· December, 2009

Stories about Trinidad & Tobago from December, 2009

Caribbean: 2009 Regional Roundup

  31 December 2009

As Global Voices celebrates its fifth anniversary, the occasion has given us all an opportunity to reflect on why we do what we do and how our work makes a difference.  As my colleague Jillian York so succinctly put it, “We spread stories.  We spread words.”  We manage to do...

Trinidad & Tobago: Do the Math

  31 December 2009

Jumbie's Watch does the math on Trinidad and Tobago's murder rate: “While the CoP was bleating in public about the 3.65% murder solve rate (for last year), he neglected to mention that for the ‘known’ 508 victims of this year, there is a further 904 still missing!!!”

Jamaica: Over Hills and Valleys

  30 December 2009

Trinidadian diaspora blogger Afrobella blogs about reggae superstar Buju Banton at his best and worst, prompting Jamaican Annie Paul to respond: “Just as you…have pointed out the good and bad sides of Buju…it's necessary also to nuance what homosexuality represents in cultures such as Jamaica, that homosexuality too has its...

Trinidad & Tobago: 500

  29 December 2009

Trinidadian bloggers comment on the country's record murder rate – Jumbie's Watch: “The message is clear. We’re screwed.” B.C. Pires: “Not even when Mr Manning and Mr Panday achieve Trinidad's most vulgar historic event – the creation of an executive presidency by back-room trickery – will Trinidadians put their feet...

Barbados: Facilitating Crime

  28 December 2009

“Like any social secret the criminal persists because of the facilitators. So, our challenge should be to deal with the facilitators”: Living in Barbados examines “the crime of crime” in the Caribbean.

Trinidad & Tobago: Preserving Lion House

  22 December 2009

Repeating Islands reports that “the Lion House in Chaguanas [Trinidad], the ancestral home of the Capildeo family (maternal relatives of writer V. S. Naipaul)” has been nominated for the upcoming National Trust Heritage Preservation Awards.

Trinidad & Tobago: Climate Responsibility

  18 December 2009

Blogging from Trinidad, Coffeewallah says of the climate change talks: “In Copenhagen world leaders debate over what they will and will not sign, but truthfully, it is all about commerce and making money…we are given the gift of life and the loan of the earth but we have yet to...

Trinidad & Tobago: Poor Packaging

  18 December 2009

Trinidad and Tobago's This Beach Called Life is livid that a brand of silicone is being sold in bottles best known for packaging a popular children's soft drink: “I have no idea if the OHS Act in Trinidad and Tobago covers household chemicals and food but Act or no Act,...

Trinidad & Tobago: Baby Face

  15 December 2009

Of a Danish study which suggests that “baby-faced people live longer”, B.C. Pires says: “Any Trini could have told the world that…it have a reason ogly people does look ogly: because they miserable; and them so bound to die faster than good-looking people who everybody like and want to have...

Trinidad & Tobago: Twitter's the Thing

  15 December 2009

“The man came across as feeling he was a celebrity, shouting for the whole stationery store to hear that he was ‘on Facebook and Twitter’. Better yet that the woman didn't know what Twitter was”: From Trinidad, Now Is Wow Too finally gives in to her resistance to the micro-blogging...

Jamaica: Buju Arrested

  15 December 2009

Regional bloggers react to news that dancehall star Buju Banton has been arrested on cocaine possession charges.

Caribbean: New Media & Celebrity Fascination

  14 December 2009

The fascination with celebrities has always been at a fever pitch, but in the current age of new media and consumer-generated content, it’s at an all-time high. While Caribbean bloggers do not tend to overly focus on gossip, they often tune in on the current story at hand.

Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Plastic Pollution

  14 December 2009

“Take a walk along any beach in Barbados – and you’ll see the plastic rubbish washed up on the shore”: Barbados Free Press asks whether the sale of plastic water bottles should be restricted, while Trinidadian Keith Francis is also concerned about global plastic pollution.

Trinidad & Tobago: Under Pressure

  10 December 2009

“The visible signs of success in Trinidad and Tobago used to be having a big foreign-used car, a thin cell phone and a plane ticket to Miami, but the list just got longer with the addition of the pressure washer”: This Beach Called Life explains.