If you are wondering why, as a Trinidad and Tobago citizen, I choose to highlight the case of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v DSD & Anor [2018] UKSC 11 (DSD) coming out of the United Kingdom, the reason is simple. This case has basically turned the concept of …
Read More »Dear Editor: Do stats confirm domestic violence ‘epidemic’? Baldeosingh examines
“The police get more than 1,800 domestic violence reports annually and about 1,300 of these involve physical violence. This works out to an average of 25 per day. This means that, if the mandate being demanded by activists is met, at least 50 police officers will be expending at least …
Read More »Claude’s Comments: Black identity, Pt 5: How Black Panther altered China’s attitude to dark complexion
On Monday March 12, Quartz Media, a respectable, business-oriented, online publication carried an article by film critic, Echo Huang. It was headlined: “A torture for the eyes: Chinese moviegoers think Black Panther is just too black.” The punch line in Huang’s story was provided by a “reviewer on Douban,” which …
Read More »Daly Bread: Break-ins, break-outs and Govt’s blunder of appeasement
This troubled Sunday morning, let’s view the continuing Chief Justice saga through the prism of Watergate. On 22 July 1973, the headline on the front page of the Washington was ‘Nixon sees witch-hunt.’ At that time, the now famed Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, were actively pursuing the …
Read More »Dear Editor: Enough! Time for Arima to walk the talk and stop criminals in their tracks
“The anti-violence walk has now been transformed into the more positive ‘Arima Walk for Peace’ and the timeliness of the call to Arima people to join with us—this hits a raw nerve—will be seen tomorrow when we expect to actively involve many hundreds of ordinary, decent, hard-working people in a …
Read More »Dear Editor: That’s rubbish! How emotion rules and facts get short shrift in T&T
“A Chief Justice… ‘with a pattern of breaking rules.’ Like a Rott on a roti, a lot of people, I expect, will jump on that phrase. Why? Well, about half will merely see another example of a successful black man being persecuted. Not all 50% but a substantial proportion of that …
Read More »Francis Fashions: We had to fire them; employees “agreed” to work extra hour and then reneged
“By memorandum date January 2nd 2018, the workers were informed that they will be required to work for an extra hour from Monday to Thursday each week till further notice to clear up a backlog of containers which had been received by the company. “The workers signed acknowledging receipt of …
Read More »Dear Editor: Open Letter to Sean Hadeed; NWU accuses Francis Fashions of violating international labour laws
“Article 3.1 [of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention]: ‘For the purposes of this Convention the term forced or compulsory labour shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily’. …
Read More »Dear Editor: Anti-Gang Bill no panacea for crime; change of culture of Police Service needed
“The Anti-Gang Bill, sunset clause or not, suffers from the same ills as every other piece of legislation in Trinidad and Tobago: to be effective, it must be enforced! For enforcement to take place, the Police Service needs to do a better job, a much, much better job. To ascertain …
Read More »Street Vibes: Meet me on the pavement! Rowley points way to meaningful education for all
Since returning from my three-month sabbatical, I have been finding life on this rock we call home to be a real struggle. I have tried my best to refrain from commenting on the numerous instances of outrageous, silly behaviour and criminal acts in the news, be it on social or …
Read More »Claude’s Comments: Black Identity (Pt 4): The African confrontation with European-copyrighted blackness
Black Power was primarily a revolution of the mind: the continuation of the revolution of Marcus Garvey. It first aimed to free “black” people who embraced it from seeing themselves and their past through the lens and language of those who trampled on their humanity, denied them the dignity of …
Read More »Salaam: Mr President, don’t rush our children into adult decisions; why we should not lower voting age
“Good idea!” was my initial reaction when I read that President Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona is advocating that 16- and 17-year-old citizens have the right to vote for their leaders. I can think of no argument against involving youths in initiatives and activities, especially sporting and cultural ones, which require …
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