Leadership brings buckets of conundrums, and no matter how well-intentioned, few are equipped to face its challenges. Over the past few weeks, listening to international discourse, particularly at the UN General Assembly, it struck me again that our region has two formidable champions in Mia Mottley and Irfaan Ali. I …
Read More »Vaneisa: Mia Mottley, West Indies cricket and the public good
Last Tuesday, Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, delivered the 22nd annual Sir Frank Worrell Memorial lecture at the Cave Hill campus. I happened to come across the live broadcast quite by chance and, as usual, was riveted by her candour, relevance and fervour as she discussed the state of …
Read More »Vaneisa: Hard not to be cynical about Caricom
Even when you have always believed that a unified Caribbean is the ideal state for regional development; even when you support the idea of Caricom, it is hard to buy in to what it has turned out to be in its 50 years of existence. I was but a child …
Read More »Mia Mottley: The Black Stalin was a maestro, griot and true Caribbean leader
“[…] Black Stalin was one of our region’s finest masters of calypso. Both his lyrics and his melodies expertly captured the rhythm and vibe and voice of the Caribbean. “He was acutely conscious of our shared history, culture, passions and concerns and expressed them in his songs in a way …
Read More »Daly Bread: T&T spoiled by deadweight of no credible political choice
In July 2021, I wrote: ‘There is now an urgency also to get real about ourselves in light of the nasty, and now what seems a dangerous and emotionally unbalanced feuding between the Government and the Opposition. ‘The country has descended almost exclusively into the practice of the poisonous …
Read More »Let’s give Tony Cozier the high honour he so richly deserves, says ‘Reds’ Perreira
Legendary Caribbean cricket radio commentator Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira has called for his late colleague and friend Tony Cozier to be honoured posthumously. The suggestion came during the closing ceremony of the inaugural Cozier and Perreira T-6 Cup, which was played over the 15-18 April Easter weekend at the Cave Hill …
Read More »Noble: Brer Anansi stories; Dr Rowley’s Guyanese minefield
All Caribbean children (from Jamaica to Guyana) learned about Brer Anansi. Brer Anansi is one of the most significant characters in Caribbean folklore. ‘He is admirably clever as he is greedy, selfish and reckless. In a place where there are no standards and anything goes, Anansi holds a cherished place …
Read More »Early Bird: Lyricsing in Parliament; how Rodney Charles’ Mia Mottley remark resurrected Explainer
“Have you seen the ad everybody on Facebook seems to be talking about?” “Yuh want to spoil my morning!” Bobby grumbled, making a long face behind his mask. “Too early to be talking about Facebook, bro! And anyway, I’m not on Facebook! “And I want to talk about serious business. …
Read More »Noble: Divided we fall; splintered T&T is stumbling carelessly into bankruptcy
The last 21 months have drained our nation’s emotional resources and injected paranoid feelings. Uncertainty and risk are now our constant companions. We no longer have a clear vision of the future. We are exhausted. The constant quarrelling on every front has bewildered us, and we no longer appear to …
Read More »Demming: What I learned from PMs Rowley and Mottley on our environmental challenges
Joy is often stolen by comparison. Trinbagonians continue to rob ourselves of potential joy because of the continued comparison of our prime minister, Dr Keith Rowley, with the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley. I am also guilty because I want so much more for my country and I worry …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Polls apart? CWI and Wired868 panels agree on Gayle, differ on Bravo, Holder
Allyuh tink dis selection ting easy? Allyuh know who Joshua Bishop is? No? Well, the 21-year-old Barbados Royals’ rookie left-arm spinner’s name somehow ended up on a list of three dozen West Indies players named by the 12 panellists asked to select their WI dream team for the 2021 T20 …
Read More »T2021 W/C: A reflection on selection, concussion and Romario’s extraordinary exhibition
For a selector, concussion is an occupational hazard. All the more, as Ken ‘Jaiks’ Jaikaransingh has already noted above, if you are a West Indian selector. Let me remind you of a truth every Trini sports fan knows: in T&T for certain, probably in the West Indies as a whole, …
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