Don’t let the young cricketer look at the ‘unorthodoxy’ of Richie Richardson, until he has been exposed to orthodox form of a master batsman like Desmond Haynes. This was the advice my husband got from the Harvard cricket coach Dwight Day when our sons were introduced to Sunday morning cricket. …
Read More »Noble: Trying a thing like a Trini; the problem with our pension plan
There is a quintessential Trini way to do business: we have enough of a façade to look professional, but we do things by vaps while the professionals stew silently. This tendency puts us into a weird space where the principals can vehemently protest that they follow the ‘science’. Meanwhile, the …
Read More »Noble: The WASA freeco—is it really the poor who suffer from disconnections?
Thirty years ago, Frico was a famous milk brand which offered free children’s toys in each tin. A ‘freeco’ was different: an event in which some could enjoy benefits for no money, yet others would have to pay for it. It is like the ‘comps’ for the young today. Given …
Read More »The J’ouvert Rum Story: ‘What neo-colonials tout as opportunity is just exploitation with glossy packaging’
Welcome to Dimension Alpha63, a timeline that closely mirrors ours but on a more highly evolved plane. It is a place where enterprise exists solely for the purpose of mutual upliftment of as many people as possible. Because why else right? Who is perverse enough to want otherwise? You see, …
Read More »Demming: Today he used his power to try to get his son into national team, what will it be tomorrow?
1959: Then Minister of Home Affairs Patrick Solomon removed his stepson from the Woodbrook Police Station. 2002: Late Prime Minister Patrick Manning phoned the Marabella Police Station where his driver was being held. 2018: former Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte has an altercation with a police officer for …
Read More »Vaneisa: Raising the bar; T&T once valued education, why are we accepting nonsense?
When she was a wee thing, my daughter loved stories. She had favourites and wanted to hear them over and over. There would be phases; the same one from the night before and the night before, before eventually moving on to another. By the time she was about five, she …
Read More »The Truth about Griffith (Epilogue): Why CoP didn’t qualify for anonymity
The designation ‘anonymous source’ has become a talking point this week, in light of Wired868’s two-part series ‘The truth about Griffith’. So I think it might be useful to explain how someone becomes an unnamed source for Wired868. The three main questions asked in each and every case are: Is …
Read More »Demming: T&T can benefit by setting aside xenophobia and using systematic integration
Why would a person willingly give up their family, job and community to embark on an illegal, dangerous journey to another country? In the case of the Venezuelans, it’s because they are generally running away from unbearable, life-threatening circumstances. Our leaders are publicly pretending not to know that conditions in …
Read More »Vaneisa: The road to Kernahan; Samad’s Sanctuary of books
A long time ago I had this dream of opening a café of sorts. A place where I could serve small dishes made with local ingredients; where the food and drink were simple, tasty and fresh. I wanted the quality to be outstanding, but I also imagined it to be …
Read More »Noble: Can we talk? Only Trinidad and Tobago united can defeat the pandemic
The efforts needed to coordinate the necessary actions to combat Covid-19 should induce wide-scale collaboration. A government cannot act on its own but must bring along the wider society. Polarised positions negatively impact the effective societal response. When there are difficult new situations, and the media is the prominent news provider, …
Read More »Demming: Why SMEs like Splice Studios are the real test of our ‘Roadmap to Recovery’
So the dream of Splice Studios is no more. If Abigail Hadeed—with her brand recognition, contacts, creativity, and privilege, could not navigate to save her business during this pandemic—then tell me who can. Just reading her post was painful: ‘Thank you all who have shared, supported or created at Splice …
Read More »Demming: Language and respect are connected; don’t popularise profanity
It was January 2001 when then President ANR Robinson addressed the nation and quoted his mother as saying: ‘Bad habits are gathered at slow degrees, as streams running into rivers, and rivers into seas.’ This statement was subsequently modified by a friend who reminded me that: ‘it begins with raindrops’. That’s what crossed …
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