“[…] The Legal Notice stipulated that the PSC had to submit to the president a list of persons who could act… Was such a list sent to the president? “To date, the Parliament has not given its approval to an acting CoP. Questions may therefore arise if Mr Griffith is …
Read More »‘No reputable economist would suggest privatising WASA!’: Dr Farrell on WASA, VMCOTT, the fuel subsidy and lay-offs
“[…] No, no—WASA should not and cannot be privatised! There are some entities which are what you call in economics, natural monopolies. For an economy like Trinidad and Tobago, the production of water is a natural monopoly and the state should do it. “[…] We are going to give WASA …
Read More »‘The numbers don’t add up’: Dr Farrell on Covid, costs, challenges and consequences
“[…] Non-energy revenues have fallen in 2020-2021 and for next fiscal, 2021-2022, it is going to be worse—partly because people pay taxes on the previous year’s numbers and partly because the recovery is going to be slower than expected because of the state of emergency and the impact of the …
Read More »How Haiti helped liberate the Caribbean and South America; and their oft-forgotten heroes and heroines
“[…] The continuous revolts and burning of the plantations by the Africans, following the Haitian Revolution, removed the profits from the sugar industry and forced England to end the system. This culminated in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1 August 1834. “Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the rest of the …
Read More »Noble: A long way to go! T&T women clearly ‘still in the clutches of misogynistic men’
There was an advertising slogan, ‘You’ve come a long way, Baby!’, in the late 60s that reflected the rising empowerment of women. By the early 80s, a board including two men, inspired by Radhica Saith, ran the first local Halfway House for Battered Women. Thirty years ago, this week, our …
Read More »Daly Bread: The silence of the nights—the govt’s ‘naïve assumptions’ about Despers pan theatre
The words of Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet inspire generations of readers all over the world. In the words of an Oxford University lecturer, the book ‘serves various occasions or big moments in one’s life’. I have so far escaped the worst of the deprivations of the pandemic. My pandemic …
Read More »MSJ: Maduro and Guaidó MOU is ‘positive development’, which exposes ‘UNC’s political opportunism’
“[…] Some of the main items agreed to in the MOU include the recognition by the Opposition of the legitimacy of Nicolás Maduro’s government, a renouncing of violence and a commitment to work for the well-being of Venezuelans, and a pledge to request that US sanctions and restrictive measures be …
Read More »Francis named high commissioner to S/Africa, Dillon is ambassador to Venezuela
Two former ministers were on Tuesday presented with their Instruments of Appointment to serve at Trinidad and Tobago’s overseas missions. They were among a group of five new heads of mission who received their credentials from Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Senator the Honourable Dr Amery Browne. Lovell Francis, …
Read More »Noble: The virus and our democracy—the problem with ‘us’ and ‘them’
The Covid-19 pandemic hit our shores at the wrong time. Indeed, there is no right time, but the state of our nation had made us incredibly vulnerable. We were in a crisis, adjusting to the economic woes and experiencing lowered trust levels in our leaders. In the heat of Covid-19, …
Read More »Dear Editor: Why upgrade NP gas stations with taxpayers’ money then sell to private owners?
“[…] Is it that we are spending tens of millions of the people’s money to upgrade facilities only to then hand these facilities over to private owners? “With the end of subsidisation of fuel prices coupled with the handover of the people’s assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars to …
Read More »St Bernard: Why New York City boasts of ‘the now generation of pan’
A couple months ago, Yvette Rennie, the president of J’Ouvert City International in New York City, hired me to do a video documentary with some prominent people involved in the NYC steel pan movement. She wanted to focus on the economic development of steel pan in NYC. The interviewees included …
Read More »Noble: The Bottom Line—employees aren’t disposable elements or puppets on a string
Reading is dangerous; it can lead you to challenge things around you in unexpected but exciting ways. Or it can lead to a severe state of the blahs! One expects those anointed by the mass media to use their time and space to provide insights, moving their readers to actions …
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