Treadmill workouts can be some of the most efficient, challenging, calorie-burning routines around.

The key is intervals. With intervals, instead of doing a steady pace, this routine mixes up your speed and add floor exercises into your routine. You can incinerate fat and tone muscle at the same time with this treadmill interval strength workout in under 30 minutes:

Minutes Incline % Speed Activity

0 to 3 1 3.5 to 4.5 Brisk walk

3 to 5 1 4.5 to 5.5 Easy jog

5 to 8 1 5.5 to 7.5 Running at natural speed

8 to 10 3 5.5 to 7.5 Runningat natural speed

10 to 12 – – 3 sets of 30 second planks with10 second rest intervals

12 to 14 7 to 10 3.5 to 4.5 Brisk walk

14 to 15 3 4 5 to 5.5 Easy jog

15 t0 17 – – Get off and do 20 push ups

17 to 18 1.5 3.5 to 4.5 Brisk walk

18 to 19 1.5 6.5 to 8.5 Sprint

19 to 20 1.5 3.5 to 4.5 Brisk walk

20 to 21 – – Hop off treadmill to do squat jumps (25 seconds),
then burpees (25 seconds). Return to treadmill.

21 to 22 5 3.5 to 4.5 Brisk walk

22 to 23 – – Hop off treadmill (to side or back, wherever there is

enough room) and do a squat-and-row move: Wrap

a resistance band around one arm of treadmill and

hold ends of band in each hand; squat as you drive

elbows behind you so that you feel tension in band.

Repeat for 1 minute, then return to treadmill.

23 to 24 5 3.5 to 5.5 Brisk walk/easy jog

24 to 25 – – Hop off tread mill and do 15 side lunges on each

side and then return to treadmill

25 to 27 1 3.0 to 3.5 Easy walk and cool down.

In a certain Asian country, for which I have great affection, the president is caught up in a ‘scandal’. People in the nation are upset that an unelected individual may have had access to classified government documents and protests ensued. So the president bowed her head and apologised to the nation, for causing her people distress and confusion. To be honest, the last time I laughed so hard was at the Dave Chappelle sketch about the late great Prince. I wasn’t laughing at her, rather I was laughing at the thought of a local politician doing the same. While many of our leaders have done much worse, no apologies have been forthcoming.

Mr Imbert’s recent unreserved apology aside, can you imagine a local politician (outside of Parliamentary privilege) apologising to the nation for something they’ve done? Right. That will never happen. I’d love to be wrong about this but history shows we have been led by a series of wrong and strong individuals. Keep in mind, no one has any evidence saying the president stole money or anything like that. Nope, it’s a long-time friend who seems to have pulled some strings and done something not too kosher, but she remained just a little too close to the president when she came into office. I started to think back to episodes of blatant wrongdoing and abuse of office by individuals in Trinidad. Have we ever once gotten a genuine apology as a people? In all my years, I’ve never witnessed it.

I do remember two occasions where calypsonians, when proven right, called for apologies from their most vocal detractors. The first was the Mighty Midget Cro-Cro in 1995 when he sang about corruption in Common Entrance. The other was Bodyguard in his 2014 composition False Papers, which asked for an apology for certain blanket statements made about Afro- Trinidadians. Neither one got a single apology. This is not just about politicians either; in Trinidad the culture is to shift the blame and point the finger at someone else.

About a year ago I paid my Internet and phone bill online, long before the bill was due. However, this was never registered by the company and despite repeated calls about the matter it remained un-rectified. I carried in the evidence it had been paid and the charge continued to turn up on my bill and incurred late fees. I even received phone calls from my service provider reminding me that my account was in arrears. After nine months, I’d had enough and was unwilling to waste time speaking to yet another ineffective supervisor, so I filed a complaint with the Telecommunications Authority. The pleasant young lady who dealt with my complaint asked me what I would like from the company to resolve my issue. I told her I would like a refund and an apology, at which point she laughed.

