The British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81) is credited with saying there were three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies and statistics”, so clearly he wasn’t fond of the latter.

But they’re not always misleading – they’re often just irrelevant.

If a minority political party has never held power even though it has existed for 50 years, that doesn’t mean that eventually it will. It might be argued, though, that as the US has just elected a non-politician as president, anything can happen.

But don’t switch off; that is the last mention of anything even vaguely political, because as regular readers know, that is not this column’s bag at all.

What has led to the dramatic increase in the profile of statistics is simple: computers are very good at generating them. While the statisticians used to have to spend hours thumbing through books and documents to bring us irrelevances – and therefore usually didn’t bother – computers can do it in an instant.

Statistics can be used to provide factoids about anything you want – and nowadays certain publications and websites seem incapable of putting a story together without giving it some pointless, simplistic context.

Last week, for instance, West Indies won a test match against Pakistan in Sharjah. Two things are notable about that.

First, it was in Sharjah, which is in the United Arab Emirates, and the UAE is not really a cricket-playing country. Pakistan are playing their “home” international matches abroad at the moment because of the fear of terrorist attacks if they are played within their own borders.

These things are facts.

The second notable aspect is that it was the first time West Indies have won a test away from home since 2007 (except against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who are traditionally not much good and therefore don’t count). That too is a fact, but it is also a statistic. It doesn’t just report an event; it seeks to tell us more.

Home teams have an advantage in many sports, and cricket particularly, because they are familiar with the conditions: the weather, the stadium and in cricket’s case the way the surface will behave: whether it will be docile and comfortable for the batsmen or lively and unpredictable, which helps the bowlers.

So the fact that WI won away from home is quite a big deal, even if the length of time since they last achieved it is a bit embarrassing.

This news came to my attention on ESPNcricinfo, but the headline pointed us in a different direction. It said “Kraigg Brathwaite opens new test record”, which combines a pun (Brathwaite is an opener, i.e. one of the two batsmen who go in first) with a statistic that has nothing to do with his team’s victory. What he achieved was to be not out in both innings, with 142 in the first and 60 in the second.

With all due respect to Mr B, even as a cricket fan, your correspondent found this rather underwhelming.

A century is always cause for celebration, but I’m sure even Kraigg’s Mum isn’t too excited about the two not-outs business. What happened in this instance is that someone on the cricinfo desk noticed this statistic and decided it was more important than the real story.

To take this obsession with statistics a step further, one could point out that Brathwaite is also the first opening batsman called Craig – from any country – to have his name spelled with a k and two g’s. Now that’s a stat that seems to have escaped the cricket media completely.

If our lives are reduced to lists of what we have and haven’t done, it is inescapable that some will seem more exciting than others. While we might normally think we’ve done all right for ourselves in a modest way, put our personal CV alongside that of Sir Richard Branson or Usain Bolt and suddenly it doesn’t seem so impressive.

But if we take the time to think about it, any of us can come up with stats that make us unique. I, for instance, in 2013 was the first journalist to sit in a certain other journalist’s seat in the press box at the Tobago House of Assembly for 13 years – at least I think that’s what he told me as he shooed this new boy away from his territory. How about you? Perhaps you were the first Costcutter customer ever to put a Toblerone and a bag of dried fish in the same basket.

If so, all you need to do is hang around as long as it takes for that to become important, and hey presto: you’re a celebrity.

Notwithstanding the necessary concern for workers, the citizens of our country must start listening to one another, Government, business and labour must listen and dialogue on the way forward. We may be talking but are we listening? We seem to be asserting our labour rights without reference to other factors. The concept of rights is always balanced with the corresponding concept of responsibility. Rights and responsibilities are never separate values.

As one commentator brilliantly wrote, “The right for you to swing your hand ends where my nose begins.” One must exercise one’s rights in a socially responsible and moral manner. This applies also to wage negotiations. Our current economic challenge is an opportunity to bring together in our national consciousness the notions of productivity, patriotism and pay. These are inseparable bedfellows and a prerequisite of both fairness and economic growth.

Our national consciousness seems to be dominated by the issue of “pay”. Our discussions ought not to begin and end on the sole issue of higher wages and salaries. There are other factors that citizens are not seriously taking into consideration in the present dialogue, namely, productivity and patriotism.

