LEZAMA, HAROLD ManagingDirector, Owner and Founder of Lezama Electrical Services Ltd died on 23rd April, 2017. Son of Catherin & Juan Lezama. Husband of Bernice Lezama. Father of Otis & Otto. Father-in-law of Shervonne. Grandfather of Xena &Xenon. Brother of Everlyn Toppin, Lennox, Mervyn, Freddie, Tony, Trevor, Sylvester, Margaret Lezama, Lucille Phillip, Mary Rampertap, Donna Petit-Walker, Susan Wright, Joann, Gerard,Cathy Ann, Nanette Petit &Luan Homer (dec.).

Brother-in-law of June and many more. Uncle of Roxanne, Michelle, Markus, Shaun and many more. Friend of Tony & Annette Telfer, Maralyn Sheppard, Kenny Rampersad, Russle Ramsammy, CynthiaGhany, Fishing Tournament Community and many more.

Funeral service at 10.00 on Thursday 27th April, 2017 at Church of the Assumption, Maraval thence to the Crematorium, Long Circular Road, St James. Cremation at 12.30pm. For enquiries; call C&B:625-1170

CALLENDER, Frank Stephen died 19th April, 2017 Husband of Doreen Callender, Father of Ancil and Neal Callender, Father-in-law of Ginnelle Callender, Grandfather of Nathaniel Britto, Immanuel and Immani Callender, Son of Cecil Kenwyn and MaryLucy Callender (both deceased), Brother of Oliver Vignales (Canada), Agatha Charles, Peter Callender (London), Kenneth Callender, Catherine Callender (Canada), Marjorie Chow Cop, and Ann Mary Extavour.

Eileen Callen-der-Sealey (deceased), Cletus Callender (deceased) and Andrew William (Bill) Callender(deceased). Uncle/ Great un-cle of many. Friend of Shawn Randoo and many others.

Funeral at 9.30 am Wednesday 26th April, 2017 at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Cremation to follow atthe St. James Crematorium. To send condolences please visit www.clarkandbattoo.com. For enquiries; call C&B:625-1170ARTHUR

The Facebook page @MHIsUnderstood (Mental Health Issues Understood) became a parallel intervention to this feature column in April 2012. Renamed as Mental Health Matters, T&T (MHMTT), in the earlier days the support/outreach forum struggled to get attention because this issue about speaking openly was not a point of comfort for people.

Looking comparatively at the traction from other causes of casual and comical interest was disappointing. I often wondered if people thought to “Like” the page was an admission of something untoward. But then there were some positive moments when people grabbed the opportunity for an intervention.

April 2012:

“After reading your segment in today’s Guardian, which so many of us can relate to, we are all up to our eyeballs in what makes us ‘sick & tired!’ You are allowed to have a bad day Caroline and after writing and getting it off your chest, I hope today finds you feeling plenty better!

I just had a massage on my back, shoulders & neck area, my therapist told me that my muscles were like concrete, she thinks the reason for that with me is that I don’t vent! So there you go, go ahead and vent!

April 2012 (MHMTT responds):

It’s amazing this venting. Today was a better day. I finally returned my friend’s call. Then decided I needed rest so I went back to bed. Late this evening I planted more than a dozen anthuriums and cleaned up my entire propagating area. I plan to write about the benefits of venting next!

I think I have mastered the “vent” without being a complainer, but that came with years of practice. My first nervous breakdown had to do with stuffing my deepest feelings on many matters that were a bit much for a teenager.

Sometimes, when I look at how others ‘milk’ their situations to gain attention and sympathy, I am sometimes tempted, too. But my independence and sense of self and the always having to prove myself coming in at eight of eight children and with a disability has steered me elsewhere.

Facebook User May 2012 (MHM inbox)

When I was at college I paid with my health for not eating and resting properly. During that time I was wont to become worried over exams. But my love for what I studied overrode all the hardships. When I left, I was extremely upset and extremely depressed because my son’s health was affected with the up and down—so many things affected my ability to continue a major one being financial.

Honestly, I became suicidal and its only now I have decided to come to terms with it, I spoke with the college admin and asked that they make social services more visible because had I known of them I may have found an alternative way to deal with everything.

Facebook User June 2012:

It’s not something that can be spoken about easily. I dared to tell my potential boyfriend at the time, and he thought I was being stupid to even harbour such thoughts. I dumped him eventually. It amazes me how quick people like to invalidate how you feel instead of digging for the root of why you feel that way.

Facebook User February 2013

I have recently been diagnosed with depression and started medical treatment and therapy. I am turning 45 in March and I am married. The journey is a difficult one because everybody has an explanation for your behaviour.

As I have gotten older and only just recognised that depression was the cause of a lot of my issues I am determined to get all the proper care I can. I am experiencing one of my episodes currently, even while on medication so that’s a little scary for both me and my husband because it means me missing work until I feel better.

Sorry to go on and on but I stumbled onto your article in the Guardian today and I was happy to see someone brave enough to come forward in this SNAP-OUT-OF-IT society.

I wish you Jehovah’s speed.

Reply (MHMTT):

Thank you for your sentiments.

I remember changing doctors when my meds seemed not to be working but it takes a period or many periods of adjusting before I got the meds correct.

Depression, unfortunately has no regard for your cycle of work, life, etc and can impact so many facets of your life.

You have a husband and support is wonderful.

