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 »Daly Bread: Was AG looking for VAR? At least, Prime Minister responded sensibly
As football fans know, VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee. This is the additional refereeing team that uses technology located immediately adjacent to the field of play to assist the match referee to review, when necessary, certain match-changing decisions. These decisions include goals, penalties and direct red-card incidents. I thought …
Read More »Daly Bread: Dots 10 to 12—Gov’t only scratching surface with home for Despers
The speakers at the handover ceremony of the new Despers pan theatre on Monday last, failed to connect the dots between the new theatre and the revitalisation and rebranding of downtown East Port of Spain. The Prime Minister expressed an expectation that the theatre would be a public asset available …
Read More »Daly Bread: Answers required for accountability in DPP imbroglio
Persons in public life frequently exercise power without accountability. As President Paula-Mae Weekes was recently demitting office, we were reminded of the fate of the merit list for the appointment of a commissioner of police that was prepared by the Police Service Commission—but which was, in August 2021, diverted from …
Read More »Noble: What’s going on, with open season on Office of the DPP?
These days I feel like Marvin Gaye, the singer of the 1971 Billboard hit “What’s going on?” Confronted by the incessant kangkalang, his lyrics become most relevant. Mother, mother/ There’s too many of you crying/ Brother, brother, brother/ There’s far too many of you dying Father, father,/ We don’t need …
Read More »Noble: Playing chess with The Dragon; Dr Rowley’s gas gamble
“For any developing economy dependent on a single export commodity, powerful economic and political forces, both domestic and external, qualify the choices open to governments and structure their incentives. “[…] It is tempting to put the blame on poor leadership and examples of questionable public policy. In the end, governments …
Read More »Dear Editor: Police work is a “wicked problem”; Dr Rowley should change tack to address crime
“[…] Dr Keith Rowley, police work is what is known as a “wicked problem”. Rittel & Webber (1973) identified the following characteristics of a wicked problem: “[…] The problem has no end point where you can say it is ‘solved’; solutions are not true or false, but better or worse; …
Read More »MSJ: New year, old politricks—Dr Rowley’s New Year message is classic misdirection
“[…] The difference between 31st December and 1st January is but a change in date… as we see the old politricks being played out in this new year. Firstly, there was the Prime Minister’s New Year’s Message in which he announced that there will be a series of public consultations …
Read More »Dr Rowley: “The tide is turning!” PM addresses crime and economy in New Year’s message
“[…] Some people may feel justified in seeing our existence only through the prism of the negative lenses, and believe that runaway criminality is the hallmark and highlight of our efforts. “[…] As a people, we have been resilient, over these recent difficult years. It has been my honour and …
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 »Daly Bread: Crime scourge requires more than retreat and bewilderment
The Prime Minister last Sunday, in a speech before the PNM Women’s League, expressly acknowledged that Trinidad and Tobago is in “a situation of unacceptably high levels of crime”. This is an important acknowledgement after all the years of dismissive responses to the high levels of violent crime pioneered and …
Read More »Dr Rowley: West Indies must find necessary skills within ourselves to halt cricket slide
“[…] What is it about us that after demonstrating our superior playing skills in these colonial and post-colonial islands we cannot now find it within our populations, the business, coaching and management skills to halt the decline of an activity where we dominated the world for a record-breaking almost two …
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