UNC’s victory: the necessary antidote to PNM’s revival
January 25, 2025
A United National Congress victory in the forthcoming election is the necessary antidote to heal the fissures that have erupted in the PNM’s political structure. Only a UNC victory can counteract the fiendish act of PNM’s hierarchy of selling the party to the highest financial bidders. This will necessitate that PNM takes a more careful look at itself, especially in the absence of the Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow. Full Article

PNM sells out to the rich January 18, 2025
The People’s National Movement came into being against the backdrop of the representatives of black and brown people who met in Bandung, Indonesia, to oppose colonialism. In 1955, 29 countries representing 1.5 billion people (or 54% of the world’s population) demanded a greater share of the world’s financial resources. Full Article

Vote out the PNM December 29, 2024
Three recent events cemented in my mind that the poor and the not-so-poor will suffer much more over the next five years than they do today if the present Government is not changed. Full Article

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"
December 21, 2024
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" —Psalm 8:4
Last Monday Lisa Morris-Julian, Minister in the Ministry of Education, and two of her children (Xianne, 25 and Jesiah, 6) died in a fire that destroyed their Arima home. The cause of the fire remains sketchy but the response of the T&T Fire Service left much to be desired. Full Article

Rejecting illusions December 09, 2024
In this version of democracy, the Cabinet rules supreme, to hell with those people who elected them.
Eric Williams began his address to the Second Congress of Negro Writers and Artists Conference in Rome in 1959 by quoting African intellectual Alioune Diop, who said: “There can be no people without a culture. But what we often lose sight of is the natural link between the political and the cultural...It’s the State that guarantees a culture’s memory of its traditions and the nature of its personality.” Full Article

Wos' Than Slavery December 04, 2024
A week ago I received the following note from Joyce Thomas, a retired VP of a government girl's college. She has been involved in sports at the Eddie Hart Ground (EHG) as a sprinter and coach over the past 63 years. Joyce is “a level 5 World Athletics Throws coach and has at least 12 athletes on Trinidad Carifta teams. This year Peyton Winter won silver medals in the Carifta Games and gold medals in the NACAC competition last year.” Full Article

Our precious jewels November 27, 2024
Last Sunday morning as I sat in my usual pew at the back of St Mary’s Anglican Church in Tacarigua, a dear friend, Claudette Grant-Gooding, drew my attention to a booklet, “Inspiration for Spirituality XII: From Advent to Christmas”, that the Diamen Writers’ Circle (DWC) produced. Grant-Gooding teaches religious instruction and writes occasionally for the Diocesan newspaper, The Anglican Outlook. Full Article

America, the beautiful? November 21, 2024
After I arrived in the United States of America in August 1964, I continued to follow the election battle between of Lyndon B Johnson, a Democrat, and Senator Barry Goldwater whom he defeated in the sixth most lopsided US election: Johnson won 44 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 486 electoral votes and 61.1% of the popular vote. Goldwater captured 52 electoral votes and 38% of the popular vote. Full Article

Hubris goes before the fall November 12, 2024
It was November 2016; the PNM had just won an election, and it was riding high. At a conference hosted by the Government and the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Colm Imbert explained why he had raised the price of fuel. He boasted: "I increased the price of fuel by 15% and then realised that was not enough. I came back again in April and raised it by another 15% and I came back again just a few weeks ago and raised it by another 15%. They haven’t rioted yet." Full Article

The ultimate barbarian November 05, 2024
It may seem an exaggeration, but the Leader of Our Grief is the most obnoxious leader we have had in our 62 years of independent rule. He has revealed himself as an unsophisticated bully who is unaware of his social and political responsibilities to the nation. Full Article

Honouring our heroes October 30, 2024
Speaking to hundreds of people at Progress Park, Grenada, on October 19, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell announced plans “to build a shrine at Fort George to honour deceased Revolutionary leader Prime Minster Maurice Bishop and others who lost their lives on October 19, 1983, as a result of internal conflicts between different factions of the Revolutionary Government”.
Full Article

Language matters October 23, 2024
Two weeks ago, I responded to Nigel Seenathsingh’s letter that appeared in the Express. I wrote: "When I warned...about the dangers inherent in the Leader of Our Grief’s statements about women, I was not trying to demonise him or Stuart Young. I was only alerting my readers to be on guard about the violence against women [I emphasised women] that exists in our society and the role that language plays in this regard." Full Article

The leader's schizophrenic behaviour October 16, 2024
After the People’s National Movement came into power in 1956, Eric Williams took an inordinate length of time (sometimes as much as three hours) to deliver his budget speeches. He used them to reach his fellow citizens since the means of communication were not as widely available as they are today. It was also a way to expand the democratic process. Full Article