Tag Archives: Noble Philip

‘Bond, James Bond’ is an immortal catchphrase. No youth of yesteryear would forget Dr No and Sean Connery.  In that first movie in the franchise, Sean Connery said his name is ‘Bond…’ then closes his lighter—‘James Bond’. Those words lived through many years.  This scene rushed into my memory this …

A ‘harden’ child is a stubborn child who has to feel the wrath– usually in the form of ‘licks’–to understand the lesson. Trinidad is a ‘harden’ child—repeating its experiences without learning from them.  When the country is splintered and only the rich can survive, you are looking for trouble. You …

Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize winner, once lamented: “Colonials, we began with this malarial enervation: that nothing could ever be built among these rotting shacks, barefooted backyards and moulting shingles; that being poor, we already had the theatre of our lives.”  Yet, he is at one with Chinua Achebe, the towering …

Everybody knows, but nobody knows. This is the state of our politics and the conduct of some parliamentarians.  In 2000, Jamaican singer, Shaggy, had a hit song, ‘It wasn’t me’, in which he denied infidelity even when there was incontrovertible proof. Only at the end, he admitted that that line …

Two Fridays ago, I visited my neighbourhood’s favourite food store. I had gone to pick up one item. I saw an older man being helped by a woman as I entered the aisle.  Nothing appeared unusual, just a younger person helping an older one with his purchase. However, everything turned …

In the recent uproar about the viral videos of school fights, the November 2018 prophecy by then Police Commissioner Gary Griffith is forgotten.  “It is really important for us… to look at secondary school crime prevention… If we do not deal with this situation now, in years to come, we …

Last Sunday, late at night, I took a flight to the ANR Robinson Airport in Tobago. The journey was unremarkable, but a memory kept rising. That memory was of Mr ANR Robinson on a similar flight, but from Tobago to Port-of-Spain not long after he had split with the then …

The story of Easter includes an episode of two travellers on the Emmaus road (Luke 24: 13 – 35). They, like many of us today, were distressed and down-hearted. Life was tough, with challenges that burdened them. This place of disillusionment and grief is common to man. Disappointments are everywhere.  …

‘The things that happen to people we will never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets’ —  Lee Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird.  This quote came back to life this week as we tried to digest the horrors of domestic violence in our land.  We attempt …

All Caribbean children (from Jamaica to Guyana) learned about Brer Anansi. Brer Anansi is one of the most significant characters in Caribbean folklore.  ‘He is admirably clever as he is greedy, selfish and reckless. In a place where there are no standards and anything goes, Anansi holds a cherished place …

God has a sense of humour. In 2017, Reginald Armour SC defended the Government in a Judicial Review case brought by a public servant seeking to establish the bounds of authority that the Prime Minister had on his ambassadorial posting.  By 2019, in the Court of Appeal, he won with …

This week, the most important business news story was not the $2 that KFC wants to levy for their condiments, nor the shenanigans surrounding the Cabinet reshuffle. The week’s critical story was the release of the IMF 2021 Article IV Consultation Report.  To reduce the Report to a sound bite, ‘our …