“If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.” Dwight D Eisenhower, March 1956. I recalled this Eisenhower quote as I …
Read More »Dear Editor: Why I’m wary of triumvirate of Griffith, Warner and Kamla
“[…] We now have the triumvirate or the three-headed Hydra of Gary Griffith, Jack Warner and Kamla Persad-Bissessar. One was police commissioner whose response to the beating death of an accused in custody while he was commissioner was: ‘he fell off a chair’. “[…] The other (a one-time acting prime …
Read More »Daly Bread: Into the political hereafter; as Opposition Leader shows up Govt response to Privy Council
There is a new example of political truth being stranger than fiction. It is that it takes two very wobbly Attorneys General to make a distrusted Opposition look good. When it was not trying to pretend that the outcome of the recent case in the Privy Council (the PC) was …
Read More »Vaneisa: Proposed crime solutions like “stand your ground” out of touch with reality
Within a few days of dismantling his family home across the street, Bob began rebuilding. First was the painstaking task of cutting down the two prodigious trees that had generously donated their fruit for decades. With ropes and a saw—the power generated by his hands—the branches came down one by …
Read More »Dear Editor: I support Kamla’s call for 25-year sentence for home invasions; and the PM should too
“[…] Please Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, do not let this opportunity go to waste. Accept without hesitation the proposal of Mrs [Kamla] Persad-Bissessar at the minimum. “[…] We are at war with the perpetrators of violent crimes. This is no time for partisan bickering. Drastic measures are required to …
Read More »Dear Editor: Piarco quartet are not victims—despite what Opposition Leader says
“[…] The truth remains that not only are these gentlemen the subject of ongoing court matters in the Florida jurisdiction, but several of their co-conspirators have already served sentences for their crimes related to the Piarco Airport contract…” “[…] To be clear, just because you have run the clock down, …
Read More »Noble: Our Presidential Journey, and lessons from T&T’s history
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” Aldous Huxley, English writer. In the present furore about selecting a new president, it appears that we, as a nation, and our leaders have rubbished our history. We …
Read More »Noble: Considering the PDP’s collapse, the PNM Convention’s shuffle, and Volney’s passing
What a week! The events that tumbled over each other added to the exhaustion and frustration of the long road from 2020. Do we, as a country, have a clear path to success? Let us consider a few of the incidents. Firstly, the THA’s Chief Secretary announced that he and …
Read More »Noble: How the cookie (nation) crumbles—Vincent, Vishesh and the cost of T&T’s failing institutions
The presentation and discussion of a national budget usually focus on competing ideas about the future of a country. The process is a statement about the development of the country. In 2020, Branko Milanovic, a reputed US economist, wrote, “the most important role economic policy can play now is to …
Read More »Daly Bread: Buoyed by stale or tarnished Opposition, PNM is relentlessly insulting the public
A regular reader, who messages me occasionally, opened a WhatsApp exchange about last week’s Budget debate in the House of Representatives with the question: “Have you heard the comments targeted at citizens made in Parliament?” She added: “Honestly, whenever I think they can’t get any worse, they do. I do …
Read More »Noble: What empty Budget chatter reveals about T&T’s future and leadership
“Words are the clothes thoughts wear” — Samuel Beckett, Irish writer. The Budget debate and its fallout sent me scurrying to recall Beckett’s writings. He is the author of “Waiting for Godot”—a play the late James Lee Wah introduced to me in the early 70s. The state of play on …
Read More »Daly Bread: Can T&T go on this way—despite fractures with opposition parties?
Having over a long period described the issues confronting us and analysed where they would lead if left unattended, it is deeply painful to see the predicted outcomes dragging us further and further down. So much of what is dangerous and disturbing in Trinidad and Tobago today has its origins …
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