After their victories, both took time to praise the overall winners for their tremendous efforts in what has become one of the region’s top triathlon events on the calendar.

Ross defended her national title in the Olympic distance in two hours, 32 minutes and 49 seconds (2:32:49) after finishing fourth overall among the women.

Venezuela’s Genesis Ruiz won the category.

The Olympic distance requires athletes to swim 1.5km, ride 40km and run 10km.

Costelloe, competing in the same distance, won the national men’s title after finishing sixth overall in 2:21:13. Barbados’ Jason Wilson placed first.

On retaining the national title, Ross said, “(I feel) ecstatic. I believe last year was a bit of a jewel in the rough that I won Rainbow Cup (overall women’s title), so this year I am happy to just claim back the (national) championship.” Ross congratulated Ruiz for winning the overall title, saying she was unbeatable on the day.

“She was on fire, wow, I saw her and she was just in her zone, and when you get a person in a zone there is no stopping them. Congratulations to her.” Ross said the conditions were fair but it was somewhat challenging.

“The race conditions were actually pretty good.

The water was a bit bumpy, but not too bad. The bike is always a rolling hilly course which is always tough on any of the athletes.

By the time you get on that run, it is either scorching or extremely scorching.” Costelloe commended Wilson for his achievement and described him as a phenomenal athlete.

“He is the first triathlete I believe from the Caribbean to qualify for the Olympics in the sport of triathlon. He is a professional athlete and that just goes to show the difference between an amateur like myself and a professional athlete.

It clearly showed today, he was well in front of me. Congratulations to Jason on winning the triathlon.” Despite not winning the overall and men’s title, Costelloe was satisfied on taking the local crown.

“It feels great once again. Last year I came second, so this year I got back first place so it is a great feeling once again,” he said

As a wedding guest, you should look timeless and photo-ready. You wouldn’t want to look back on wedding photos, and wonder to yourself, “What on earth was I thinking?” There’s a time and place for bold, trendy and striking makeup; someone’s wedding is not that time or place. Of course, the bride will be the star of the show. Adorned from head to toe, she will be a vision: her dress, hair, nails, makeup, shoes, jewelry and the works. There is, however, an important rule that some people tend to forget: Wedding guests should never try to upstage the bride. So today, we will be learning to do a long-lasting and appropriate makeup look. I recommend aiming to be understated.

Try to enhance your features without going overboard. Focus on the skin looking good; Keep your look soft, simple and subdued. Avoid harsh contouring, bright colors and chunky glitter. Always start with a clean, moisturised face. Prime the skin to smooth away any texture and create a long-wear base for your makeup.

Consider your setting; if the wedding is during the day and outdoors, keep your makeup lightweight.

Heavy makeup will look more pronounced and cakey in natural day light. If the wedding is during the night or indoors, you can afford to wear heavier coverage. Dim indoor light is way more forgiving than harsh natural light.

For the most flawless finish, dampen a beauty sponge, and apply your foundation and concealer; use bouncing motions to blend. You can also powder your face using loose powder on your damp sponge. This technique is called baking, and it creates a smooth, matte, long-lasting finish.

Remember to sweep away the excess powder after a few minutes. Instead of heavy contouring, sculpt the face naturally using bronzer. Avoid actually contouring with the bronzer as it will look quite unnatural. Instead, use a large, fluffy brush to sweep bronzer over the higher points of your face: the temples, over the cheekbones, on the jaw line, over the nose and a little on the chin. It will create a sun-kissed and slenderized effect. Opt for a mineral or baked blush, as they tend to be naturally luminous. Sweep it over the apples of the cheeks and back towards the hairline for a sweet, rosy look.

I always say that if your skin looks good, you don’t have to do much more to your eyes or lips to look put together. Fill in any sparse areas of your eyebrows using an ash-brown pencil if needed, then comb through with an eyebrow brush to soften and blend the pencil. For the eyes, sweep a champagne shade across your eyelid. Blend a mid-toned brown into the crease with a fluffy brush. Highlight your inner corner and brow bone with a light color for a lifted, brightened effect.

Apply eyeliner and mascara. Since the eyes are so neutral and universal, you can opt for any lip color you like. Whether it’s a nude, pink, peach, red or plum. Pick a color that compliments your skin tone, eyes or dress.

Your last step should be setting spray. This will take away the powdered look and set your makeup.

Remember, your makeup doesn’t have to be boring.

It just needs to be appropriate. Your look can be jazzed up in unique ways to reflect your personal style. You can choose between a matte and glossy lip. Add a pair of false lashes to amp up your look a bit more. Add winged eyeliner to elongate and define your eyes. Use highlighter on your face to add more of a glow to your skin. Or add a pop of color to your eyes by using a colored eyeliner on your waterline or smudged on the lower lash line.