She wasn’t being mean, she was just being real. In the end the issue was resolved and the late fees I’d been paying were refunded. No apology was forthcoming.

Has the company learned the error of their ways? Of course not. Now I get phone calls before my bill becomes overdue, reminding me about it and this month I got a letter from the company’s collections department reminding me of my bill, before the bill was overdue and after I’d already paid. It’s abundantly clear they don’t want me as a customer.

I think it’s easier to soar through the clouds riding a unicorn with a rainbow striped mane than it is to get an apology in this country. Why? We know it’s good manners to humble ourselves when we are wrong and say we are sorry. We sit warming pews in religious services, then when it’s over we leave and do exactly the opposite of what we say we believe. We are not responsible as individuals, as institutions or as a nation. It is always somebody else’s fault and we wash our hands of the matter. We are guilty as sin and caught red handed doing wrong but we start lying through our teeth and point our finger somewhere else at somebody else, and try to take the heat off of ourselves, never admitting our guilt.

In our institutions files disappear, or reports go missing or a gag order is put on staff, so our institutions are not responsible either. The song and dance routine they deliver is worthy of a Carnival fete. Then we pat ourselves on the back and say we are good people and things working well in the nation.

I saw on the news a large sinkhole opened in a city in Japan. Some men were working on a subway tunnel and it seems water began to rush in and caused a section of the tunnel to collapse. In the press conference the higher ups in the company doing the work, briefed the public on the incident and the three men got up and apologised for the inconvenience the incident has caused the people of the city. Imagine something that was beyond their control, and they apologised for it. I realised saying sorry is not about admitting wrong doing, that’s the least of it. When someone takes responsibility and says sorry, it means ‘I acknowledge you are hurt and I understand my actions have caused you inconvenience/ hurt/ confusion/ has affected your business or maybe even your life negatively’.

It doesn’t fix things, there is still hurt/ pain/ confusion/ negative fallout, but it is acknowledged and that makes it somehow a little more bearable.

The politicians in Trinidad seem to be six of one and half a dozen of the other, but as much as they try to set themselves apart from the others, there is one thing they all have in common; nobody says sorry. I don’t have a problem saying sorry, even to my five-year-old, so why is it so difficult? Those kinds of experiences in life make you more cognisant and considerate of others. Being held accountable can build character and make you a better person. While bowing and showing deference to others is not a part of our culture, we could stand to learn a thing or two about the power of genuinely saying sorry. Before there can be forgiveness there must be an apology.

As the embattled president found out the hard way, an insincere apology only enrages people further. The tone in the country went from upset, to angry, to damn vex in a single week.

So I won’t hold my breath waiting for an apology when I am affected by the actions of others. That is one of the less attractive characteristics of Trinidadians. So while I notice the Office of the Attorney General has pursued legal action before the courts against some individuals and I commend it, I would have been happier with a refund and an apology. But that’s just me, now I’ll be heading up the islands on my pet unicorn, Polaris.

Organising the decorations to create a beautiful yet functional table top can be daunting. The style of d?cor will depend on the formality of your event.

Other considerations that will solidify the style for the d?cor are the theme and the colour scheme. Don’t forget a bit of sparkle goes a long way. Here are a few ideas.

Snow White • Recreate a white Christmas with your table landscape. Even in the tropics it adds an air of sophistication.

• A monochromatic scheme is easy to put together with an elegant white floral arrangement in a clear glass vase, lace linens and white pears.

• Clear glass and metallic elements, white plate settings, white spray painted artificial mini trees on white linen.

• For an inexpensive formal tabletop, use crisp white napkins with gold, white and silver decorations as a backdrop with formal place settings.

• Top any of these ideas off with white slip covers on the chairs.

Rustic Charm • This style makes your setting seem effortless while introducing a bit of nature to your table d?cor. Don’t forget to keep it simple and not recreate a jungle on your table.

