I certainly empathise with the government as they are navigating difficult decisions in the management of the economy and society during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, the issues facing the society are mostly not due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but deeper social issues that have never been properly addressed by …
Read More »‘The numbers don’t add up’: Dr Farrell on Covid, costs, challenges and consequences
“[…] Non-energy revenues have fallen in 2020-2021 and for next fiscal, 2021-2022, it is going to be worse—partly because people pay taxes on the previous year’s numbers and partly because the recovery is going to be slower than expected because of the state of emergency and the impact of the …
Read More »Daly Bread: Trapped in conflict and Covid; PNM and UNC must unite against common enemy
Have we taken a good look at ourselves? It is not an encouraging picture. We should have been re-assessing our tiny nation’s place in the world on an ongoing basis since Independence, long before we were reminded of our lowly place by having to stand in line for a supply …
Read More »Robinson-Regis: ‘None of them present said a word!’ Lee: ‘They want to turn Parliament into Balisier House!’
Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis: “[…] It was within the capacity of the Opposition to request that the prime minister stand down… None of them present said a word… Mr Rudranath Indarsingh, who for some time appeared to be texting, merely continued doing so…” Opposition Chief Whip David Lee: …
Read More »MSJ: Opposition Leader’s attack on health care professionals is ‘dangerous in the extreme’
“[…] Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s most recent attack on our senior public servants in the health care sector must be condemned in the strongest possible manner. “[…] For the leader of the opposition to suggest that these medical professionals are in some form or fashion contributing to ‘premeditated, state-sanctioned murder’ is scurrilous and …
Read More »Daly Bread: Angry dus’ in we face; unvigilant Dr Rowley’s Easter own goal
In the parliamentary debate held on Monday last, the boastful confirmation from the minister of transport that the air and sea bridges carried 50,000 persons between Trinidad and Tobago during the Easter week came up again. The prime minister reportedly ‘dismissed as a distortion the opposition leader’s reference to the …
Read More »MSJ’s Covid suggestions: Faster test results, Cuban nurses and vaccines, and review home isolation policy
“[…] The process of home isolation needs to be reviewed so that we do not have significant spread in families… It is to be noted that many persons live in circumstances that do not allow social distancing and the isolation of an ill family member. “It may therefore be necessary …
Read More »MSJ: AG gave too much power to police commissioner; amend SoE regulations!
“[…] The police are to ensure that laws are adhered to. The police cannot make laws. If we go in that direction we are creating a police state. “This SoE was explicitly proclaimed by the president to deal with a health crisis… The restrictions—including the hours of curfew—should therefore be …
Read More »Jackassery aside; is T&T being served during the pandemic? Do we deserve to be?
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley called a state of emergency yesterday afternoon based on the health catastrophe that is the Covid-19 pandemic. The people who were not at his side to explain how we arrived at that momentous decision and what comes next were: the chief medical officer, the attorney …
Read More »Deyalsingh: Sinopharm vaccine passed WHO tests; UNC trying to ‘derail’ vaccination drive
“[…] On the basis of all available evidence, the Sinopharm vaccine efficacy is estimated at 78.1% for all age groups 18 years and over. “The erroneous comments made by MP [Dr Roodal] Moonilal that Trinidad and Tobago will be used as guinea pigs only reinforces the MP’s deliberate attempts to …
Read More »Young is new energy minister, Hinds takes national security post while Cummings gets youth job
Stuart Young, the Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West MP, has replaced the late Franklin Khan as minister of energy and energy industries with Fitzgerald Hinds taking over the portfolio of national security minister. The decision was announced this afternoon via a press release by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, …
Read More »Noble: Economic expectations and emotions; T&T’s unique challenges must factor into analyses
The recent utterances of a UWI economist about our economy (‘dire straits’) had me scampering for a Lloyd Best quote: ‘Palpably, we lack the pegs on which to hang ongoing events, and which would allow us to convert arbitrary detail into a systematic pattern, arithmetic into algebra, the specific into …
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