He is also recommending a system where mental health officers could be called to help calm a mentally ill person with a sedative, taking them down with “ a needle” instead of bullets.

Deyalsingh was responding to reports of a soldier shooting Edison Thompson, 45, of Princes Town on Friday.

Thompson, who was aboard a bus on Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, attacked a soldier with a hammer and was shot in the buttocks. He was taken to Port of Spain General Hospital where he died. He was the forth mentally ill man to be shot and killed by a member of the protective services.

Speaking to Sunday Newsday, Deyalsingh said global reports state that with every successive generation, not only did the number of cases of depression increase, but the people who suffer from the illness were younger. In fact, he said the second highest cause of death in people ages 16 to 29 was suicide.

“We know mental illness is going to increase.

Different factors are bringing on mental illness in terms of poverty, unemployment and other societal issues… If it’s increasing, our encounters with people who are mentally ill will be more.

Meaning, we as normal people who are walking, as well as the police officers will have to deal with it.” He said police and soldiers who have to deal with the public should be trained to assess the risk of a mentally ill person, the level of danger that person poses to themselves and to the public.

He said psychological assessment was a part of training at the Police Academy but after a year or two that knowledge could fade. He suggested continual training, especially as that section of the population was increasing.

In the meantime, he advised the police not to rush in but step back; get a plain-clothes officer if possible because the uniform could frighten them; speak to the person slowly, in a non-confrontational manner; if they are rambling, repeat what they say so they know you are listening to them. He said these things could help calm the person and lessen their aggression enough to apprehend the person.

He said people suffering from mental illnesses were “ten time more likely to be a victim of crime” so non-lethal ways of subduing someone was important – possibly by shooting the person in the foot or with the use of rubber bullets or tasers.

However he stressed that, “In the case of life and death situations, you have no choice but to defend yourself because it is either you or them.” Deyalsingh also suggested making a crisis intervention team of mental health officers available to the police.

Therefore, if the police encountered someone with a problem, a team member could be called to the scene.

He said the mental health officers would be better trained on how to talk to the person. The patient may know the mental health officer if they attended a psychiatric clinic in the area and it would be easier for the officer to deal with the person.

In addition, he said the mental health officer would carry a Haldol injection, a drug used to calm an agitated person.

“We could take them down with needles instead of bullets.” To the average person, if a person seemed to be mentally ill because of their speech or behaviour, it was best not to look the person in the eye. In fact, he suggested avoiding all contact as they could be paranoid or have delusions and react aggressively.

If the mentally ill person approached in an aggressive manner, show your hands and back off and tell them that you were leaving. If they still approach in a confrontational manner, then run.

The legalisation of one specific age of consent to marry automatically leads to the age of consent to access sexual and reproductive health and literature (access to contraception, abortion, contraceptive literature/ pornography etc) without parental consent.

The success of this mandate and the potential for disharmony among our religious bodies, as a result, can become a precedent for the rule of law superseding religious freedom.

The defining truths of pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-family based on religious freedom may then be challenged in a court of law.

Therefore the leaders of this wonderful multireligious, multicultural country where every creed and race find an equal place need to think long and hard about the long-term consequences, and not only the immediate, of major decisions of this nature.

Provisions should be made for different ages, while also considering the dignity and respect of women. We must allow for freedom of choice.

It may also be food for thought that in many decades gone by, (before tertiary level education) many young men and women were married before the age of 18 by choice, as they were considered mature enough to raise a family.

Do they no longer exist, or is there some other agenda at work here?

TONIA LEACOCK via email

Rather, he said Government should have paid more attention to increasing the income base of the country and efforts to transform the economy .

“Moving forward, the issue of property tax, in my view, has always been that this country is overtaxed already and that to tax homes where persons have lost jobs and are fearful of losing their jobs – many who are working live on the edge where their disposal income is minimal and to put that fear factor in the one place where you are supposed to be comfortable. I do not believe that we should pursue property taxation,” he said .

Ramadhar gave his position in an interview with reporters at the start of his constituency’s Food For All God’s Own initiative at Helping Hands Recreation Ground, St Augustine.The initiative addressed the need for citizens to grow their own food .

The former legal affairs minister had led the “Axe the tax” campaign when it was proposed by the People’s National Movement in 2009 .

Saying that the focus, at this time, should be on economic diversification and not property tax, the MP claimed many people were fearful for the future .

“I have spoken to so many who are telling me that they are so fearful for the future of this nation that they are looking to see if they can go elsewhere,” he said, adding that TT’s brain drain has accelerated .

