Since her return from Opposition to the office of prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar (Kamla) has been putting great emphasis on her United National Congress (UNC) Government treating the battered population with empathy. On the occasion of the ceremonial opening of the new Parliament, a little over a week ago, the …
Read More »Noble: The Testy Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar—and the tale of the Penal-Debe Campus
Over the past few weeks, Kitchener’s 1961 calypso Take yuh meat out of meh rice kept ringing in my ears. The calypso tells an amusing story about two hungry people, one a Bajan and the other a Trinidadian, who concocted a plan to satisfy their hunger. “A Bajan and a …
Read More »Daly Bread: Slipping self-restraint—can our gov’ts go beyond finger pointing?
Amanda Gorman, aged 27, is a poet, writer and activist. She was the first US national youth poet laureate. She frequently urges that society turn away from divisiveness. I heard Amanda Gorman speak at the widely televised US Democratic Party National Convention last year. She said this: “Empathy emancipates, making …
Read More »Dear Editor: Prime Minister should withdraw reckless comments on alleged “UNC lawyers”
“[…] As a former attorney general and current holder of the designation ‘senior counsel’ (senior advocate of the Supreme Court), Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar ought to know—indeed, is expected to know—that a lawyer’s previous or perceived political affiliation has no bearing whatsoever on their capacity to act ethically, independently, and professionally …
Read More »Vaneisa: Governance with empathy—Kamla and ‘Penny’ promise refreshing change
Miriam Castellano, the name by which a prolific social media commentator goes, responded to a column I had written on the distressing impact of global warfare. “Disengage! You sound like an empath. For your own mental health you should train yourself to know when a Time Out is necessary,” she …
Read More »Daly Bread: Dear Kamla, 2025—can we shift from “blame and shame” to empathetic governance?
Dear Kamla, Fifteen years ago, at the time of your first election as prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago (PM), I greeted you in a column published on 13 June 2010, in which I explained why I may take the liberty of addressing you in familiar terms. Let me begin …
Read More »Kamla names Cabinet; Tancoo gets Finance, Sturge is Defence Minister, and Watts inherits Sport
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar selected her Cabinet today to serve Trinidad and Tobago, five days after her United National Congress (UNC) party was elected with 26 seats to the People National Movement’s 14. Persad-Bissessar was sworn in on Thursday, alongside her attorney general John Jeremie. Today, she appointed a further …
Read More »Kamla dedicates term to T&T’s “forgotten people”; vows to improve citizens’ lives in six months
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar began her term in office with a message of love and optimism today, as she took the oath of office alongside new attorney general John Jeremie at President’s House in Port of Spain. The rest of the Cabinet should be sworn in on Saturday. Persad-Bissessar, who …
Read More »PNM names ‘Penny’ as opposition leader; Rowley revokes posts of Imbert and Gadsby-Dolly
The People’s National Movement (PNM) has appointed Arima MP Pennelope Beckles as its opposition leader. Beckles, 64, was endorsed by the PNM’s General Council today after producing writing support of six from the opposition’s 13 MPs: Symon de Nobriga, Marvin Gonzales, Colm Imbert, Kareem Marcelle, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, and Keith …
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 »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 …
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