Methinks thou doth protest too much! Three reasons to doubt Venezuela explanations …

After managing the Covid-19 pandemic so well, why did Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley score this own goal with the high-power Venezuela meeting?

His team was doing well. Couldn’t his handlers advise him to duck this one and move on to the good news of opening up the country?

Instead, thinking people are now doubting the veracity of his statements—and in particular when it is coupled with anticlimactic Cambridge Analytica closure. Here are three reasons why some of us think that his loud protestation might mean there may be more in the mortar than the pestle.

The first reason for suspicion is because no plane can land here without a detailed manifest and an equally detailed declaration of the weapons on board. The vice-president of Venezuela is unlikely to be arriving on a plane without her bodyguards and their arms and ammunition.

Ask anyone who worked on the Summit of the Americas and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGUM), they will tell you that even the entourage of the United States president had to get clearance for firearms to enter the country. Such clearance is provided by the minister of national security, especially in a time when your borders are closed. Saying that that is the job of the technocrats is true but does not absolve you from ultimate responsibility.

People in the aviation business also tell you that even when aircrafts fly over another country’s airspace, they need to provide information about the type of aircraft, number of passengers, plane tail number, names of all souls on board and final destination. If for some reason Trinidad and Tobago waived these requirements, then a diplomatic permit would have been issued and again the Prime Minister would have known.

My second cause for suspicion is the composition of the delegation. It is reported that the reason for the visit was to discuss Covid-19 but on our side we do not see the presence of either the minister of health or the chief medical officer while on the Venezuelan side, there were energy officials.

It is possible for persons to have double competencies but I would be suspicious of such a mixture.

My third reason for doubt is the level of aggression which is being exhibited—though I must admit that the drama in Parliament was entertaining. The US did not need the leader of the opposition or her colleague to bring this matter to their attention so this is a cheap shot on the part of the opposition.

It is my fervent wish that other issues appear on the horizon and that our country is not penalised for this mis-step.

Additionally, it is necessary to question the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the imbroglio. Was Minister Moses consulted and what advice did he give with reference to our obligations under the Rio Treaty? Or is it that the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been so diminished that they are no longer even consulted?

On balance, this is a very unfortunate situation for the Prime Minister and I am reminded of something I read in an e-card: “Funny thing about getting caught in a lie. Everything you ever said becomes questionable.”
And I might add, everything you are about to say will also be questioned.

Dreaming of tomorrow, how recovery team can help T&T’s ease of business

There is always a gap between perception and reality. Communicators have to operate within that space trying to narrow the gap and strengthen their intended message.

The government opted to use moral suasion to get citizens to stay at home, but a drive or walk through neighbourhoods, towns and cities gives a perception of non-compliance. People are going about their business as usual.

What else accounts for the number of cars parked around certain establishments? What else accounts for the foot traffic in certain areas?

What we are experiencing is the surreptitious opening of various establishments in order to survive. As a people we have mastered the ‘sneak’, and this will continue until there is serious enforcement of the rules across the board and a reduction in the perception that some are more equal than others.

We are doing well in limiting the spread of Covid-19 by applying sound science while appealing to the non-scientific feature of duty and morality.

This is really an appeal to a deeper sense of responsibility and concern amongst our people forgetting that our dominant behaviour is to ‘fix yuhself first’. Further the systems, structures and process which shape that behaviour have been crumbling.  The ‘sneak opening’ is just another way to work around the system.

For us to emerge on the positive side of Covid-19 we need to embark on a massive culture change initiative with buy in at all levels. Even if the prime minister’s ‘dream team of 22’ comes up with a most appealing plan, it will fail unless the people are energised around implementation.

I note recently the life given to the legendary quotation from management guru Peter Drucker: ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’. One interpretation of that quotation is that it means how things get done is more important than what is being done.

Our Achilles heel will continue to be the elements which feed into the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) indicator. The Covid-19 recovery strategy must comprehensively tackle those factors, which brought us from number 62 on the EDB list in 2010 to 105 in 2019.

The current prime minister has been in the Parliament for almost half of our period of independence. During his 29 years, he either witnessed or presided over the demise of some of our systems and processes.

