Archive
All Reporting
2026
Public Money · Visual Analysis · OCT. 14, 2026
Budget 2027: what’s going up?
Digital subscriptions, high-use electricity bills and selected imports face new charges. Business taxes and compliance fees add another layer. Follow the measures, the rates and their proposed start dates.
Public Money · Investigative Economic Analysis · OCT. 13, 2026
Behind Budget 2027: a contracting economy and the geography of public money
The Government’s own documents forecast weaker output, record rising unemployment and expose a sharper concentration of municipal capital funding in 2027. The figures test the promise of recovery against the money allocated and the spending delivered.
Governance · Cartographic Investigation · OCT. 5, 2026
Trinidad’s municipal map is about to be redrawn
The proposed move from 14 corporations to 17 would redistribute administration, representation and public resources across the island. The map shows where the balance changes.
Foreign Affairs · Strategic Analysis · OCT. 5, 2026
The plan to make Trinidad and Tobago Israel's primary Caribbean partner — and Port of Spain a Jewish centre
A Security Council seat creates the opening. Geography, gas, diplomatic investment and a proposed Jewish institutional base could make the relationship last well beyond 2028.
Governance · Explainer · SEP. 30, 2026
Beyond the drinking age: what the 2026 alcohol, cannabis, gambling and tobacco Bill really changes
The debate has focused on 21 and 25. The Bill goes further: new $50,000 offences for younger people, liability for children over ten, fixed-penalty and rehabilitation systems, and prison terms of up to 30 years for sellers and operators.
State Power · Investigation · SEP. 30, 2026
When the Senate tied 15–15, Wade Mark cast the vote that passed two Government Bills
The controversy is not whether the Senate President has a casting vote. He does. The question is whether that vote should be used to make a final legislative decision when the Senate itself cannot produce a majority.
State Power · Investigation · SEP. 29, 2026
A new balance of power: how recent Bills and emergency powers are changing rights, press freedom and public oversight in Trinidad and Tobago
How recent Bills and emergency powers are changing access to information, press freedom, policing and public oversight in Trinidad and Tobago.
Agriculture · Investigation · SEP. 27, 2026
In 1997, T&T rejected these seed rules to protect farmers. In 2026, it is adopting them. What changed?
In 1997 the Government told the Senate that UPOV 1991 “erodes the farmers’ privilege” and chose the older convention. The same regime is now being adopted.
Caribbean Affairs · Analysis · SEP. 27, 2026
Mia Mottley’s bigger argument: the global financial system is pricing vulnerability backwards
Barbados is trying to turn the cost of vulnerability into a case for cheaper, longer and more useful finance. The test is whether the architecture changes—not merely its language.
Foreign Affairs · Investigation · SEP. 27, 2026
T&T stayed for Netanyahu's UN speech as ties with Israel grew more active
There is no official tally of the UN walkout. Dozens of delegates left, more than 100 were reported to have departed, and Trinidad and Tobago stayed amid a marked rise in bilateral contact with Israel.
Governance · Commentary · SEP. 26, 2026
Calling senators ‘satanic’ is not an argument. It is an attack on the constitutional check they represent.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar asked the United Nations to trust independent institutions abroad, then denounced independent judgment at home. The contradiction is larger than one ugly phrase.
Public Money · Investigation · SEP. 26, 2026
The watchdog may still investigate. The Procurement Bill would stop it from biting.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Procurement Bill reaches far beyond faster paperwork: it widens exemptions, restricts the regulator’s remedies and narrows the time suppliers have to challenge an award.
Governance · Analysis · SEP. 26, 2026
Trinidad and Tobago is giving the State more power. Trust is the harder question.
Two Bills, considered within days of each other, would expand coercive authority and loosen constraints on public spending. The common question is who can stop the State when something goes wrong.
Latest Feature · Press Freedom · SEP. 25, 2026
Press freedom is not a privilege for journalists — it is a protection for the public
Press freedom is not about protecting journalists from scrutiny. It is about preserving the public’s ability to scrutinise power — particularly when State authority expands and independent safeguards are weakened.
National Security · SEP. 23, 2026
The permit economy: what a closed area does to a block
Seven policing districts. A permit to enter or leave your own street. A $50,000 fine for getting it wrong. The Special Operations Bill’s heaviest costs fall on vendors, shift workers and anyone who talks to a reporter.
