By Michael De Gale
August 15, 2007
The government’s intention to develop Laventille though politically tactical is also vitally necessary if the social ills of this area are to be alleviated. Not only does this make economic sense but strategic investments in troubled communities are a sure way to address the social evils which has historically plagued communities where poverty rules supreme. Progressive social thinkers supported by statistics, shows that crime thrives where hope is stifled. Survival has always been the law of the jungle whether literally or metaphorically speaking.
Continue reading It’s About Time to Develop Laventille
DEVANT MAHARAJ, a senior employee of the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) has won another court battle relating to his job.
Congress of the People (COP) political leader Winston Dookeran urged residents of Laventille and Morvant to “rise beyond the narrow politics of the past” and usher in a COP regime at the next General Election.
‘It means that former MPs, such as Ralph Maraj and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, would receive, at age 55, a gratuity of 10 percent of their gross salary.’ 
I need to get in touch with the person who coined the adage, “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.” I think he or she should add “or clowns” at the end of it. How else does one explain Basdeo Panday’s puerile behaviour, his donning of a beret that would otherwise look chic on fashionable women or neat on a soldier’s head, but more like a clown cap on his? Can anyone in the UNC explain this eccentric side of a man who was once prime minister of this country, and whom some political analysts insist remains the “only genuine politician in the country”? I think Bas, his platform colleagues, and those pseudo-analysts need to have their heads examined.
The grand alliance of Opposition parties has hit a snag. Basdeo Panday, the acknowledged leader of the majority group within the alliance, the UNC, has been found to be unacceptable as leader by at least one party, YesTT, which is led by Stephen Cadiz. 
After overcoming the initial shock of television networks across the world featuring this country in an alleged plot to “blow up the JFK airport” in New York, I could not help but break into peals of laughter. The first giggle came when the US networks featured the sorry picture of the alleged mastermind, Russell De Freitas. This “Sad Sack”, as The New York Times dubbed him, looked incapable of blowing hot air with any force, far less deal the US a “blow more devastating than 9/11”, as a State Department spokeswoman insisted.
PRIME Minister Patrick Manning got advice at least five times from a woman who has been described as his “prophetess.”