We are in a state of decline and there aren’t many signs that it is likely to change. As I browsed through this week’s news, sifting through the spiralling myriad of thoughts that flash through my mind, a few paradoxes remained indelible...

Candace Guppy updated 20/03/05

Apart from some missing pitch on the airport runway, there is something of even greater importance missing from the airport—our culture...

Caroline Ravello updated 27/03/05

When I was naming my son, his father Milton had concerns for the sound of the child’s name, an African word Kafele (say Kah feel-a), that he felt sounded like bad coffee, so he named him Marere (say Mah-ray-ray)...

Dana Seetahal updated 27/03/05

Every time there is an increase in the minimum wage one would think, from the ensuing reaction, that businesses are barely making it and/or that the increase involves all their employees...

Denzil Mohammed updated 20/03/05

Dr Hamid Ghany updated 27/03/05

An Article in the Herald Sun newspaper in Sydney last week reported that Australia has been put on standby to host the 2007 Cricket World Cup as concerns continue to grow over whether the West Indies will be able to host the event...

Ira Mathur updated 27/03/05

A writer, if s/he has an ear to the ground, is not that different from a drummer passing on the mood of the people. In these past few weeks I’ve passed on the fear, anger and helplessness...

Judy Raymond updated 27/03/05

The reason Local Government Minister Rennie Dumas is in the Senate is in order to annoy Opposition Senator Robin Montano...

Lennox Grant updated 27/03/05

A three-mile drive out of Christchurch in search of Saturday morning’s newspapers brought me to an all-purpose retail place in St David’s where, at first, I could picture myself in Carnbee, Tobago...

Martin A. George updated 27/03/05

It seems that in an almost immediate and coincidental response to my article last week, Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that the Government plans to spend about $1.3 billion on housing projects in the country over the next two years...

Overand Padmore updated 27/03/05

Is the political executive in Trinidad and Tobago too powerful? Is the Prime Minister’s influence over the Executive too great...

Peter Quentrall-Thomas updated 20/03/05

Here is another piece of Trini madness. Check out the table below marked Commissioner of Police Terms...

Simon Lee updated 27/03/05

It’s Easter so sunny side up, happy bunnies and bonnets from the Big Fug, where supposedly Spring is sprung. Admittedly last week I actually fell asleep in the sun in the extensive back spread of Casa Levi...

Debbie Jacob updated 28/03/05

I know that you have just finished with Lent and you’re probably not too anxious to make any more sacrifices, but I’m still hoping that you will make a commitment to quit smoking cigarettes...

Fr Henry Charles updated 21/03/05

Confidentiality is something that doesn’t exist in Trinidad. A secret here is something you tell other people, one person at a time...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 28/03/05

I wish to share the joy I feel when painting, with people of the world, testifying how great it is to be allowed to exist by God, who has given me my Japanese identity.” — Yasuo Uena, in Christ For All PeopleSO I’m “confused” about my ethnicity...

Leela Ramdeen updated 28/03/05

It’s the day after Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This has been an extraordinary Lenten season for me...

Dr David E Bratt updated 29/03/05

An uncle and I try to go to Maracas every Sunday and body-surf. We believe each hour spent surfing means an extra minute of life. Foolish perhaps. We certainly have a lot of fun and the pounding we get from the waves is felt the next day. We sleep better that night too...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 22/03/05

Sacrilege, that headline. See, I’m not supposed to be proud to be dougla. According to some, by being proud to be dougla I’m being racist...

Pastor Clive Dottin updated 29/03/05

Mountaintop leaders understand that before the giants are conquered, they will have the faith that by the grace of God, the task will be accomplished. Mountaintop leaders have an infectious optimism, but that is not all. They have a rugged determination based on a profound conviction that with God all things are possible...

Bukka Rennie updated 30/03/05

The story of Rupert Gray: A Tale of Black and White, written by a school teacher Stephen Nathaniel Cobham at the turn of the last century (1907 to be exact), is a simple but remarkably related story. A certain Mr Primrose Serle, a well endowed and prosperous White businessman in the colony of Trinidad, takes pride in his successes and his libertine ways and considers himself a friend of the Black race of people whom he praises openly for making strides upwards in the social fabric of the colony...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 16/03/05

It’s often said the world has to be the way it is: there must be good and bad so there can be balance...

Ravi Ji updated 23/03/05

Phagwa is with us, a festival embracing the energies of the elements of water and fire, oppression of religion and resistance against conversion, absolute faith, social conscience, social leveling, oneness, the labour class, colour, dance, poetry, social conscience and song—traditional songs and innovative pichakarees. As a matter of fact, Phagwa is classified as a shudra festival...

Sat Maharaj updated 30/03/05

Advisers to the Ministry of Education are inventing ways to undermine the excellent outcomes in education of Indo-Trinidadians generally, and Hindus in particular. In 1964 the census takers discovered that over 50 per cent of adult Indo-Trinidadians were illiterate while approximately 70 per cent of Hindus did not attend school...

Dr Morgan O Job updated 31/03/05

Children must be taught to hate. Dr Job insists that all citizens of T&T are bound to the same country by fraternal duties. We must dwell in unity to perform dharma or duty. Let respect for beauty every human guide our thoughts to felicity...

Greater Caribbean This Week updated 31/03/05

The human being is the only one in nature with the capacity to create his own conditions of existence. He has therefore been able to accustom himself to living in every type of natural space, from the hottest to the most frozen...

Jaye-Q Baptiste updated 03/03/05

People neglect the pure, pragmatic science comprising universal justice. E=mc squared and the gravity that tugs at whatever goes up, making it “must come down,” are not metaphysical conundrums but basic science, we can all agree. And what is karmic consequence if not the equation E=mc squared...

Philip G Rochford updated 31/03/05

Coaching is not only for athletes, it is the therapy of the future. Life has many challenges. You may be handling life quite well but some small thing is nagging at you. You feel that there is something missing in some area of your life and perhaps you cannot quite determine what or why you are uncomfortable...

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 31/03/05

Is this the effective end of the career of Brian Lara? And how badly will the promising future of Sarwan and Gayle, Edwards, Smith and Bravo be affected by the decision of the West Indies Cricket Board to punish the players for its own incompetence having failed to settle these matters before it signed the Digicel contract?

Attillah Springer updated 02/04/05

In a dubwise dance in a chic little gentrified corner of a North London ghetto, I get my dance on with my other post-Rasta sistren...

Gail Alexander updated 02/04/05

Prime Minister Patrick Manning gave Mayaro, Maracas (and Baptist celebrations) a break this year. He headed for Tobago’s luxurious natural ambience to enjoy his week of Easter R&R...