It is not difficult to understand the indifference that people who enjoy a particular status quo display towards those who feel disadvantaged by such a state of affairs. Change is not easy and the vice of selfishness is such that it takes a conscious effort to change things to accommodate others...

Candace Guppy updated 31/10/04

If a tree gets little fertiliser, no care and barren soil in which to grow, it follows that the fruit of that tree will either be rotten, forced ripe or simply not good fruit at all. If a meal lacks certain ingredients, then who is to blame for its bad taste? The cook of course...

Dana Seetahal updated 31/10/04

As far back as 1980, the United Nations condemned the practice of “killing and executing” suspected offenders “carried out by armed forces, law enforcement or other government agencies acting with the support, tacit or otherwise, of official forces or agencies...

Denzil Mohammed updated 31/10/04

Dr Hamid Ghany updated 31/10/04

On the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November in a leap year (Election Day), the electorate of the United States of America go to the polls to elect a president and vice-president whose term of office begins at noon on 20th January following the election...

Judy Raymond updated 31/10/04

Junior Finance Minister Conrad Enill, more than most senators, seems to enjoy his descents into the hurly-burly of the Lower House, even though on the most recent occasion the Opposition called him a chicken...

Ira Mathur updated 31/10/04

I am sitting freezing on the fourth floor of a building overlooking the lit gate of London's Chinatown, inhaling pungent roast duck and noodles from the restaurants below, listening to an orchestra on BBC radio, the thrum of a hairdryer, and Korean conversation in this bizarre combination of Internet/hair dresser...

Lennox Grant updated 31/10/04

With little shock and awe, the country has been weighing the possibility that a police death squad has been deployed as a cutting-edge tactic in the war on crime...

Martin A. George updated 31/10/04

The newspaper headlines scream out, demanding justice in relation to the 21 persons killed so far this year by police gunfire...

Peter Quentrall-Thomas updated 31/10/04

The articles on road fatalities and traffic congestion have prompted readers to send in some excellent suggestions. Take these two, for example...

Simon Lee updated 26/09/04

While the Big Fug slips into autumn it seems an Atlantic Ocean away Hayti Cheri is sliding into the sea. After May’s flash floods in the south east, this week’s deluge in the north west has already claimed 700 lives in the northern port of Gonaives with a further 1,000 still missing and more than likely swept out to sea. So instead of celebrating the 200th anniversary of Jean Jacques Dessalines’ declaration of independence, which was made in this historic site of resistance, Gonaives is in mourning...

Debbie Jacob updated 01/11/04

Everywhere I turn these days, I seem to find a mother begging for help. “What’s a good book to get my teenage son to read?” they all ask. “I can’t get him to pick up one...

Fr Henry Charles updated 01/11/04

A few weeks ago, the Nobel Committee awarded this year’s Peace Prize to Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist. Maathai is the first black woman to be so honoured, which is distinction enough. But she is also Africa’s dedicated “Tree Woman,” and the only environmentalist to be honoured for her contribution to peace...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 01/11/04

You care too. I still believe. But, God, I’m so jaded, I’m borderline bitter. But not really. What I am is tired...

Leela Ramdeen updated 01/11/04

Today Catholics celebrate All Saints Day and tomorrow, All Souls Day. Before I leave London tomorrow I will visit the grave of my dearly departed mother, Ruby, and my brother, Sharma...

Lennox Powder updated 25/10/04

As the demands on education increase exponentially in sophistication and diversity, the debate continues as to the appropriate “mix” to satisfy the varied interests of stakeholders like students, parents, institutions, employers and the paying public, while keeping education affordable in terms of cost, challenge to participants, flexibility of programming, industry participation, etc...

Dr David E Bratt updated 02/11/04

On the screen, the airplane is 500 miles long. Whilst the nose touches Trinidad, the tail is still at Antigua. It’s reassuring to know that the computer on board the plane knows where we are, even if it looks funny...

Pastor Clive Dottin updated 02/11/04

We have to applaud courage and that is exactly what a 14-year-old teenager displayed as he hunted and haunted a merciless killer. I have made the point before that courage is contagious. When this young man raced after the killer, others joined him in this act of nobility...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 02/11/04

Something happens to the love inside people. It fades, festers, falls down and break. It changes colours — like a mood ring...

Bukka Rennie updated 03/11/04

I am rather not surprised that to many people in this society the tasks that Cepep contractors perform is not work! This is indeed a strange place...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 03/11/04

Authentic self is not what makes us do wrong. The less noble selves we try on in life are the cause of it. They are us, of course; just not the all of us, nor the us we must remain...

Ravi Ji updated 27/10/04

I vowed I was not going to wake up early when I sank into bed, physically tired but mentally exhilarated, after three months of work with children for Baal Ramdilla 2004. I begged my wife not to wake me in the morning, to let me sleep as long as I wished. That was not to be. I was up by 4 am...

Sat Maharaj updated 03/11/04

A Mantra is defined as a formula comprising words and sounds which possess magical or divine power. No single definition adequately expresses its significance...

Dr Morgan O Job updated 04/11/04

Haiti has been independent for 200 years. Life for the millions is nasty, brutish and may end by Aids, a preventable disease or violence. Community leaders decapitate their enemies. Life in the slums depends on political loyalty...

Greater Caribbean This Week updated 04/11/04

The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) has begun to gain strength in international co-operation. In order to achieve this strength, it has been necessary for small yet solid steps to be taken...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 04/11/04

Today I read the words “unified family of humanity” and my heart clenched up in me. I was touched. Moved. Strengthened. Reminded why we must work to make this world good...

Ravi-ji updated 04/11/04

Stop Divali! Look, this is hard. But sometimes it is like that; a tough call. Can we handle a tough call?

Tony Fraser updated 04/11/04

There is bad news for the airline industry: the projection is for a US$5 billion loss on operations during 2004 and this is notwithstanding a 17.7 per cent increase in the number of passengers travelling during the first nine months of the year...

Attillah Springer updated 30/10/04

Crazy Baldheads, Bob Marley You know, in all the ole talk about becoming a developed nation by 2020, I haven’t heard very much about how we are going to be combating all the side-effects of having an economy so determinedly focused on the burning of fossil fuels....

Gail Alexander updated 30/10/04

Beamingly confident, Keith Rowley looked Independent Senator Mary King square in the eye across the row of Parliament benches on Tuesday and told her he was a “charming guy...