Tag Archives: corruption

We all have soundtracks that mark our lives, some inexplicably. As a pre-teen, I heard a haunting song that I have never forgotten and which appears to be appropriate in today’s Trinidad and Tobago.  ‘Sad movies always make me cry’ was one of the first songs on Billboard. It told of …

Marshall McLuhan, Canadian educator and philosopher, published work in 1964 which became fundamental to understanding the media in the electronic age—even though electronic communication, as we know it, had not yet been invented.  He created the famous phrases ‘global village’ and ‘the medium is the message’. McLuhan posited, in summary, …

The perception that if you are within the inner circle of the government, you can get anything you want was solidified in my mind with the recent announcement by the Prime Minister. Clarence Rambharat, former agriculture, lands and fisheries minister, we were told, is coming back into government and will …

All Caribbean children (from Jamaica to Guyana) learned about Brer Anansi. Brer Anansi is one of the most significant characters in Caribbean folklore.  ‘He is admirably clever as he is greedy, selfish and reckless. In a place where there are no standards and anything goes, Anansi holds a cherished place …

God has a sense of humour. In 2017, Reginald Armour SC defended the Government in a Judicial Review case brought by a public servant seeking to establish the bounds of authority that the Prime Minister had on his ambassadorial posting.  By 2019, in the Court of Appeal, he won with …

Stephen R Covey, the American author of First Things First, said: ‘We are free to choose our actions… but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.’  As a nation, we need to contemplate this as we mourn the loss of the four men in a recent …

Nobody wants to live in fear. Nobody wants to lose a loved one to crime or be victimised.  The pain ricochets through the community as others experience the wrenching loss that descends on us in sudden ways. Most believe that the government is responsible for public safety. But our reactions …

This week’s blackout taught us a great lesson: the street windscreen wiper boys at the West Mall traffic lights are human! Not only are they human and not freaks intent on mischief, but they are also brave entrepreneurs. Who would have thought?  When anxiety levels were rising, they, who reportedly live …

Our country has been widely shamed internationally by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard’s fatal shooting of an illegal migrant baby.  The use of the label ‘accident’, the premature ducking of responsibility and due process as well as the crude, partisan political exchanges have compounded the shame. For the moment, …

In 2005, Steve Jobs addressed the new graduates of Stanford University. He advised: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. You have to trust the dots will somehow connect in your future.”  It is easy to miss the connections in our rancorous society …

Supposedly in response to my own post in these pages on 9 September 2021, the National Trust made an engaging and informative post here on 17 September 2021. The most striking aspect of that reply was that the essential query was not addressed at all. For those who have an …

“[…] There is no greater example of our misapplication of the national watchword, tolerance, than the way we treat Yasin Abu Bakr… He hosts press conferences, and participates in national discussions as if he is qualified or worthy. He is not. His very presence at the table is an insult …