He is now in the fortunate position to preside over the re-start of the economy. There are a number of things that are needed and all cannot be achieved, but my wish list comprises three areas of focus: ensure the final assent of the procurement legislation, reduce the number of state enterprises, and provide a laser focus on strengthening the systems, processes and procedures which will help our country move towards the lowest position we ever held on the EDB index.

The crisis of Covid-19 presents an opportunity for us to shape the future society of our dreams but we must listen with our hearts, create and support systems of compliance and provide open and honest feedback to our collaborators.

We can do this!

Most of us have six unique numbers with which we are identified. They are our Board of Inland Revenue and National Insurance Scheme numbers as well as those found on our birth certificate, identification card, driver’s permit and passport.

I posed two questions to my friends in the digital space: Is this desirable; and how difficult is it to collapse these into one?

The unanimous response was multiple numbers is the most inefficient way of keeping track of citizens’ records. Based on a 2014 World Bank Report, 120 of 193 countries implemented a single unique identifier for each citizen from birth.

Imagine if we had such a system. The government would be able to identify the exact number of citizens under the poverty line and be able to provide the support they need in times like this Covid-19 pandemic. It would streamline the distribution of food cards to the needy and provide a history of distribution.

Minister Camille Robinson-Regis commented recently that her ministry will use local government bodies and community-based NGOs to find everyone who needs help. Had there been a system which accounts for each citizen, the Ministry of Social Development would have been able to rely on proper data to find everyone who needs help.

Having a unique identifier for each citizen should provide transparency since it minimises the ability to double dip, undetected, for benefits. Under the current system, we were told of the number of food cards distributed to MPs for their constituents and hopefully there is a system of authentication. But our new normal must be driven by hard data which will minimise the potential for people falling through the cracks.

On the challenge of collapsing those six numbers into one, my digital friends suggested that it is doable and not a very complex activity. They noted that other countries did this over a period of time with a seamless transition.

In 2009, the India government engaged in the biggest biometric ID programme in the world when it established the Unique Identification Authority of India to issue unique identification numbers to their citizens.

The sticking point here would be getting clean data from each of our ministries as well as dedication and the will to change the current bureaucratic structures. In other words, understanding the ecosystems within which the work is done and applying the necessary resources to mining the data.

Designing a system for 1.3 million users was equated with designing a system for McDonald’s, which employs 1.7 million persons across more than 100 countries. We need only the political will to move into the 21st century.

This Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing required forced many companies to implement remote work strategies and prompted the government to hasten certain online transactions and move closer to implementing online education.

The changes made by this pandemic should be maintained with a view to moving Trinidad and Tobago into the digital space and strengthening our systems and processes. My Covid wish is for us to begin the process of collapsing those six unique numbers into one. It will be a giant step towards the modernisation of Trinidad and Tobago.

If we go back to our archaic paper-based systems we would have lost the exciting opportunity which this crisis has given us.

Maybe there is an opportunity here to engage our digital gurus to design the new system as an online challenge.

T&T must emerge from pandemic as healthier, more tech savvy nation

April 7th marked the 55th month of Trinidad and Tobago being under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr Keith Christopher Rowley and no one could have predicted the current scenario.

Not in our wildest dreams did we contemplate that we’d be engaged in a daily tally of deaths versus confirmed cases of Covid-19. Yet here we are, confined to our homes with no KFC, doubles or ‘chinese’ food, as the virus continues slaying whomever it wishes.

In the midst of this, we have an opportunity to innovate and redesign our society for those who are left standing at the end of this pandemic.

Already, we are seeing the government leverage technology to change the way it delivers services to the citizenry. Almost overnight payments to citizens are being made by direct bank deposits, and citizens are being directed to online interactions.

It would be a terrible, mindless waste of time, effort and money if we abandoned our newly acquired skill set after this pandemic.

At this point we have a tremendous opportunity to change the game. With approximately 71% of our population using the internet, the country is in a good place to redesign our approach to work. Getting more people working from home would require that systems of accountability be baked into renewed work designs.

The removal of KFC and doubles from our list of ‘essential services’ is likely to directly improve our individual and collective health. There is no coincidence that the increase in non-communicable diseases came with the introduction of fast foods to our country some decades ago. We are all now forced to prepare our own meals and eat them in our homes.

