Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc.

A letter writer in today's Stabroek News (no direct link because the SN has no online archive) reflects on T&T's recent general elections:

" There is no doubt that there has been a new Manning in the making especially since the collapse of the UNC and the triumph of the PNM last December.

"Manning is leading a resurging PNM that is also undergoing rapid change and that is making a commitment to a new and more democratic political culture....

"Political parties generally tend to reform themselves after defeat. Manning led the reform in Trinidad after defeats in 1986 and 1995....

"If Manning continues in his current mold to accept constructive criticisms and take appropriate measures to redress mistakes, he will remain P.M for a long time to come."

Is that how it looks from 200 miles away? The PNM is decidedly not "undergoing rapid change" (though Fitzgerald Hinds & Eudine Job-Davis could start something if they were brave enough) & Patrick Manning has nothing new to show for himself. The best you can say for him as a political option is that this time around he was the least of the available evils, & I'm not all that inclined to say the best.