• If you are confident, place live moss like a runner, add pieces of log, twigs or pebbles.

Scatter natural or metallic acorns, votive candles, a vase and cranberries.

• Make a wooden box with either rough or finished wood, decorate with pine cones, greenery candles and ornaments and place in the center of the table.

• Fill a large round or square glass container with unshelled nuts, cinnamon sticks, faux cranberries and dried citrus. Place this on a wooden plank as the center piece.

• Try incorporating unusual containers like a tin can or a small galvanized bucket or an old wooden fruit crate filled with burlap, greenery, candles or whatever expresses Christmas to you.

Sparkle • Christmas is not Christmas without the sparkle.

Clear glass and metallic decorations will add sparkle to any table setting.

• A clear or lightly tinted glass or crystal bowl filled with metallic ornaments makes a great statement. Scatter metallic painted pine cones on a metallic runner and add a sprig of green for contrast.

• Gold or silver painted leaves can be incorporated to any sparkly setting.

• Brass candle sticks and green foliage will stand out against a black and white Christmas scheme.

• Mix together vintage gold and silver place settings, candle stands and ornaments to create a nostalgic mood.

Colour • If you like colour you will enjoy creating this festive table top.

• The most obvious colour is red. This colour is used in every imaginary item for the season.

• Arrange three monotone bouquets of red roses, carnations or poinsettia in a clear glass antique or modern vase on a red linen runner.

• Blue Christmas decorations off set by cotton white accents creates a modern twist.

• Plaid tablecloths dressed up the space.

• Multi-colour decorations makes a dashing display.

Fruits • Create a stylish fruit bowl centerpiece with pomegranates, apples, pears and cranberries placed in vintage trays or glass bowls and add some pine twigs for a contrast of greenery.

Candles • The simplest most effective table top display can be created by using candles either of different colours, heights or sizes for your d?cor.

• If your candles are not festive spruce them up by tying Christmas ribbons, adding glitter and push pins with red, white and metallic heads.

This was the appeal of Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris at yesterday’s Pilgrimage Through the Mercy Door for prisoners at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port-of- Spain.

“You must not be left by the way. You are part of us… when you leave the prison, you go out into the world, not to take revenge (for the lack of their freedom) but you go out there to use the gifts and talents that you have to help us and to help build a better TT,” Harris told the prisoners.

Anglican Bishop Claude Berkeley joined Archbishop Harris in welcoming 124 inmates from Carrera Convict Prison, Golden Grove Prison, Maximum Security Prison, Port of Spain Prison, Remand Prison, Women’s Prison, Youth Training Centre (YTC), and the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre to the mass, at which they walked through the cathedral’s Mercy Door. The event is part of the global Roman Catholic Church’s Year of Mercy.

Harris said citizens needed to recognise that, although they did things that they should not have done, many of those who leave prison were reformed and were willing to make a tremendous contribution to the development of society. He then pledged that he and other religious leaders would help in any way they could. “No matter what we may have done in life, no matter the difficulties, the obstacles, the disabilities, we can become whatever we want to become with God’s grace… Take this opportunity, become the people Almighty God wants you to become and one day all of us would be able to say, ‘Thank Almighty God for His tremendous mercies toward us,’” he said.

Archbishop Harris had previously made an appeal for prisoners to be pardoned by the State in a national act of mercy, but while supported by sectors of the Judiciary there has been no action on his call.

Monsignor Christian Pereira assured the inmates that incarceration was not be the end of their lives but an opportunity to demonstrate grace and honour, and to care for those who share the same facility. “No matter what your circumstances are, you have the capacity to care and do good to others,” he said.

Prisoners: God transforms us Prisoner Alladin Mohammed, of Carrera, stated his belief that no true transformation was complete without a close connection with God. “While it is true that we are shaped by experience, we are also shaped by the influence of religion, politics, and other value systems. The importance of church in the life of an inmate can not be emphasised enough,” he said.

