It is crude, simple and catchy and it references a part of the female anatomy that has caused more men to be laid off in recent times than low gas prices. Mr Live Wire is talking, of course, about Nermal “Massive” Gosein’s Carnival 2018 song “Rowlee Mother Count,” a song …
Read More »MEDIA MONITOR: Did Guardian editorial heads play a role in making Baldeosingh’s head roll?
The Guardian’s recent firing of controversial columnist Kelvin Baldeosingh after the publication of a column under his by-line which the Guardian has not, it seems, removed from its online site raises an issue that I think needs urgent ventilation. Some say that it’s really very straightforward; four other columnists have …
Read More »SALAAM: Politicians must stop using Arrival Day and Emancipation to divide us; and here’s how
We reach! When, after fifty years of Independence, Indian Arrival Day is an occasion for sowing discord and disharmony among the two major races on this piece of rock, we really reach! In these hard times, in this guava season, the PNM Government forked out almost TT$350,000 to groups celebrating …
Read More »Letter to Editor: Child marriage is an abomination; and Kamla’s flip-flopping is shameful
“This stance against child marriage must be seen as an absolute. Much like the universal condemnation of child soldiers, so too we must recognise that child marriage can never be justified.” The following Letter to the Editor on child marriage, in response to recent remarks by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, …
Read More »Letter to the Editor: Is there an anti-Hindu agenda in mainstream T&T culture?
“I was surprised, though not very, when Hindu leaders sought to criticise the outfit worn by the President during the Carnival revelry. It is my opinion that such instances actually normalise and homogenise the Indian wear in our culture. “While most of the criticism was focused on the Rudraksha mala …
Read More »Easy as 1+1= 2; an open letter to Sat Maharaj after Chalkdust’s advice in song
“Uncles, check allyuh bits and pieces and then see about pulling off this one for me. For all of us. Allyuh need to turn up the natural moxie allyuh have and teach them. Doh hold dem and wuk dem, Uncles, just teach dem. Teach them before they start thinking that sex in marriage is just some scriptural routine for procreation and that fulfilment …
Read More »Workers welcomed Caroni’s closure; Shah debunks Sat’s “racist lie”
The only thing necessary for myths and mischief to be recorded as historical facts is for informed persons to say nothing. I liberally paraphrase Irish philosopher Edmund Burke’s injunction to responsible persons to speak out or act when tyranny threatens, to respond to one lie Sat Maharaj peddled when he …
Read More »The high price of our silence: Nakhid explains why corruption survives in T&T
Former national footballer and would-be FIFA president David Nakhid reflects on the current state of the political ballgame: “Why do you have to speak for these African players?” Patrick Edwards, a career diplomat attached to the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in London, asked me when he came to Lebanon …
Read More »18 T&T civil society groups unite on eradication of child marriage
The Association of Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago (AFETT), Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA), Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO), Domestic Violence Survivors Reaching Out, Down Syndrome Family Network, UWI Faculty of Law (St Augustine Campus), Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT), …
Read More »Smoking Joe vs Sat the Hack; Live Wire reviews smouldering holy war over child brides
It. Just. Got. Flipping. Real! The Hindu community were supposed to be celebrating Arrival Day—no doubt at public expense too—but Maha Sabha general secretary Sat Maharaj used the occasion to tell Roman Catholic archbishop Joe Harris to get lost instead. “Archbishop, mind your own damn business,” said Maharaj. “(…) If …
Read More »Office of the PM responds: Gov’t sees “critical need” to end child marriages
The following release was issued by the Office of the Prime Minister in response to the issue of child marriages for Trinidad and Tobago’s religious sects: The Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister (Gender and Child Affairs) has noted with concern the statements that are being …
Read More »Roffey rear-ends Express; Tim Kee debate goes bottom up
Saturday 13 February 2016 would go down in Trinidad and Tobago media history. Or at least it should. Finally, the One Caribbean Media (OCM) group, which includes the Trinidad Express newspaper and TV6, has chanced across an image deemed so graphic that it could not, in good conscience, share it …
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