Tag Archives: Roodal Moonilal

This week, two quotes came to mind as I read the local newspapers. The first was from Benjamin Franklin, who was accused of treason (by leaking letters) in 1774. These letters criticised the colonial rebels even though it was clear that his own loyalties were to the American colonies. He …

“True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.” Karl Popper, Austrian-British philosopher. The recent S&P Rating is not a new and startling event for Trinidad and Tobago. While many may have focused on the national outcome, we may have missed the reality that some …

This last week, those of us who follow cricket witnessed a South African batsman and stand-in captain refuse to chase Brian Lara’s world record. Wiaan Mulder was batting against Zimbabwe, a much weaker side. He explained his decision in these words: “Lara got 401 or whatever it is (400) against …

The level of divisiveness in our small island nation—about which I gave examples in my recent columns—will undoubtedly compound the difficulty of getting the country as a whole behind the serious fights to survive, which now so starkly face us. It seems to me that, despite the end of the …

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar selected her Cabinet today to serve Trinidad and Tobago, five days after her United National Congress (UNC) party was elected with 26 seats to the People National Movement’s 14. Persad-Bissessar was sworn in on Thursday, alongside her attorney general John Jeremie. Today, she appointed a further …

We are living in difficult times. We are witnessing the world, as we know it, turn topsy-turvy. But we want to be seduced into believing that there is a magic wand that will restore us to the glory days when oil and gas prices were high. We want to be …

“[…] In the news just recently, we had a case of a sitting MP evading a collection agency over a TT$600,000 debt. This is in addition to him having an outstanding defamation order in the amount of TT$500,000. Another aspirant to public office has multiple defamation judgements pending against and …

“[…] Ever since she ran in 2015 on a leader-centric election marketing campaign that sold the virtues of Kamla The Leader rather than UNC The Party, she has tightened her grip on her party. “[…] The double-edged sword of making the leader rather than the party the focal point is …

“Grave fiscal irresponsibility!” was former Central Bank governor Jwala Rambarran’s characterization of the announcement of a US$900 million loss by the Heritage Stabilisation Fund (HSF). Invoking a dog whistle, he continued by saying that this spoke to the “incompetence of the Board”. Roodal Moonilal reminded us of Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissesar’s …

We all have soundtracks that mark our lives, some inexplicably. As a pre-teen, I heard a haunting song that I have never forgotten and which appears to be appropriate in today’s Trinidad and Tobago.  ‘Sad movies always make me cry’ was one of the first songs on Billboard. It told of …

“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. …

Mark Antony’s speech from Julius Caesar is worth recalling at this juncture in our country’s history. It speaks to how honourable men, seduced by the drama of the moment, can wreak great evil upon a nation.   This is the sum of the events of 21 October in our Parliament; …