Productivity seems to be marginal to our country and in the present discourse. Productivity and its cousins creativity and innovation are crucial issues that are not being spoken about enough in TT .

It appears that hard work and productivity is seldom a topic that can survive more than a day in the public domain, precisely, radio-talk shows.

Trinidad and Tobago needs a patriotism that would hear citizens saying, “I am willing to work harder for my country”. This is a type of volunteerism. Volunteerism is desperately needed. Can we work without expecting and demanding anything in return? Working without remuneration is volunteerism. This is a lost value. Volunteerism can help us overcome overemphasis on “self”, much to the detriment of the whole. We need more patriots and volunteers.

The Catholic Church has always taught from the time of Rerum Novarum, On the Condition of Labour (1891) that every worker has the right to a fair wage and proper working conditions. The Church has always championed the cause of the worker in its teachings. St John Paul II has said that a worker is not a tool but a person. These are important concepts that must never be forgotten.

Nevertheless, balance is necessary. The worker is a citizen of the country, part of a greater whole – an ailing economy that needs time to recover.

The worker is also accountable to the taxpayer and the government for his or her work ethic. In these dire economic times, we need clear balance in our approach to hard work, pay and wage negotiations.

In the Budget, the Minister of Finance stated that the Government will use public-private partnership arrangements where and if possible to deliver public goods. With all the questions being raised (usually in the media first) about the award, process and firms being awarded lucrative contracts by State agencies and the ministries, can we say we have confidence in the system, our institutions and those that we elect or hire to oversee same? Or is it a case of pouring new wine in old vessels? One such example which has started to create rumblings among contractors is the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway extension to Manzanilla, Phase 1.

Contractors are questioning the selection criteria applied for the project. Out of all the contractors that tendered (local and international), the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) has selected China Railway and rejected the technical proposal of all other tenderers, without comparing their prices.

Contractors are saying that it is no more than a beauty parade as all of them have built roads before of a greater magnitude and scale than the Manzanilla highway, so their competence and access to resources is not an issue; the price should be considered up front.

Without the Procurement Act in place, neither the public nor the contractors can understand how or why Nidco rejected everyone in favour of China Railway.

Assuming there was a feasibility study which justifies this project, we are in hard times and need to make sure we spend our money in a responsible manner. If ever there was a time when we needed to ensure value for money in our expenditure, it is now.

With the economy in difficult times and the public suffering, state enterprises and public officials must be made accountable and the Procurement Bill is an important tool to ensure accountability. The role of State enterprises is not to further the benefit of any public official or patron but to advance the cause of the public and people of TT .

Therefore, we are calling on the Minister of Finance and the Government to proclaim the Bill in its entirety now. Let us the citizens be given the power to hold these public officials and people that spend taxpayers’ money to account, if the politicians don’t want to do so.

KEITH KING Arima

No party usually gets three consecutive terms in the US.

Democrat Barack Obama had two.

The new President brings different qualifications and experience to the table. He is not a person you would want to negotiate with because of his skills.

People must welcome change just as they did with Obama. Do not fear the unknown.

I wish Trump well. He can make America great again.

AV RAMPERSAD Princes Town

That’s the day that Republican Donald Trump won the presidential election and the Senate and Congress maintained their majority.

Combined they are going to set the US back where human rights and other liberties are concerned.

Were I an American I would be packing my bags now.

We in TT have much to be grateful for, including that the Fuad Khan’s party is no longer in power.

J WOOD via email

While the scenes of Donald Trump’s victory are still careening through my mind, to be relegated to the status of the world’s worst night, I am forced to consider that I am the luckiest woman in the world, lucky because I know that I can elect a Trinidadian of any race to be my Prime Minister, lucky because I can also elect a woman to lead me.

I am however mindful of the manifestation of race in our own politics. The American experience has shown us the dangers of exploiting race for political gain.

As Trinidadians and Tobagonians we must strive to be race blind. What this means is that the equality of races must be replaced with equality of opportunity, because if the opportunities are equally available we will see no race.

Political appointments should be made on the basis of merit and our Cabinet compositions should not be judged on the basis (as they have recently been) of race but on the basis of their performance.

Election candidates should not be judged on their race but on the quality of their character and their past performance.

And finally a party should not be elected because it is representative of a race with whom you have an affinity, but by the quality of its ideas and its perceived competence and integrity in handling the affairs of state.