Caribbean Affairs · SEP. 23, 2026
Extrajudicial at sea: 234 dead, and a region that will not say the word
A United Nations rapporteur has called the Caribbean boat strikes serial extrajudicial killings. Two Saint Lucians are dead. Trinidad and Tobago declines to characterise any of it.
Public Finance · SEP. 22, 2026
Twelve ambulances, $17 million, and a regulator still investigating
A $5.5 million tender for Isuzu ambulances became a $17 million fleet of Force Traveller vans, none of them in service by last November. The Procurement Regulator opened an investigation ten months ago. It has not reported.
National Security · SEP. 21, 2026
Special Operations Bill: Kamla says UNC areas will get “hard policing”
The Prime Minister will authorise special operations in 26 UNC-held constituencies, 70 local government districts and two TPP-held seats. What it means for your home, business and freedom.
Press Freedom · SEP. 20, 2026
What the new Special Operations Bill could mean for press freedom
Clause 15 allows warrantless searches and the seizure of articles and documents, with no express protection for confidential journalistic sources or material.
Press Freedom · SEP. 19, 2026
The courts took six years to protect a source. The Bill would take the protection back.
In April the Court of Appeal held the police search of a newsroom unconstitutional. Five months later Parliament is asked to authorise searches with no warrant at all.
Press Freedom · Court Reporting · SEP. 16, 2026
Mannette v Robinson: what the High Court actually found
Justice James found the broadcast concerned matters of substantial public concern, while distinguishing that wider public interest from the evidence, verification and source particularisation relating specifically to Mannette.
Public Finance · SEP. 12, 2026
The $16 billion year: what the Procurement Regulator could not count
Public bodies reported $16.0 billion in contracts in a single year. Fewer than two in three filed the returns the law requires. The real number is unknown, and that is the finding.
Public Finance · AUG. 6, 2026
Dragon: the country's biggest energy bet, and nobody will publish the terms
A replacement licence was announced in October 2025. A year later the revenue split is still unpublished, the drilling tender is out, and the legal basis rests on a government installed after a foreign capture.
Justice · JUL. 16, 2026
Hadeeds remain in prison after late-night Court of Appeal stay
The court sat late and stayed its own order for immediate release to house arrest, pending a Privy Council ruling. Justice reviewed, or justice delayed?
Government · JUN. 25, 2026
Government source: “The foundations are about to be shaken”
A Government source describes an intelligence-led campaign against organised crime and the financial and business interests believed to support it.
2025
International · SEP. 24, 2025
Human rights are not defended selectively
Gaza, Sudan, Congo, the Uyghurs, the Rohingya and Armenia: the same principles apply to each of them, whether or not it is convenient.
Public Finance · JUN. 2, 2025
Tobago's ambulances: the questions put to the TRHA before anyone went on air
A tender for Isuzu ambulances produced a fleet of Force Traveller vans. Before the story reached the airwaves, the questions were in writing on the Chief Executive's desk.
Governance · FEB. 6, 2025
From accounting error to political scandal: the $2.6 billion controversy explained
No money was stolen, and the Privy Council case was never about missing funds. The story is how a reporting error was detected, corrected and handled, and what the courts have and have not decided.
2024
International · JUL. 20, 2024
The World Court finds the occupation unlawful
An ICJ advisory opinion says Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and places obligations on every state.
Caribbean Affairs · MAY 3, 2024
Trinidad and Tobago recognises the State of Palestine
Port of Spain follows Barbados and Jamaica within a fortnight. The region's position has shifted fast.
National Security · FEB. 24, 2024
Government confirms fuel oil is leaking off Tobago
The Government now says the substance leaking from the Gulfstream is fuel oil, not crude. That supports the cargo assessment tested with TankerTrackers on 18 February. It settles nothing about the route, the owner or the purpose of the voyage.
National Security · FEB. 21, 2024
Names are circulating for the Gulfstream's owner. I am not publishing them.
Social media posts are naming possible owners of the barge and tug. I have not been able to confirm any of them, so I am not reporting them. The investigation continues.
National Security · FEB. 19, 2024
The Gulfstream: a barge without a number, a tug that vanished and a spill no one has claimed
Twelve days after oil came ashore at Cove, the barge has a name, the tug has a name, and nobody has accepted responsibility. What is known, what is not, and the questions the State has yet to answer.
