By Raffique Shah
Sunday, August 17th 2008
By the time this column is published on Sunday, American swimmer Michael Phelps would more than likely have achieved his goal of winning a record eight gold medals. Mark Spitz, the sole swimmer among an elite club of Olympians who won multiple medals in his career, would also have been in Beijing to see this swimming phenomenon set a new benchmark in the pool.
Continue reading Who is or was the greatest Olympian ever?
By Kasala Kamara
San Fernando, Trinidad
August 13, 2008
The government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and of most other Caricom countries has indicated that it is ready to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Initialling of the agreement took place on December 16th 2007. Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean need to know the disturbing circumstances surrounding the negotiation and initialling of the agreement in the context of international law i.e. the Law of Treaties.
Continue reading Law of Treaties and the EPA
By Stephen Kangal
August 13, 2008
The collapse of the Caroni Bailey Bridge is powerfully symbolic of the pervasive collapse of this society under the weight of the ineptitude of the current Manning Administration. When the centre is not holding together the rest of the country or the periphery is in disarray and slowly disintegrating into managed chaos.
Continue reading The Centre is Not Holding
By Verna St. Rose Greaves
August 11, 2008
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog
Too many of us as adults believe that the only way we can deal with indiscipline in our children, is to literally beat it out of them. Religious references support our nostalgic recollections of being beaten to demonstrate it’s effectiveness, because after all look how good we turned out.
Stories are told of kneeling on graters holding up two big stones in the hot sun. Or of being ordered to cut the tamarind whip with which you were to be flogged. In the extreme the offending tool of choice a stout leather strap or the urine soaked and stretched penis of a bull; its’ impact so far removed from its’ original intent.
Continue reading I don’t like to be hit. What about you?
By Clarence Toussaint
August 11, 2008
This letter in response to Minister Martin Joseph’s call for harsher gun laws in Trinidad and Tobago.
What do stronger gun ownership laws have to do with criminals trafficking in and using illegally owned firearms? These laws will only affect the law-abiding citizens who’ve applied for firearms permits through the Commissioner of Police (CoP), sometimes having to wait years or decades for the permits process to worm its way through only to be denied (or have already been robbed, murdered, raped or kidnapped!!!)
Continue reading No New Firearms Laws Needed
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, August 10th 2008
How I look forward to the next three weeks as the magic of the Olympic Games impacts on most people across the world. There’s something about the Games that holds human beings spellbound. It gives us some respite from wars, a lull in crime, relief from politicians, makes us forget our daily woes. What makes the Olympics more appealing than football World Cup is that every country, small and big, can participate in it, if only with one athlete-and six officials! In Beijing this year, a record 205 countries are participating.
Continue reading Magic of the Olympics
By Stephen Kangal
August 06, 2008
There are two major foreign policy challenges that are confronting our relatively new and untested Foreign Minister Gopee-Scoon during the next six months the eventual outcome of which can either boost or bust her hitherto short internship at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She must take judicious note of the wisdom inherent in the following Latin proverb and act accordingly on recent British undertakings given to her in London. Visa requirements were preceded by negative travel advisories issued by the British.
Continue reading Foreign Policy Challenges Confronting Minister Gopee-Scoon
By George Alleyne
Wednesday, August 6 2008
The mental slavery of descendants of slaves, referred to by Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor during his recent State visit, had resulted from a psychological campaign waged by Europeans determined to “establish” the racial “inferiority” of non-Europeans.
Alvin Toffler, the noted thinker, had pointed this out on page 90 of his work, The Third Wave, published in 1990 by Bantam, in which he emphasised that the cultures of colonised countries had been ridiculed. In addition, “….the colonial powers hammered a deep sense of psychological inferiority into the conquered people that stands even today as an obstacle to economic and social development”.
Continue reading Emancipating ourselves
Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago
www.tatt.org.tt
The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT), through the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago is proposing to develop the National Broadcasting Code in collaboration with the general public. The document gives broadcasters and the general public an understanding of the factors which should be taken into account when making editorial judgements.
Continue to ‘Draft National Broadcasting Code for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago’
Newsday Editorial
Monday, August 4 2008
Does the Government understand the difference between luxuries and necessities? It does not seem so, if comments made earlier this week by Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira are any indication.
Admitting that Government spending has contributed to double-digit inflation, Ms Nunez-Tesheira nonetheless insisted that the expenditure was a “necessary investment”. But Government’s main contribution to the spiralling inflation rate has been through its construction programme, and most of these projects cannot be considered investments in any real sense. The $148 million spent on the still incomplete Prime Minister’s residence and Diplomatic Centre certainly pays no returns, and was entirely unnecessary. The building of a Government campus and Social Affairs tower and an Education Ministry edifice cannot be defined as investments, either. Even if we accept Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s argument that the public servants who will work in these buildings will be more productive because of the comfort of their workspace, we very much doubt they will be productive to the tune of billions of dollars.
Continue reading Difference between needs and wants