It was not among the planet’s finest hours, but the outcome of COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan last week at minimum confirmed the indispensability of multilateralism as a singularly important mechanism for achievement of collective survival objectives. It could have all ended in absolute shambles but did not. That will certainly be on offer when the “1.5 to stay alive” slogan born in the Caribbean is conclusively proven unviable through lived experience. Already, extreme weather events in Europe and North America have dispelled prior notions of invulnerability on the part of the big and strong ..read more

Offered the rare (and flattering) pleasure of addressing one session of a cross faculty co-curricular programme hosted by birdsong at UWI last week on what I consider to be “the value of pan”, it challenged me to summarise and sharpen some of my longstanding views on the steelpan phenomenon in T&T. What inspired the invitation, I was told, was a comment I had made in a recent column that successive national budgets were failing to mention the value of the instrument in all its manifest dimensions, even as its autonomy as a national asset requires greater recognition. I have contended that ..read more

This year, I assigned myself the painful task of monitoring public opinion on cynical breaches of the law, common decency, and the duty of community care when it comes to noise pollution in our country. Yes, I have been constantly reminded of the assured futility of such campaigns. “Drop it, Wesley. Ain’t gonna happen” is the now routine response to my view that there are ways to assess the state of our civilisation, and the phenomenon of noise impunity is one that should be firmly resolved. Like-minded individuals and organisations have become used to the fact that vocal protests are easily d ..read more

(First published in the T&T Guardian on October 16, 2024) My favourite cricket team anywhere nowadays is the West Indies Women’s T20 squad aka the West Indies (w) … with a small “w”. The “real” West Indies team requires no such qualification since everybody knows when we talk about Caribbean cricket, we are referencing the West Indies (M). It’s one of those things about “cricket lovers” that the West Indies dominated version of the sport ended on or about August 28, 1995, at The Oval in London. The West Indies (M) scored 692/8 and declared in their final innings. There meanwhile appears n ..read more

Coming as it does mere days after delivery of the 2024/2025 national budget statement on Monday, and its rigorous dissection even minutes following its introduction, today’s contribution to this space runs the risk of relative redundancy. Yet, it should go without saying that until the point is accepted that the future of our country resides more durably in deployment of the creative imagination than in expendable subterranean resources, there is no risk of over-emphasis. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is not designed to fuel any new or renewed frenzy around state funding of “culture” inspired ..read more

Let me confess that during the pandemic lockdown regular Facebook posts from a Zoological Officer of the Emperor Valley Zoo helped me (and I am sure thousands more) maintain a relatively high level of emotional stability. I am not going to call the young officer’s name (which you may already know) since it would be unfair to drag her further into a discussion on the latest, absurd instance in which our well-documented “culture of secrecy” has been on stark public display. The fact is that during the pandemic lockdown the Emperor Valley Zoo decided to open its gates virtually to us through a se ..read more

It took friend and colleague, climate change guru Steve Maximay, to remind me last week of an overdue commitment to address the impact of changing climatic conditions on the world of work in the Caribbean. I am coming to what led to this shortly. Stay with me. This is no new area of global concern. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and others have been at this for many years now. In 2004/2005 (20 years ago!) I worked with the Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers (ACM) and what was then the Caricom Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) project on a climate change handbook ..read more

Current events have driven me back to a memorable rant of August 2011 when I questioned the legitimacy (if not unconstitutional nature) of “a state of emergency to address the shortcomings of the police, judiciary, executive, and the people of Trinidad and Tobago” (my words). A solution to the mounting violence and crime, I surmised, was thought to have been found through a momentary, sweeping suspension of a wide swathe of rights – a measure originally meant as a last and specific resort when all else has failed; so important being the value of durable human rights. Back then came my sombre t ..read more

From Day One, 11 years ago, I have been paying attention to the unfurling of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and its relevance to the regional integration project and the instincts that drive Caribbean people to a unique sense of self. This is particularly interesting now that in T&T we are undergoing yet another wave of insanity associated with what people are describing as the outward manifestation of “patriotism” – sentiments often cosmetic, fascistic in nature, and driven by jingoistic, exclusionary emotions. A flag at every home. Coat of arms. National watchwords. Everywhere, inclu ..read more

For years and years now, I have had my copy of Thinking Things Over within easy reach. If you didn’t know, the 90-something page booklet comprises the report of the Constitution Commission of 1987. There is an emotional attachment to this report partly because of my contribution to the public hearings as then President of the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) and my arguments for retaining “freedom of the press” as item 4(k) of our enshrined rights. This rather unique feature of our constitution nestles alongside “freedom of thought and expression” – in other Caribbean jurisdicti ..read more