Watch · FEB. 19, 2024
On Good Morning Tobago: what the tracking data says about the oil spill
Pearce Robinson joins Kandace Jackson on Tobago Updates to discuss the Gulfstream barge, the dark days in Venezuelan waters, the cargo, and why the response has not gone to Tier 3.
National Security · FEB. 18, 2024
Thirteen days dark: what TankerTrackers told me about the tug, the bay and the cargo
I put detailed questions to TankerTrackers.com about the tug's missing transponder signal, its stay in Pozuelo Bay, the likely cargo and the vessel's past names. Their answers sharpen the questions the State has not answered.
National Security · FEB. 16, 2024
What the satellite images show, and what they do not
Open-source imagery shows a tug and barge together and an apparent slick south of Tobago. It identifies the vessels more firmly than the official account has. It does not yet say who sent them or why.
National Security · FEB. 15, 2024
The Tobago oil spill story is not adding up
The official account places the tug and barge on a voyage toward Guyana. Open-source tracking material tells a less tidy story. The sequence needs explaining.
International · JAN. 27, 2024
The ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza
The World Court found South Africa's claims plausible enough to order provisional measures. It did not rule on whether genocide is taking place.
International · JAN. 8, 2024
Gaza's dead journalists, and the evidence war leaves behind
Each name requires verification. Each strike requires investigation. The unprecedented toll cannot be reduced to a number or converted automatically into a finding of intent.
2023
International · OCT. 28, 2023
Gaza: the General Assembly calls for a truce
The UN General Assembly voted 120 to 14 for a humanitarian truce in Gaza. For small states, the rules at stake are the same rules that protect them.
Press Freedom · OCT. 3, 2023
Haiti's reporters were killed, displaced and left without a State
The Inter-American press-freedom rapporteur recorded three journalists killed in seven weeks and about twelve forced from Carrefour-Feuilles.
Press Freedom · JUN. 1, 2023
The spyware in a Dominican journalist's phone
Forensic analysis found Pegasus infections on Nuria Piera's device. It did not establish who ordered the surveillance.
2022
Press Freedom · JUN. 24, 2022
Shireen Abu Akleh: the evidence pointed to the soldiers' position
The UN Human Rights Office examined the scene, recordings and witnesses. It found the shots that killed the Al Jazeera correspondent came from Israeli forces.
Press Freedom · FEB. 11, 2022
Eighty-four deadlines, and no answer for two murdered journalists
Ten years after Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi were killed at home in Dhaka, UN experts described a pervasive culture of impunity.
2021
Governance · OCT. 12, 2021
Safe zones: public policy set by press conference
Restaurants, bars and gyms can reopen only to vaccinated customers. The rules arrived faster than the regulations behind them.
National Security · MAY 16, 2021
A public health emergency, enforced as a security one
The state of emergency declared on 15 May puts a 9pm curfew in place across Trinidad and Tobago. How the police use their powers under it needs watching.
Caribbean Affairs · APR. 2, 2021
Small states at the back of the vaccine queue
The first Covax doses reached Trinidad and Tobago more than three months after mass vaccination began in Britain. Barbados sent doses of its own before then.
2020
Press Freedom · SEP. 2, 2020
Hopewell Chin'ono: arrest after reporting the contracts
Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin'ono reported alleged Covid-19 procurement corruption, then spent six weeks in custody on an incitement charge.
Press Freedom · AUG. 28, 2020
A journalist disappeared in Thailand and surfaced in a Vietnamese prison
The official accounts never closed the gap between Truong Duy Nhat's disappearance in Bangkok and his reappearance in Vietnamese custody.
Governance · JUL. 14, 2020
Coming home by exemption: a system with no published rules
Stranded nationals must apply to the Minister of National Security to return. The criteria for approval have not been made public.
Press Freedom · JUN. 15, 2020
Maria Ressa and the danger of making an old article newly criminal
A Philippine court treated a correction to a 2012 article as republication after the cybercrime law took effect. The result extended criminal exposure backward in time.
Press Freedom · MAY 1, 2020
Nigeria detained a publisher before the protest began
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Omoyele Sowore's arrest violated protections for expression, assembly and a fair trial.
Governance · MAR. 22, 2020
Borders close at midnight, and nationals abroad are told to wait
Trinidad and Tobago shut its borders to everyone, citizens included. No published procedure yet exists for those left outside.