So the Finance Minister’s budget presentation is over; we all now know the major highlights. I make no apologies for not offering any red or yellow-tinted responses or comments or analyses. I want to break with the sterile ‘This was good’ and ‘That was bad’ tradition and discuss instead what …
Read More »Dear editor: Our budgets lack originality and our Finance Ministers don’t understand ‘diversification’
I stopped watching many TV shows and movies a long time ago because they have apparently run out of ideas and are in the habit of using old shows and scripts—that worked sometime in the past—to see if they would work now. I am now convinced that I should also …
Read More »Forex 101: Dr Farrell explains foreign exchange market and Central Bank’s role
“No minister or prime minister can cause the DPP to prosecute or discontinue a prosecution… No minister or prime minister can instruct the Commissioner of Police to arrest anyone. These offices, which are part of the Executive arm, have their independence explicitly protected in the Constitution as is the Judiciary …
Read More »Media Monitor: A farewell to alms in T&T? The old man in the ICU signs off
“Everybody was the way people should be all the time,” she continued. “Not mean and afraid but good to each other.” “She” is Marlene Dietrich; the person to whom she is speaking is Ernest Hemingway. It is 1950. No, I was not there; Lillian Ross was. I am reading the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Dominica, mwen regret ca; why we must help traumatised regional brothers
Dominica, I am sorry. I choose to say that in the patois of the headline of this column, consistent with the linguistic expression of Dominica’s national motto: Après Bondi, C’est la Ter—After God, it’s the Earth. Now, after Hurricane Maria, Dominica’s beloved Earth is a debris dump—its fertility disrespected by …
Read More »Dear Editor: Anger, outrage, myopia, convenient excuses and inconvenient truths
“It is our right to express anger when there is inequity in the responses to the cries for help. It is our right as citizens and taxpayers to challenge the use of public funds and to question corruption and inefficiency. “It is also our right to speculate over the misappropriation …
Read More »Dear Editor: CARICOM, community, law and the PM’s invitation to Dominicans
“The public consternation caused by the Government’s decision also calls our value system into question. As all Caribbean people can attest, anywhere you travel in the world, you are guaranteed lodging in the home of some friend or family. Hospitality is as Caribbean as sun, sea and sand. “Furthermore, for …
Read More »Media Monitor: T&T reacts to Rowley’s offer; a soulless nation or asshole people?
If you are a TV6 regular and you’re like me, you may have noticed two striking things on the number one television channel this week. The second, occurring on Thursday night, had to do with the results of the daily poll and told me something about me and the country …
Read More »Without real leadership, T&T will not navigate rough xenophobia seas
For many people, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s announcement that this country will welcome Dominicans to these shores after Hurricane Maria pummelled that island meant adding salt to an open wound. The reaction on social media was swift and merciless, with many Trinidad and Tobago nationals decrying the proposal and …
Read More »Getting in touch with mortality; on Deborah John, Hurricane Maria and self-delusion
One thing that is more fake than fake news is VVIP status in Trinidad and Tobago—but sadly we pay out of the Treasury for the political and social botox that supports the fake status. Within the past fortnight, five Caribbean islands have been devastated and half a dozen others have …
Read More »STREET VIBES: What scene you on, Mr PM? Open we doors and shut we mouth?
The discussion currently dominating social media revolves around an offer made by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, extending an invitation to citizens of hurricane-ravaged Dominica to come to T&T. This, according to the PM, is his idea of lending assistance to a fellow nation in the region. The …
Read More »MATT: Boycott A&V press conference! Company must take responsibility for media assault
“The heavily worded statement by A&V Oil and Gas Limited also extended an invitation to the media to take a tour of their facilities and observe their operations. Media personnel are to be transported on buses the company will provide. “We call on all journalists and their assignment editors to …
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