Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

“[During the 1970 uprising] Basil Davis pleaded that [an] arrested man had mental problems but was well known and harmed no one. The police officer shot the unarmed, pleading Basil Davis at point blank range killing him on the spot. “The shooting death of Basil Davis outside of Woodford Square, …

“Bring back the old time days,” Richard “Nappy” Mayers croons in the song of that name. “Used to be everyone/could afford to live right/Just to be nice/didn’t need no Paradise. “Used to be everyone/cared for each other/Lived like brothers/respected one another.” David Rudder punctures that balloon. “Oh how we danced,” …

“What I find quite strange, though, is that nearly all every spokesperson and organisation and commentator taking this stance [of non-intervention in Venezuela] are the very same people who, 30 years ago, were equally adamant in calling for the governments of the world to take stern action against the apartheid …

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 …

Have you ever heard a piece of news which you had probably anticipated for months but which still shocked you when it did come? For me, that happened just over a week ago with the announcement that the TNT News Centre—publishers of the popular TnT Mirror and Sunday Punch—was closing …

“Power alone,” the poet Syl Lowhar wrote in Tapia’s “Black Power in Human Song” special somewhere in the 1970’s, “will never make us strong. The heart must also sing the human song.” Almost half a century after Geddes Granger’s NJAC empowered Black people in Trinidad and Tobago, the politically most …

As a once respected media house, the Guardian may well believe maccoing to be its thing. But as a former journalism lecturer, I am very sure it isn’t mine. I am not, therefore, in the least interested in knowing who Michelle-Lee Ahye’s partner is. Or his or her sex. Or his or her gender. …

The following letter, which deals with the impartiality—or lack thereof—of Sunday Express columnist Ralph Maraj, was penned by Wired868 Editor Earl Best with the Express Editor in mind. But not optimistic about his chances of having it published it in that paper, he changed tack and submitted it to Wired868. …

“So what is it about Trinidad and Tobago that results in our putting corrupt politicians in office election after election? It is, arguably, the fact that we are too simple to care and perhaps the fact that we are a ‘laissez-faire’ people.” Former political reporter Akilah Holder shares her concerns about the …

More or less 20%. That is the share of the newspaper market that the Guardian has enjoyed (if that is the right verb) for several years now.  It is also the figure that, according to a former Guardian editor of fairly recent vintage, is more than adequate provided that that …

January: The year of our Lord, 2016, started with a swing and a miss as West Indies cricket star Chris Gayle went charging down the wicket to Australian television reporter Mel McLaughlin with a cheeky and inappropriate request for a date during a live interview. In the end, it was …

By the time I was ready to turn in on Sunday night, my pulse rate was back to normal. And, like the Buddha you encounter at the entrances to many Thai restaurants, I wore a silly grin, like a man whose appetite was sated. No, I did not overeat: I …