November 2013

Hi. I have a question about the laws within T&T with regard to mental health. Can a family member “section” another member of the family if he/she believes the person is mentally abusing a senior member of the family and physically threatening another member of the same family/household?

Also can anyone under the Mental Health Act (if TT has one) be forced to take medication to improve their mental health especially for the safely of another person(s)?

Like everywhere else, Trinidad & Tobago has its issues. Beside the impressive, if dubious, Trinidadian official information about literacy, tertiary education, the number of tall buildings constructed and so on, ideative conflicts and activism about women’s and children’s rights, public corruption, and social justice abound.

Such conflicts define a nation as a political and social entity, and provide the basis for a national conscience. And here enters US anthropologist David McDermott Hodges: he is interested in Trinidad’s lack of conscience in, or even consciousness of, what he believes to be the key issue of our time: climate change. His book, Energy Without Conscience: Oil, Climate Change and Complicity describes his search for an answer as to why and how this came about.

Prima facie, it is an issue about which T&T seems largely unmoved, which is doubtless related to hydrocarbons being the mainstay of the economy. Hodges writes: “Trinidad’s hydrocarbons appear to have solved many problems without creating substantial new ones.” Unlike Nigeria, where he has done work on the oil industry, there is no artistic or social consciousness of the phenomenon of living off the substance that’s choking the planet.

This mystifies and infuriates him, and the resulting book is an interesting, polemical look at T&T’s historical, economic and moral, constitution, as a single, interdependent formation.

To make his case, Hodges identifies energy (fuel) as a means and measurable unit of development. It began in the era of Spanish colonialism, with Spanish Governor Chacón whose unit of energy was the slave. There was an early counter to this from a Jesuit, Joseph Gumilla, who believed tropical sunlight was a form of energy, which could be harnessed to grow cocoa tended by European colonists. Naturally, this wasn’t taken seriously by the Spanish crown. But this counterpoint is an important part of Hodges’ argument.

From these origins, Hodges writes, “Energy without conscience…accompanied the rise of capitalism.” Post-emancipation, a new source of energy was introduced, by German immigrant Conrad Stollmeyer, who first began to exploit the Pitch Lake in the early 1860s, and refine the pitch to create kerosene. (The first, or one of the first, continually producing oil wells in the world was drilled in Trinidad in 1866.)

Thus began the hydrocarbon energy economy, which would develop in parallel with the labour energy economy of indenture, and surpass it post-independence.

There was, again, the counterpoint to the origin of the petro-economy in the “experimental” colony, which had been founded by abolitionist-turned-capitalist Stollmeyer, John Etzler, and the British Tropical Emigration Society, in the mid-1840s, before Stollmeyer’s Pitch Lake venture. This colony was to have created machines to perform labour using sun and wind energy. It failed. (Robert Antoni’s 2013 novel, As Flies to Whatless Boys, tells the story.)

From establishing this dynamic using what have, till now, been largely unexplored elements in the national historical narrative, Hodges proceeds into the present. He lived here in 2010, attended energy conferences at the Hyatt, looked at the local and international oil industry, and talked to local energy mavens—notably Krishna Persad, the leading geologist in the country —and environmental activists and regular people.

His Chapter 3, The Myth of Inevitability, is educational and revealing as it outlines the strategies of the global and local oil industry to create and maintain perceptions of petro-benignity and sustainability. His encounters with local environmentalists are hugely entertaining, as he points out their blind spots: being against a smelter or highway is self-interest. What about being against carbon emissions and thus the oil industry? Not much interest ensues from the activists, he reports.

Hodges tries to derive the logic of this posture —why carbon emissions seem not to matter the way, say, tobacco does—and he gets some interesting answers. The best answer comes from former prime minister, Patrick Manning. To look at T&T’s per-capita consumption and emissions (Manning said) is irrelevant given our size in the highly interconnected global energy schema.

It’s a good answer, as is its corollary, given by geologist Krishna Persad, that we are too small to effect even local energy praxis which is internationally driven. But neither satisfies Hodges, who continues relentlessly on his quest to find like-minded environmentalists to acknowledge the self-evident verity of his proposition.

He eventually finds a suitable environmentalist in Eden Shand, the former NAR minister. But his inquiry doesn’t end there. Hodges also examines (Chapter 5) T&T’s double-think about fossil fuels being institutionalised via the strategy of positioning itself internationally as a vulnerable island state, while profiting from being a petro-state. This strategy came from another former NAR minister, the late Lincoln Myers, a key figures in the formation of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) circa 1990.

The arguments are sharp and aggressive. A lot is left out, even viable and widely-discussed counters to his own propositions— like the ubiquitous, timeless Trini idea of “diversifying the economy” to reduce oil dependency. But no single study can capture a whole reality, and the author admits at the start and end it isn’t a detached study: “I have employed the condescending, judgmental tone of one who sees the future.” Lucky for him, this is a tone Trinidadians love.

Other problems were also evident, which were apparently not evident to Hodges. It’s obvious that he was “captured” by a class and worldview which shaped his perceptions. He lived in St Ann’s, Cascade in 2010, and mingled with its denizens (many of whom he names).

The consequences of this initial contact-socialisation are as amusing as his superciliousness in dealing with local ambivalence. They include his opinions that Earl Lovelace is the “national writer” and The Dragon Can’t Dance is the “national novel” of T&T. Especially unconsciously revealing is his encounter with a UWI professor at Carnival time who was “dancing with herself, with her body, blissed out and oblivious to the world”. This pretty much describes social group whose perspective he reproduces.