An article on the Harvard Health Publishing website suggests that cooking at home leads to daily consumption of fewer calories, fats and sugar which can result in the reduction of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

There will be the genuine response by many that they do not know how to cook. This response will provide a unique opportunity to educate the community about preparing healthy, nutritious simple meals as well as suggesting a basket of goods.

This lock-down is an opportunity to re-fashion our collective palettes and re-learn healthy eating habits.

Professor Roger Hosein recently made a plug for backyard gardening and commented that if we are able to feed ourselves, we will reduce our need for foreign exchange, which is likely to become more scarce post-Covid-19.

Daily, Agricultural Economist Omardath Maharaj lights up social media pages with his pleadings for us to preserve food and nutrition security at the level of households.  Hopefully a positive fall out from Covid-19 will be taking a different approach to food self sufficiency and a move to ‘plant de land’ as the late Ras Shorty I urged.

Covid-19 has provided us with an opportunity to pause, reflect, hit the ‘reset button’ and move towards a different Trinidad and Tobago, where technology drives our approach to work and we turn inwards to find ways of feeding ourselves. We must stop being afraid of our stigmas regarding agriculture and other kinds of work we might consider to be menial.

Right now, cleaning and health staff are the ones on the front line, and we hail them as heroes. Why not farmers also?

If we lose this opportunity, our nation is likely to join the list of least-developed countries where people are malnourished and the country is unsustainable.

Over the years we have experienced the feast and famine that being dependent on oil and gas has brought us. The prediction is that there will never be a return to the high oil prices of the 70s and 80s so we have to diversify more importantly become food self sufficient.

Let’s do this!

Imagine the day when the minister of health announces that we have not just flattened, but broken the COVID-19 curve, and no new cases have been reported for the required number of days.

For some, it will be a joyous attempt to return to life as we left it before the pandemic. For others, it will be the sober reflection that the world as we knew it has changed forever. And for a few, it will be the moment for which they were planning, ready to roll out new plans and hit the reset button.

One thing is certain, the road between here and that ‘freedom day’ is going to be long and treacherous, and not all of us will make it to the end.

When our country emerges from this pandemic, we should have reflected on the inequities that exist in our society and contemplated the reduction of these inequities for the common good.

Governments have been schooled that the way to reduce inequities is to increase transfer payments, create make-work projects and support an unproductive and bloated public service. This has been funded by the gains from the energy sector. We know the model is unsustainable, but we continue to try to make it work for our respective tribes.

The blessing of energy resources generates a curse of laziness, keeping us from thinking of different ways to craft a new society forged on the principles of equity and justice. Our leaders seem to believe in the maxim, ‘if it isn’t broken, then don’t fix it’. They have forgotten the chapter that discussed the benefits of innovation, which might have led them to a place where they could see that ‘it’ was in fact broken.

While we are on lock-down from this coronavirus, we should be engaging in some scenario planning to work out our revival strategy. It is an opportunity for a bipartisan approach to crafting a new future vision of our country.

I dream of a joint communiqué that announces a think-tank, comprising nominees from both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, tasked with the responsibility of developing and detailing a national recovery plan and strategy. Such a think-tank would be able to leverage technology and demonstrate to our people that a team of collaborators can work towards a common goal that is beyond individual interests.

It would signal that the Yellow and Red can work together for our common good. That is the kind of leadership we expect and hope for in times of crisis.

This pandemic provides us with an opportunity to rebuild a Trinidad and Tobago that is better and more humane. If we lose this opportunity and continue a business-as-usual attitude, we run the risk of descending into full-state barbarism where inequities prevail and ‘tenderpreneurship’ facilitates the rich getting richer while the Mighty Stalin’s ‘sufferers’ continue to care only ‘whey de nex’ food comin’ from’.

We can change this narrative and consequently change our reality, but we need the courage to be different and to act differently.

COVID-19 has presented us with an opportunity to leverage our human resources to develop new ways of feeding ourselves and to design different approaches to working from home, therefore reducing our carbon footprint and congestion. We can change the import/mark-up business model and reshape our reliance on government.

COVID-19 is an opportunity for Prime Minister Keith Christopher Rowley to be the prime minister who brings the country together to craft a vision of the future that is inclusive and sustainable. Let’s do this!

