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 »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 »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 »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 »Best: Dr Rowley, UNC, Jackass and Demming; who against the Oxford comma?
‘My prime minister,’ writes Wired868 columnist Dennise Demming, ‘is talking to me about not jackassing the thing.’ I couldn’t disagree more. Now I am not suggesting that Dr Keith Rowley’s choice of language has always been appropriate. In the instant case, however, Demming is barking up the wrong tree. Dr …
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 …
Read More »Demming: Gov’t vaccination cards need tens of thousands of sheets of paper; why not digitise?
An official in another country laughed when I presented my driver’s permit because it was a simple laminated card which could be made at any print shop. That was about 15 years ago and things have only improved slightly. I thought of this when I received my vaccine card which …
Read More »Demming: Stag can and should do better in its ‘move-men-to-respect’ campaign
How does one step back from the bold misogynistic claim of being ‘The Man’s Beer’? Do you flip the script and position yourself as being anti-violence against women? Do you attempt to engage womenfolk and position yourself as our protector by communicating repeated images of male power and strength smashing glasses …
Read More »Demming: Gov’t must act on sexual harrassment and gender-based violence
Womantra and 2Cents movement have both survived firestorms of social media criticism that they allegedly mishandled accusations of either sexual harassment, gender-based violence or sexual grooming perpetrated by persons in positions of leadership. Ironically, both organisations are engaged in much-needed work that can fundamentally change our cultural landscape, but they …
Read More »Demming: The Covid-19 opportunity: how leaders can collaborate to develop T&T
The opportunity provided by Covid-19 is transformational, but only if we remove the blinders of racial politics and the winner-take-all approach to developing our country, then engage a collaborative approach. Before March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the pause button on much of our activity, our systems were broken, …
Read More »Demming: The real-life drama between trade unions and the government
We ‘love up’ on Tuesday night and on Wednesday, you tell the world that you are no longer in a relationship with me. That is a description of the real-life drama that unfolded as the leaders of the trade union federations exited the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC). It is …
Read More »Demming: T&T must free collective imagination beyond ‘lower-level basic needs’
Crime and the lack of personal security have featured in calypso through the years. For example Caruso’s ‘Gun Slingers’ (1959) celebrates ‘beating them [criminals] with the cat’ while Sparrow’s ‘Royal Jail’ (1961) is about revenge as captured in the line ‘licks for them criminals’. If calypso is the people’s commentator, …
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