons will criticise the actions of the residents, and they may be quite right in finding the water-dousing problematic. But there are bigger issues to be addressed. “If people find that the actions of a few residents were not the best, then they should also consider that the emotions …
Read More »Vidale: How legislation preserved Plantation society’s status quo; why emancipation hinges on labour struggle
In the first part of this discourse I attempted to argue that Emancipation as an event failed to meet the expectations of the African who were freed. But more than that, I posit that a concerted effort was made to ensure that changes to the essence of the society’s power …
Read More »Uhmm, Kes… Hello?! Gilkes explains why he takes exception to soca star’s new video
I’ve been a big Kes fan for ages. I love “Wotless” and I’m not sure if I can get enough of the song “Hello”. Its recently released video, however, is a whole different bag of worms. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always happy when our ‘kaiso’—no matter the genre—is given …
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 …
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