Mohammed noted that the TT Prisons Service had moved away from retributive to restorative justice, and that through practice and contemplation they grasped a form of goodness, which enabled them to be good.

However, he said the reformation of inmates was the social responsibility of the people of TT, and that they needed to stop shirking their duty so as to achieve a safer country.

Speaking to members of the media after the service, Women’s Prison inmate, Leandra Clarke, stated the pilgrimage was overwhelming and she appreciated that it placed the prisons and its inmates in a positive light.

“Most people, when they think of the prisons and the inmates they think of only the negative but there are lots of positives that comes out of the prisons. Not only in the form of talents like drawing and whatnot. We have people doing subjects there. We have positive role models – inmates as well as officers,” she said.

Clarke also advocated for “restorative conferencing” saying she would like to see it done more often in the justice system. She explained that offenders and the victims, or family of the victims, would meet and communicate on the matter without malice or violence. “We in turn now get the opportunity to say that we are sorry for what we have done.

It smoothens out a lot of things.

A lot of times it doesn’t even have to reach to the court because of the restorative conferencing,” she said.

Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart agreed there were persons in prisons who, because of the programmes and their decision to follow God, were no longer a risk to citizens of TT.

He said prison was a place to touch lives, to make changes, give prisoners opportunities to prove themselves, and to try to develop a “character of goodness.” He expressed the faith that what the Prison Service was doing worked so that when inmates were released, they would be good, law-abiding citizens.

Part of that process, he said, was the church.

Stewart said the Prisons Service had a “symbiotic relationship” with the church as they were in the same business of touching lives, saving lives, and transformation.

“With preparation for reintegration you have to talk about the renewing of the mind because the mind and the heart determine your action, words, and behaviour. As such this symbiotic relationship, and what’s happening here, the symbolic going through the door of mercy…

when we go through that door, we close the door on darkness and sin, unrighteousness and foolishness and anger, anything that’s negative. We go through that door, never to return,” he said.

He hoped that one day people would see the change in the inmates, and to do so he said the Prisons Service would continue to organise more masses, more community service projects, charitable works, and displays to highlight the skills of the inmates.

Bravo has been sent back to the Caribbean from Zimbabwe after his public outbursts about president of the WICB Dave Cameron.

Bravo was offered a C contract by the WICB – the lowest grade available – but declined the offer. Cameron said the board can’t continue giving Bravo an A contract because he would not have any motivation to improve. Bravo openly stated his displeasure on Twitter saying that Cameron has not been performing well as president of the board for the past four years and said he should resign.

Bravo also said he was never given an A contract.

Davis disagrees with the way Bravo stated his anger with Cameron.

Davis said, “(It was) very wrong. Regardless of how you feel and what you think he is still the president of the board. I don’t think really and truly you can insult a sitting president like that, I don’t think a player has any right to do that unless he has retired and writing his own book or something and criticise what (has) happen to him. I can’t agree with it being done in a situation like that.” However, Davis said the board cannot offer Bravo a C contract. “You can’t lump Darren Bravo, a senior player who has been playing for years, who has a double century for the West Indies and a few other centuries well. You can’t lump him with (Jomel) Warrican and (Roston) Chase and all these newcomers to cricket.

How can you do that, you are insulting him (Bravo). It is a demotivating factor, while Cameron is saying that it will motivate him to move up from C. No, that is a senior man you are pulling down.” Former West Indies manager Omar Khan believes a lack of dialogue between the WICB and the players is causing situations like this to arise. Khan said, “the dialogue or the communication and that gap between the board and the players is still apart and in my opinion that is what is leading to all these situations where you have players being upset and when they (players) say things the board obviously will feel offended.” Khan added, “I always believe there is a way and means of doing things. Whatever situation develops it should never turn into a public spat.” Khan explained Bravo should have gone through a different channel in expressing his displeasure.

