The Beauties of Mozart February 01, 2012
It was a good time to be away. While my good friend Louis Lee Sing was fighting down Brian Lara (a bad fight to pick: you just don't dump on a national hero like that); and Penny Beckles, a woman I admire politically, was being chastised for cultivating her own group of supporters (I thought every politician had a right to develop his or her own political base)... Full Article

Kamla's Delicate Dance January 26, 2012
Question: If Trinidad and Tobago were one hundred percent Hindus, would our response to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar kissing President Pratibha Patil's toes elicit a different response? I suspect it would. But only thirty five percent of Trinidad and Tobago's population are Hindus and therein lays the conundrum. Full Article

De Prime Minister Eh Dey January 20, 2012
I have never accepted V. S. Naipaul's description of our society as being half-made or our people as mimic men and women. Some years ago I wrote a trenchant criticism of Naipaul's work in which I responded to those designations in an effective manner. For the past three weeks I have been traveling in Germany and England. As I view our political landscape from afar I cannot help but get the impression that our Prime Minister is playing dolly house with our people's future... Full Article

Looking Backward January 11, 2012
Karl Hudson Philip's brilliant advocacy for a respect of legal tradition and his reminder that standards ought to be adhered to touched an important note in Trinidad and Tobago's psyche. Reading Hudson Philip I was reminded of a time when things were simpler, standards were more transparent and justice [or perhaps consistency] was among desired outcomes. Full Article

Keeping Faith with Our Destiny January 04, 2012
Some time this month, Linius Rogers's motion that instructs the male members of PNM to wear their balisier ties in Parliament, municipal and city bodies and at official functions will come up at the PNM General Council for a discussion and a vote. As a member of the PNM, I support this motion unreservedly because it is a way to keep us true to our roots and a sign that we are a distinct political formation in Trinidad and Tobago. Full Article

Don't Piss On Me... December 27, 2011
I am not a lawyer, I know nothing about legalese, but I do know when shit stinks and barely literate politicians tell me that I needn't worry because they have the nation's best interest at heart. Do I really have to believe the AG when he says that in making his decision about Ish and Steve that his only concern is that justice is served? Ah mean, is it that I have become so bey bey that I don't know when someone is pissing on me even as he insists that it's raining bucket ah drop. Full Article

Christmas Truce December 20, 2011
There were smiles galore; enough to fill the entire room and a little left over for langniappe. There, boldface in the front page of the Mirror (and the Guardian too) was Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of the country, in the tender embrace (or so it seemed to me) of Maxie Cuffie, the publisher and CEO of the Mirror. Another shot showed Wade Mark, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, clasping Cuffie's hands with a broad smile on his face with Timothy Hamel-Smith, President of the Senate, equally gleeful, overseeing the tete-a-tete. Full Article

The Prime Minister as Goddess December 13, 2011
In 1958, as the demands upon Dr. Eric Williams grew, the Mighty Striker penned "Don't Blame de PNM" in which he elevated Dr. Williams to the status of godhead. Dr. Williams may have been ironic in quoting this poem in his autobiography. However, Striker was on target when he satirized the fickleness of our people's understanding of government when he observed that even when yo' lose yo' man, yo expect the prime minister to help yo' with dat. Full Article

The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight December 06, 2011
We didn't have to wait until the Prime Minister declared an official end to the state of emergency to realize that it was ill-advised, ill-timed and disingenuous. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear have come to the realization that what began as a farce ended up as a comedy of errors with rotten eggs splattered on the Government's face and even greater opprobrium cast upon their name. Ah mean, they couldn't even carry off this jokey maneuver with a modicum of humor. Full Article