by Raffique Shah
December 17, 2006
I have been thinking about my approach to Christmas which many have described as being that of a Scrooge, not a Santa. True. I dislike seeing people exhaust all their earnings and savings on this one occasion, only to have to resort to borrowing to survive the few months afterwards. It happens to most low-to-middle income earners. With portents of global warming soon bringing an end to all life as we know it, what the hell? So let the masses overeat, drink excessively, and be merry. As for me, I shall join the fete, even transforming myself into Santa. I’m sharing gifts aplenty, too-starting, as usual, with the big boys and girls.
Continue reading Santa Shah is coming to town
Fraud Squad officers in San Fernando and Port of Spain yesterday, following the publication of the Express front page story, received a number of calls from people who said they had fallen victim to an international lotto scam. Police said that people from areas throughout the country had responded to the story about Trinidadians being fleeced in internet and postal lotto frauds.
The symposium on the aluminum industry in Trinidad and Tobago which took place this past Wednesday was the most positive development in the entire smelter issue so far. For the first time in this two year old debate, the nation was presented with credible, relevant and current information on all of the major aspects of the proposed smelters. This included information and research on the economic, social, engineering, legal, and environmental concerns and implications, as well as on the Global Aluminum Industry, presented by local and international experts with decades of experience.
I kept wondering for some time now how long it would take Starbucks, the upscale coffee chain, to start doing business here. Last week I read where some local entrepreneur indicated he’d cornered the franchise. I guess by next year Trinis who did not know of Starbucks before would be flocking to the coffee house. A few years ago, in London, I had my first encounter with it. While I sipped an over-priced, under-flavoured “cuppa”, I observed the behaviour of customers in this consumer-driven ambience. I found it very revealing.
I have never ceased to agonise in mental pain at the continuing undue pressures being exerted on our Indian community to exercise constant and eternal vigilance geared to curb and correct the natural predilection of some public decision-makers in Trinidad and Tobago to exclude its presence from public symbols that claim by depicting selectively to represent the cultural diversity of our multicultural landscape. The absence of Indian names of public buildings and notably roadways are relevant in this regard.
YASIN ABU BAKR, the leader of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen, was yesterday afternoon freed of the charge of conspiracy to murder two expelled members of his organisation.
Today, the people of Venezuela go to the polls to elect a president. The election is of significance to Trinidad and Tobago because Venezuela happens to be the country closest to us. More than mere geopolitics, under President Hugo Chavez, that country has taken a leading role in hemispheric affairs as well as being a more-than-minor player in global politics. As the fifth biggest oil producing country in the world, Venezuela is also strategically poised to influence the Caribbean, as it did with the Petrocaribe initiative and several bilateral trade and aid agreements with member states of Caricom.