By Raffique Shah
July 25, 2026

I am a man who has always identified as what we in the armed forces would describe as Land-Forces. This is not because I was a soldier, but more so because of my deep respect for the sea and all water courses.

As a child growing up I lost cousins and close friends to the seas. So, when my children were younger, we would frequent Maracas and Mayaro and the standing rules were: no bathing in water above knee-height, and no bathing without adult supervision. I could not swim until age 18 when I entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Swimming was a required skill for entry into the Academy, and if you didn’t pass the basic tests, you simply did not graduate. I was a most willing student of bold Major Baggerly who took me and a few others under his wings and every Saturday ritually, after the 10 a.m. parade, we would head for the Academy’s swimming pool where we spent about two hours learning to swim. This was a challenge not only for me and the Major, but for all boys who couldn’t swim because those who could made fun of us. From then on, I never feared the water, but I held a healthy respect for it.
Continue reading Maritime tragedies are preventable →

By Raffique Shah
June 18, 2026

Funny how life makes meandering turns for people—today you are Right Wing, tomorrow you are Left Wing, and by next week when the water boils over, you’ll tell everyone you are Centre, even though your rhetoric will always be Right, right?

I have long ceased describing myself as anything so vague as Left or Right. True, I have stayed left of the compass all my life, so far. I have fought for workers’ rights, equality, higher wages (less profits for the right-wing capitalists), and all the accoutrements associated with trade unionism.
Continue reading Power, paranoia and the rule of law →

By Raffique Shah
July 11, 2026

Exactly how many people are trying to “kill” our Prime Minister? I have to ask the question because last year, it was alleged there was a plot to kill top members of Government, inclusive of the CPL-going duo, Saddam Hosein and Barry Padarath. That plot was thwarted. The last time she was in government there was a plot to kill her, her attorney general and Roodal Moonilal. Once again, that plot was thwarted. So, I’m asking, how many people are trying to kill our “meek and mild” Prime Minister?
Continue reading Who’s out to get you now, PM? →

By Raffique Shah
July 04, 2026

I wish I knew more about sports like football much like I did many years ago when I was a fan of the game. Now I just take in the odd match whenever I get the opportunity to. I definitely do not follow club football: I never really had a passion for the game at that level. But last World Cup’s final match reignited my interest in the sport. Looking at the very young Mbappe and the older Lionel Messi on the world’s greatest sporting stage was pure poetry in motion.
Continue reading Welcome changes on football frontline →

By Raffique Shah
June 13, 2026

I had hoped then, as I still hope today, that by the time a new commissioner of police had firmly taken command, criminals would find themselves under sustained pressure from law enforcement, making it increasingly difficult to continue their activities.

Faced with that reality, they would either abandon their criminal lifestyles or persist in making life a misery for law-abiding citizens, risking deadly confrontations with police officers in the process. They appear determined to enrich themselves by any means necessary, regardless of the consequences. For many, it is a reckless pursuit of wealth—either getting rich quickly or dying in the attempt.
Continue reading Criminality in our DNA →

By Raffique Shah
June 06, 2026

Rampant alcoholism is gnawing away at the fabric of this society, carving out and consuming large sections that are fuelling the collapse of productivity. Because of the ease of access and lack of limitations, coupled with indiscipline by most of the public, the mal-effects of alcohol consumption can be detected in our slump in daily activities.

It has become commonplace to travel to any part of this country and see people swaying, staggering and, worst of them all, crumpled by the roadsides in drunken ­stupor or plain unconsciousness. This is how it starts for many people.
Continue reading Alcohol’s intoxicating hold →

By Raffique Shah
May 30, 2026

One of the best experiences one can have is to have made friends with total strangers you encounter along life’s long and winding road. Among the more horrible experiences anyone could possibly have, though, is getting close to another person, ignoring warning signals of him or her being not entirely honest and straightforward.

I went to prison at a very young age. I was 24 years old, which was also the case with most of the other soldiers. I shall not bore readers with stories of having to unmask criminals who are absolutely unscrupulous, who were prepared to taint my character and that of my men.
Continue reading The long and winding road of corruption →

By Raffique Shah
May 23, 2026

The first time I dipped my index finger in electoral ink in my native land was also the first time I voted in any election, and it allowed me to experience one of the more exciting aspects of elections in general—their impact on the politics of a country.

I had been through the voting process for around six elections before I faced the one in 1976. In an uncanny way I found myself, at age four, interacting with a local government candidate whose name was Mandan Dass from Chase Village.
Continue reading The worst will prevail →

By Raffique Shah
May 2, 2026

A few weeks ago, I dived into the past—and into the pace at which the world is moving—to capture as much as I could about information technology: how it has impacted the world, and how it has given us tools to unlock history at a dizzying speed.

That speed seems almost designed to leave slower learners behind, as though some unseen device might simply eject them from the aircraft.
Continue reading AI, eyes and ears on you →