All posts by News

England, General T&T, International, USA

Royal Politics Shapes The Windsor Wedding

4 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
May 21, 2018

Stephen KangalThe Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and American-born Meghan Markle that was solemnised at the historic Windsor Castle was billed to be a showcase of the cultural and ceremonial embodiment of British aristocracy, tradition and indeed of the British Raj in all its regal splendour descended into the realm of subliminal politics and public/race relations.

It started with Prince Charles walking down his future daughter-in-law Meghan down the aisle instead of her mother Doria who was at the wedding. This was intended to symbolise Royal assent and acceptance of the mixed-race Meghan into the Royal Family.
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Agriculture, Finance, Food, General T&T, Politics, Recession

Harness the best cocoa in the world

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By Raffique Shah
May 16, 2018

Raffique ShahSometimes it pays to stay aloof of the noise that tends to pollute discussions on issues as important as the state of the national economy and efforts to resuscitate it. Last week, Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s mid-year review of the fiscal 2017-2018 Budget, which has been elevated to a media event, degenerated into a political slugfest involving several prominent economists and political commentators, and cantankerous Colm.
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Features, General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Conrad Friedrich Stollmeyer – Pt 2

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 14, 2018

PART 1 — PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTrinidad has always been seen as an exciting, exotic place. In 1498 after Columbus made his fourth and final voyage to the New World, he averred: “Gold is generated in sterile lands and wherever the sun is strong” (Hughes, Energy without Conscience). Around 1580 Sir Walter Raleigh left England to search for the fabled city of gold. V. S. Naipaul examined Raleigh’s obsession in The Loss of El Dorado.
Continue reading Conrad Friedrich Stollmeyer – Pt 2 →

Crime in T&T, Finance, Parliament, PNM, Politics, Recession

Imbert paints brighter mid-year picture

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Economy turning around

By Gail Alexander
May 11, 2018 – guardian.co.tt

Colm ImbertAfter two and a half years of financial adjustment, Government’s now seeing its way.

The economy is turning around, revenue collection is up, the energy sector’s booming and the non-oil sector is also growing, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced yesterday.
Continue reading Imbert paints brighter mid-year picture →

Finance, General T&T, Letters, Oil and Gas, Opposition Party, Property Tax, Recession

Shelve property tax as energy revenue rises

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By Gail Alexander
May 10, 2018 – guardian.co.tt

Opposition Chief Whip David LeeThe Government should not institute the property tax since Finance Minister Colm Imbert recently said T&T has “turned the corner” and also projected “good news” in today’s mid-year Budget review, says Opposition Chief Whip David Lee.

“He has painted a more positive outlook for T&T in recent weeks. Also, energy prices are better than before. If the situation is really good, Government should have no need to pursue the property tax and inflict further hardship on the public,” Lee said yesterday.
Continue reading Shelve property tax as energy revenue rises →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Police

Police Service a disaster zone

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By Raffique Shah
May 8, 2018

Raffique ShahThe Sunday Express described it as a “disaster week” for the Police Service. If I were the editor, I would have headlined the editorial “Police Service a disaster zone”. With apologies to the many dedicated police officers who adhere to their oath of office and battle against Sisyphean odds of rampant lawlessness within their ranks and in the country at large, the events of last week involving their colleagues engaging in criminal activities or shameful acts were not aberrations.
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Features, General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Conrad Friedrich Stollmeyer

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 07, 2018

PART 1 — PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt goes without saying that human beings are complex people; none more so than Conrad Stollmeyer who came to Trinidad in 1844 under strange circumstances. He arrived after apprenticeship ended (1838), at a time when the ex-slaves were desperately trying to find plots of land to house themselves and their families, to cultivate their crops and tend to their animals.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Politics, Venezuela

We must manage migration

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By Raffique Shah
May 01, 2018

Raffique ShahSometime in or around 1990, a large number of mostly Indo-Trinidadians, variously estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000, fled this country for Canada, and successfully exploited that country’s liberal immigration laws pertaining to refugee status and asylum, claiming political or racial persecution in Trinidad and Tobago.

The “refugees”, who were really Trinis seeking greener economic pastures in a huge, thriving Canada, realised their dreams through the wiles of a pool of “immigration lawyers” who, for handsome fees, beat the system and won them the right to live and work there. I imagine that most of them remain residents of Canada to this day, and they are happy in their adopted homeland.
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Caribbean, General T&T

Carrying on the Tradition

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 30, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI want to congratulate Marina Salandy-Brown for her marvelous gift to the nation in conceiving and developing the Bocas Lit Fest that has reenergized how we see our world. It connects to a long literary tradition that has its origins in the early days of our society.

Salandy-Brown, the founder of the festival, says she was motivated to “reestablish a place for Caribbean literature, which had all ‘disappeared’ from the purview of metropolitan publishers, being replaced, in Britain, by works by the children of Caribbean people born in Britain, such as Monica Ali and Audrea Levy” (Express, April 25).
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Tobago

Tobago Self Government Bill To Amend Constitution by the Back Door

By Stephen Kangal
April 28, 2018

Stephen KangalWere the 1.3 million people domiciled in Trinidad to continue and persist in their laid-back complacent mode it could be a case of the unilateral, Tobago -centred and driven large scale amendment of the 1976 Republican Constitution using the back door provided by the Tobago Self-Government Bill No 5 of 2018 that is now before a JSC for its evaluation, scrutiny, amendments and report back to Parliament.
Continue reading Tobago Self Government Bill To Amend Constitution by the Back Door →