I must give credit to Kyle Skeeto Amos for the headline of this piece. His contemplation on the nature of our democracy is nothing short of brilliant. That said, I want to use another story, the one about the hikers and the lion, to perhaps identify why there is no …
Read More »What gets measured gets done: Our problem with analysing Budgets and Gov’t data
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” This is one of the first quotes you learn when trying to understand Monitoring and Evaluation. Given current realities in Trinidad and Tobago, it seems applicable. I recently finished reviewing the National Budgets presented during the period …
Read More »AV Room: e-CON-omics 101: Budgeting should be from bottom up, not top down
So the Finance Minister’s budget presentation is over; we all now know the major highlights. I make no apologies for not offering any red or yellow-tinted responses or comments or analyses. I want to break with the sterile ‘This was good’ and ‘That was bad’ tradition and discuss instead what …
Read More »Nidco’s chicken tenders, Kamla’s eye-rolling charges and dodgy new, eh, roaming accusations…
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday reminded Trinidad and Tobago of why the Parliament Channel is as useful as a Lasco fan on Maracas beach, with her latest charge of contempt against Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. On Friday, Tanty Kams asked House Speaker Brigid Annisette-George to refer Keithos to the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Fake oil, true analysis; inside the belly of the State enterprise system
Fifteen years ago, shortly before becoming a columnist—as a guest speaker at an event organised by the late Lloyd Best—I characterised our political contests as a fight for the national cash register. I also asserted that in politics you can lawfully t’ief, based on the way the State enterprise system …
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 …
Read More »Daly Bread: Not pointing fingers; the problem with Amcham’s crime-fighting tips to Dr Rowley
The major business groups last week reportedly temporarily arose from their customary indifference, alarmed by the prolonged and unrestricted crime spree. In passing, it should be noted that it is apparently the rising cost of doing business in a crime-ridden environment that has set off the alarm from slumber this …
Read More »Dear Editor: Rough waters for Rowley; where the Prime Minister’s leadership has fallen short
“I have a right to call it as I see it and, at the moment, the Ship of T&T is drifting perilously close to the rocks, with the captain appearing not to have a steady hand at the wheel.” In the following Letter to the Editor, former TDC chairperson Dennise …
Read More »Dear Editor: T&T’s only hope is to abandon neo-colonial system left by pirates and sea dogs
“Because we are too spineless in the face of our failed colonial realities, we must now live in fear of a generation that will have theirs: by any means necessary. “They cannot be blamed, for it is we who failed to confront the new pirates head-on, so that generations to …
Read More »Daly Bread: Parts known, unfixed, un-fooled and unmasked; why it’s worse than Bourdain thinks
Anthony Bourdain is a chef, a food and travel writer and television personality. He has significant credibility evidenced by his winning a Peabody award and several Emmys. Our country was recently the subject of an episode of Bourdain’s well-known television series Parts Unknown. Its broadcast has stirred controversy among a …
Read More »OLIVE OIL: Don’t tolerate me anymore, Brian Harry tells T&T, include me
Picturing a society free from bigotry and persecution, on the eve of Independence on 31 August 1962, Eric Eustace Williams—the Father of the Nation—gave us the watchwords “Discipline, Tolerance and Production.” Starting the very next day, we began to sing our National Anthem, which says in part, “Here every creed …
Read More »STREET VIBES: God is not Trini and doesn’t condone recklessness; stop building in flood-prone areas!
Now that Bret has blown over, many of us breathe a sigh of relief. We can take a deep breath as we crawl from the confines of our dry, safety zones to engage in the post mortem analysis of what to some was a storm in a teacup. Others are …
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