A few days ago, Nemme McSweeney sent me the link to a YouTube video featuring the man behind Moruga Hill Rice, Mark Forgenie. I know it’s long, she said (just over an hour), but Mr Forgenie encapsulates so many healthy concepts we keep ignoring. It was riveting: a combination of …
Read More »Vaneisa: It’s raining abominations—how do we de-fang our monstrous leaders?
I can’t imagine anyone whose insides have not been churning at the gruesome images of murder, maiming and absolute devastation of humanity by humans globally. Most visible are macabre scenes from Gaza: children, babies, women, the elderly, the young, all strewn together as the faces of physical pain—limbs and torsos …
Read More »MSJ: PM’s UN address puts T&T in Washington’s back pocket; and USA has no friends—only interests
“[…] By praising Donald Trump and stating that this country is proud to be aligned with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s call for an international coalition to fight narco-trafficking, this country’s Prime Minister has put our country in the pocket of the US…” The following is a press statement …
Read More »Dear Editor: Credit were it’s due; Minister Padarath is bringing progress to Wasa
“[…] The Picton 1 EMBD Development in Barrackpore [is] an area that has waited far too long for progress. “[…] For people who have had water once every 14 days, moving to three times a week is a major shift in quality of life. This isn’t just a pipeline, it’s …
Read More »Dear Editor: Demerit System should be adjusted to create cleaner, safer roads
“[…] How many more accidents must occur due to defective tires, missing lights, or overloaded trucks before enforcement is taken seriously? “[…] Many trucks spew toxic emissions unchecked, while traffic police turn a blind eye. The Demerit System should include emissions violations, penalising offenders as it does for tinted windows. …
Read More »Dear Editor: Public figures must stop reckless habit of filming while driving
“[…] Public figures—especially elected officials—have enormous influence. Their actions speak louder than their speeches. “When they film themselves while driving, they send a dangerous message to their followers, especially impressionable youth: that risk-taking and rule-breaking are acceptable if you’re important or influential…” The following Letter to the Editor which criticises …
Read More »Dear Editor: Commuting is daily punishment; Transport Minister should experience it first-hand
“[…] The focus on who gets a pass is a distraction from the fact that for the past 15 years, the journey itself has become a daily punishment for law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. “[…] On a Wednesday morning during the school term, attempt the commute to your Port of Spain ministry …
Read More »Vaneisa: Walking the talk; my ears are ringing with campaign promises—literally!
Perhaps the most surprising element of the general elections was the low voter turnout. According to the latest figures from the Election and Boundaries Commission, only 53.92% of eligible voters turned up at the polls. It is reported to be the second lowest in our history. Given the high-pitched nature …
Read More »Dear Editor: T&T’s housing crisis—“what good is a degree if you’re paying 60% of your salary in rent?”
“[…] I stand here not just for myself, but for every young professional drowning in rent, every couple delaying marriage because they can’t afford a place to live, every parent lying awake wondering if their child will ever own a home. “Trinidad and Tobago is in a housing crisis: 77% …
Read More »Vaneisa: Dancing around our cocoa—T&T must revive sleeping economic giant
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with two truly inspiring members of the Cocoa Research Centre (CRC) at The UWI: Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan, its head, and Dr Darin Sukha, its food technologist. I met them 16 years ago, when I started working at the university as …
Read More »Nobel: The lure of ‘progress’—T&T must not sacrifice social value in ‘paper chase’
Today, when I look around in the world, what do I see?/ I see footprints that man has left on the sand/ While walking through time./ I see fruits of our ambition, figments of our imaginations/ And I ask myself, When will it end? When will it end?/ It is …
Read More »Noble: Building or destroying our heritage; how T&T is shaped by its environment
In a Field Guide to Getting Lost (2005), Rebecca Solnit wrote of the places in which one’s life is lived: “They become the tangible landscape of memory, the places that made you, and in some way you too become them. They are what you can possess and, in the end, …
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