Monthly Archives: August 2009

Food, General T&T, Politics

What sweet in goat mouth…

By Raffique Shah
August 30, 2009
www.raffiqueshah.com

Caricom LeadersWITH the price of sugar shooting through the roof-at least by that commodity’s standard-there are calls from many quarters for Government to resuscitate the local sugar industry. From the Maha Sabha’s Sat Maharaj to All Trinidad’s Rudy Indarsingh, people are heaping scorn on Government for closing the industry when it did in 2007. They are seeing gold where, not long ago, only trash and spoilt canes stood. Fool’s gold, I say-and I shall produce facts to support my position.
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Culture, General T&T, Sports

Random Acts of Kindness

By Derren Joseph
August 27, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

TrinbagoniansLast week, as usual, I spoke about the need for greater positivity. The morning after the Soca Warriors’ victory, I was listening to the Power Breakfast on Power 102 and was a bit thrown off by some of the feedback from callers. On balance, the phone calls were overwhelmingly positive, but there were still a few who insisted on being less than positive.
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Africa, Caribbean, Culture, Race and Identity

William Hardin Burnley and the Glorious Revolution

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 24, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

EmancipationIn an interesting article, “The ‘Glorious Revolution’ of August 1, 1838” (Express, August 2nd 2009), Selwyn Ryan presents William Hardin Burnley (1780-1850), the largest slaveholder in Trinidad and Tobago, as one of the “more forward-looking” planters in terms of human resource management strategy. He suggests that after the emancipation of the enslaved Africans Burnley felt that “the extinction of slavery has created a mighty revolution, in that, in this island, the master was now the slave and the former slave the master.” He quotes Burnley as saying that “God and nature were conspiring to render the island of Trinidad ‘a little Terrestrial Paradise for the African race.’ He insisted that he was not guilty of hyperbole when he said that the African was like the ‘Midas of Greek Mythology.'”
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Executive President, yes…elected by the people

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By Raffique Shah
August 23, 2009
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Raffique ShahListening to well-informed people, some of them respected intellectuals, argue against a system of government that allows for an executive president, intrigues me. They invariably pursue their arguments using fancy-words-work, but essentially they are little different to the barely-informed masses, who, on the eve of Trinidad and Tobago adopting a republican constitution in 1976, cried “bloody murder” over that minor change in our system of governance.
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Caribbean, General T&T, International, Sports

Berlin 2009: Men’s 4x100m Relay Final

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Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Jamaica Wins Gold, Trinidad & Tobago Sliver

GOLD: Steve Mullings, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell (Jamaica) 37.32

SILVER: Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callander and Richard Thompson (Trinidad and Tobago) 37.62

BRONZE: Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar, Marlon Devonish and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Britain) 38.02
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Caribbean, PNM, Politics, UNC

Rudi wanted to lead PNM

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By George Alleyne
August 19, 2009 – newsday.co.tt
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com

Basdeo PandayThe scarcely concealed leadership battle in the United National Congress (UNC) between the Party’s Political Leader, Basdeo Panday, and one of its Deputy Political Leaders, Jack Warner, as to which of them will command the UNC in the immediate days ahead is not uncommon to Caribbean politics.
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