A chance encounter with a Spanish-speaking person in the croisee in San Juan has prompted ‘una crisis’ of my own amid the Covid-19 pandemic. A young man from Venezuela was trying to find his way to Port of Spain to meet someone. He had only arrived in the country a few hours before our encounter and was transported to the croisee. I gleaned these details from my limited knowledge of Spanish peppered with lots of sign language and abundant ‘Spanglish’.

What if the Venezuelans who continue to come in through our porous (i.e. unwatched, unguarded) border areas are asymptomatic carriers of the dreaded Covid-19? How would we trace them and, more importantly, what is my personal responsibility at this time?

The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) reported that Venezuela’s health system is not prepared for the pandemic. While they have confirmed at least 42 cases, this figure is likely to be unreliable because 70% of hospitals do not yet have access to test kits. Additionally, in 2019, the Global Health Security Index ranked Venezuela among the least prepared countries to respond to the pandemic.

My concern is that our officials often refer to borders as being ‘porous’, and I have not seen any communication about how we plan to mitigate this risk. It might just be that I don’t have the information, but when the minister of national security, in a June 2019 Express article, announces that our borders are now closed, I understand it in terms of official ports of entry—airports and maritime. But who is patrolling the numerous other points of entry; especially since 50% or so of our coastline faces Venezuela?

According to the June 2019 Express coverage of the sod-turning ceremony to mark the building of the new Carenage Police Station, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith said: “Because of where the station would be, I would now take this opportunity to let you know that we can now use the opportunity for this station being here to deal with the problems we have with criminal activities coming along the seafront.”

Much of this language is phrased in the future tense; I have not found any commentary speaking about our current approaches to patrolling these porous borders. At that same ceremony, the prime minister is quoted as saying: “… the TTPS Marine Branch was removed some time ago and replaced with nothing.”

The TTPS Marine Branch was closed in 1989 under the then National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government. The government is well aware of the high risk we face with limited or few methods for patrolling our borders. The worry used to be guns and drugs; it has escalated now to an invisible threat on the bodies of some uninvited guests.

What is happening to contain the spread of Covid-19 by illegal immigrants, especially from Venezuela? My chance encounter in the croisee is just one example of how exposed we are as a population. And it is not comforting.

Social isolation and physical distancing by the citizenry will work only to the extent that all other containment strategies are in place and observed. All that is needed for an explosion is one asymptomatic case to be on the loose.

I await the announcement of strategies aimed at really policing our porous borders. But the silence is deafening.

Social media lights up every time Dr Michelle Trotman speaks about Covid-19, although she admits that she is not a ‘Facebook person’. The authenticity with which she delivers is endearing at a time when our officials just don’t understand how to engage the population. Dr Trotman spoke to us with no frills, no pretensions and in easily understood man-in-the-street language.

Monday’s news conference by the prime minister and his loquacious minister of health was going very well until the PM allowed himself to be distracted by his angst with the leader of the opposition. In responding to a legitimate media question, he dismissed her letter with the caustic remark: “I have serious business to do for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”

He further commented that on the previous Friday, the opposition voted to prevent him from addressing parliament on the Covid-19 issue and asked the rhetorical question: “Is that the same one who is writing me now? To tell me what?”

Well, Mr Prime Minister, an overture by the leader of the opposition is serious business for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, including the hundreds of thousands who voted for the UNC.

The history of our response to Covid-19 is that it was first raised in parliament by opposition member Dr Tim Gopeesingh on 30 January. His attempt to raise it as a definite matter of urgent public importance was rebuffed by the Speaker of the House Bridgid Annisette-George. The matter was subsequently raised in the Senate where it was also not allowed for discussion.

History will judge the decisions of the Speaker and the president of the Senate when the fallout from the coronavirus is finally recorded. Just maybe, if the matter was discussed since 30 January, Trinidad and Tobago would have been in a far better place.

The more important issue to my mind is the lost opportunity by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition to demonstrate to your employers — the taxpayers — that you can collaborate and work across party lines for the greater good. Both leaders in parliament need a good spanking (‘cut arse’ in TT vernacular) for allowing this issue to degenerate into a tit-for-tat public spat.

