And that means the USA. Although the list of available channels on your service probably includes options from all over the world, do you find yourself attracted to what’s on in Russia, France or Spain? Naturally I like to keep up with what’s happening where I come from, so there’s a bit of BBC and Sky on the agenda for the news and sport, but for general entertainment it’s the US networks that have the most to offer.

They also have the best selection of unintentionally amusing adverts (or as they would say, “commercials”).

That’s not to say the adverts on local TV aren’t funny — also often unintentionally — but on the smaller operations there is a major source of irritation: too few ads, too many slots.

That means you get the same ones every 20 minutes, and even the best are only a hair’s breadth away from annoying after two or three exposures.

It’s mainly to do with money. TV films don’t have the same “production values” as Hollywood movies.

That is to say they generally don’t have big-name actors or directors, the locations aren’t so exotic and the whole package is usually unambitious because the producer can’t afford to bring fancy ideas to life.

TV ads suffer from the same lack of funds.

The great screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men etc) pointed out in a book about writing for films that the reason no movie ever opened with 50 camels coming over a hill in Central Park was not down to lack of imagination, but practicalities.

Where are you going to get 50 tame camels? What about import licences and insurance? What they can do in smaller, less sophisticated territories, is get away with claims that wouldn’t be allowed in the great metropolises of our time.

Fifty years ago the world was full of adverts proclaiming that “Guinness is good for you”, whereas now in most places you can’t say that, because it’s an alcoholic drink, and all alcoholic drinks are evil.

Even earlier than that, in the golden age of smoking, when a surgeon in a film could be shown with a Marlboro dangling from his lips while he stitched someone’s oesophagus, the spin merchants tried to persuade the public that a smoker’s cough was actually their wonderful brand of cigarettes getting rid of that pesky mucous that had been there all along. But in 21st century America, a country besieged by Big Brother-like bodies peering over everybody’s shoulder, advertisers have to watch their step, and one can’t help but feel sorry for the people selling medicines.

The powers-that-be have decreed that they can only spend the first 20 seconds or so of their one-minute slots extolling the virtues of their products before some motormouth voice-over artist launches into auctioneer- style overdrive to give us a gruesome I-wouldn’t-if-I-wereyou catalogue of side effects that always seems to include headaches and upset stomach.

Do Americans feel safer for being told there are more bad points to this stuff than good? Do they go to bed feeling grateful that although they still have their medical condition, at least they don’t feel nauseous? Probably not. But it’s a country where litigation is almost a national sport, as the advert that follows is quite likely to illustrate.

Did your legs fall off after you used this particular decongestant? Are your eyes now the colours of camouflage since you worked at the top of a dockside crane? If so, there’s a firm of ambulance-chasing lawyers that wants to look at your case and try to get you – and itself – some compensation.

It’s a question of what you’re used to, I suppose, and British broadcasters tend to be a little more reserved than most. Perhaps the most extreme form of over-the-top reaction in sports broadcasting is that habit South American football commentators have of shouting “Gooooooooooool” when somebody scores. It was mildly amusing the first time we heard it, but for goodness sake give it a rest, amigos.

We know it was a goal and we’re about to watch it 17 times from every conceivable angle. We get the flaming picture.

During the brief passages of actual programmes that fill the time between commercial breaks, you can catch over-enthusiastic news anchors trying to sound excited about things that are actually rather mundane.

As one who likes to give people credit for a bit of intelligence, perhaps it is na?ve to see this approach as quite insulting to the general public.

But really, we’re not all 95-yearsold, desp e r a t e l y lonely and hard of hearing – and even if we were, would we really like to be spoken too in that way?

Did a hurricane pass over this coastal region undetected? ‘Why such damage?’ seems both a significant and fair question. One can only imagine what would have happened in Matelot and the other villages if they faced a tropical storm or hurricane.

This situation is indeed a wake-up call for the State, civil society as well as for present and former residents on the north coast. There are parallels between this situation and the passage of Hurricane Matthew that lashed Haiti and south Florida. With the passage of the hurricane in these two places the outcome was vastly different. The areas affected in south Florida recovered fairly quickly; Haiti is still counting its huge losses.

Similarly, torrential rain in Arima or Port-of- Spain may not leave the devastation that was left in Matelot. What is the common denominator between Trinidad’s north coast and Haiti? The answer is: neglect and consequent poor infrastructure that render a community very vulnerable to natural disasters.

People must be prepared for natural disasters but the basic infrastructure of a country or village must be ready. Since neither a tropical storm nor hurricane hit the north coast, the significant damage there must mean that the infrastructure was not strong enough to resist the winds, rain and floods that did come.

Were the bridges and retaining walls strong enough and properly maintained? Were the roads properly maintained? Were trees periodically trimmed? These are questions the Regional Corporation, central government and the residents themselves must ask.