Apropos of this group, he seems derisive of Naipaul, and believes Trinidadians were “still angry” over Naipaul’s Middle Passage. Perhaps if he’d understood the term “Naipaulian”, and what it means for reconciling the absurdity and reality that Trinidadians live every day, he might have seen Trinidad in a different and more revealing way.

That said, the socialisation doesn’t really affect his main argument or its integrity too much. One gets the feeling he came looking for something and found it. To find otherwise was not on the agenda.

Nonetheless, as books go, Energy Without Conscience is interesting and useful polemic. Its conclusions and even a priori assumptions are contestable, but the book is passionately and capably argued, and the historical research, though selective, was adequate to make his argument. Its value resides in the proposal that T&T be held to grown-up standards for development, and the identification of a moral dimension of economic development. Any society which wishes to think of itself as mature and sophisticated must confront basic questions such as these and Energy without Conscience is a good and necessary reminder of that failing in T&T.

Energy Without Conscience: Oil, Climate Change and Complicity

David McDermott Hughes, Duke University Press, 2017.

Continues on page A29 From page A26

But no single study can capture a whole reality, and the author admits at the start and end it isn’t a detached study: “I have employed the condescending, judgmental tone of one who sees the future.” Lucky for him, this is a tone Trinidadians love.

National Under 15 Boy’s team head coach Russell Latapy has selected a 20-member squad to travel to the Cayman Islands for the Cayman Airways U-15 Invitational Youth Football Cup in the Cayman Islands from May 2 to 7, 2017.

Latapy’s team featured in training match against a Southern Football Association (SFA) invitational Under 15 team on Saturday at Ato Boldon Stadium, coming away 8-1 winners to follow up their 3-1 win over a Republic Bank Invitational the previous weekend.

T&T U-15s led 4-0 at half time through goals by Goals by Jean- Heim Mc Fee who notched a first half hattrick with items in 13’, 15’, 19’ and Jaiye Sheppard in the 21st.

Further goals came in the second half from Ezekiel Kesar 43’, Justin Araujo-Wilson 64’, Zachery Welch in the 68’ and Macai Peters in the 73’.

The teams carded to play in the Cayman tournament include Alchemy (USA), Bahamas Tottenham Hotspur FC (Bahamas), Cavalier SC (Jamaica), Cayman Islands National Team, La Ceiba FC (Honduras), Cuba National U15 Team, D.C. United (USA), Harbour View FC (Jamaica), Houston Dynamo Academy (USA), IMG Academy (USA) and Manchester City FC (England).

Latapy spoke about Saturday’s match and his final selection for the Cayman Invitational

“The game on Saturday against the SFA invitational was another valuable exercise in the sense that it allowed us to have the boys in a game situation which is again, preparation for the international tournament in the Cayman Islands and then the CONCACAF championship in August,” Latapy told TTFA Media.

Resuming their second innings on 93 for four, the hosts’ suspect batting once again stayed true to form, collapsing for 152 all out, 37 minutes before the scheduled lunch interval.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah added two wickets to his overnight tally to finish with six for 63 while debutant seamer Mohammad Abbas ended with two for 35.

Roston Chase, batting at number seven, was left stranded on 16 as his teammates failed to show the required judgement on a decent track that offered precious few devils.

Set 32 for victory, Pakistan were untidy and made heavy weather of the target before finally crossing the line 20 minutes after lunch, when captain Misbah-ul-Haq launched ineffective leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for consecutive sixes.

Both openers perished in the six overs possible before the break, with Ahmed Shezad nicking fast bowler Shannon Gabriel to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich in the third over for six and Azhar Ali playing on to pacer Alzarri Joseph in the following over for one.

On 13 for two at lunch, the visitors lost veteran right-hander Younis Khan in the fifth over following the resumption when he missed a full length delivery from Bishoo and was plumb lbw for six, with the score on 24.

By then, however, Misbah had had enough of his batsmen’s dithering. He smashed the second ball he faced from Bishoo back overhead for six and then cleared the ropes at mid-wicket off the very next delivery, to ensure victory.

For Pakistan, the success ended a run of six straight defeats while the result left West Indies with their 11th loss in their last 15 outings.

Entering the final day still 28 runs behind and facing the daunting prospect of surviving against the guile of Yasir, the Caribbean side required nothing short of a miracle but no such interventions materialized.

Debutant left-hander Vishal Singh and nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo, both yet to score at the start, saw West Indies through the first seven overs of the day and extended their stand to 21 before the first breakthrough came.

Vishal had just punched the previous delivery from left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir to the cover point boundary when he shouldered arms to the next ball and saw his stumps shattered for nine.

Bishoo (18), meanwhile, played and missed several times before losing his discipline, slashing at one from Abbas and edging to Younis at second slip. (CMC)

And two balls later with no addition to the score, Dowrich missed one that came back from Abbas and was lbw, leaving West Indies tottering on 129 for seven – only eight runs ahead.

Captain Jason Holder played positively on arrival, stroking three fours in 14 as he temporarily raised hopes of a revival in a 22-run stand with Chase. But he perished to a loose stroke, wafting at a wide one from seamer Wahab Riaz and edging a catch behind.

Yasir fittingly performed the final rites, trapping Alzarri Joseph lbw for one off the first ball of the next over to pick up his ninth five-wicket haul in Tests, before having last man Gabriel caught at mid-off, skying an attempted big hit.

The two teams will travel to Barbados for the second Test starting at Kensington Oval on Sunday.

