“[…] school authorities have not been processing refunds for lab and other fees duly paid by students this year. They also failed to deal with the urgent and legitimate questions about obtaining accurate transcripts, timely refunds or assisting students to graduate…” The following letter to the editor about the close …
Read More »Carpha to certify tourism sector businesses fighting Covid-19 spread
The Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) will begin issuing a travellers health assurance stamp to businesses in the region’s hospitality sector to certify they are following proper Covid-19 protocols. Dr Lisa Indar, assistant director of Carpha, introduced the initiative during the 10 October Ministry of Health media briefing on Covid-19. …
Read More »Post-Covid-19: Why our next Carnival is likely to be in 2022, and how to plan for it
As the global community grapples with an insidious pandemic, creative and tourism sectors worldwide have already incurred substantial losses due to significant economic contraction, triggered by the suspension of events and the closure of borders. Undoubtedly, stakeholders within the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival industry have already begun to wrestle with …
Read More »Daly: Don’t cry for us, Mayaro; a very different Easter
This is a very different Easter Sunday. There are no gatherings to celebrate the resurrection and no congregation to hear sermons of hope. Pope Francis in Rome will be a solitary figure silhouetted against a vast, empty St Peter’s square. We may be unfamiliar with the Jewish Passover, a celebration …
Read More »Dr Farrell: Gov’t must reform labour market NOW, as rising unemployment meets global pandemic
“So we can assume that the restrictions now in place worldwide will only be lifted gradually over the next 12 months. Some semblance of normalcy will not return until the middle of 2021. “There is no way that the private sector and the government can carry the labour force for …
Read More »Dr Farrell: Covid-19 and falling oil and gas prices made perfect storm; and T&T’s not ready
“[…] Ultimately policy is made by politicians who of course, may have other considerations which influence their decisions. However, just as it would be folly for politicians to ignore the advice of medical professionals in dealing with the coronavirus public health crisis, so too the laws of Economics are inexorable. …
Read More »Trinidad and Tobago unplugged: Rowley closes nation’s borders for 14 days; pubs to shut down
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has announced that Trinidad and Tobago will close its borders to all visitors for the next 14 days from midnight 17 March. Meanwhile, schools will remain closed until 20 April 2020. The decision, according to Rowley, is a first step to stop the twin-island republic …
Read More »Daly Bread: A powerhouse Saturday; paying tribute to a weekend of cultural wonder
We have already entered what is clearly going to be the silliest of the silly season of election time. The silliness always has the potential to become deadly. Its near-disastrous level is the result of currently having an opposition that has a mountain to climb to regain public trust and …
Read More »Daly Bread: Our true potential in the creative industries; what gov’ts continue to miss in culture and tourism
In last Monday’s budget statement, there were glaring omissions common to the two brief statements relating to the creative industries and tourism respectively. The following is the sum total of what was said about the creative industries sector: “Carifesta XIV, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, underscored the strides we have …
Read More »Daly Bread: Needing a new Kambule; why T&T Carnival requires a paradigm shift
At the Panorama semi-finals two weeks ago, I became involved in a discussion with Eintou Springer, her daughter Attilah and an official of Pan Trinbago. The discussion turned to how Pan Trinbago spent the taxpayers’ money it received from complicit governments in the past and apparently continues on the same path. …
Read More »Daly Bread: Bélé djouba; how long will govt dance around potential of arts and culture
The djouba is a joyful dance of West Africa, said to have been brought by slaves and diffused throughout the Caribbean and the Americas. It also refers to certain musical rhythms executed on the tambour-djouba drum. It is strongly present in the culture of Martinique. Caribbean dance—much, but not all …
Read More »Daly Bread: Breaking useless moulds and transforming Carnival
I congratulate the Minister of Tourism, Randall Mitchell MP, for his reported admission that Carnival has failed as a tourism product. In 2015, I had already described “the acceleration of the decline of Carnival into a minority sport”. Only last week I complained again that our rich and varied musical …
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