“He should have gone through the (proper) channel in terms of protocol, in terms of the communication lines as to get to the decision makers. A simple email to the president or a simple email to whoever explaining that you feel unfairly treated, you will like to have an audience.

The biggest challenge seems to be that communication, the communication processes which are being used.”

Trump’s elevation to the position of President, following last Tuesday’s US general election, have triggered ongoing protests in various cities of the US as fears that the highly-controversial positions he proffered during his campaign in relation to a range of issues, including illegal immigrants, ‘Obamacare,’ foreign policy, race relations and the LGBT community, would be actualised during the next four years.

The Guardian International reported yesterday that more than 10,000 protesters had signed up for a noontime march from New York’s Union Square to Trump Tower, the billionaire businessman’s home and business headquarters. Similar demonstrations also were being planned for other cities.

Trump, who met with outgoing President Barack Obama at the White House, in Washington DC, on Thursday, has reportedly attributed the protests to the work of “professional protesters incited by the media.” The President-elect labelled the action as “very unfair.” In addition, CNN also reported yesterday that crisis and suicide hotlines in the US have been inundated with calls from seriously distressed persons in the wake of Trump’s win in the general election.

For Anslem Francis. former senior lecturer in the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, the protests are to be expected based on the “anxieties and uncertainty” Trump created on the campaign trail.

However, he said yesterday in a Sunday Newsday interview that one should not only expect a fallout to the protest action.

“I think some good can come out of the marches in the sense that they are sending a message, ‘We are not going to allow you (Trump) to carry out your very extreme racist policy and if you are contemplating that, that should give you some cause for thought.’” On the flip side, Francis said Trump was “very headstrong guy,” who may not be affected by such action. “But, if it does, then one would be seeing more of what we have seen in the aftermath of the elections.” Francis reasoned that illegal immigration and deportation, one of the front-burner topics on which Trump’s campaign was hinged, will factor highly on his agenda in office, saying that the implications could be serious for Trinidad and Tobago. In the absence of figures or a system to gauge the rate of deportation. Francis suggested that the numbers could be “frightening.” “And, if that happens and he (Trump) has promised that it would, then that number could be dangerous,” he said.

An influx of criminal deportees, he said, could impact the way they settle and co-exist in this country.

It can also place additional strain on the education and health sectors, Francis said.

Francis said: “There is a difficult issue that we have to face with people who have committed crimes and actually being sent back to the Caribbean. I think we would be seeing more of that” He noted, though, that many of them may return with skills or some form of training which they could share with the rest of the country.

The international relations expert said he had no reason to doubt that Trump would not carry out his policies with respect to deportation.

“There is a body of opinion in the US that would say just that, send back all of the illegal immigrants because they are concerned with the countries of origin,” said Francis.

“The immigrants are not Europeans. They are coming from south of the border. I think this is causing concern.” He also said if the names of persons reportedly being considered for positions in the Trump administration are true, “then I don’t think the future looks bright because it is a question of if Mr Trump says jump, some of them will ask how high.” Francis said the Ministry of National Security will need to put measures in place to address criminal deportation.

“They will need to have the numbers. If not, so many things will be like guess work,” he said.

On the issue of race relations, Francis predicted that the situation in the US and the Caribbean is likely to persist with Trump in the White House.

“I think, it will deteriorate,” he told Sunday Newsday. “I think there is enough to suggest that these are worrying times as far as race relations are concerned.

They certainly would not get any better.” Basing his assessment on the controversial killings of young, African- American men at the hands of whites in the recent past, Francis predicted that racial profiling will persist.

“I think we are likely to have more of it under a Trump presidency,” he said.

He said Trinbagonians and other Caribbean nationals living in the US will feel anxieties similar to any nonwhite group.

Francis also did not see any immediate let-up in Trump’s vehement stance on the LGBT community.

“The LGBT community will be hit very hard but if there is anything he can do to reverse the situation, it should be done,” he said.