There is a relationship between poor infrastructure and maintenance and the devastating effects that a natural disaster has on a community. It is not enough to say the weather was beyond our control. That is being grossly irresponsible. What is in our control is the amount of money spent in areas with sparse populations.

The people of Matelot, Sans Souci, Montevideo, Grande Riviere and Toco are just as important as the people of Arima, Diego Martin and San Fernando.

What should guide spending on development and maintenance of basic infrastructure is not population density, but the dignity and worth of people and every person. This is basic Catholic Social Teaching. North coast development matters; north coast villages matter; north coast lives matter! The central and local government must be challenged to keep rural development at the forefront of national development.

There is a simple question we can ask in Trinidad and Tobago to determine our priorities with respect to urban and rural development. What is the profile on the national landscape of the Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago compared to its counterpart the Rural Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago? Something to think about.

In the meantime while we re-focus on the needs of vulnerable rural communities, the present and ex-residents of the north coast must also do all in their power to

Maybe my stance was too negative, that instead of lamenting the objective reality, I should be appealing for that same sense of logic and good moral sense which my fairly objective assessment has found virtually non-existent both at home and abroad.

Admittedly, there are good things and good people in this country such as the absence of any volatility in race relations as elsewhere, even though, especially in the politics, we are a race-based society. And as for good people, this country is well noted for its positive response to needy cases, especially at this time, and equally noteworthy is the civic consciousness many display in volunteering to clean up our beaches, despite repeated calls to keep our beaches clean.

But instances like the latter continue to abound, not because of any intrinsic malice on the part of the perpetrators, but simply because of a lack of appreciation of the environment, which a well taught lesson on “The Daffodils” by Wordsworth or on a nature painting by Cazabon would have helped to counter.

The point here is the lack of proper schooling, together with other issues like poor parenting or little or no peer pressure, is the one factor that inculcated that lack of awareness, causing the would-be perpetrator to see no wrong in littering on the beach or elsewhere.

And the same can be said about the carnage on the roads.

Calls are being made, as in the media this week, by hapless relatives losing loved ones for drivers to slow down or to be more discreet and considerate on the roads.

However, such appeals fall like water on a duck’s back in the same way that calls to keep the environment clean seem to fall on deaf ears simply because there is no intellectual consciousness about a clean environment or the dangers of poor driving.

Once again there is no malice, but mere ignorance, not in the disparaging sense, but simply a despairing cry for the mind of a nation, suffering the pangs of cognitive dissonance as to the way we should think. Which is why appeals by the poor mother who lost her sons will blow aimlessly in the wind unless our educators see the need to educate our children to critically assess the things they do and say, so that cumulatively, in the long run, they can make intelligent choices on the roads and on the nation’s beaches, inter alia.

DR ERROL BENJAMIN ebenjamin522@hotmail.

The increase is expected in distance of running and speed of running which should both be increased at the same time. Hill running gets said increase also.

The aforementioned must be under supervision of the team doctor. Running must be every two days, with the intervening days spent on other aspects of the game.

This regimen should find the squad at least close to full fitness by the time the two March fixtures arrive. Those results will inform future action as it relates to fitness.

Russia, here we come.

GEOFFREY BYRON Arima

Am I dreaming, or is this for real? Very Stalinesque indeed.

Chavez, Castro maybe? Imagine it’s almost 2017 and we must shut up, before we get Roget, Abdulah or Warwick vex. Yes, 2017 and we are listening to these1950s throwbacks. The day after the illustrious steel workers went to celebrate their win in that great Industrial Court, beating drums etc, ArcelorMittal shut down and left. The party came to an abrupt end and tears flowed. I suppose they felt “we was just kidding”.

Do the unions not learn anything? But sorry, I forgot, the unions are businesses too, riding on the backs of the workers.

Check the cars they drive.

Then a government minister suggests “maybe Government could give workers a piece of land so they could open a PriceSmart.” Well! Well! Anyway, let me shut my mouth before union police come for me.

DAVID SALINGER Maraval

In fact I expect no less from him.

I said no such thing.

To set the record straight, what I did say was that the terminology used in the statute, “harsh and oppressive”, was offensive and it should be removed as it made businessmen look evil and like they were brought up in Siberia under Stalin.

I need not have to remind the trade union movement and Roget that, just like them I have a constitutional right to freedom of speech, and unlike them do not abuse that right.

Almost every night on TV we have an in-your-face bullying of the Government, the business community, and atrocious comments like “if the public has to suffer, then so be it.” This country is going down the tubes and the trade union movement seems to be hell-bent in taking it there.

TT is reputed to have the worst labour laws in this part of the world, which the unions take advantage of to the maximum, and they now want to make it worse.

As for the court itself, there is an imbalance as there is not one business representative on the panel of judges.

Finally, I will not retract one word of what I said at that meeting.

I myself refuse to be bullied. I will continue to stand up and call Roget out, as this has got to stop.

And forget about recrimination and victimisation as I am too old to care.