“When you see the shortage of foreign exchange, many persons, if they have money are trying to convert it to hold on to US dollars in the event things should get worst .

“Therefore, you can’t put more fear on people. The reality is that nobody is sure what valuation they will get to their homes and what they will be required to pay.” Asked if he would have supported the property tax if TT was experiencing economic prosperity, Ramadhar said: “I think, philosophically, in a country of great wealth, ‘No.’ “I do not support property tax in the form and fashion that has been put forward from the 2009 issue for two reasons in particular: the issue of the arbitrariness of the valuations and the issue that any property tax raised in a community should be used for the benefit of the community and not put in a consolidated fund so that we could use that money to build a highway to Toco as an example.” After an injunction by former UNC minister Devant Maharaj to have the implementation of the property tax halted, the Court of Appeal on Wednesday gave the green light for Government to resume the collection and processing of valuation forms to effect the property tax but ordered the procedure could only begin after the Commissioner of Valuations publishes notices in all three daily newspapers indicating the resumption and voluntary nature of submitting the forms .

The court further ruled the notices are to be published one day a week for three consecutive weeks with the procedure officially resuming after the first notice is published .

Ramadhar said the property tax issue could have been handled more maturely .

“I think it is really a shame where we could not have had a more mature approach, especially from the Minister of Finance (Colm Imbert) where it was obvious that they were acting illegally when they threatened the population that they could be prosecuted if they did not file these forms,” he said .

“The court has clearly stated that there is no legal basis upon which you could have threatened or indeed prosecute anyone.”

The association in a media release yesterday said it wanted to clarify certain reports based on the Khan’s contribution at the recent Joint Select Committee (JSC) enquiry into the state of mental health services and facilities in Trinidad and Tobago.

The association said that a broadcaster and other media outlets reported that Khan suggested that the SE A exam was partly to blame for students being placed on suicide watch.

“This is an incorrect record of comments made by Dr Khan.

Her comments on the SE A exam were in direct response to a question by the Committee chairperson on whether the SE A exam was a factor contributing to suicide amongst students. Dr Khan indicated that the SE A is indeed stressful for both parents and students and it would be worthwhile to conduct more research into the impact of the SE A exam on students.” The association also sought to correct a media report in which Khan is reported as stating that 400 students were on suicide watch based on a Pan American Health Organisation report.

The association pointed out that Khan had noted PAHO’s significant and creditable contribution to suicide prevention.

She had also said that there had been meetings to develop a National Suicide Plan led by the Health Ministry “and the figure relating to the number of students in schools on suicide watch was given by a stakeholder at one of these meetings.” “The cited figure was subsequently erroneously attributed to a PAHO report in one newspaper.

Dr Khan did not attribute any report to the PAHO or to the Ministry of Health, neither was any specific report on this issue identified by Dr Khan in her contribution to the JSC. “ The association commended the JSC on its work and expressed hope “that the evident commitment and fervour of its members can lead to tangible developments.” The association also commended the Ministry of Health and its Mental Health Unit for their work in engaging stakeholders to develop strategies to address mental health issues.

“The association is heartened by the current level of national interest in improving mental health. There are many gaps that need to be addressed and the association is resolute in its commitment to contributing to developing effective solutions to mental health problems, including that of children at risk of suicide. We thank you for the opportunity to be of service.”

It probably wasn’t really a word at all, before the age of marketing and PR, when distorting reality came to be regarded as a skill. After all, a bridge goes over things, and sea can’t be said to go over itself.

In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, it was no doubt designed to make the two entities sound more like one. So somebody seized on a term that freight companies had developed to make the process of shipping goods from one land mass to another sound simpler.

Islands are very often beautiful and charming places, having beaches because by definition they are surrounded by sea. They are pieces of the earth that used to be joined to somewhere else.

Islands make you realize the world really is unimaginably old, when solid rock gets breached and prised apart. It didn’t happen overnight. Nothing on that scale has happened in our recorded history, but it has happened in the past and it will happen again.

Islands also inevitably have access problems. The first visitors to the Caribbean islands came across by canoe and continued to conduct their pillaging and abduction trips that way until eventually bigger vessels were invented.

Paddles gave way to oars, which were superseded by sails and then big, heavy, noisy steam engines. Diesel raised its ugly, powerful head. Wooden hulls were replaced by steel ones and eventually fibreglass.

But still it was a palaver to get from mainland to island and back. The way it transpired here, because these islands were claimed by countries other than those in the north of South America, the mainland ceased to be the chief destination, and going from one island to the other became the routine.

