View Point

I want to believe that August is Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s favourite month…or maybe every August she feels the need to shake things up. August 2011 she gave us the failed State of Emergency. August 2012 was the sneaking in of the proclamation of Section 34. August 2013 was the Proportional Representation …

Success has many fathers; but corruption, to paraphrase, is a bastard. Fortunately, Mr Live Wire has a paternity kit. So let’s have a look at the now defunct LifeSport programme, which has been held in a headlock by the media for the past two months. LifeSport, of course, is the brainchild …

The Black Butterflies: Chapter four December 10th, 1992  There was a moment or two of confusion, when I floated back to reality. First thing was that sun was streaming in through a window, directly on my face. Even before I opened my eyes I could hear the faint flutter of …

Columnist Earl Best refuses to shoulder arms as he revisits one of the most controversial periods in Trinidad and Tobago’s history History is replete—littered is more appropriate since the dung heap of history is where we find them—with characters who make no distinction between fame and notoriety. Adolf Hitler, Jack …

For this generation, it seems permanent employment is a thing of the past. More and more employers in both the private and public sector are hiring on contract for all level of employees including management and executives. Very often, contract employees do not receive Company health and pension benefits and …

The Black Butterflies: Chapter three  December 9th, 1992.  My watch alarm sounded at 6:00 am. This was the only connection I could make to time and date. My night had been without event and dreams and for that I was grateful. Agent Anderson opened the door and peeped in. “Good …

Earl Best recalls some occasions when the public language was not, ahm, parliamentary… Three years ago, Benjai’s monster hit “Trini” mash up the whole place. “And they like to hear Trini talk, talk, talk, talk, talk…,” he told us. There wasn’t one dissenting voice. That “they” includes me because, in …

The Black Butterflies: Chapter two December 8, 1992. It started to rain around the fifth of December, and kept at it for some days well. By the eighth it had slowed considerably, but the cold, dark atmosphere still hung around. In fact as I stood with my black parka zipped …

In my last blog, published on 5 June 2014, I suggested that our political situation was not unlike George Orwell’s Oceania, which was the fictitious setting for his timeless novel, “1984”. On 11 June 2014, within a week of my post, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared that we must “unleash …

Sometimes the beauty of a goal is in its build up, not the scoring. Last week, on June 14, Trinidad Express journalist Ria Taitt revealed that the Lower House (MPs) had just approved amendments to two bills, which would give themselves fat new pensions. The story took about 48 hours to really …

Wired868 concludes Chapter One of The Black Butterflies: A Trinidad crime novel My car was rammed from behind again, and this time I screamed out, more in frustration than fear. I could not lose these guys I thought as I took another corner. I had now lost count, as all …

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” – 1984, George Orwell I was probably 15 years old when I first read George Orwell’s 1984. At the time I had only conceived of Winston Smith’s dilemma as doing the right thing because …