If “Santa Colm” assures the populace that their Christmas will be bright, not blue, then we have no reason to doubt the man. After all, Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert is the substantive Minister of Finance, in which capacity he has access to data and information pertaining to the state …
Read More »Daly: T&T’s denial of reality offset by an evening in Newtown
Essentially, we have been faking it for a long time, that is, gasping with pleasure at Trini life when in reality life is stressful and brutish. A senior citizen having fallen ill in the street across the street from a public hospital and having to wait 45 minutes for assistance …
Read More »Change and foreign exchange: Rowley’s Gov’t must lead economic adjustment
The great howl that goes up with every significant decline in foreign exchange income betrays the country’s dogged refusal to even entertain the option of adjustment until forced by the IMF. Led by some of the most powerful forces of the business community the instinct is invariably to press the …
Read More »The last ‘pahalwan’: T&T says farewell to era of maximum leaders
The battle for leadership of the UNC has ignited a discussion on leadership in a broader context, with the party’s founder, Basdeo Panday, weighing in on the issue. According to my columnist colleague Sheila Rampersad, Panday told her that Indians tend to seek a “pahalwan”—Hindi for warrior or strongman—to lead …
Read More »The ghosts of November past: Best and Walcott review the T&T/USA WCQ
Wired868 columnist Earl Best and journalist Roneil Walcott evoke the ghosts of November past in five tableaux: (Tableau One) “Dem eh really understand, yuh know,” he said to me, his voice thick with emotion, “deh eh understand hommuch dat hurt.” I expected him to wipe away a tear but he …
Read More »Promoting unpolluted energy: what music can do for T&T
One sometimes comes across facts containing intense ‘human interest’ stories in law reports. The United Kingdom Supreme Court recently decided a case concerning publication of a biography. The book is called “Instrumental.” James Rhodes, the concert pianist, author and television filmmaker, is the author. He describes in graphic detail the …
Read More »To whom will UNC turn? Sheila Rampersad reviews a party at a crossroad
During an interview for the Industrial Court’s 50th anniversary publication, Journey to Gold, Basdeo Panday told me that ‘Indian people’ tend always to search for and support a pahalwan—a wrestler, gladiator or strongman—to fight on their behalf. ‘Bas’ himself was finely suited. He was a real wrestler donning the presidency …
Read More »Boors will be boors: Raffique Shah wades in CHOGM controversy and fireworks furore
I address two issues of public importance today. First is the emerging controversy over this country’s attendance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting to be held in Malta next week. And second, I join the chorus of frustrated voices crying out for something to be done to curb …
Read More »Remedies for a murderous land: Innovative solutions needed, not the death penalty
We had a successful launch of The Daly Commentaries. There is a Facebook page bearing that name. In the words of the editor, Judy Raymond, these columns “share the sweetness as well as the adversities of life in this simultaneously frustrating and glorious little country.” Her words are apt at …
Read More »The battle against ISIS extremism and why T&T should care
Of all the photos following ISIS’s horrendous assault on Paris, among the most moving are those of the long lines of people waiting to donate blood outside hospitals where the wounded had been taken. There’s a good chance that among them were persons of Islamic faith standing in line to …
Read More »Wham Rasta?! Best gets brutally frank about frankly brutal viral bar video
“Ay, rasta, wham?” What laudable restraint! What admirable self-control! Having waited, according to the Trinidad Express’ Alexander Bruzual, all day to see Ricardo Jerome, the 36-year-old man accused of assaulting Ruth Marchan (not the former LifeSport director) in a bar, a woman grabbed him—presumably not by the scruff of the …
Read More »Rats, revenge and recycling: Daly looks at UNC’s internal elections
The UNC leadership contest is boiling. Ostensibly the challenge to the political leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissesar is a revolt against her running the losing election 2015 campaign in which the party lost Government as “a one person show.” There is nothing odd about a member of a political party challenging …
Read More »