F MOUTTET Westmoorings

The notion of intolerance was toxic, having the potential to fuel conflict. And even if it did not directly induce violence, failure to accept freedom and opportunity for all could perilously stifle consolidation of a peaceful, embryonic democratic society.

Current societal attitudes and behaviours leave profound doubt about our continued commitment to the challenge we adopted then “… to translate the ideal of our national anthem into a code of everyday behaviour, and to make our nation one in which every creed and race find an equal place”.

The hallmark of democracy is that the majority rules. But as a political system, democracy thrives where respect for the rights of minorities exists and is institutionalised.

They must be free to try to convince others of their views. Denial of the right of all to participate in politics inhibits contestation of ideas; impairs access of citizens to alternative views.

Democratic governance promotes robust processes which foster deliberation, allowing superior ideas to emerge and the flaws of bad ones to be exposed. Ideas therefore succeed on the basis of support freely given. Sadly, this is of trifling concern where political engagement is confined to wallowing in the cult of the personality.

We are no strangers to situations where governments, under the guise of regulations, apply political muscle to restrict potential rivals or debar legitimate opposition from participating in the political process and advancing their ideas. It is not uncommon, too, to find those, intoxicated by political power, trying to muzzle the media.

Such intolerance denies people access to all relevant information, ensures failure of the market for ideas and engenders distrust in politics and the political system.

Democracies flourish when there is free and open debate of political differences.

Tolerance prevails where all political ideas (and the groups holding them) have equal access to the marketplace of ideas. In this context, citizens ought to know who influences governments; who owns and controls the media; the relationships between media owners and contending political groups; the laws governing freedom of expression and how they are applied.

Political tolerance also extends to how we define and plan our future.

In plural societies like ours, governments must accept that meaningful national development is rooted in medium to long-term commitment, underpinned by active cross-party/interest group involvement and support.

Accordingly, they must formalise arrangements to guarantee genuine participation across multiple divides in decision-making and implementation. At the very least, they ought not to obstruct people’s movements dedicated to the purpose of democratic governance.

Today, there is popular disaffection in the country, linked to a growing disconnect between leaders and their followership. We need an infusion of mindfulness and respect in our political affairs in order to nurture tolerance and restore the yearned-for hope in a society, now seemingly in complete disarray.

WINSTON R RUDDER Petit Valley

Lara was comparing it with the decline of the West Indies team.

I would like to remind Lara that West Indies cricket has been on the decline since 1993, therefore close to 25 years.

Now that is very disturbing, so we (WI) cannot be compared with Australia.

Sooner rather than later, Australia cricket would rise again to the number one spot, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC), and our cricket would remain in the low rating by the ICC for a very long time.

That is unless proper procedures are put in place by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), with the assistance of the various cricket boards in the region, with proper respect for the players in general who are the employees of the WICB.

KELVIN LA ROCHE St James, PoS

This was the word coming from TTFA coordinator of Technical Programmes Jamaal Shabazz.

Shabazz said the planning phase will take centre stage during this month, as the FA will engage the various entities and regional associations that will be affiliated with the nationwide programme for boys and girls.

“There have been a lot of rumours that the Elite Development Programme has been started but it has not been started. I did not come to run around the programme. I came to run the programme,” Shabazz said.

“We will start in a proper way and all the zones and the country at large will know about it. It is not a secret.

The sponsors have made a great input. NLCB have demonstrated that they have planted the corn. We want the butcher to send his son, the baker and the candlemaker to send his sons and daughters to be part of this programme,” Shabazz added.

The TTFA will announce, among other things, the schedules of screening sessions and selections in due course.

Speaking about the running of the programme, Shabazz explained, “it will take a lot of wellplaced personnel to coordinating the efforts required for this. We are so thankful that NLCB have stepped forward as the sponsor of such a programme.

We are talking about engaging people from in the zonal associations across the country and then when we finally get the elite pool, we will need the coaches who will be qualified to coach that pool.

“We will need a large staff mainly of coordinators and coaches.

We have already spoken to UEFA about setting up a course to teach coaches how to scout for talent and then we will also have a specific course for youth development in a more specialised way,” Shabazz said.

Representing TT at one of the most important and prestigious junior tennis tournaments in the world will be Adam Ramkissoon, Aiden Carter, Solange Skeene and Yin Lee Assang.

This globally-recognised event brings together over 1,500 of the top ranked male and female 12-and-Under and 14-and-Under junior players representing more than 76 countries.

Over the past 55 years, tennis legends such as Chris Evert, Jimmy Conners, Mary Joe Fernandez, Monica Seles, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have showcased their athletic talent.

Current professionals Caroline Wozniacki, Genie Bouchard, Maria Sharapova, Sloane Stevens, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Kei Nishikori, and Andy Murray – 2012 Olympic and 2013 Men’s Wimbledon champion and past Honorary Chair of the Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Championship – have also competed in the past.