Although modes of transport grew faster, the slick talkers of the 20th century were impatient, and if they couldn’t make something with the solid immediacy of an actual bridge, they could at least use a term that conjured up the idea.

It’s the “seabridge” that has been making unwanted headlines recently, because the boats keep breaking down. Bridges don’t do that, apart from the few that move, like the up-and-down split of Tower Bridge in London, and the humbler but equally entertaining one in Curacao, which is hinged at one end and swings open horizontally like a huge petrol- operated gate, its bulk supported by dinghy-like floats.

Ships have mechanical failures.

They have them frequently, it seems. And old ones inevitably break down more often because of wear and tear. We know this, because we have seen a few come and go over the years. But has there ever been a more unreliable service than the one that exists in 2017? Dr Rowley, no stranger to inter- island travel, if more often the aerial variety, went to try the marine option for himself recently and duly found himself stuck on the water while the bloody-minded engines demonstrated that they are no respectors of rank.

When I first came to these islands I found myself on a twinhulled vessel that was eerily familiar because I had been on one just like it (if not the very same one) many times before in the English Channel. That part of the world has similar requirements to this, and if it is any consolation, they’re having trouble in the Channel Islands too. A year or two ago the ferry operator, Condor, took delivery of a big new piece of cutting edge marine technology that they christened Liberation, a play on words that combines the freedom of the islands after occupation by the Germans during the Second World War with the notion of a quick and easy option for getting to and from the UK and France.

But the Liberation kept breaking down. It still keeps breaking down. They despise and ridicule the thing over there.

In the realm of vehicle manufacturing, there is the supposed phenomenon of the “Friday car”, imperfect but pushed through the system and off the conveyor belt quickly because the week is over and it’s time for a drink at the Duck and Peasant.

Maybe we’ve simply been unlucky and got ourselves a Friday boat. In which case it should be foisted upon the first available buyer, while our brave boys and girls seek out a better replacement.

With a new paint job and a change of name, the TT Express could be operating a disrupted service off the coast of Thailand next year.

But TT transport operators take note: don’t buy the Liberation when Condor finally decides to get rid of it. It hasn’t sunk (yet) but it is so unreliable that sometimes they wish it would.

By the way, if you’re looking for a cheap cargo vessel, there’s one on a beach in the Turks & Caicos Islands. It ran aground in a storm in 2012 and it’s still there.

L o o k s okay to me. And my finder’s fee – shall we say ten percent?

Before the Lower House passed the legislation which amended the country’s marriage acts, Singh said there are increasing numbers of female-headed households with three times more females under 19 who are heads of households than males. Singh also said the country had to look at the effect of Carnival on sexuality and the availability of legal abortions and sex education in schools, suggesting these were all of greater importance than the legislation of early or forced marriages.

However, Minister of Arts and Culture Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly challenged Singh’s association of Carnival with sex, saying many people enjoy the season in ways that enhance their cultural expression. She questioned what she said was his fixation with Carnival and sex while she thought Carnival was equated with culture.

According to Singh, family life experts estimate that about 15 per cent of all live births are to adolescent parents with the average age of first sexual intercourse being 14. He said there were about 3,000 pregnancies a year in schools and wondered how the legislation would deal with that situation. He added that when the last census was conducted by the Central Statistical Office in 2011 more than 40,000 children were born to persons under 19 and 6,000 children were born to persons under 14, which he said was a high indicator of teenage pregnancies.

He said, “These statistics demonstrate that only a fraction of those were in the context of marriage and related to such social scourges as incest, rape, and generally early cohabitation as a socio-cultural norm.” He said statistics prove that girls have almost equal access to educational opportunities as boys – 97 per cent – and have been excelling through to tertiary levels where they have been outnumbering and outperforming boys. He said gender equality in education has seen this country ranked higher than many developed countries and these statistics make the legislation virtually obsolete. He said the study also showed his country had fewer females out of schools than some developed countries, meaning more girls were making use of the education system, so there was no evidence of forced marriages of those who were 12 to 16-yearsold.

“With higher levels of education, girls are delaying marriage and also because of the advice of parents, religious leaders and elders.”

Last month’s parliamentary motion by my friend, Senator Wade Mark, on “parliamentary autonomy” attracted my interest for a number of reasons, one of course, being my own experience as Independent Senator for over 12 years.

This column does not necessarily disagree with the motion, but uses the opportunity to briefly raise a few issues over Mark’s subsequent proposition for “administrative autonomy, financial autonomy and institutional autonomy.”( Hansard) Mark argued for a parliament with stronger powers so as to control and check cabinet policy- making powers as well. “A strong parliament represents a strong democracy, a strong legislature means a very powerful and independent body that can hold the executive to account and, if necessary, dismiss a prime minister.

