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Archives 2012
- Walcott individual of the year December 30, 2012
- It was an eventful year, filled with jubilees, anniversaries, pomp and ceremony. However, as I reflect on 2012, the most celebrated on the calendar since the millennium was ushered in, I cannot help but think that except in a few instances, the human spirit failed to soar to heights expected on special occasions.
- Make poverty history December 23, 2012
- If there were tabloids at the time, two thousand and however many years ago, their editors would have delighted in the heart-rending story that would sell their newspapers, headlines screaming, "No room at the Inn!". The drop-head, "...woman gives birth in manger".
- No peace and goodwill here December 16, 2012
- There was a time, maybe I should write once upon a time since this may sound so much like a fairy-tale, when nations at war suspended hostilities on Christmas Day, such was the pervasiveness of peace and goodwill associated with the birth of the Christ child. The most memorable such occasion was on the night of Christmas Eve 1914, during the First World War, along the Western Front.
- PNM problem, PNM solution December 09, 2012
- The tragedy of the crime-infested, poverty-stricken, pitiful and problematic ghettos located on the eastern fringes of Port of Spain is that they ought never to have degenerated to the mess they are today.
- Rout the cabal December 02, 2012
- I am convinced now that a cabal in Cabinet whose members are unconscionable is running this country. They are imposing their warped will on their colleagues and the populace. They are destroying the soul of the nation as they pursue their nefarious goals.
- Wine, Trini, wine November 25, 2012
- Last weekend, the City of San Fernando marked its whatever anniversary in a most unique, creative and celebratory way: it held a Carnival, complete with music trucks, Jouvert, thousands of gyrating bodies, barrels of alcohol, parade of bandsthe works, if you get my drift.
- Loss of a luminary November 18, 2012
- I fear that environmentalist Wayne Kublalsingh does not have much time left in the land of the livingif he makes good on his vow to continue fasting until Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar orders halt to a segment of the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway. This country does not have a culture that accommodates fighters for causes.
- Paying holy men to pray November 11, 2012
- This "black speck", as Eric Williams once labelled Trinidad and Tobago (and other Caribbean island-states), must be the holiest country in the worldand I'm not referring to potholes on our roads, in which we probably also rank high.
- No hope in Obama's audacity November 04, 2012
- Sometimes the eternal optimist in me is severely challenged by a nagging pessimism in my mind, and I ask myself, is there any hope that this country would become the paradise so many think it could be, or are we condemned to the purgatory of mediocrity or worse? The thought that we might remain trapped in the netherworld of the latter depresses me.
- No hope in Obama's audacity October 28, 2012
- Politicians and politics have wreaked havoc with my psyche, my very soul, I confess. Imagine, one week away from US presidential elections and I remain uninterested in what's happening in Washington DC.
- Food for Thought October 21, 2012
- Most times I stay silent when I listen to people in authority or those who think they know it all say the wildest things.
- Ten years and a 'po' October 14, 2012
- Recently, as I mused on the state of "permanent politicking" that citizens of this country have been victims of for decades, I thought, why not elect a government for ten or 20 years?
- Joe Young: last man standing October 07, 2012
- Last Tuesday, one of this country's great labour leaders and patriots, Joe Young, made his exit from life. Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, as this gentle giant was hurried to some morgue, unmarked and indistinguishable from others.
- Tell me something good September 30, 2012
- I was privileged to have known and spent some invaluable time with one of this country's great thinkers, CLR James. He was in his winter years, mostly lying in bed, but his mind remained razor-sharp.
- Backward ever, forward never September 23, 2012
- In ordinary times, the Prime Minister's decision last week to fire Herbert Volney for allegedly misleading the Cabinet on a critical issue (Section 34) would have won the lady universal acclamation.
- Watchdogs of democracy September 16, 2012
- Fifty years ago, in one of his now-famous speeches delivered during the euphoria of Independence, Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams told citizens of the fledgling nation, "...Democracy, finally, rests on a power higher than Parliament. It rests on an informed and cultivated and alert public opinion...."
- The Revolutionary '70s September 02, 2012
- THE SEVENTIES started with a revolutionary bang. By mid-February 1970, Black Power exploded onto the national stage, erupting in social and political convulsions such as the country had never known in its recorded history.
- God will not help the stupid September 02, 2012
- As ironical and comical as it may seem, the one word that drives the fear of God into the average Trini, is "gas".
- Part-time patriots September 02, 2012
- Patriotism. I have seen and heard this word used, misused and abused so much over the past few weeks, I felt like retiring as a patriot, surely an oxymoron that would have reduced me to a moron. Patriots, like revolutionaries, racists or bigots of any shade or persuasion, cannot resign or retire or even change. Either you are, or you are not.
- Wine and have a good time August 26, 2012
- I suppose there are a few achievements that we can celebrate at age 50. Top of my list would be the blessing that as a nation of many ethnicities we have not degenerated into bloody race wars or violent religious conflicts.
