Tag Archives: Noble Philip

In August 1962, the first Common Entrance group entered secondary schools and heard Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams say: “… you carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in your school bag.” At QRC, there was a boy from Rio Claro, another from Princes Town (now president of the Old …

As a young boy, my mother taught me ‘to quit while ahead’. Her context was if you kept talking after you missed a ‘cut tail’ she would look at you and ask: “You really want something?” Every Trinidadian child knows that is the point to shut up. No more complaining …

Three women snatched the headlines this last weekend: President Paula-Mae Weekes, TTMA president Franka Costelloe-Mackenzie and UNC ‘One Corridor’ coordinator, Jearlean John. Reflections on their contributions tell us what is wrong with our nation. President Weekes, at the Red House, cautioned us all that ‘neither the government nor the opposition …

With the two shootings in East Port of Spain and the mystery of the San Fernando ‘kidnappings’, the uncertainty of life in our country is writ large. Fear stalks. These circumstances have the potential to paralyse the commercial life of Port of Spain on one hand and to drive deeper …

The labels ‘domestic abuse’ or even ‘intimate partner abuse’ do not capture the terror experienced by our women. The media has, this week, creditably stepped up in their responses. The Guardian led with a front-page editorial and, commendably, the Express put male leaders on the spot to state their position. …

US Justice Louis Brandeis, in his book Other People’s Money, explained: “Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants.” He leveraged the view that ‘public opinion … is full of sunlight … selfishness, injustice, cruelty, tricks and jobs of all sorts shun the light’. This is appropriate to the …

The ghoulish picture of our police commissioner over the dead body of a murder suspect (Express, 28 December) reminded me of Nietzsche’s aphorism: ‘He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster… if thou gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into …

Much of the discussion about the introduction of the polymer $100 bill conflates the evil of ‘dark’ money with persons who have been shut out of the banking system. The persons who deal in ‘dark’ money have self-selected to operate outside the system; but there are those who are unable …

The attention on the 40 scholarships won by Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu School and on them winning the president’s medal overlooked the mind-boggling consistent performance of the St Augustine Girls’ High School that copped 28 open scholarships, which is 13 more than their closest rivals. The Greater St Augustine area, defined …

I am very grateful to both Earl Best and Cliff Bertrand for their extensive comments on my earlier piece. Because their input raises important points, and because I am indeed a passionate democrat (as Earl described me), it is befitting that some response be provided. It is also important to …

In the 2012 budget, the government adopted a lofty goal: ‘Education for all’. It was built on the Draft Quality Standards for Education (2005) and inter alia sought to ensure all students achieved recognised and measurable learning outcomes so that they could contribute to the country’s economic sustainability and be …

“Long live the media!” Thus does unapologetic democrat Noble Philip sign off his latest piece, which appeared in Wired868 last Thursday. Essentially, the column sets out to defend media cockroaches against unwarranted attacks from Gary ‘Motor Mouth’ Griffith. I’m not sure it quite achieves that goal. Having over the years …