We must have that power,” he declared, and with “Markian passion,” exceeding the motion’s “financial and administrative autonomy.” He also spoke about full-time MP.s. He added: “Parliament cannot continue to be the plaything of the executive.” “Institutional autonomy” has political implications.

As Minister Gopee-Scoon replied, her government has some sympathy for “financial autonomy,” but pending further clarification, especially on institutional autonomy, it’s not a matter that should be “rushed to a joint select committee,” and further, the population should also have a say, etc.

This debate, as I said, reminds me of the executive president debate a few years ago. The proposal was for an elected MP to be nominated and approved by majority vote to be executive president who will then choose the 25 member cabinet – nine MPs, 16 outside. A half-way US model.

Note: As long as the prime minister appoints the cabinet, as long as the cabinet is drawn from the majority party in parliament and the Westminster controls applied, there would be great difficulty in having a parliament so strong so as to control or even over-ride the cabinet and government.

More precisely, our Constitution states: “There shall be a Cabinet for Trinidad and Tobago which the Cabinet shall have the general direction and control of the government and shall be collectively responsible therefore to Parliament.”(Section 7(1)) What does “collectively responsible” mean? If it means the executive is accountable, as I think it does, such accountability is in effect limited even when the Constitution states: “Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Trinidad and Tobago.”(Section 53) The Constitution further states: “The Cabinet shall consist of the Prime Minister and such number of other Ministers (of whom one shall be the Attorney General)…as the Prime Minister considers appropriate.” Section 75(2) This is the executive whose party and government are directly accountable to the population.

So the question now is really this: Who should control parliament? And if “independence” and parallel executive powers are to be given to a multi-party parliament, how much recalibration and political adjustments would be necessary? Especially in a multi-party parliament with political alliances.

Some constitutional and electoral changes would be required.

Senator Mark’s intervention encourages us to re-visit constitution reform.

In its reference to having a president as both “Head of State and Head of Government,” the Wooding Constitution Commission (1974) stated: “The overwhelming majority of people (consulted) advocated a largely ceremonial Head of State who would have some powers in the appointment to offices of a national character. If the President were to be both Head of State and Head of Government, he would have to be elected by all the people.” Sixteen years later, also struggling to find a presidential balance between government and parliament, the Hyatali Constitution Commission argued for “joint agreement between the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader,” then through the Speaker, put the nomination before the Electoral College. Like Mark’s motion, and as we look back, democ r a c y is always a work in progress.

Government should never be a burden to its citizens.

No government should impose a traffic fine that is more than the fine for possession of arms and ammunition. No citizen should be so burdened by taxes that it stifles one’s ability to support one’s family.

Almost every political party in governance over the years seems to lose touch with the population shortly after being elected to serve. Ministers of government believe they no longer have to account to the people and blatantly refuse to answer pertinent questions with arrogance. Rather than showing empathy for citizens, they bold-facedly make excuses for incompetence and indifference to human suffering.

Projects to improve our infrastructure, reduce traffic congestion, enhance agriculture, increase tourism, restructure our healthcare and education are shelved for short-term projects geared towards repaying party supporters.

No longer are politicians concerned about simple things like improving our water distribution system, local government restructuring, structured police patrols, regulating squatting on public and private lands or ensuring that our justice system is elevated to a place where citizens can once again trust our courts to effectively and efficiently deal with conflict resolution.

Perhaps governance blinds those in office to the realities on the ground. The people are saying: We are willing to pay property tax but not the complex structure that is being proposed.

Simply increasing the old taxes by a percentage in keeping with changes in the economy, like a 1,000 percent increase on the old taxes, is a better and less costly structure that is proposed. The proposed new traffic fines are punitive rather than fair.

Local government reform is long overdue. Legislation to reduce the case load in courts, introduce plea bargaining, reform the prison system and set up special courts to deal with violence and gun-related offences are long overdue.

The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure’s failure to deliver, the Tobago ferry service, the state of our roads, the lack of attention to buildings like the Red House, Whitehall and President’s House all point to incompetence. Mass transit is a serious requirement to reduce traffic congestion, not a political football.

WASA must be able to deliver a better water supply and restore roads with immediate effect or be restructured in partnership with the private sector. Tourism, agriculture and sports are areas where the Government can earn foreign exchange and provide employment for the many graduates that continue to join our workforce. It’s time to reduce the reliance on Government for sustenance and replace the initiatives with creating avenues for self-development and business growth. This requires partnership with the business community.

It’s time to listen to the people again. The nation cannot wait for election after election to change government and hope that in office someone will hear the cries of the people.

STEVE ALVAREZ via email