Francis said the way forward for the LGBT community should be viewed in the context of the changing composition of the US Supreme Court, which he said, would be a more confederative court.

“Already, there are a lot of concerns being expressed about LGBT rights but it is not looking good for that community,” he said.

If he were to judge Trump’s Presidency on the basis of his campaign rhetoric, Francis said “there is a lot to worry about.” Singling out foreign policy and trade, he said Trump already has signalled his intention re-negotiate a number of the existing trade deals. “That was an important plank in his entire campaign,” Francis said.

Alluding to the North-American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ), between the US, Canada and Mexico,, Francis said Trump had placed blame for the job loss in America squarely on the Obama administration’s trade regime.

“He (Trump) has held the regime responsible for the loss of American jobs, saying he wants to bring jobs back. This is how he has framed the discussion,” he said.

On the other hand, Francis said there were persons on both sides of the political divide in the US who remained uneasy about the agreements.

The baby, Mercy La Foucade, was born on February 8 and is believed to have died at home sometime in early March. Instead of alerting the authorities to the death and then going through final rites and then burial or cremation, baby Mercy’s family opted to keep her body in the crib.

No one in the village had a clue that inside the small, wooden house, a baby’s body lay in a crib for over five months, decomposing down to bones.

According to reports, a female relative became suspicious after asking about the child and was prevented from entering the room in which the crib is kept.

The relative then went to the La Brea police and reported her suspicion that something was not right in the house. At one o’clock Thursday afternoon, officers went to the house where the child was last seen alive and spoke to a 40-year-old woman who is a mother of three – a girl aged 18, a boy aged 15 and a 13-year-old girl. Asked the whereabouts of her granddaughter, the woman claimed the baby was sleeping.

When officers demanded to see the baby themselves, the woman still refused asking if they had a search warrant. Officers later entered the house and then a bedroom.

What they saw, shocked them.

They saw baby Mercy’s body – mere skeletal remains – clad in a jersey, disposable diapers, socks on both feet and wrapped in a brown blanket. A mosquito net was placed over the crib. Officers contacted the District Medical Officer who ordered the remains removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

All four members of the baby’s family were detained and taken to the La Brea police station where they remained in custody up until yesterday. Newsday understands that Homicide Investigations Bureau officers were informed of the find but until an autopsy is done to show cause of death, the baby’s death is not being treated as a homicide. Neighbours of the detained family said yesterday that the woman and her children never reported that the baby had died and although they became suspicious, when they did not see the baby being taken for walks, they thought the family was merely keeping to themselves.

Police investigators said yesterday that they had never encountered such a situation before and will attempt to have the detained four undergo psychiatric assessment as part of the ongoing investigation.

The four detained persons continue to insist that the baby is not dead and that they want to be released so they can go home to bathe and feed baby Mercy. When Newsday visited the scene yesterday inside Chin Fong Street, officers were still conducting interviews with neighbours.

An officer told Newsday that when police first visited the house to enquire about the baby, they were told that she was inside “sleeping.” After pressing to see the baby themselves, the baby’s 40-year-old grandmother told them to “get a warrant.” Police said that checks at health centres in La Brea and at the San Fernando General Hospital to see if baby Mercy’s birth was registered, turned up nothing.

Officers said that the 18-yearold gave birth in February at home with her 15-year-old sister acting as midwife. A resident told Newsday the last time she heard the baby’s sounds was five months ago. “But even so, I never suspected she was dead and in the house. I was shocked when I heard the news that police had found the baby’s body. Even as I speak to you now, my pores are raising all over again,” the resident said. The woman said that in March, the baby’s usually jovial family began moving differently, keeping to themselves and acting “cold” with everyone. “But still we did not suspect anything,” the resident said.

The resident said that the baby’s mother was the only one to complete secondary school education as the other two had dropped out school. Investigations are being led by Sgt Taitt and Sgt Gokool of the La Brea Police Station.

