What the hell? Can one set out to sell a State asset by mistake? ‘Wth’ is a milder version of the social media acronym used to express surprise or disgust. It was my response to the Minister of Energy’s implausible media release on Monday last related to the failure of …
Read More »Noble: T&T citizens have not even an orange to suck in bitter economic times
As children, we all took a ‘purge’ during the August school vacations, but our mothers gave us an orange to take away the bitter taste. Now we do not even have a sour orange as—according to Minister Franklin Khan, during his discussion of the latest twist in the Petrotrin saga—we …
Read More »Rishi Maharaj: More questions than answers; full disclosure required on Petrotrin’s future
As with most of the population, I myself anxiously awaited the official statement from the Board of Petrotrin regarding the future of this historical and economic significant company. To say that I was shocked or taken aback by the announcement of the immediate closure of the Refinery operations and the …
Read More »Dear Editor: Who is really responsible for Petrotrin?! Khan, Rowley and Imbert have dirty hands
“One would swear that [Franklin] Khan’s government had just come into office and didn’t have a clue as to what is going on; that Petrotrin was some runaway horse whose directors and management did what they wanted. “[…] All of these projects were started during the chairmanship of Malcolm Jones, …
Read More »Battered media, marooned PM, buss head specialists at large: Live Wire reports on Hurricane A&V
It is Day Seven of Hurricane A&V: a low pressure weather system which has struck Trinidad and Tobago with little warning and savage repercussions after Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar read from a leaked Petrotrin audit report. In its wake, Mr Live Wire reports, is mayhem and confusion: Tanty Kamla fraid …
Read More »Keithos and Kamla’s game of drones; Best sharpens focus on games political people play
Politics, they say, is the art of the possible; politicians, however, are frequently impossible, particularly when, like the plus-size and minus-size costumed men and women who play themselves on the Big Stage at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, they are acutely aware that the camera is …
Read More »The wisdom of Khan: good riddance to Tim Kee but Clyde Paul must follow him
Last Sunday’s column asserted that “the segregation in Carnival is a reflection of our wider society in which the worth of individual citizens is assessed not by merit first, but by reference to wealth, shade, address, connections and perceived status.” The fall out from the remarks of now departed—forced to …
Read More »Tim Kee’s final walk; POS Corporation would have picked Mayor over party
In the end, Raymond Tim Kee—buffeted on all sides—chose to jump, as he resigned his post as Port of Spain mayor. However, according to a well-placed source, he was unlikely to be pushed. Even as Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and PNM chairman Franklin Khan called on Tim Kee to …
Read More »Sparta?! Ha-ooh! Battle lines drawn as Tim Kee finally calls emergency meeting
Franklin Khan: A thousand armies of the PNM empire will descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun! Raymond Tim Kee: Then we will fight in the shade. Well, Mr Live Wire paraphrased slightly but it appears to be time for a royal battle. Four days later than …
Read More »It takes six villages: How La Brea earned its say in a US$1 billion project
Last week, the people of La Brea taught the nation a much-needed lesson in organisation, representation and the holding of power to account. While it was their dramatic protest that caught public attention, the more powerful story was in the multi-layered depth of the community organisation underpinning the protest. Operating …
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