As a young boy, my mother taught me ‘to quit while ahead’. Her context was if you kept talking after you missed a ‘cut tail’ she would look at you and ask: “You really want something?” Every Trinidadian child knows that is the point to shut up. No more complaining …
Read More »Noble: Peddling fables; why emailgate matters, despite Griffith’s protestations
Unlike Aesop whose fables came with a moral, our leaders peddle fables with deadly consequences. We are gambling in a ‘three-card’ game which we will never win while they collude. The way we treated the conclusion of the ‘Emailgate’ issue suggests that there is no connecting line between Section 34, …
Read More »Noble: A nation, moral leadership, short-sightedness; standing at the gates of Hell
“Hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy.” Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Prize Laureate. The spectacle of a former …
Read More »Fixin T&T: Kamla must fire Ramdeen now! UNC Senator operating under several clouds
“It’s been more than 48 hours since criminal charges have been officially laid against [UNC Senator Gerald Ramdeen]. Mr Ramdeen is an unelected member of our Parliament whose removal is long overdue…” Fixin T&T calls on Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to remove Senator Gerald Ramdeen, after he was charged for …
Read More »Daly Bread: Nine months after appointment of Griffith and Young; what has changed?
I had intended this week to return immediately to the failure of all of our governments to properly assist the voluntary organisation sector in our society and to their bad practice of making funding decisions based on ‘contact’ and perceived partisan political kinship. There is however some expectation of a …
Read More »Daly Bread: The boundaries of Attorneys General; from Cox and Barr to Ramlogan and Al Rawi
Two weeks ago our current Attorney General, Faris Al Rawi, and the former AG, Anand Ramlogan SC, engaged in a public dispute over Mr Ramlogan’s appearance in a case heard in the Privy Council on 20 March 2019. The proper boundaries of conduct for attorneys general have also been a …
Read More »Playing mas but ‘fraid powder; Noble on Griffith, crime fighting and the media
Little seems to attract public attention like crime news. Crime Watch, in 2014, had a 10 percent larger audience than News at 7pm. Our perceived reality of crime has evolved where there are certain assumptions about crime and justice that are no longer questioned. We conclude with each new atrocity …
Read More »STREET VIBES: Empty treasuries make the most noise, empty ministers too
Repeat after me: “The Treasury is empty.” “The Treasury is empty.” “Again!” In psychology, there is something called the “illusory truth effect.” Essentially, it says that a lie repeated often enough becomes believable, not only by persons hearing it but also by the people repeating it. The term only gained …
Read More »A turbulent fortnight: The unswearing of Le Hunte, Law Association gag and Mrs Broadbridge murder
Even as we were crossing Eastern Parkway opposite the Brooklyn Museum there was a brief warning. None of us making our way to Brooklyn Panorama last week Saturday into the grounds of the museum took the warning entirely seriously; but we should have. Two hours later, when we were drenched …
Read More »Heigh-ho, De Silva, away! Best sees NCC boss chairmanning still, despite quit promise
Five months, four weeks, three days, two hours, one minute, one second, two ticks and one tock. As I begin to write, that’s how long it has been since the last note sounded on Carnival 2017. And at the NCC, Kenny De Silva is still chairmanning. Now let me say …
Read More »Dear Editor: Law Association out of line to scold members on response to Anand’s arrest
“The Law Association’s current attempt to stifle legitimate dialogue about matters of public interest—like excessive detentions and the abuse of police powers—is also an affront to the independence of the bar and the rule of law.” The following Letter to the Editor on the LATT’s response to statements by practising …
Read More »Street Vibes: The jamming done; time to done with the political distractions
How many times since last Carnival have we heard the refrain “We jamming still” quoted? And in how many different contexts? Lifted from the Ultimate Rejects’ mega soca track “We Doh Business,” it has tended to be used so often because it sums up very neatly the “carnival mentality” we …
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