With additional reporting by KWAME WEEKES

He wanted to see if complaints of lax security and sub-pay working conditions really existed at the institution as claimed by staffers one of whom was an intern who lied about being robbed at the hospital last month.

In the end, Deyalsingh said that staff members’ complaints were legitimate as he observed several security breaches during his time undercover. He said that last week Friday, between 8 and 10 pm, he paid a visit to the PoSGH and St James Infirmary. “I was absolutely appalled at what I saw that passes for security at these two institutions,” Deyalsingh said yesterday after a demonstration of the Cardiotocography (CTG) at the maternal unit of the hospital.

The minister said the most serious security breach he noticed was at the Accident and Emergency Dept. “Last Friday night I saw the guard who is usually behind a burglar-proof gate, in front with the public. The guard is usually inside and would buzz the person in.

The guard was outside of the gate, with the public, the gate which is electronically controlled was ajar.

Anybody can get in and I simply pushed the gate and walked in with the guard outside not even being aware. “If I were a bandit I could immobilise that guard, push my way through the gate, which I did, get deep into the A and E and shoot up the place, rape people, rob people and the guard would be outside totally unconcerned. That to me is a travesty.” He said the solution is not more security but more responsible and serious security.

Of his investigation at St James Infirmary, where a nurse was raped last year, the minister said, “Instead of walking into the A and E there is a building to the right that stocks the gases. I said let’s pretend to be burglars and there is a security guard sitting next to an ambulance no more than 20 feet away. We ran toward that building, the security guard shouted an alert to stop. We didn’t stop, we just went behind the building. I said, ‘let me see what the guard’s response would be.’ We waited for 15 minutes in the dead of night and no one came to stop us. The guard did not raise an alert for any of her colleagues to come see what was taking place.

“When we came back out, she (the guard) was sitting in the same spot minding her business. Having shouted a warning, nothing else was done. The issue is not more security, it is a better quality of security.

Are we going to hire more of these kinds of guards? It doesn’t make sense,” Deyalsingh said. PoSGH Chief Executive Officer Anthony Cyrus said he has since met with the managers of nine security firms contracted to protect the PoSGH and St James Infirmary to come up with a plan to improve security.

“There are nine security companies tripping over each other and this is what I inherited. It’s a total mess. And I am held accountable.

What about the security companies and their people? I noticed at the end of central block I saw a young security guard on his phone for 15 minutes, not looking up to observe his surroundings and his supervisor came and signed him off. I am exercising my authority firmly via the office of the chairman and CEO. It does not make sense that we bring in more security guards with more phones. It takes policy and accountability,” Deyalsingh said.

He said, “Most analysts expect oil prices to remain low for a long time for several reasons: on the supply side, the advent and relative resilience of shale oil production and increased oil production by OPEC members play an important role. As regards demand, lower GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth in emerging markets has tended to reduce oil demand growth, especially in light of the secular increase in global oil efficiency.” Hilaire made the comments in a speech “Aspects of Trinidad and Tobago’s Global Economic interactions,” delivered at the Central Bank as he launched the bank’s Monetary Policy Report for November 11, 2016. Among other things the bank said that falling energy exports had led to a decline in the country’s external position by mid-2016; the bank maintaned the Repo Rate at 4.75 percent in the first three quarters of 2016 because of domestic weaknesses; after rising in May and June, liquidity levels were more tightly managed in subsequent months and the bank has continued to manage liquidity flexibility to meet market conditions.

He said private sector borrowing slowed by the third quarter of 2016 with business lending declining sharply.

Observing that the TT dollar had depreciated over the first ten months of the year, the Central Bank said it continued to support the foreign exchange market. He added that, “Natural gas price declines also appear to be long lived in light of the North American shale gas boom, recent discoveries of vast gas fields in developing countries and the resumption of nuclear-powered electricity generation in Japan.