The T&T Gymnastics Federation has lost in its bid to have gymnast Thema Williams’ multi-million dollar lawsuit against it struck out before it even reaches to trial.

Delivering an eight-page written decision in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday morning, Justice Frank Seepersad dismissed the federation’s application for a stay of the lawsuit in which Williams is seeking $11.38 million in compensation.

As a result of the decision Williams’ substantive lawsuit will continue before Seepersad

The federation was alleging that both its bye laws and athlete contracts prescribes that arbitration be used to resolve all internal disputes, and should be used in Williams’ case as opposed to the lawsuit before Seepersad.

However, Seepersad ruled that the clauses prescribing arbitration were imprecise and could not be considered as an effective dispute resolution provision. He also ruled that based on Williams’ complaints against the federation and its officials, it would be unlikely that she would be given a fair hearing before the federation’s disciplinary committee.

“Given the nature of Williams’ complaints, the Court has deep rooted concerns as to whether any dispute resolution process as outline by the federation would be fair, independent and impartial,” he said.

Seepersad also ruled that the disciplinary committee would be unable to arbitrate over some of Williams’ allegations made in her lawsuit.

“Even if some of Williams’ complaints could have been resolved via dispute resolution, other aspects of her claim cannot be adequately addressed via the said process and it would be appropriate to subject her to two set of proceedings in circumstance where all her complaints stem from the same fundamental factual matrix,” Seepersad said.

Seepersad also noted that the there were strong public interest in the case due to national interest in sport.

“There is, therefore, a very evident public interest concern in this matter and the selection process for representation at the Olympics is an issue that extends beyond the insular concerns of the parties to this matter and is one in which every citizen has a vested interest,” he said.

The lawsuit has been filed against the federation and four of its executives, in their individual capacity. The officials are David Marquez, Akil Wattley, Ricardo and Donna Lue Shue.

As part of his ruling, Seepersad ordered the federation to pay Williams’ legal fees for defending against the procedural application as it and not its officers raised the preliminary point.

The controversial dispute between the athlete and the federation began after Williams was replaced by Marissa Dick to represent this country at the Olympic Test Event at Rio de Janeiro event in April. Her initial selection was based on her performance at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Glasgow, Scotland on October 23, 2015, where she placed higher than Dick.

Williams claimed that her coach John Geddert was informed by the federation that she was withdrawn because she was injured, a claim which she denies. Alternate athlete Dick was selected to participate in the event instead and eventually qualified becoming the first person to represent T&T in gymnastics at the Olympics.

In her claim for damages, Williams is claiming compensation for her “loss of opportunity” and damage to her personal and professional reputation allegedly caused by the “harsh and oppressive” actions of the federation’s executive.

Her attorneys are contending that by failing to be given an opportunity to qualify for the last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, she suffered a huge loss of opportunity of endorsements, motivational speaking engagements and repeated business opportunities as well as a full scholarship to the Michigan State University, which she forewent in her bid to represent T&T at event.

Williams is being represented by Martin Daly, SC, and Keith Scotland, while Justin Junkere is representing the federation. Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, and Ronnie Bissessar are representing the four executives.

T&T’s Khemani Roberts and Zakiya Denoon had golden performances on the weekend dominating their respective events at the Morgan State Legacy Track and Field Meet in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States.

Roberts of Coppin State University won the women’s heptathlon tallying 5,038 points to take the top spot on the podium while Denoon of Monroe College sped to gold in the women’s 100 metres in 11.61 seconds. This after the freshman qualified with third fastest time of 11.96 in the preliminary round.

Denoon also a collected a bronze as part of the Monroe College 4x100m team who placed third in 46.66.

Her teammate Dawnel Collymore also saw action at the meet, facing the starter in the women’s 800m and clocked 2:16.43 to place eighth. The Monroe College freshman was 13th in the 1,500m in 4:58.67.

T&T’s Haysean Cowie-Clarke also of Coppin State attempted to complete the sprint double. He crossed second in the men’s 100m final in 10.48 and was 12th in the 200m in 22.05. His countryman Andre Marcano of Central Park Track Club (CPTC) New Balance also lined up in both events but his time of 10.95 placed him ninth overall in the preliminary round in the 100m and did not advance to the final. In the other race, he was 24th in 22.49.

Cowie-Clarke was also included in the 4x100m unit but his Coppin State team did not finish the relay.

Also getting success at the Baltimore meet was local field athlete Emmanuel Stewart who copped silver medals in the men’s discus with a best toss of 48.61m and in the hammer throw (52.33m).

Another T&T Coppin State athlete, middle-distance runner Mark London was in action on the weekend at the Virginia Challenge at the University of Virginia in Charlotteville and the junior was 31st in the men’s 800m in 1:52.62.

At the UTEP Invitational in El Paso, Texas, Jeminise Parris was outstanding, bagging two individual bronze medals and two gold with her Central Arizona relay teams. In the women’s 100m hurdles, the freshman was third in 13.47. Parris now leads the NJCAA in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.51. She also picked up another bronze in the 400m hurdles in 1:02.50. The sprinter then celebrated success with her 4x100 team, who clocked 46.25 and in the 4x400m, they won in a time of 3:42.54.

Local quartermiler Asa Guevara grabbed bronze in the men’s 400m in 46.81 for UTEP and silver with his 4x100m unit in 40.70.

