Tuesday last, 26 November, was the one-year anniversary of the High Court’s declaration that gymnast Thema Williams was a victim of ‘entrenched biases’ when the then officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation ‘made a flawed and unjustified decision’ to withdraw her from the Olympic Test event in Rio …
Read More »Daly Bread: Salmon letters, red and yellow ducks; how shaky defences of public officials hurts T&T
Last Sunday, I was examining the two legal processes to which MP Darryl Smith has been subject because the public is confused why these processes have revealed so little about the alleged sexual harassment. The industrial court proceedings were cloaked by a non-disclosure agreement signed by the employee who claimed …
Read More »Daly Bread: Will the Smith ship sink? What went wrong with the Darryl Smith sexual harassment investigation?
The public is thoroughly confused by the torrent of words wetting us down about Darryl Smith, member of parliament for Diego Martin Central, a safe PNM seat. What are the issues and what were the roles of the various high persons who had conduct of the main issue? The main …
Read More »Daly Bread: A powerhouse Saturday; paying tribute to a weekend of cultural wonder
We have already entered what is clearly going to be the silliest of the silly season of election time. The silliness always has the potential to become deadly. Its near-disastrous level is the result of currently having an opposition that has a mountain to climb to regain public trust and …
Read More »Daly Bread: Dante’s Inferno: Eggnog at St Ann’s, Bantu knots and Akiel Chambers
It was a surprise and perhaps something of a mark of appreciation that Noble Philip reminded readers of what I said in 2000, while I was in the Senate, about the shameful conditions at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital. Insightful commentator that he is, Noble Philip lamented our lack of …
Read More »Daly Bread: Asking answers; mall crime, decommissioning St Ann’s Hospital and wrecker audit
Mall Panic screamed this newspaper’s front page very shortly after my column on malls becoming hotspots. Next, an editorial, acknowledged what its editors and commentators already knew: “Today, the failure to stem the tide of crime has made mall-shopping as vulnerable as shopping on the roadside.” The editorial linked crime to …
Read More »Noble: Shame proof Trinidad and the TTPS’ farcical Transformed Life Ministry raid
As a primary school child, rearing aquarium fish was a joy. Of special delight was one called a ‘fighter’, which would flare its gills and spread its fins when it saw itself in a mirror. You could not put two in the same space because they would bite each other. …
Read More »Daly Bread: Our true potential in the creative industries; what gov’ts continue to miss in culture and tourism
In last Monday’s budget statement, there were glaring omissions common to the two brief statements relating to the creative industries and tourism respectively. The following is the sum total of what was said about the creative industries sector: “Carifesta XIV, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, underscored the strides we have …
Read More »Daly Bread: Are the malls becoming crime hot spots? T&T’s state of anxiety is growing
Two ladies in the early afternoon—to which we refer colloquially as after lunch—park a vehicle in an area, not isolated from one of its entrances, and enter a shopping mall. An hour later, as they are exiting the mall, they see a man standing adjacent to their vehicle. They have …
Read More »Daly Bread: Treating us like adults; why Le Hunt, Deyalsingh, etc should maintain storm tone
We are probably not paying much attention to the decision of the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday last when the British Prime Minister’s decision to advise the Queen to suspend the British parliament was declared to be unlawful, null and void and of no effect. The decision represents a complete …
Read More »Daly Bread: Should we call that George? In pursuit of transparency and accountability
Monday last was a grim day for the pursuit of transparency and accountability. Both the prime minister and the chief justice took the usual futile refuge of chastising the media and metaphorically shooting all other messengers, oblivious of the message from responsible quarters that they should give an account of …
Read More »Daly Bread: Sedition, transparency and accountability; why Act should be amended but not repealed
It is fundamental that citizens are entitled to understand and, if appropriate, criticise decisions made by the Government or public authorities; and also to be fully informed about the involvement and role played by the key decision-makers, whether Ministers or Cabinet appointees to Boards. This fundamental right is confirmed in …
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