View Point

It is Thursday evening on TV6; Shonda Rhimes, Viola Davis and Peter Nowal are getting away with murder. So too is Desha Rambhajan. The 7pm news anchor, easy on the ear and on the air, announces to her listenership that a Sangre Grande man has been charged with six offences, …

In the face of rampant violent crime, last week’s column asserted that it is wholly insufficient to believe, as the Government does, that we could merely rely on the Police Service as currently managed. On that same day, there was a forceful editorial in the Sunday Express newspaper which I …

“Because we are too spineless in the face of our failed colonial realities, we must now live in fear of a generation that will have theirs: by any means necessary. “They cannot be blamed, for it is we who failed to confront the new pirates head-on, so that generations to …

In today’s world of alternative facts, we have to be alert to the special dangers posed by ‘false equivalence.’ False equivalence arises when two arguments are presented as being of equal relevance but, in fact, one is solidly fact-based and the other is mere speculation or invention. As recent events …

“The theories of legitimacy and procedural justice offer the best explanation. In countries where the State and its institutions are deemed legitimate and fair, increases in arrests and detentions tend to produce the expected deterrent effect. “However, in other jurisdictions, when the State and the exercise of State power are …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is still being commended by some for taking decisive action in firing Ms Marlene McDonald for a second time. If Dr Rowley had any appreciation for the philosophy that “politicians serve their party best when they put their country first”, Ms McDonald would not have …

Last week’s column raised the issue whether each of the two main political parties are captive to the power wielded by wealthy businessmen. I did so in the light of Mario Sabga-Aboud’s boast about the power that his community had. I also made sure to include in my inquiry the …

“There are currently—and this is a figure that comes from the HDC itself—180,000 applicants on the HDC’s books, which is just about 12% of the entire population. That is no surprise. “The surprise is that, despite the length of the waiting list, there are several developments all across the country …

“The provision [used to prosecute Rayad Mohammed] was enacted in 1951. Yes, 1951. It was enacted to deal with the “misuse of telephone facilities and false telegrams. The legislature at the time sought to capture offensive messages that may have been transmitted by landlines and telegrams. “It is a stretch, …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has sacked his Minister of Public Utilities Marlene McDonald, just two days after appointing her in the first place. A release from the Office of the Prime Minister stated that Rowley “today advised President Anthony Carmona to revoke the appointment of Ms Marlene McDonald, Minister …

Anthony Bourdain is a chef, a food and travel writer and television personality. He has significant credibility evidenced by his winning a Peabody award and several Emmys. Our country was recently the subject of an episode of Bourdain’s well-known television series Parts Unknown. Its broadcast has stirred controversy among a …

Many people who frequent the social media, in particular Facebook, would by now have seen the pictures of a person dressed in a uniform which closely resembles that worn by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). He was entering a vehicle which appears to be one from …