Tag Archives: PNM

Being shocked senseless is the proverbial effect of the many tremors currently running through T&T’s political, social and economic landscape. We seem not only unable to come to terms with our present economic and social realities, but completely unwilling to put collective intellectual mettle to the wheel to address some …

My musically accomplished friends tell me that to be tone deaf means to be unable to distinguish the difference in pitch between different notes. In common usage tone deafness has a wider meaning, namely a person unable to discern the different nuances of a situation. We had a local government …

The Trinidad and Tobago electorate, both major political parties agreed, sent a clear message to its politicians at the Local Government Elections yesterday. And that statement was: “Meh.” November 28 was pretty nondescript, even for a Monday. There was no band launching or Soca Warriors match; nothing new from House of …

“The potential to soothe the savage beasts of the nation whenever they appear in your communities and to put disagreement into less destructive modes. That is a challenge to which you must all rise. “Meeting that challenge must be prefaced by a search for self-esteem. I say this is the …

“I don’t know what or how many promises the government has delivered over the past 14 months. But that’s understandable because no one has communicated what the government intended to do so we don’t know how to measure progress.” The following Letter to the Editor on the accomplishments of the …

I entirely agree that the Cabinet reshuffle announced last week is not likely to produce better or cleaner Government. Our governance structures and processes are out of date, unreformed, tainted with partisanship and in some cases riddled with corruption. They lack public trust. By analogy to Chalkie’s “The Driver Can’t Drive”, …

When the first two people to offer congratulations to your new Minister of Works might well be Ishwar Galbaransingh and Jack Warner… Well, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore sweetheart. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced his second Cabinet reshuffle today and to say it was a bit of an …

Last week, I wrote of the ill wind of deep-seated race and class divisions. Let me acknowledge that the use of the ill wind description was one put to me in conversation with someone for whose intellect and creativity I have high admiration. I asserted that this ill wind drives …

I am satisfied that the restrictions on the use of firearms and prohibited weapons contained in the Firearms Act do not readily accommodate “threat assessment training” of politically exposed persons or their families involving the possession and use of firearms. However we live in extraordinarily violent times in an unstable …

Many games are played most intensely by disturbed people. Generally speaking, the more disturbed they are, the harder they play. That’s not coming from me. It comes from Dr Eric Berne, in a late chapter of Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships, which he titles “The Players.” Here’s some …

“What [Ralph] Maraj failed to indicate in his column [“Kamla’s Return”] is the fact that the UNC administration either changed the names of already-existing units, or simply completed projects started by the previous People’s National Movement (PNM), in the area of fighting crime?” The following Letter to the Editor on …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley hinted in a recent interview that he wants to reduce expenditure to around TT$50 billion. He also alluded to more taxes or, rather, greater taxation. Additionally, he reiterated his determination to avoid going to the IMF and the World Bank. All this comes against the backdrop …