They are saying to us that they neither trust nor respect each other to be able to come together when the nation is in crisis. Our leaders should not be encouraging the population to view this and other issues through partisan filters. Issues should be addressed by their level of importance to the population.

Covid-19 will not discriminate, nor infect according to ethnicity, social status, geographic location or party affiliation. Given the demonstrated small-mindedness of our leaders, citizens need to find ways to support each other and find the leadership amongst each other to act in our best interest.

This pandemic calls for self-restraint, self-directed learning and the willingness to heed the global calls of social distancing, hand washing and sanitisation. We need to take leadership and look out for each other because it is clear to me that those people in parliament are only looking out for themselves.

May we take the lessons of surviving COVID-19 to make a difference to our country. Our politicians seem to lack the capacity to take us to that mythical place where the Tajo, the Loire, the Nile, the Thames, the Yangtze, the Euphrates and the Ganges all meet.

It’s been more than 15 years since the Piarco Airport corruption scandal, and the once high-flyer Renee Pierre is before the court to answer three corruption charges. My late mother from behind–the–bridge used to say: “Friends will carry you, but they won’t bring you back.” This is still stellar advice—especially for women.

In the lead–up to the celebration of International Women’s Week, the local press reported that Pierre was initially charged alongside Brian Kuei Tung, Ishwar Galbaransingh, Steve Ferguson and several other men and companies. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dropped those charges against her in 2005 and laid new charges.

She is now on $250,000 bail, which was taken by her husband. The irony of this situation is that the Piarco II preliminary inquiry has not yet been completed.

The system has done well to bring one of the perpetrators to answer charges before the court. But what about Kuei Tung, Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson? Hopefully, they too will soon have their day before the court, as stark reminders that this country must address white-collar crime and crimes of corruption wherever they arise.

I find it intriguing that after 15 years, the fisherman’s hook has caught the gill of the smallest fish in that sea of corruption.

How is it that this woman has not been able to establish an impenetrable ring-fence to protect her from being hauled before the courts? Is it that she just cannot afford to dish out the huge sums required to keep the wheels of justice turning in another direction? Or is it that she is the only guilty partner?

My impression is that she was just a small fry in ‘big fish business’. From all the anecdotal evidence, some big boys know how to play the game. (Recall the cleverness of the First Citizens IPO issue where the actors paid a fine, held on to the majority of the proceeds and boldly declared that a settlement was reached without the ‘admission of wrongdoing, guilt or liability, whether civil, criminal or otherwise, on the part of Bourse Brokers Ltd (BBL) and/or its managing director’.)

Sisters, we are often guilty of facilitating criminal activity by associating with wrongdoers. Let us learn from Renee Pierre and say no, both to the proceeds and to associating with the perpetrators.

As a matter of fact, for equity to prevail, women must have the courage to stand up for what is right and just. This is a good time to understand that when things go wrong, as they sometimes do, women seem to lack the capacity, and/or courage, to pitch the ring-fence, so we end up on the wrong side.

Let’s find the courage to do what is right because it is the right thing to do.

Demming: Caring for our helpless; to ignore them is to risk your humanity

There’s a human who walks in small tight circles on the pavement in Champs Fleurs in front of a successful company. His fingers on one hand are visibly rotting, his smell is putrid, he made me think of the personification of the ‘creature from the black lagoon’.

I first saw him three months ago and he has continued on his daily pilgrimage in his own hell while commuters like me drive past, taxi people hustle their passengers and employees walk by to get to their stations.

I am told that the aforementioned company has reached out to the Police, the Ministry of Health, The Ministry of Social Services and even sought legal advice; but everyone is constrained by the laws—so unless he agrees, he cannot be removed against his wishes.

The conclusion is that, as a society, we shall observe his slow death on the pavement in the name of human rights. Little by little we shall preside over the decay of a human being until he dies in front of us and little by little the memory will fade.

What is unfortunate is that there are several of these cases on our streets and in our parks, though many of them are in the early stages of deterioration.

This particular case is a thorn in my side. We simply cannot throw our hands up in the air and do nothing. This case is a crisis which requires state intervention. Someone has to be bold enough to come up with a strategy to heal this human being. He ought not to be allowed to fester and die on the pavement.

