Category Archives: Letters

Take your time, Chief Justice Archie

May 02, 2010

The following is an open letter to the Chief Justice, dated April 29, from Desmond Allum, SC.

Chief Justice Ivor ArchieThe Honourable Chief Justice,

Mr Ivor Archie,

Age and distance bestows such freedom which I now take advantage of to address these few lines to you.

As you probably know I have been in the United Kingdom for an extended period. Notwithstanding the distance I have been following closely what has been going on in both the political and legal profession arenas. It is of course in relation to the second topic that I write to you.
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Disorderly Governance

MangroveEDITOR: The Laws of Trinidad and Tobago have been broken by the open removal of Mangrove forests on the Mucurapo foreshore next to the car park where the City Corporation park their trucks. Why has the Mayor or the CEO of the City Corporation not yet been arrested and charged or fired for incompetence and mismanagement? Are the 40 dedicated Environmental Police a few blocks away at the EMA offices in St Clair aware?
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Once it’s taped, it might as well be out there

November 09, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Sex and RecordingsEDITOR: A collection of sex video clips involving a local celebrity is making the rounds on the internet. I am told that she is quite embarrassed about this exposure.

Personally, I do not have a problem with adults exhibiting themselves to other adults by choice. However, if they have a problem with such performances being made public, then why do they record them in the first place? And, if they do record them, why do they not secure them properly?
Continue reading Once it’s taped, it might as well be out there

Political maturity in opposition in T&T

October 22, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

UNCThe recent dropping of charges against UNC’s “dissident MPs” and the meeting between UNC and COP representatives speak volumes as to the road to political maturity on the part of opposition parties in T&T.

In this era of democratically-elected dictatorship in T&T, both the UNC and COP must clearly realize and understand that their only enemy is the PNM. They must cease and desist from creating enemies within their own ranks if they are to remove the PNM government from office.
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Transforming a Property Owning Nation into Renters

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

HouseTHE EDITOR: The onerous, burdensome, sting-in-the-tail and exploitative property tax imposed by the Minister of Finance in her barrel-scraping Budget Statement will have the effect of transforming the mentality of a proud and confident, property- owning, diverse population into a nation of transient renters. From childhood I was socialized culturally into not being a renter. Now I am being forced as a fixed income pensioner, after building and living in my own home, to regard and treat myself pschologically as a renter in my own home. A long term renter has no commitment to his community or country. He is always on the move in search of greener pastures. I do not want to be treated as that.
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Life After the Summit

Fifth Summit of the AmericasTHE EDITOR: Well, the summit has come and gone. The naked emperor has worshipped at the altar of his own egoism. But at what cost? The next circus is going to be the reckoning of what costs are to be attributed to the summit and what costs are not. It’s all downhill from here. The naked emperor has shot his bolt. There are no more cards up his sleeve. Our monocrop, jazzed up plantation economy is well and truly busted. Health, education, local government services, social welfare and mek wuk employment are being severely cut back. Jobs are disappearing by the thousands and will continue to do so over the near term. Trillion dollar bonds are being floated to make up the budget deficit.
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The Audacity of Hope in T&T

By Derren Joseph
November 09, 2008

Trini PeopleOsei is one of my best friends. He is a Trinbagonian, who resides in the UK. Osei visited Trinidad last week. I had not seen him since I moved back to Trinidad last year. As the ole talk went on, we started comparing living in Trinbago to living in Europe or North America.

At one time, I remember hearing about many people who wanted to migrate and live elsewhere. Within recent time, however, I have been seeing the opposite. So many Trinbagonians we know on the outside are considering repatriation to Trinidad and Tobago.
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Is T&T Above World Economic Crisis?

Twin TowersEDITOR: I sometimes wonder if my information sources of media, internet etc. are defective. My information suggests that most of the developed economies in the world are in deep crisis, major US corporations e.g. Bears and Sterns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Bros. etc had to be bailed out by the Federal Authorities. (They are baulking at bailing out Lehman Bros.). The housing market is at its lowest point in decades and unemployment is at its highest in many years. The UK and Canada are awaiting statistical confirmation that their economies are in recession but their populations know full well.
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The High Cost of Living: A Sufferer’s Perspective

HouseTHE EDITOR: I’d like you to allow me a small space on your website to address one of the many elephants that occupy this large room that we call Trinidad and Tobago. With all the recent talk about the high cost of living I think that this would be a most appropriate time to do so.

I recently read a short article in the Trinidad Express about the high cost of house and apartment rentals in Trinidad and Tobago today. In the article, a number of landlords defended their exorbitant prices saying that the costs of building materials have gone up and therefore to cover these costs, they have upped their prices. Fair enough, right?
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