The Chamber of Commerce spoke out this week as the nation grapples with the crime situation, defining it as a ‘crisis’ for which we do not have ‘the luxury of time’. The Chamber advanced possible solutions, including the need for foreign help since the TTPS appeared not to have the …
Read More »Hilarant! Haiti is sorry for T&T as local crime mess creates Caribbean tragicomedy
Full circle. Just about 30 years ago, David Rudder was singing “Haiti, I’m sorry.” Nowadays, however, my Haitian friend is sorry for us. And all he needed to sum up the situation of those of us who, trying to escape from the UNC, voted for the PNM was four words. …
Read More »Noble: Tackling poverty: the slower (vital) route to shutting down T&T crime factory
With the two shootings in East Port of Spain and the mystery of the San Fernando ‘kidnappings’, the uncertainty of life in our country is writ large. Fear stalks. These circumstances have the potential to paralyse the commercial life of Port of Spain on one hand and to drive deeper …
Read More »TTPS urged to investigate makers of claim that UNC funding crime to destabilise country
“In this video, Samuel Stafford stated: ‘The UNC has a bunch of businessmen…. there are certain high profile businessmen in UNC [trying] to keep the crime rate up and destabilise the country…’ “[…] Given that this is an election year such an offensive statements appear designed to inflame political and racial …
Read More »Daly Bread: 25 years of making excuses: the state repeatedly fails to punish and prevent murder
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a chilling, although realistic, admission about murder in our country and its clear and present danger at all times and in every place. The prime minister was commenting on the murder and robbery at a Tobago supermarket in which a security …
Read More »Noble: Slipping into the Abyss; police killings, socio-economic triggers and controversial photo
The ghoulish picture of our police commissioner over the dead body of a murder suspect (Express, 28 December) reminded me of Nietzsche’s aphorism: ‘He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster… if thou gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into …
Read More »Demming: Lawless leaders set the standard for indiscipline in T&T
‘Discipline guarantees success’ has been a tried-and-true maxim, but no matter how disciplined you are, if your operating context is chaotic, you are unlikely to succeed. At all levels, Trinidad and Tobago exhibits a lack of discipline, which is facilitated by the absence of enforcement of the rules. From captain …
Read More »Noble: Don’t fear media scrutiny, Mr Commissioner; alarming allegations from Skeete story
From the Sunday Express headline on the 24th, ‘Gary choked me’, to the Newsday report of an affidavit on the 27th, headlined ‘Gary never touched me’, the story is staggering and deeply concerning. The initial Express report alleged that the police commissioner choked and threatened a Cocorite resident, Mr Cecil …
Read More »Noble: How TTPS raids in Arouca and Lady Chancellor differed; and what it says about our society
Mary Elizabeth Chancellor, the wife of our seventh governor, Sir John, gave her name to the road we now call Chancellor Hill. Sir John was the one who assented to the Shouter Baptist Prohibition Ordinance because ‘a Shouter meeting would make the neighbourhood where it took place unfit for residential …
Read More »Noble: Shame proof Trinidad and the TTPS’ farcical Transformed Life Ministry raid
As a primary school child, rearing aquarium fish was a joy. Of special delight was one called a ‘fighter’, which would flare its gills and spread its fins when it saw itself in a mirror. You could not put two in the same space because they would bite each other. …
Read More »Daly Bread: Are the malls becoming crime hot spots? T&T’s state of anxiety is growing
Two ladies in the early afternoon—to which we refer colloquially as after lunch—park a vehicle in an area, not isolated from one of its entrances, and enter a shopping mall. An hour later, as they are exiting the mall, they see a man standing adjacent to their vehicle. They have …
Read More »Dear Editor: Gary Griffith receives ‘A’ grade for theatrics and a ‘C’ for performance
“… Because of his effective use of social media, [Gary Griffith] has received soaring popularity with some members of the public. “But is this popularity connected to results he has achieved, or is it based merely on optics? Specifically, has there been a significant decline in homicides or an increase …
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