Tag Archives: Noble Philip

Not all women can run away, as advised by Singing Francine. They are treated worse than dogs. They are treated with vindictiveness. They are ‘owned’ and dare not challenge the man or seek to pursue their own decisions or rights. This week, we add Netanya Mohamdally to the list of …

“Thank God for decisions made to stimulate drilling […] by the Kamla Persad- Bissessar government… Instead of benefitting from flowing gas today, we might well have been on our knees, eating grass.” (Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Trinidad Express, 13 March.) An astounding statement with subtexts! What exactly is he saying and …

Official statistics seeks to inform the public about social and economic matters and helps develop and evaluate public policy. It is the foundation for a properly run society. In 2014, the IMF bemoaned: “Growing statistical shortcomings have rendered the conduct of surveillance ever harder and must be addressed.” In other …

Little seems to attract public attention like crime news. Crime Watch, in 2014, had a 10 percent larger audience than News at 7pm. Our perceived reality of crime has evolved where there are certain assumptions about crime and justice that are no longer questioned. We conclude with each new atrocity …

An Economist article (2011) defined ‘elites’ as people who shape the world without anyone noticing. The rich and powerful leverage their privileged status to exercise decisive control over the way society is organised and developed. I am thankful that Gregory Aboud has opened this discussion. While he did not define …

In a move that beats US rapper Kanye West’s 2009 snatching of Taylor Swift’s mic at the VMA, Arthur Lok Jack—the surprise discussant at last Wednesday’s UWI’s event—hijacked what ought to have been a significant national conversation about foreign direct investment. Taking more than thirty minutes, Lok Jack berated the …

Vaclav Havel, the Polish leader, said: “Hope is a state of mind, not a state of the world… a dimension of the soul… not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation… is not prognostication. “It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation …

Four days before Christmas, a video showing Mister Shak and Myron Bruce visiting an apparently bedridden Black Stalin was posted. The significance of the event is the evident caring support of Patsy Calliste, who invited the guys plus their enthusiasm to cheer our brother. Being kind and generous, they were …

As children, we all took a ‘purge’ during the August school vacations, but our mothers gave us an orange to take away the bitter taste. Now we do not even have a sour orange as—according to Minister Franklin Khan, during his discussion of the latest twist in the Petrotrin saga—we …

Official statistics is not a negotiation game, it affects the reality of people’s everyday lives. The cavalier televised response of MP Suruj Rambachan—“If you say 41%, I say 75%, you could say 60%”—in attempting to justify his claim that 75% of Trinidadians work for less than TT$6,000 per month is …

Civility allows us to disagree without disrespect. It facilitates social interaction which enables us to look past our preconceptions and arrive at better solutions. In political discussions we provide information to persuade action. Unfortunately, some contributors seek to troll perceived adversaries; and personal attacks sometimes prove counterproductive, as they demotivate …

Trinidadians are amazing people. Glorifying each raid led by Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith, we ignore his 21 November prophecy, in Chaguanas, of 100,000 new criminals in the next five years. “It is really important for us… to look at secondary crime prevention… If we do not deal with this …