If this assessment holds true, a permanent shift in energy prices would require not only short term stabilisation efforts to deal with initial balance of payments and fiscal difficulties, but a more fundamental re-engineering of the Trinidad and Tobago economy to deal with lower energy export and fiscal earnings. He said the country was dependent on oil prices and that around 2008 oil prices were around U.S $100 a barrel but in 2015 were in the late 40’s, which was worsened by declines in energy production. According to Hilaire, while some other countries had to scramble immediately to make adjustments, this country had some space because Trinidad and Tobago had some significant buffers in the form of fiscal space because of previous years of surpluses. He said that Trinidad and Tobago is a member of the Group of 24 at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said the Group of 24 is a very influential body which represents the positions of its members at the World Bank and the IMF on monetary, financial and developmental issues. Hilaire said Trinidad and Tobago was one of founding members of the group; it was the smallest country in the group, the only Caribbean country and just one of a few Latin American countries to have been granted membership. He added that there was ongoing debate about increasing the size of the group to accommodate more developing countries because a lot of them wanted to ensure that their views are heard.

He said citizens of this country have to realise that although Trinidad and Tobago is small it has a lot of weight in international affairs and it has a Gross Domestic Product that is high.

“It was very important for my mother that her memoirs were completed. I hope people are enjoying them,” Suzanne said adding that she felt her mother would have been satisfied at the end result, even if she was a hard taskmaster with exacting standards. “I swear her spirit was in the house driving me as I wrote that book,” Mills said.

Historian Prof Bridget Brereton said the book was “well-written, very engaging, clear, lively and readable”.

She said early chapters gave insight into the life of a young woman, born into a middle-class, mixed race family in Portof- Spain.

Straight out of school in 1945, at age 16, Therese Mills went to work at the venerable Port-of- Spain Gazette, founded in 1825, working there and at its successor, the Chronicle, until 1958.

Therese Mills then lived in London for seven years, married with three children and then returned to TT as a feature writer and columnist at the Trinidad Guardian.

Brereton said that Therese Mills rose through the ranks to become Guardian editor- in-chief thereby shattering a glass ceiling by her own efforts and despite her lack of a university degree.

Brereton hailed Mills for bringing out the paper every day but one during the dark days of the 1990 attempted coup, amid a shortage of food and sleep, and under risk of physical danger.

Therese Mills then set up Newsday in 1993, confounding all the so-called experts and their prediction that it was “completely impossible” for a third daily to thrive.

She built the paper to such an extent that years later, it reached number one in terms of circulation.

“She had a well-deserved reputation for being a very tough lady.

“The tradition is that she could be quite difficult at times but was unswerving in defence of her reporters and freedom of the press,” Prof Brereton said.

As an example, she recalled Therese Mills’ steadfastness at the time of the police raid of Newsday by police to try to unearth news sources for a story on infighting in the Integrity Commission.

“Therese Mills set high standards in the writing and gathering of news.” She noted Newsday editor Horace Monsegue’s, recollection of receiving a 6 am daily phone call from Therese Mills who would always pick up any shortcomings in a weak article and not leave you unscathed.

Brereton recognised Therese Mills as a “genuine trail blazer”, who opened up pathways for other women in journalism.

Retired news editor John Babb, recalled meeting Therese Mills, when he was a young shorthand writer at the Gazette in 1946.

“She taught me a lot about the newspaper business,” he related.

In addition, to Mills’ guidance, he accepted the advice of both former prime minister, the late Dr Eric Williams, to read books, and of a British news editor at the Gazette that he (Babb) is being to “know everything”, and to never say, “I don’t know”.

“So I fell in deeper love with journalism,” Babb related. He recalled the early days of Mills and himself working at Newsday, going up against two established newspapers.

“People said the market is too small for three newspapers.

I told Therese Mills, ‘we’ll show them!’ The doubters gave us the ‘fire’ to produce that paper,” he said.

“For the first three months I worked that staff from Sunday to Sunday to Sunday to Sunday.

“Nobody complained.

Everybody was happy.”