Judged by the standards to which it holds other institutions of public trust, one would’ve expected a clear and unambiguous media response to the Sunday Express report that a significant number of journalists and media workers were beneficiaries of public housing on the basis of personal recommendations from ministers of …
Read More »Martin Daly: the media is insulting our intelligence on HDC scandal
The discovery that a large group of people benefitted from the exercise of ministerial and satellite power in their favour in what appears to be preferential circumstances should undoubtedly have attracted scrutiny from the media. The fact that the benefit was the allocation of houses by the Housing Development Corporation …
Read More »The rigging question: Daly muses over the UNC internal elections
By this morning the 2015 UNC leadership contest should be history. As it was proceeding, the usual bland salutation “may the best person win” did not seem appropriate. “May the best rigger win” came jokingly to mind. High profile figures in this internal election and others associated with their party …
Read More »Kamla wins UNC catfight! Ex-PM still number one in number two party
You can call her “Queen KPB.” Well, she has been called worse. Former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar re-established herself as the number one in the number two party yesterday, as her “Team UNC” whipped Dr Roodal Moonilal’s “Team Loyalists” and Vasant Bharath’s “Team Reconnect” in the UNC’s internal election. It …
Read More »To whom will UNC turn? Sheila Rampersad reviews a party at a crossroad
During an interview for the Industrial Court’s 50th anniversary publication, Journey to Gold, Basdeo Panday told me that ‘Indian people’ tend always to search for and support a pahalwan—a wrestler, gladiator or strongman—to fight on their behalf. ‘Bas’ himself was finely suited. He was a real wrestler donning the presidency …
Read More »Rats, revenge and recycling: Daly looks at UNC’s internal elections
The UNC leadership contest is boiling. Ostensibly the challenge to the political leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissesar is a revolt against her running the losing election 2015 campaign in which the party lost Government as “a one person show.” There is nothing odd about a member of a political party challenging …
Read More »The party’s over: Raffique weighs in on UNC’s internal catfight for leadership
Choosing a leader to take the United National Congress forward, backward, sideways, or keep it stagnated, is the business of members of the party. It is not for me, who never belonged to any party other than the original United Labour Front, and that very briefly, to tell UNC members …
Read More »Barry, barra and other crap: Best on un-Parliamentary language
Say “Employer” to someone and (s)he expects soon to hear “Employee.” And ditto if you reverse the order. So I wasn’t really surprised when Wired868 stopped talking about “Barra” and started talking about “Barry.” But I stopped reading Monday’s Express story about the MP for Princes Town with the first …
Read More »Bull, Princess and Stink: Jabari picks Parliament’s Blue Soap Wall of Shame
Bull, princess and stink—the three words that had the biggest impact in our Budget debate and debate about the debate by Trinidad and Tobago parliamentarians. Contributions in Parliament were generally poor. Few of the elected members analysed the vital macroeconomic matters which all of us have to deal with. Even …
Read More »Shoot, don’t talk: Vidale bemoans the low level of Parliamentary banter
Though I am not a big fan of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, I have to admit that there are pockets of dialogue which I have never forgotten. One such scene goes as follows: Elizabeth: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal. …
Read More »Stink mouth Moonilal vs Bull-it proof Impsbert: Live Wire checks scorecard
If Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and Minister in the Office of Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, are right, the People’s Partnership Government spent more on legal fees in five years than Julian Assange, OJ Simpson and the late Michael Jackson could spend in three lifetimes. And, to be …
Read More »Disjointed! Live Wire finds source of Prime Minister’s memory loss
Twenty-two-year-old Shemika Charles, the Guinness World Record limbo holder, set a new mark earlier this week by limboing under a SUV in the United States. She barely had a week to enjoy her accomplishment. Yesterday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Leader of Government Business Roodal Moonilal, former National Security Minister Gary Griffith and …
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