- No political blight August 19, 2012
- I experienced dij` vu last Monday, a feeling of "been there, seen that" as I watched the Prime Minister and her Cabinet colleagues milk golden boy Keshorn Walcott for all he was worth, and then some. Politicians can be merciless in extracting their mileage from achievers.
- Memorable moments in time August 12, 2012
- There is an afterglow to the Olympic Games, an image or moment in time that remains etched in the minds of hundreds of millions of people who view the quadrennial extravaganza.
- Glorious Olympic fields of dreams August 05, 2012
- Halfway into the Games and it has been a mixed bag thus far. Oh, the performances all round have ranged from superb to sublime. Really, who could ask for better than what we have seen in the aquatic centre? Just to have witnessed the curtain come down in the career of possibly the greatest swimmer ever, Michael Phelps, was worth it.
- Spirit of the Olympics July 29, 2012
- Over the next two weeks, the politicians and criminals have permission to 'mash up de place'. I don't know about my columnist colleagues, but as the 'Olympics Jumbie' takes possession of my being for the duration of the 30th Olympiad
- Exoneration or escape? July 22, 2012
- Forty years ago on July 27 I was released from prison a free man. I had spent 27 months in prison, faced a court-martial on mutiny and other charges, and had been committed to stand trial for treason. The treason charge was without substance.
- Memories of another era July 15, 2012
- Last week, memories of another day, another time, another Trinidad and Tobago swirled through my mind. It happened over several days as many of us who grew up in the villages that make up what I call "Greater Freeport" gathered to pay our final respects to an elder, Boyd "Baykay" Roberts.
- Cry blood, my beloved country July 8, 2012
- Rarely do I address the same topic for two consecutive weeks, but I feel compelled, in highly unusual circumstances, to alert the nation to the misadventures of National Security Minister Jack Warner.
- Return of Sheriff Lobo July 1, 2012
- What more must Jack Warner do to prove that he is unfit to be this countrys Minister of National Security? Declare war on Tobago or Venezuela or Barbados? Introduce a death squad to go around executing persons he suspects of being criminals or gangsters? Arrest and detain persons perceived to be opponents of the Peoples Partnership Government?
- Yesterday, today, tomorrow June 24, 2012
- Yesterday, David Abdulah was a darling of the People's Partnership. To hear it from the mare's mouth, David worked tirelessly to forge a working relationship among disparate elements whose commonality was not so much the love for country or liberty as it was their hatred for Patrick Manning.
- Conman of the Caribbean June 17, 2012
- I suppose most people digested the news that a US judge jailed conman Allen Stanford for 110 years, yawned, burped and moved on to the next item. Except for victims of the Texans multi-billion-dollar swindle, among them a few thousand from the Caribbean who lost their savings chasing a crooked shadow, Stanfords life sentence for a crime that is commonplace is of little more than academic interest.
- The Last Monarch June 10, 2012
- I Must hand it to the British: they know how to throw a right royal party. Okay, the four-day celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth's 60th year on the throne were more of a carnival, English-style, of course, than a good Trini-fete. But you can't beat the Brits for pomp, pageantry and ceremony.
- Robbing poor pensioners June 02, 2012
- I make no pretences to "being young" or "feeling young" at age 66. I never dyed my hairmy moustache turned grey before I was 50and other than leading a reasonably healthy lifestyle, daily exercising included, I have taken the aging process in stride.
- Backward ever, forward never May 27, 2012
- For all our boasts about technological advancements we have achieved"4G smart phones", "wifi hotspots", GPS in vehicles and on phonesit is amazing how we remain mired in backwardness when it comes to dealing with fundamental problems. The classic is carnage on the nation's roads.
- Gone to the dogs May 20, 2012
- Its frustrating enough to have successive governments bark over the Dangerous Dogs Act for more than a decade without proclaiming it law. But its exasperating when, just as the woefully inadequate legislation is about to be given a few defective teeth, we have hordes of human-mongrels whining about the rights of these dumb but downright dangerous animals that savage hapless human beings.
- Playing politics with CAL May 13, 2012
- Anyone with a modicum of commonsense would have laughed off the pronouncement some months ago that cash-strapped, debt ridden Caribbean Airlines (CAL) was on course to make a profit of $200 million. And if you had a sense of humour, you would have rolled on the flooror cried like a babywhen chairman George Nicholas pledged US$5 million from the anticipated profit to the Prime Minister's Children's Life Fund.
- Stop partying, start governing May 06, 2012
- The People's Partnership government is seemingly stuck in the self-destruct mode. It appears to be stricken with a series of minor collisions, with the driver preoccupied with averting a major, fatal crash. Its second anniversary in power is mere weeks away, but the five-party coalition appears to be overcome with fighting a spate of internal fires rather than being focused on delivering good governance.