At the Triton Invitational in San Diego, California, another Central Arizona athlete, Portious Warren was fourth in the shot put with a toss of 16.05m, improving on her 15.81m, she measured two weeks ago in placing fourth at the Rafer/JJK Invitational in Los Angeles, California. The sophomore was seventh in the discus with 38.61m and 11th in the hammer throw with 47.37m.

T&T men’s athletes were in a great form in Texas helping their Wiley College men’s track field team cop its fourth consecutive Red River Athletic Conference title at the Tatum Eagle Stadium.

Quinn-Lee Ralph, a senior, finished runner-up in three events, the 100 (10.50), 200m (21.38) and 400m dashes (48.10).

His time in the 400m surpassed the NAIA ‘A’ qualifying standard. Ralph then partnered will fellow T&T athletes Jesse Berkley and Machael Mark to emerge champion in the 4x100m relay in 3:15.94.

Mark finished third in the 100m in 10.74 as well as Kendell Perouza in the 400m hurdles (55.54).

Another local athlete Roger Ali was part of the Wiley College squad that narrowly won the 4x400m relay in 3:15.94.

Also on track was Wiley junior athlete Darion De La Rosa, who placed sixth in the men’s 800m at 2:04.07 and on the field, sophomore Ashton DeMurrell was fourth in the javelin, sending the spear 39.14m.

In Norman, Oklahoma at the John Jacobs Invitational, Mauricia Prieto just missed out on a medal, placing fourth in 55.77 and then got a bronze competing in the 4x400m relay (3:45.95).

At the Louisiana State University (LSU) Alumni Gold, Akanni Hislop of T&T was 17th (10.66) in the men’s 100m Section A race while his LSU teammate freshman Xavier Mulugata was 23rd in the Section B race in 11.00.

In the men’s 200m Section A event, Shermund Allsop of Tiger Olympians crossed in 21.38 to place 18th.

At the NSIC Indoor Conference Championships, Bemidji State freshman Jada Barker was 18th (26.06) in the women’s 200m and 12th (4:04.49) in the 4x400m relay.

In Arizona at the John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville, University of Missouri sophomore Tsai-Anne Joseph was fifth (11.86) in the women’s 100m.

An important development this week that is going almost unnoticed is the lack of involvement by many of local racing’s prominent owners in the Ocala Sales that begun yesterday. This follows a similarly low level of interest in the March Ocala sales. This lack of interest is directly related to both the uncertainty over the future of local horse racing and both the significant reduction in prize money and reduction in racing opportunities for the higher rated animals.

The lack of confidence into what the future holds for the local racing industry could be the most prophetic indicator of what is to come next. No one involved in the sport can articulate what is the current vision for the sport by those responsible for charting such a vision. What we are witnessing is a potpourri of measures being implemented. The measures implemented are neither coherent nor consistent with preserving or promoting the growth of the industry.

Racing needs both top class horses and quality West Indian bred horses to succeed because these are the groups of horses that attract the crowd. Any vision for the sport has to start with the animals at its very centre. It has to start with a vision to attract the best quality horses to this country, if not to compete permanently, to compete annually for some of the best prizes in the Caribbean.

Most visions begin with a goal to be the best at something, no one has (or should have) a vision to be and remain mediocre.

The significant cuts in prize money are therefore inconsistent with trying to become the best.

Right across the board, we have seen a significant reduction in the prize money for both the Classics and the top class horses. The best horses in this country are now racing for one third the prize money of what they raced for, as recent as three or four years ago. Instead, we are seeing a plethora of racing for horses in the lowest rating classes and when this is raised in relevant horseracing circles, those in authority argue that most of our horses are in that rating band.

No one there seems to understand the notion of cause and effect. Very soon maybe, all of our horses will be in the lowest rating band. One consequence of this is that we are promoting our horses above their ability to perform. This starts when the horses are in the three-year-old seasons and extends to many of the imported horses that we have imported in the past.

We only have to look at the record of some of our best three-year-olds in the four-year-old seasons to see the ineptitude of our handicapping. One of our best three-year-olds of 2016, Academy Award, has not been able to make any impression so far in his four-year-old season. We all remember the fate of our 2014 Triple Crown winner, Momentum, who was unable to win another race. These animals, along with many of their counterparts, are poster boys for the poor approach of increasing the rating of these animals based on successes in West Indian bred and Classic races.

Leading Lady who recently won the Infallibility Stakes against West Indian bred three-year-olds was promoted 10 points to 65 for that victory. She is now rated three points higher than Hurricane Harry and equal to Peace N Glory, both of whom beat her comfortably when they met earlier in the season. Should she go on to win the Triple Crown, she would likely end the season rated 80+.

Something has to be wrong with that. Lord Silver, who finished second by a head in the Royal Colours Classic was promoted seven points to 52. He would have to give weight to horses like King Arthur and Saragon should they clash in the near future. A maiden locally bred three year old.

We need to go back to basics in the horse racing industry.

The future of the Horse Racing Industry depends on it now more than ever.

Coneygree is obviously fit and a rarin’ to go, for resumption of a sensational career, otherwise this remarkable superior ten-year-old wouldn’t be declared for the six-runner Punchestown Gold Cup over three miles of a ‘good to yielding surface this afternoon.

That deduction, based on ultra common sense, hit home immediately and you need to take advantage because Coneygree is undoubtedly vastly superior and worth punting at odds-against, even though he’s only raced once since making all sensationally (as a novice!) in the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

There have been as many bulletins as we expect for presidents and prime ministers for Coneygree, so many times trainer Mark Bradstock experienced frustration but now, at last, Nicky de Boinville will be ‘legged up’ again on this magnificent, front-running, monster.

