Young’s leadership, trauma, and the politics of bullying

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 05, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen serving as prime minister, Patrick Manning rendered two insightful judgments on the former Leader of Our Grief and Sorrow. He said: “When he cannot have his way, Mr Speaker, his method is to bully you…We do not tolerate bullying in the secondary school system…The minute you oppose my good friend, he gets very, very angry. And if you oppose him strongly, he becomes a raging bull.”
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Gimmicks vs governance

By Raffique Shah
April 05, 2025

Raffique ShahDiscomfiture was writ large on the face of Prime Minister Stuart Young, SC, as he engaged in what many a Trinidadian would term “gimmickry”, serving the people their wants and not necessarily their needs.

At a public meeting in San Fernando he felt compelled to respond to the UNC’s bulging bag of election promises to the electorate. The UNC leadership knows well that the cost of implementing a slew of tax-breaks, increased salaries and services to the people and the host of other “goodies” they appear to be drawing from a magician’s hat, will be prohibitive. They are not practical, given the fall in revenues from our main goods and services. But, audiences at their meetings react to their offers like children at a party when the piñata bursts.
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Discarded human beings

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 22, 2025

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Tuesday about 1.20 p.m. I went to First Citizens bank in Tunapuna to transact some business. I wanted to find out my balance and the last deposits and withdrawals that I made. I am aware that if I had Internet banking I could have conducted that exercise from the comfort of my home.

On my way to the bank I saw an old woman, struggling with her walker, and her two assistants—they turned out to be her grandchildren—helping her up the steps. She went into the bank, took a number, sat down and waited to be served by the tellers.
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Elections free from fear

By Raffique Shah
March 29, 2025

Raffique ShahMany people in this rainbow country do not know how lucky we are to have so many citizens of so many ethnicities, religions, cultures and varying mixes who could have given us reasons to fight wars of one kind or another, and destroy the dream of most citizens who want only for us to dwell in harmony, respect each other and share the national pie in an equitable manner.
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