Yes, today I am proud to be a Trinidadian because I have for better or worse experienced what others only dream of.

SATU-ANN INDIRA RAMCHARAN Maraval

IMAAM IQBAL HYDAL Felicity

I must say that it so created a lasting impression on my mind that it has provided my continuing keen interest in American politics. Indeed, the book even provided an account of the idiosyncrasies of the presidential dog “Fallah”. So that what I have written hereinafter has its origin in some antiquity. In his first speech after having been elected President of the US, Donald Trump stated that he intends to be President of all Americans.

I take it therefore that this particular statement was impelled by a realisation, on his part, that demonstrations (a distinct anomaly) had been taking place in several important centres across the US, notably New York in the East, California in the West and Chicago in the midwest, against his assuming the office of President.

For, let us face it, Trump is going to be a “minority” President arising from the fact that Hillary Clinton had not only received a larger popular vote than he had gotten, but that his own election was to be facilitated by the votes of four “battleground states” which were won by relatively small majorities, the votes of which would be cast on Trump’s behalf in the Electoral College.

Furthermore, Trump has become aware that he would be presiding over a greatly divided country — a situation which is recognised by Clinton herself when she asked that Trump be given the opportunity of showing leadership.

This travesty of the Electoral College ought not to be taking place in a country which has been priding itself as being the beacon of present-day democracy. Of course, the fault lies, not in the casting of votes in the college itself, but rather the fact that these will be cast in support of a candidate, for President, who had not received a majority of the overall popular vote in the country.

In this regard, one would recall the acrimony which had visited the election, in 2000, of George W Bush over Al Gore Jnr who, like Hillary Clinton, had received a larger popular vote than his rival.

Having said that, I must say, however, that the system of the Electoral College has much to commend it, given the political realities of the US where much independence of action, in several areas, is being accorded to states individually.

However, experience has now clearly demonstrated that there is need for a reform of the mechanics whereby the original intent is being given effect.

Certainly, in this age of “high tech”, what is required is a constant and continuing review of the population across the US with a view to having electoral votes, awarded to states, being reflective of the popular votes in every individual state. Indeed, the stark reality is that the most recent scenario, unless reformed, is most likely to recur in future.

ERROL OC CUPID Trincity, Tacarigua

They were complaining that some were being sold for $15, $20 and $30 and in my opinion rightly so. “For a zaboka?” In the first place, who determines what a product such as this sells for? The vendor can set whatever price he wants because apparently most of them do. My answer to my friends is simply this: You are the ones responsible for this because some of you might very well buy a few (when no one is looking) because the Trini norm for most is, “Boy, I working for my money and if I feel to buy it nobody could tell me anything. Is my money.” It is the same with everything in TT . Most doubles vendors have quietly sneaked the price up to $5, the price that publicly most people were complaining about some months ago, yet some of the same people continue to buy now. That is why we have been described by outsiders as nine-day wonders. Just full of talk.

Although I am Trini to the bone I must admit not in that aspect of supporting something when common sense tells me not to and simply follow the masses. I seem to be solitary in my thinking and actions but that is what I am.

“We” are the ones that can dictate most things in the country but “you” continue to allow nonsense to prevail because of your decisions.

If something is wrong and we don’t like it, we have the power to change it. So who is to blame for the zaboka, the doubles and anything else adverse that is determined by your decisions? I trust that some of you have the intellect to correctly answer this by now.

W DOPSON Woodbrook, PoS

This according to David Ram, acting chairman of the World Food Day National Committee of Trinidad and Tobago and Director of the Extension, Training and Information Services Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries.

Ram stated the committee’s aim was to make the public aware of climate change, how agriculture must change, what each citizen could do to address the issue, and to help drive government policy on agriculture.

“Because of industrialisation, deforestation and more emissions of greenhouse gases, there is a faster rate of climate change.

As a result of that we are seeing more intense storms, severe dry weather, severe rains, warming of sea temperatures and more,” he said.

Ram noted climate change was a long term issue caused mainly by carbon dioxide and methane from industry and normal human activity, including agriculture itself as it contributes to greenhouse gasses via the rotting of food, and animal waste.

Therefore, he said the committee was looking into systems that could be put in place to make sure the country has food while minimising further contributions to climate change. “Food security and food nutrition is a complex discussion. Should something happen in the global environment, we can’t depend on what is on the shelves to feed us so we have to put systems in place to ensure that we have enough of the different food groups,” he said.

