Trade unions have been critical players in the struggle for workers’ rights, improved living conditions, and societal equity throughout history. This is particularly true in the Caribbean, where the influence of trade unions extends far beyond labour relations, embedding itself into the political, social, and economic fabric of the region. …
Read More »MFO: Ghany Poll used “questionable methodology”; rigor and transparency needed in public opinion research
“[…] Knowing public opinion helps parties in the closing weeks of an election… Well-done opinion polls that are made public give everyone access to the same information. This approach helps our democracy. “[…] The Ghany approach raises two main methodological concerns that merit closer examination: sample size (approximately 125 per …
Read More »Dear Editor: Political discourse has sidelined women’s issues—will women accept being afterthought?
“[…] Our reality is that: women still make up only 23% of members of Parliament; the unemployment rate for women remains higher than for men, especially among young women aged 15-24 (CSO, 2022); and one in three women in Trinidad and Tobago has experienced intimate partner violence (UN Women Caribbean, 2023). “[…] The late Hazel Brown, one …
Read More »Daly Bread: Gov’t at lowest ebb of accountability, but apprehension of Kamla in its favour
The official and unsurprising collapse of the proposed Dragon gas and related Venezuelan gas supply arrangements, three weeks before the next General Election, should in normal circumstances cost the incumbent Peoples’ National Movement (PNM) the election. However, we have an Opposition, the United National Congress (the UNC), led by Kamla …
Read More »Dear Editor: Aren’t we fed up of political games? Don’t we want better than this?
“[…] Surely, we are supposed to be fed up and tired of the mess perpetrated on us by politicians who profess to be spiritually moral and incorruptible, yet they and their fanatics on social media, radio talk shows and letters to the editor, encourage and promote: “Lies, half-truths, innuendos, picong, …
Read More »Vaneisa: Poui and politics—what country do we want for ourselves?
Poui drizzling delicate pink blossoms like confetti over a population with little to celebrate has provided a welcome respite from the ashen pall that has been hanging over our heads. The impulse to photograph the trees rising majestically over their fragrant carpets has become the latest pastime. It is a …
Read More »Noble: ‘One day you’re in, the next you’re out’—evaluating our 2025 election candidates
“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities.” US President Abraham Lincoln, 1854. This week saw the United National Congress (UNC) struggle …
Read More »Noble: Political muck from all sides—is mad we mad, oui!
We are living in difficult times. We are witnessing the world, as we know it, turn topsy-turvy. But we want to be seduced into believing that there is a magic wand that will restore us to the glory days when oil and gas prices were high. We want to be …
Read More »Vaneisa: Why not stop now? Bullying must not be ‘our way of life’
It’s a little bit uncanny that I had wanted to return to discussing trauma, particularly the impact of bullying, before the issue raised itself vehemently in the public space. The story of five years of alleged physical abuse at St Mary’s College suffered by a student, who was expelled when …
Read More »Daly Bread: The Young move—reviewing new prime minister’s early election date
Twenty-four hours after his appointment by virtue of section 76(1) (a) of the Constitution to replace former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, new prime minister Stuart Young called the next general election for April 28. This Young move is probably a good move for his prospects to be re-appointed as …
Read More »Dear Editor: A sitting MP is evading a debt collection agency; suppose he gets elected?
“[…] In the news just recently, we had a case of a sitting MP evading a collection agency over a TT$600,000 debt. This is in addition to him having an outstanding defamation order in the amount of TT$500,000. Another aspirant to public office has multiple defamation judgements pending against and …
Read More »Daly Bread: Young approaches coronation day, as PNM close ranks
Stuart Young SC, member of the House of Representatives and currently minister of Energy and minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, is set to succeed Dr Keith Rowley as prime minister once Rowley resigns in one week’s time, as he has committed to do. On condition that Young …
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