In the larger context, the issue of vagrancy and homelessness has to be solved. It not only impacts the persons who are sleeping and defecating on the streets but it affects each witness to such abnormal behaviours. In the early stages we may be nauseated but little by little we turn away until we no longer notice; and that is the point at which we begin to lose our humanity.

It was American writer and novelist Pearl Buck (winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932), and recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature who wrote: “Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilisation is the way that it cares for its helpless members.”

This case is yet another example of the extent to which our institutions are failing and it is also an opportunity for collaboration amongst our politicians to deal with this humanitarian issue.

The Parliament website points the researcher to the 2017 inquiry by the Joint Select Committee into the effectiveness of the State’s intervention programmes aimed at socially displaced persons. There is a well presented report with more than 20 recommendations for both short and long term action. The report even mandates that the specific recommendations be implemented in time frames between 3 and 24 months.

However the follow-up report is not available to track which of the recommendations have been implemented. Again there is an implementation deficit. Had we conducted a comprehensive survey of the socially displaced in Trinidad and Tobago as recommended in the report, we would have been able to track each person as is done in other countries.

We continue to defer opportunities to prevent the deterioration which is occurring before our eyes. We know what to do because the reports which we have paid for provide solutions. Implementation is the problem.

Will we continue as we are? Or will we begin to acknowledge that every human is worthy of our efforts to care for them and put the systems and procedures in place to make a difference?

It is time to change and we must collectively make the change.

Desperadoes Steel Orchestra is in no position to refuse the generosity of the prime minister, but the population can. We can tell Dr Rowley that the reasons Despers left the ‘Hill’ are still with us and may even be more deeply entrenched as we count the daily shootings, killings and incidents of violence being perpetrated on some innocent citizens.

The population can tell the prime minister that the property at the corner of Tragarete Road and Victoria Avenue is an ideal location for the theatre concept he is espousing. We can tell the prime minister that gentrification cannot occur simply by placing one icon in a prominent location. The population can tell the prime minister that based on our history, his time frame of a Christmas present is unrealistic.

Despers’ departure from the Hill is symbolic of the deep decay eating away at the core of our society. Crime is a problem that has evolved around the poor judicial infrastructure that has developed over decades and has influenced society’s mindset to accept it, further escalating the spiral.

We accept that there is no single root cause, so an array of solutions will be needed. But crime will not be solved until the population perceives that there is equity and justice.

On one hand, we refer to the ‘criminal elements’ and are comfortable referring to human beings as ‘elements’. Meanwhile, our white-collar criminals use their office, access and money to buy their way into the good graces of politicians, and it is perceived that they can even manipulate the justice system.

I am personally still smarting from the First Citizens’ IPO issue. Recall that a settlement agreement was arrived at without any ‘admission of wrongdoing, guilt or liability, whether civil, criminal or otherwise, on the part of BBL and/or its managing director’.

The players were able to pay a fine, hold on to most of the profit they derived from this deal and continue their lives of luxury. Do you not think that the ‘elements’ can read and understand the extent of this inequity?

If the prime minister had made an ‘incognito’ visit to Despers at the corner of Tragarete Road and Victoria Avenue, he would have felt the love that existed in the panyard this year. From the day of the judging of Youth Panorama right up to the night before the Panorama Finals, there was peace, friendly banter and a communal spirit.

I saw persons in that panyard whom I used to see regularly ‘up de hill’ and some commented that they felt safe enough to return. It is hardly likely that they will visit Despers on George Street because it’s too far from main transit access, locked in by buildings on all sides, and in an area where some might consider their personal security at risk, justified or not.

The plan to redevelop the city of Port of Spain by providing entertainment and exposure of the country’s culture to citizens and tourists alike is a great one. But building a Pan Theatre for Despers in the heart of a decayed part of the city will not stimulate that redevelopment.

You cannot hope to change the character of a neighbourhood by placing one icon there and hoping that everything else around will magically improve. For one icon to make a difference, there has to be a plan that includes access, foot traffic, other activities and security. Gentrification from the bottom is destined to fail.

I understand the graciousness of Despers to say thanks, but as a citizen I am calling on the prime minister to reconsider his decision. The 12th Panorama victory of this band deserves giving them a fighting chance to become sustainable. And, right now, George Street is not the place.