Patience is a supreme virtue (until you run out of time!), ours has been exhausted and put aside in resignation of inevitable closure but Bradstock was apparently buoyed by a couple of sensational gallops recently, “look at me, I’m ready,” insisted Coneygree.

Last month Sizing John won the supreme chasing award around Prestbury Park, in his wake were Djakadam, Champagne West and Outlander. None is capable of reversing placings and so, by process of elimination, today is just a question of Coneygree reproducing anything like his best time-handicap mark.

This really is exciting, nerve-wrecking for Mark and wife Sara, daughter of the late Lord Oaksey, but what a spectacle for National Hunt enthusiasts who will be thronging enclosures at ‘Punches!’

In stark contrast will an intriguing ten-runner Maiden Stakes over seven furlongs of ‘good to firm’ Catterick where Aimez La Vie, one of two ‘decs’ for Richard Fahey, looks a solid proposition under Paul Hanagan.

This combination has been deadly since Paul moved back North, following the unsatisfactory ‘sack’ from his number one status with Hamdan Al Maktoum, he has a point to prove (again!) that he’s the best jockey in England and you punters really must take advantage in the next six months or so.

Cilaos Emery surprise

Cilaos Emery gunned down Melon late on to run out a gutsy winner of the Herald Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, yesterday, after Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle hero Labaik reverted to type and failed to set off with the others.

The 8/1 winner looked beaten in third when turning for home, but stayed on gamely under a David Mullins drive to go on to score by a length from his Willie Mullins stablemate.

Melon, sent off the 5/4 favourite under Ruby Walsh, stuck to his task in second to give Mullins a one-two and boost his trainers’ championship bid, with Colin Tizzard’s Pingshou three-and-a-quarter lengths back in third.

Gordon Elliott’s Labaik, renowned for being a tricky customer having refused to race on a couple of occasions previously, was up to his old tricks at the start before eventually jumping off a long way behind the rest of the field.

The winner was given an opening quote of 25/1 for the Champion Hurdle with Sky Bet.

Olympic gold and bronze-medallist and the Caribbean’s most successful javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott can now add Atlantic Sports Ambassador to his repertoire, as he joins the LNG producer’s esteemed sports advocate programme alongside fellow Olympians Richard Thompson and Andrew Lewis.

Coming to the international forefront at the London 2012 Olympics, Walcott became the first-ever Caribbean national, and at 19 years old the youngest men’s contender ever to win Olympic gold in the javelin event, recording a throwing distance of 84.58 metres. Four years later in Brazil at the 2016 Olympic Games, Walcott took home the bronze medal for his third place throw of 85.28m. The young javelin thrower was also named the T&T Olympic Committee’s (TTOC) Sportsman of the Year for last year.

Nigel Darlow, CEO, Atlantic, said that Walcott was the perfect addition to the Atlantic Sports Ambassador Programme, given the heights he has already attained as a young athlete and his proven rapport with children eager to pursue future careers in competitive sport.

“As a young Olympian, Keshorn Walcott has an amazing story to tell, one which will inspire the next generation of athletes who will take their place on the world stage,” Darlow said. “Atlantic is very happy to help create the opportunity for Keshorn to meet with the thousands of primary school children who participate in the sporting competitions that we facilitate in our home community Point Fortin and also at the national level.”

Established in 2012, the Atlantic Sports Ambassador Programme enlists prominent national athletes as advocates of Atlantic’s sporting programmes to inspire young athletes and expose them to opportunities to learn from the wisdom and expertise of elite athletes. In addition to Thompson and Lewis, Walcott joins cricketers Merissa Aguilliera, Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard as Atlantic Sports Ambassadors.

Walcott said that he viewed the programme as an excellent opportunity to impress on young athletes the critical need to believe in themselves in order to advance in their chosen sporting disciplines.

“When I met with Atlantic, I immediately felt that our two-way partnership would be successful, as there were many commonalities between us,” Walcott said. “I want to give back in any way that I can—especially to the youth where I feel I can have the most impact—and Atlantic’s various sporting initiatives will certainly be an avenue for reaching many young persons.”

Atlantic supports several sporting programmes targeting Under-13 youths including the annual national primary schools competitions in football, cricket and track and field; the Atlantic Primary School Multi-Sport Triathlon Series; and the Atlantic National Primary Schools Invitational Swimming Championships.

It is a largely unknown fact that the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) was originally conceptualised by the West Indian Commission founded in 1989 by the Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

The commission itself was aimed at determining new modalities and mechanisms that would strengthen and expand Caricom’s integration process. After opening discussions on proposals for the Commission to other countries from the Caribbean, Central and South America, the ACS emerged. (SELA, 2015)

Since its inception in 1994, integration and increasing trade opportunities have always been at the core of the ACS trade mandate. Two of the biggest undertakings for the Association’s Directorate of Trade have been:

(i) the elimination and reduction of obstacles and challenges to trade facilitation within the Greater Caribbean region and

(ii) promotion of the convergence and deepening of trade with the ACS through new schemes.

