General T&T, Sports

Wos’ Than Slavery

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 04, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA week ago I received the following note from Joyce Thomas, a retired VP of a government girl’s college. She has been involved in sports at the Eddie Hart Ground (EHG) as a sprinter and coach over the past 63 years. Joyce is “a level 5 World Athletics Throws coach and has at least 12 athletes on Trinidad Carifta teams. This year Peyton Winter won silver medals in the Carifta Games and gold medals in the NACAC competition last year.”
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General T&T, Politics

No need for wars

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By Raffique Shah
December 04, 2024

Raffique ShahI expect a bruising political year ahead of us as general election 2025 looms large. The Opposition United National Congress (UNC) has never really stopped campaigning since their loss in 2015. The margins of victory—the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) polled in 2015 and 2020—were close enough to keep the PNM uneasy, but the UNC probably blew it by turning to the courts in constituencies where they were behind by relatively small numbers of votes, causing them to lose goodwill among the electorate.
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General T&T

Our precious jewels

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 27, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Sunday morning as I sat in my usual pew at the back of St Mary’s Anglican Church in Tacarigua, a dear friend, Claudette Grant-Gooding, drew my attention to a booklet, “Inspiration for Spirituality XII: From Advent to Christmas”, that the Diamen Writers’ Circle (DWC) produced. Grant-Gooding teaches religious instruction and writes occasionally for the Diocesan newspaper, The Anglican Outlook.
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General T&T

Not culture, dis is madness

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By Raffique Shah
November 27, 2024

Raffique ShahTrinidad was a bountiful island. It once was almost self-sufficient in food production. Its economy for the past 50 years has been reliant on its oil, gas and petrochemicals. To truly understand how close we came to being a gem of a country, citizens of today need to know that during the Second World War (1939-1945), when we had no choice but to produce and consume more food than we could eat, we did it.
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General T&T, USA

America, the beautiful?

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 21, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAfter I arrived in the United States of America in August 1964, I continued to follow the election battle between of Lyndon B Johnson, a Democrat, and Senator Barry Goldwater whom he defeated in the sixth most lopsided US election: Johnson won 44 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 486 electoral votes and 61.1% of the popular vote. Goldwater captured 52 electoral votes and 38% of the popular vote.
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General T&T

To slay a beast

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By Raffique Shah
November 19, 2024

Raffique ShahThe world is what it was, and what it always has been. I am convinced of this now more than I was when I wrote last week’s column. Bullet-riddled corpses, and headless bodies pile up in morgues throughout the country. I watched communities under armed siege as the media promote the newly discovered crime cradle, bullying. I rock back in my chair and murmur: This is it, this is it, this is it. I feel like the madman in David Rudder’s “Chant” (“Madman’s Rant”). I wondered aloud, what has changed?
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Crime in T&T, PNM, Politics

Hubris goes before the fall

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 12, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt was November 2016; the PNM had just won an election, and it was riding high. At a conference hosted by the Government and the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Colm Imbert explained why he had raised the price of fuel. He boasted: “I increased the price of fuel by 15% and then realised that was not enough. I came back again in April and raised it by another 15% and I came back again just a few weeks ago and raised it by another 15%. They haven’t rioted yet.” (Loop News, November 9, 2016.)
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General T&T, USA

Dumb Trump

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By Raffique Shah
November 12, 2024

Raffique ShahThe world is what it is today, what it was yesterday, and what it always will be. It will never change because the vast majority of people do not want change. Mediocrity reigns supreme, vandalism rises to the top and so it will be forever and ever, Amen.

I awoke to the not-surprising news that 73 million Americans had voted Donald Trump in as the 47th President of the United States for the next four years.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

The ultimate barbarian

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 05, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt may seem an exaggeration, but the Leader of Our Grief is the most obnoxious leader we have had in our 62 years of independent rule. He has revealed himself as an unsophisticated bully who is unaware of his social and political responsibilities to the nation.

His latest display of incivility was wrapped up in a perfumed package of royal pomp and circumstance. He boasted that after having had dinner with King Charles III, Mia Mottley of Barbados, King Mswati of Eswatini, and President Irfaan Ali of Guyana he discovered that the UNC and its leaders had criticised the person he had selected to turn our economy around. He called his critics “the most destructive, unpatriotic louts among us”.
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General T&T, Guyana

Need for mature leadership

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By Raffique Shah
November 05, 2024

Raffique ShahMy recent column in which I applauded Guyana President Irfaan Ali for sharing some of the petro-dollars with all citizens of that country appears to have suggested that I support such “share the wealth” schemes. I make it abundantly clear that that was never my intention. Indeed I have often lashed my own government for wanton waste of our wealth through a range of programmes and initiatives.
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