By Francis Joseph
www.newsday.co.tt
Wednesday, September 19 2007
CHIEF MAGISTRATE Sherman Mc Nicolls stated quite emphatically yesterday that he never took a bribe from anyone in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Ask anyone if they ever offered me a bribe, or gave me a bribe. Not a single one in this country can say I asked for a bribe, or got a bribe. Every single cent I have, I have worked hard for it.”
Continue reading Sherman Mc Nicolls: I never took a bribe
By Raffique Shah
September 16, 2007
Last Thursday most Italians decided to deny themselves their supreme daily delight-pasta-because of what they saw as an unreasonable increase in price. A one-kilo pack of the wheat-based staple had increased by 27 per cent, now priced at around TT$12. This was as shocking a protest as one could get in Italy. I had my first taste of spaghetti-cum-meatballs, liberally sprinkled with parmesan cheese, at a sidewalk restaurant in Florence back in 1966, when my Regiment friends and I, then cadets at Sandhurst, toured Italy. During the ten days or so we traversed the country-Genoa, Rome, Naples, Venice-we learned a whole lot about spaghetti, pasta, cheeses and wines. But with spaghetti everywhere, we learned how it’s eaten the Italian way, with the odd combination of spoon and fork.
Continue reading Welcome to the upside-down world
By Michael De Gale
September 14, 2007
It is a sad state of affairs when mediocrity is the highest standard to which a nation aspires. For as long as I could remember, the people of T&T have bemoaned the poor quality of service they receive from public health, police, education, transportation and virtually all government ministries. So I thought that people would be happy to learn about the poll which shed light on the dismal performance of many government ministers. Yes! A poll was needed to identify these slackers as much as a light is required to see the sun. Nonetheless, the pole confirmed what the public had always known – government ministers are incompetent, lack vision and are incapable of fulfilling the mandates of their ministries. Despite all appearances, they are trapped in a Third World mentality. How else can one explain the sorry state of social services in T&T?
Continue reading Measuring Mediocrity
Details Emerge In West Virginia Torture Case
Six people have been arrested in West Virginia coal country for the week-long torture of a young woman. Six people, all white, were arrested in connection with the alleged abduction of the black woman. Authorities are investigating the case as a possible hate crime.
Authorities said Megan Williams, 20, was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet. She was sexually assaulted, doused with hot water, choked with a cable cord and stabbed in the leg, according to criminal complaints.
Continue reading Six Held for Week-Long Torture of African Female
By Stephen Kangal
September 14, 2007
In denouncing some of his Ministers’ current stewardship, it is clear that PM Manning has unwittingly telegraphed that he alone has the exclusive right over the pursuit of fame, power and fortune in politics. The criteria of having a “level head and common sense” for ministerial appointment was never met by the author himself having regard to his weekly blunders and recent display of $200m of regal splendour and opulence. Now a performance audit resulting from a secretive poll is in the PM’s back pocket as the sword of Patos. The results of this suspect poll will take precedence over the democratic will of the respective PNM constituencies in new candidate selection.
Continue reading PM’s Monopolistic Pursuit of Fame, Power and Fortune
TriniSoca.com Reporters
September 12, 2007
Creator of such Calypso gems as “Progress”, “In Time to Come”, “Somebody”, “Steelband Woman”, “Saltfish”, “This World Don’t Like Nothing Black”, “Phillip My Dear”, “Take Me Back Africa”, “Too Young to Soca” “In Time to Come”, “Save our Domestics”, Winsford ‘Joker’ Devine is undoubtedly one of the greatest songwriters of our time. His compositions range from the bacchanal and sexual topics of the Soca genre to the serious social commentaries that analyse and enrich our social space. Over the past 40 years, his compositions have been sung by many singers including ‘Crazy’, ‘Sparrow’, Machel Montano, ‘Singing Francine’, ‘Mighty Trini’, Charlene Boodram, ‘Sugar Aloes’, Marcia Miranda, Karen Asche, ‘Poser’, ‘Baron’, ‘Explainer’, ‘Blakie’ and ‘King Austin’. Many of these songs have become classics of the Calypso artform, but in an arena where most of the public recognition goes to the singer, many persons are unaware of Joker’s involvement. In this extensive interview with TriniSoca.com, this prolific Soca/Calypso composer talks frankly and vividly about his compositions, the state of the Calypso artform and his general life experiences.
Continue to: ‘Winsford ‘Joker’ Devine Speaks’
COP’s First Anniversary Rally in pictures
TriniView.com Reporters
With the next general elections looming, the Congress of the People held their first anniversary celebrations with a rally titled Real Red: The Event. Thousands of people from throughout the country wearing red C.O.P. jerseys packed into Woodford Square, a venue that has traditionally been politically associated with the ruling People’s National Movement. Police reportedly estimated the crowd size as between 25,000 to 30,000.
Continue reading COP’s ‘Real Red’ First Anniversary Rally
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, September 9th 2007
PNM leader Patrick Manning must be over-confident about his party’s chances in the general elections that should be held no later than early December. Why else would he trigger tremors in the ruling party at this critical point, virtually on the eve of elections?
Whether or not his “secret poll” on the performances of his MPs prompted five of ten among his frontline parliamentarians to declare their decision to not seek re-election may never be known. If there’s one thing the PNM has been efficient at in its 51-year history, it is keeping secrets within the fold. So while we in the media may speculate, even pronounce on whispers, supposedly from well-placed sources, we shall never know what is true from what is not.
Continue reading Win the battle, lose the war
By Stephen Kangal
September 06, 2007
How can Honourable Prime Minister Manning use his 45th Independence Message to score cheap political points? He lamented the presence of the forces of “obstructionism, opportunism and divisiveness” and yet boasts of T&T being a plural society that is “achieving greater social harmony”.
Continue reading Cosmetic Unity and Uneasy Racial Harmony