The directorate’s work is guided by Article II number 2 of the Convention Establishing the ACS:

“the association shall promote gradually and progressively among its members the following activities:

a) economic integration, including the liberalisation of trade, investment, transport and other related areas;”

The Greater Caribbean is a political concept created by the ACS and deeply linked to the Caribbean Sea. Indeed the Greater Caribbean region touches the shores of North, Central and South America. It goes from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Guianas, circling the Greater and Lesser Antilles, it goes from Bahamas through to T&T (ACS, 2010). This large geographic area encapsulates a collective market size of estimated 292 million people.

The ACS’ membership at 25 member states, 8 associate members and 27 observer members places the organisation in a unique position within the Latin America and Caribbean region.

In the spaghetti bowl of agreements across the Latin America and Caribbean region, over 24 intra-regional trade agreements (including free trade agreements and partial scope agreements) are contained within the ACS membership alone.

As this dense network of trade agreements matures in a challenging economic climate, it seems an opportune time to work towards convergence of these agreements. Greater coordination would not only strengthen individual economies but also the region’s global competitive position.

It is within this context that the Working Group to Study Tariff Preferences in the Caribbean (TPC) has been conceptualised. The group is aimed at analysing and discussing the possibility of having tariff preferences in the Greater Caribbean that would permit the promotion of intraregional trade, through constructing a mechanism which seeks the reduction of tariffs, taking into account the level of development of each member country within the Greater Caribbean.

The figures support this assertion for greater coordination and the importance of this newly-formed working group.

Firstly, according to the ACS’ 2014-2015 trade bulletin, intra-regional trade continues to be low and show no signs of positive growth.

ACS intra-regional trade represents only seven per cent of the region’s total trade for 2015. This figure is extremely low when compared with intra-regional trade in other regions.

For 2014-2015, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s intra-regional trade accounted for 70 per cent of its total trade, for the European Union, a much more integrated bloc, intra-regional trade was 66 per cent of total trade (ACS, 2015).

The ACS 2014-2015 Trade Bulletin also highlights the fact that the region’s trade remains oriented to extra-regional markets. Extra-regional exports remain vital to this region’s economic health accounting for 94 per cent of the export market.

In dollar terms, the ACS exported US$480 billion in 2015 to its extra-regional trading partners. High tariffs have been a constant barrier to increased trade and serves to which curtail intra-regional exports.

Secondly, the ACS—as envisioned by its founders—is an alternative space for the development and promotion of individual and collective objectives of its member states, to participate in projects in areas such as economic and trade development.

The ACS is poised to be used as a forum to craft initiatives which could stimulate economic growth, trade and investments as well as transcend the limited returns generated by current bilateral agreements across the Greater Caribbean.

Thirdly, there is historical precedent for such convergence. As early as the II Summit of Heads of State and Government of the ACS in 1999, leaders acknowledged that the ACS member states would and should endeavour to foster trade agreements as a part of the integration process.

However it was at the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government, on June 4, 2016 in Havana, Cuba, that the recommendation to create a group to analyse the possibility of creating a tariff preferences mechanism for the Caribbean was approved by the Technical Working Group.

Early discussions indicate that CTP group would first be involved in an extensive data collection exercise. This entails compiling data on applied tariffs, tariff preferences which are currently granted and import and export statistics from the most recent years, and other relevant trade information.

Armed with this extensive data, the group will issue recommendations to the special committee on trade and the ACS ministerial council.

The Government of Colombia has taken a leading role in spearheading this mechanism and ensuring transparency and mutual cooperation amongst member states. The 1st virtual meeting of the Caribbean Tariff Preference Group was held on March 29, 2017. Those countries who participated were: Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, St Lucia, T&T and representation from the Latin American Integration Association.

The ACS therefore invites members to support this initiative which could strengthen trade within our Caribbean region.

All information and comments on the Working Group can be directed to the directorate of trade development and external economic relations. The next meeting of the Working Group will be confirmed and promptly communicated to the ACS membership.

Modern history is showered with women as political leaders and heads of government. When women first emerged in these roles, it was regarded as “breaking a glass ceiling” – a breakthrough for the female gender in occupying high positions once regarded as the preserve of men. There was truth in that sentiment at the beginning of that revolutionary trend, but even though women leaders do still attract support from some women—and the opposition of some men—purely on the basis of gender, the human race has moved on from solely gender considerations.

Today, women as political leaders is not a gender issue. They have to prove that they are every bit as capable as men.

Two events over the last few days brought this reality into sharp focus. The first was Theresa May, the unelected Prime Minister of Britain, calling a sudden general election for June 8, and the other was the launch of a new political party in Antigua and Barbuda by Joanne Massiah, a former elected member of the opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) who recently declared herself an independent member of the House of Assembly.

In calling the British election, Theresa May brazenly broke a pledge she had given to the British people not to call an election before the Brexit negotiations with the European Union (EU) was completed.

She broke that pledge for many reasons, the primary one being that the opposition Labour Party appears lacklustre and unappealing under the present leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Calling the election while there is no formidable challenger from the main opposition party is an expedient decision. The Labour Party was caught napping, unable to oust Corbyn for a more dynamic and acceptable leader in time. In that context, May has a chance of being the elected Prime Minister of a Conservative government for the next five years.

Ironically, however, it is another woman that might upset her cart and scatter her apples. Nicola Sturgeon, the feisty leader of the Scottish National Party, is determined that Scotland should eschew Brexit. The Scottish people voted overwhelmingly in last June’s referendum to stay in the EU. The battle between these two women is now firmly joined on fundamental political matters; gender has nothing to do with it.

Should the pro-EU Liberal Democratic Party do well at the election with the backing of those voters in England, Wales and Northern who want to remain in the EU, a coalition of forces might yet topple May, having nothing to do with her gender.

