“[…] The difference between 31st December and 1st January is but a change in date… as we see the old politricks being played out in this new year. Firstly, there was the Prime Minister’s New Year’s Message in which he announced that there will be a series of public consultations …
Read More »Daly Bread: Re-imagining possibilities; communities must put heads together in 2023
To all my readers, good morning this New Year’s morning. Can we reach out to each other and resolve to make the ritual “Happy New Year” greeting mean that we will co-operate on a sustained basis to mitigate the adverse effects of the neglect of our needs and partisan political …
Read More »Noble: Considering the PDP’s collapse, the PNM Convention’s shuffle, and Volney’s passing
What a week! The events that tumbled over each other added to the exhaustion and frustration of the long road from 2020. Do we, as a country, have a clear path to success? Let us consider a few of the incidents. Firstly, the THA’s Chief Secretary announced that he and …
Read More »Noble: Living in La-La Land; watching life through “red and yellow-tinted glasses”
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines la-la land as “a euphoric, dreamlike mental state detached from the harsher realities of life”. In our version, leaders and followers are allergic to facts—inconvenient truths. They look at life through red and yellow-tinted glasses that allow them to possess selective memories. The citizens of La-La …
Read More »Noble: Sowing and Reaping: “[…] T&T’s leaders exploit […] divisive issues to gain power…”
The immutable law of nature is: what we sow, we will reap. We will not get mangoes if we sow pigeon peas. We always reap later. Sometimes, we sow ochro and have a crop in six weeks. But the crop takes years at other times, as it does when we …
Read More »Daly Bread: Trying to find the light in dark days of murder, crime and state neglect
In a powerful editorial last Monday on the occasion of Divali, the Trinidad Express newspaper urged that we look around and see Trinidad and Tobago as it really is: “a country carried by the goodness of its people and their love for this place that we call home”. The writer …
Read More »Noble: How the cookie (nation) crumbles—Vincent, Vishesh and the cost of T&T’s failing institutions
The presentation and discussion of a national budget usually focus on competing ideas about the future of a country. The process is a statement about the development of the country. In 2020, Branko Milanovic, a reputed US economist, wrote, “the most important role economic policy can play now is to …
Read More »Daly Bread: Buoyed by stale or tarnished Opposition, PNM is relentlessly insulting the public
A regular reader, who messages me occasionally, opened a WhatsApp exchange about last week’s Budget debate in the House of Representatives with the question: “Have you heard the comments targeted at citizens made in Parliament?” She added: “Honestly, whenever I think they can’t get any worse, they do. I do …
Read More »Noble: What empty Budget chatter reveals about T&T’s future and leadership
“Words are the clothes thoughts wear” — Samuel Beckett, Irish writer. The Budget debate and its fallout sent me scurrying to recall Beckett’s writings. He is the author of “Waiting for Godot”—a play the late James Lee Wah introduced to me in the early 70s. The state of play on …
Read More »David Lee: “[…] A political witch hunt”… “I am confident I will be vindicated!”
“[…] To this very day, the vehicle is owned by me, the vehicle remains in my name, the vehicle’s insurance is in my name, the loan agreement is in my name as all documentation supports the fact that I am the owner of the vehicle in question. “[…] Put simply, …
Read More »Dear Editor: UNC’s unfounded conspiracy claims of conspiracy against David Lee are reckless
“[…] Where is the evidence of a PNM-inspired political conspiracy in the charging of Mr David Lee? He who alleges must prove. “[…] Patriotic, sober-minded, and mature thinking citizens who are imbued with copious wisdom, no doubt would realise that nothing should be said or done that could lead, inadvertently, to …
Read More »Daly Bread: Can T&T go on this way—despite fractures with opposition parties?
Having over a long period described the issues confronting us and analysed where they would lead if left unattended, it is deeply painful to see the predicted outcomes dragging us further and further down. So much of what is dangerous and disturbing in Trinidad and Tobago today has its origins …
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