- Fear of change Apr 29, 2012
- News that the People's Partnership Government has made an about turn in accepting the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final appellate court has elicited positive responses from eminent jurists and legal practitioners as well as most rational-thinking citizens.
- The more things change... Apr 22, 2012
- Fifty years after Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence, the tragedy of our politics is that it still revolves around the PNM, the party that took the country from colonialism through self-government and into independence.
- Marking time 50 years later Apr 15, 2012
- The perception that there are more mad people outside the St Anns Hospital than there are inside that mental institution seems to be reality, following the forcible detention of public servant Cheryl Miller.
- A primitive country Apr 08, 2012
- Fifty years after Trinidad and Tobago was granted independence, the tragedy of our politics is that it still revolves around the PNM, the party that took the country from colonialism through self-government and into independence.
- Oil and Gas Arithmetic Apr 01, 2012
- The announcements of two new oil finds over the past two weeks generated excitement among many in the population. God is a Trini! screamed the Express headline, quoting the Prime Minister. Such was the importance of Petrotrins discovery of 48 million barrels of relatively light crude, it warranted a full house of ministers and top company officials at the Cabinet Media Centre.
- UNC internals: theatre of the absurd Mar 25, 2012
- I learned a lesson in political morality surely an oxymoron at the politically tender age of 35. It came from the Machiavellian master himself, Basdeo Panday. Panday and I, along with George Weekes, Joe Young and others, had founded the United Labour Front back in 1976, when I was 30 years old.
- Focus on substance, not fluff Mar 18, 2012
- Over the past two weeks or so, public attention has focused on two issues, with the concomitant raging debates in the media and online. The first surfaced when it was disclosed in Parliament that the State had met expenses for Prime Minsiter Kamla Persad-Bissessars sister to accompany her on official visits to Australia, India and elsewhere.
- Rid the police of roughnecks Mar 11, 2012
- Crime pays. Big time. And big bucks. We always knew that. Mostly, when we think of profiteering off criminal activities, we think of criminals and attorneys, one breed often indistinguishable from the other.
- Crime pay$ big buck$ Mar 04, 2012
- Crime pays. Big time. And big bucks. We always knew that. Mostly, when we think of profiteering off criminal activities, we think of criminals and attorneys, one breed often indistinguishable from the other.
- Marketing our music Feb 26, 2012
- On Ash Wednesday, two articles in the Express perked me up. In the first, Planning and Development Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie, interviewed in the Grand Stand, told reporter Anna Ramdass that soca star Machel Montano "should be leading the charge in selling Trinidad and Tobago internationally".
- Play mas Feb 19, 2012
- Nothing that I wrote last Sunday should be misread as the lament of an "ole geezer" who has had his Carnival day and who now wants to deny others the joy of the festival.
- Total disrepect Feb 12, 2012
- I have been nursing a not-so-quiet anger since last Sunday's Panorama Semi-finals, and no, it has nothing to do with Despers being omitted from the finals, although I feel "a how" about that.
- From blimp to battimamselle' Feb 05, 2012
- Shortly after the PNM government acquired the second or third sky ship ("blimp") a few years ago, a well-informed patriotic national who resides in the US asked me why they did not consider new surveillance technology like remote-controlled drones. We had a healthy discussion on the issue.
- Let the tax debate begin Jan 29, 2012
- President Barack Obama's bold move to seek to apply a tax rate of 30 per cent to America's super-rich should serve as a catalyst of sorts for Finance Minister Winston Dookeran. Dookeran said recently that his ministry would soon review the income tax regime in Trinidad and Tobago. Changes to this country's income and corporate taxes were last made in 2006.
- Joker wild in Cabinet Jan 22, 2012
- Justice Minister Herbert Volney invariably comes across as a joker in the theatre of the macabre...a kind of black humour specialist.
He seems not to know whether his role is to make people laugh, cry or have a compelling urge to throttle him. He cannot decide if he is an entertainer, intimidator or Soca Monarch contender.
- Boorish behaviour by schools’ boards Jan 15, 2012
- Television footage that showed a hapless young female teacher being bullied by hard-backed men and a "be-hijabed" woman was the pannier that broke this jackass' back. I had stupidly stayed silent when Sat Maharaj and sundry Maha Sabha persons, again men and women, hounded school principal Sita Gajadharsingh-Nanga.
- Fear for our future Jan 08, 2012
- Within recent times, I've had an uneasy feeling that this country is drifting around aimlessly. I sense that in the economic turbulence that has gripped much of the world, we have let go of the rudder of the ship of state, and cast our fate to the wind and the rough seas without even trying to steer a course to safety.
- Play mas with your medals Jan 01, 2012
- A few weeks ago, Dr Brinsley Samaroo telephoned me. After we exchanged pleasantries, he got down to stating the purpose of his call. House Speaker Wade Mark had asked him to make contact with a number of ex-parliamentarians whom he (Mark) wanted to recognise for their service to Parliament, and, presumably, to country.
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