To the average consumer, he suggested that people buy only what they need, not to waste food, practice composting, and begin preserving food.

In meeting their mandate to educate the public as well as farmers, and to train farmers in new technologies, The Extension, Training and Information Services Division has been conducting several training programmes and education initiatives.

Ram stated the ministry had printed materials on good agriculture practices including hygiene, pesticides, and the environment, to make sure the products were acceptable to the consumer.

It also developed a training course on aquaculture, fish farming, as well as demonstrations, fact sheets and manuals. He said this was done because 50,000 people in coastal areas depend on fishing to make a living, and warmer surface temperatures due to climate change mean less fish.

Aquaculture would allow less harvesting from the sea.

Ram added that the ministry’s Research Division, Engineering Division, Agriculture Services Division, and others all contribute and play a part in averting climate change.

For example, he said the Animal Product and Health Division was developing a Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), to begin in 2017, on how to treat animal waste and recycle the manure in the fields. A PSIP in fisheries called Climate Change Adaptation in the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector, demonstrated alternative methods to ensure sustainability. The Forestry Division also conducts a PSIP because, in the last decade TT lost more acreage due to forest fires (excluding bush fires) than any other time.

Among other topics, farmers were also being trained in new irrigation technologies, methods of water conservation, how to maintain their small gas engines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and how to ensure that waste from farms was properly managed.

FAO Contribution One of the issues the government isolated was conserving biodiversity by setting up a protected areas system and enhancing capacity and finance for conservation management. Therefore, it has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FA O/ UN) on the “Improving Forest and Protected Area Management in Trinidad and Tobago” project.

Celeste Chariandy, Technical Officer, Improving Forest and Protected Area Management, FA O/UN representation for TT and Suriname, noted that several pilot areas had already been identified, including the Caroni Swamp, Nariva Swamp, Matura Forest, and the Main Ridge in Tobago.

Chariandy explained the fouryear pilot project, which began in 2015, was about a multi-dimensional approach to management.

“The approach that is being undertaken is to have a more participatory approach towards identifying the issues that pertain to these protected areas and being able to address these challenges so that you have better management,” she said.

They brought various stakeholders together including policy- makers, farmers, conservationists, and extension officers who liaised with the farmers.

The extension officers know the farmers in their district, help them to adapt to new methods, give advice as to the chemicals and systems they could use that would not negatively affect the environment, build awareness of incentives offered by government, and generally give advice on how to deal with farming around these protected areas.

Each of the stakeholders understand their own perspective so they all work together, and share that understanding to produce solutions. She said sometimes people find it difficult to see the link between protected areas and food production.

However, she noted that a few years ago in the Nariva Swamp, there were areas where persons practised illegal agriculture. River courses were manipulated, trees were removed, water was contaminated by chemicals, and other issues emerged.

“Agriculture is a needed activity in TT . Currently we do have a lot of agriculture taking place in and around this protected area. The idea is not to simply say, ‘Well this is protected so we need to get that kind of activity out of there.’ We need to have a more coordinated approach to addressing that balance between food production and sustainable management of the protected area. It’s not about stopping agriculture but encouraging sustainable agriculture,” she said.

With respect to climate change, Chariandy explained that simple measures such as better harvesting, storage, packing, transport, infrastructure, and market mechanisms could make an impact.

“The whole system that is involved in food production, all the way to when it gets to market, involves some release of greenhouse gases. If it is removal of trees when you are planting or putting your stuff into a van and transporting it to the market, there are various ways in which you contribute to greenhouse gases.

When food wastage occurs, this contribution multiples because there is a greater demand, you may be making more trips, and so on, all along the chain,” she explained.

“By emphasising proper storage, proper handling, proper packaging, proper management of food, you may not, on the surface, see the link with climate change, but when you realise that each of those cost in some way, then a simple thing like minimising food wastage will go a long way in reducing the impact of climate change,” she added.

Therefore, Chariandy said ordinary citizens could reduce their contribution to climate change by doing simple things such as buying only what they need, stop the wasting of fo od, and rely less on groceries.

She said the FA O planed to visit green markets in order to share information with farmers, vendors, and the public on a number of topics including building ponds on land for water supply, how to plant on hillsides, container gardening, and upright gardening.