“The refusal to implement 21st century ideology into the police force means a continuation of a weak police infrastructure. It means a continuation of the lack of accountability within a sector that has a rogue element that undermines its performance. “When we continue inanely with systems that have failed us, …
Read More »Hindu Women: UNC misleading public; We have NOT changed stance on child weddings!
“The Hindu Women’s Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago reiterates its call for the age of 18 to be established as the legal age of consent to marry with provisions for 16-18 year olds under strict checks and balances as outlined further below. “In so doing, we seek to correct the …
Read More »UNC senator: For God’s sake, let’s rape children! Live Wire corners Waffie on Quran
Islamic Council of Scholars official Dr Waffie Mohammed, who was sworn in as a temporary UNC senator, yesterday argued that Trinidad and Tobago should continue to permit the legal rape of minors—otherwise known as child marriages—because it was the ‘command of God’. “Muslims believe that the marriageable age of a …
Read More »A PNM lapse? What 2016 LGE results say about path to future electoral success
“Neither party can claim to have made the gains required for a genuine, meaningful victory. That would have required capturing the ILP’s—and, to a lesser extent, the COP’s—space. “Combined, the ILP/COP share amounted to 133,400 votes. The UNC gained some 58,900 votes, meaning that some 74,500 votes or 21% of …
Read More »Structural adjustment needed: Daly comments on spiralling murder rate and road fatalities
As asserted before, it is gross inadequacies at the macro level of political thinking and action that have inevitably produced and made worse the problems besetting us. The political parties need to re-think their deep inadequacies. They have us entangled in a nasty web of wanton murder, impunity for killers, …
Read More »Of gated communities and locked mindscapes: T&T is on road to political upheaval
Being shocked senseless is the proverbial effect of the many tremors currently running through T&T’s political, social and economic landscape. We seem not only unable to come to terms with our present economic and social realities, but completely unwilling to put collective intellectual mettle to the wheel to address some …
Read More »Tone deaf: Daly examines response from both parties to local election results
My musically accomplished friends tell me that to be tone deaf means to be unable to distinguish the difference in pitch between different notes. In common usage tone deafness has a wider meaning, namely a person unable to discern the different nuances of a situation. We had a local government …
Read More »We’re just not that into you! Live Wire looks at 2016 local gov’t election results
The Trinidad and Tobago electorate, both major political parties agreed, sent a clear message to its politicians at the Local Government Elections yesterday. And that statement was: “Meh.” November 28 was pretty nondescript, even for a Monday. There was no band launching or Soca Warriors match; nothing new from House of …
Read More »Rising to the challenge: Daly SC on local elections, violence, self-esteem and Kung Fu Panda
“The potential to soothe the savage beasts of the nation whenever they appear in your communities and to put disagreement into less destructive modes. That is a challenge to which you must all rise. “Meeting that challenge must be prefaced by a search for self-esteem. I say this is the …
Read More »Shuffle, reshuffle, we still in trouble: Daly explains why Rowley’s changes won’t deliver results
I entirely agree that the Cabinet reshuffle announced last week is not likely to produce better or cleaner Government. Our governance structures and processes are out of date, unreformed, tainted with partisanship and in some cases riddled with corruption. They lack public trust. By analogy to Chalkie’s “The Driver Can’t Drive”, …
Read More »Beware the ill winds: Martin Daly on racial sensitivities, drugs and politically-fuelled hate
Last week, I wrote of the ill wind of deep-seated race and class divisions. Let me acknowledge that the use of the ill wind description was one put to me in conversation with someone for whose intellect and creativity I have high admiration. I asserted that this ill wind drives …
Read More »Political games: Best take on how politicians play with us—and with our money
Many games are played most intensely by disturbed people. Generally speaking, the more disturbed they are, the harder they play. That’s not coming from me. It comes from Dr Eric Berne, in a late chapter of Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships, which he titles “The Players.” Here’s some …
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