Across the ocean in a much smaller island nation, Antigua and Barbuda, a woman threw her hat in the ring for the second time to become leader of a political party.

On the last occasion, on the rubble of a defeated UPP, she sought the leadership in a contest against Harold Lovell. She had won her seat in Parliament in the general election; Lovell had not. Her decision to run for the leadership had nothing to do with gender, and all to do with a belief that she was a better candidate.

As it turned out, she may have been too trusting of a system that she subsequently regarded as treacherous when Lovell won the contest overwhelmingly, but as she saw it not fairly.

Eventually, bad blood between the two led to her expulsion from the UPP. Now, she has formed the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), and Antigua and Barbuda has its first woman as the leader of a political party, not because of gender but because she holds the view that she has the capacity to lead the country.

The Caribbean’s modern history has many such women, among them Mia Mottley, the present leader of the Barbados Labour Party. Then, there are those who made it to the office of head of government: Eugenia Charles of Dominica; Janet Jagan of Guyana; Portia Simpson-Miller of Jamaica and Kamla Persad-Bissessar of T&T.

The essential ingredient was not their gender, but their readiness to take on the rough and tumble of politics. Appealing to gender alone and the refrain of “time for a woman,” does not cut it in the world of real politics. Faint hearts do not make leaders; courage, drive and political astuteness are the criteria by which any leader is judged: man or woman.

There are fine examples of such women in other places at this time and in former times. Altogether, 70 countries have had women as heads of government.

History reminds us of the formidable Golda Meir of Israel; the tough stewardship of Indira Gandhi of India; the two Bandaranayke women presidents of Sri Lanka; Margaret Thatcher of Britain; Isabel Martínez de Perón of Argentina; Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan; Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway.

Today, the highly-regarded Angela Merkel is serving her 12th year as Chancellor of Germany; Michelle Bachelet is in her second term as President of Chile and Ellen Sirleaf has been president of Liberia since 2006.

Margaret Thatcher is universally remembered as the Iron lady. She caused the coining of that phrase when she said: “If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.”

In reality her observation is true for running any country however large or small. The women who led countries did so not because of their gender, but because they had iron.

(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organisation of American States. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are his own)

Citizens who do not meet the May 22 deadline to file their Valuation Return Forms could end up paying a penalty. That is because under the Valua­tion of Land Act 18 of 1969, owners of property who fail to file a return de­scribing the property are liable on summary conviction to a fine of $500.

As of now there is no word on whether the Finance Minister Colm Imbert will extend the deadline date for submission of forms.

While property owners are required to do their own assessment of the value, the Valua­tion of Land Act empowers the commissioner of valuations to value properties based on an annual rental value. The information is then sent to the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR).

The BIR will issue a notice of assessment of the tax to be paid, where the payment should be made and the penalties which will incur if the tax is not paid.

Owners who are not satisfied with the val­uation of their property have a right to object under the law. The act states that an owner or local authority who is dissatisfied with a val­uation may, within 30 days after service of the notice of valuation, post to or lodge with the commissioner an objection in writing against the valuation.

Objections can be filed on the following grounds:
• Values assessed are too high or too low;
• Lands which should be included in one valuation have been valued separately;
• Lands which should be valued separately have been included in one valuation; or
• Person named in the notice is not the owner of the land.

Asked whether all the documents listed on the form must be submitted, an officer of the Valuation Division explained that it is necessary to submit a copy of the deed of the property or any legal document which shows you are the owner of the property, land and building tax receipts (2009) and T&TEC and WASA bills not older than three months and any other supporting documents, including a lease or rental agreement.

KPMG tax director Gillian Wolfe explained that HDC homeowners are not exempt from payment of property tax. She said: “They are the owners of property and will be called upon to pay it also.” Those who have a deed for their HDC property are required to pay the tax.

But HDC communications manager, Mau­risa Findlay, said: “Given the current regime for valuations and the required property tax payments, the HDC is prepared to seek the assistance of the Ministry of Finance to arrive at a policy position to treat with the quantum of funds the organisation will be required to pay in property tax for homeowners in its licence-to-occupy, rent-to-own and rental client portfolio.”

Findlay said the HDC “will communicate with these residents prior to the May 22 dead­line on the way forward.”

She said the managing director Brent Lyons has held discussions with divisional heads and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing to articulate the organisation’s re­quest/position.

Squatters, Wolfe said, will also have to pay the tax.

“The law does not exclude squatters. The law talks about the occupier of property being held liable for the tax,” she said.

Deferrals

While pensioners are not exempt from pay­ing property tax under the law, the act makes provision for deferrals by the Board of Inland revenue.

Section 23 (1) of the act states: “The board may upon the application of the owner of land authorise the deferral of the payment of the assessed tax on the land on the grounds of the impoverished condition of the owner and his inability to improve his financial position sig­nificantly by reason of age, impaired health or other special circumstances, that undue hardship to that owner would otherwise ensue.

To qualify for deferral an application must be made in writing on a form prescribed by the BIR, with supporting evidence that the appli­cant in receipt of a public assistance grant; a disability grant; a senior citizen’s grant; or a T&T conditional cash transfer card from the State.

Wolfe said in instances of deferral “the taxes are deferred until you can do better. If it never gets better, you will never be held liable but whoever inherits the property will be called upon to pay the taxes.”

State can seize land

The law specifies that citizens have until September 15 to pay the tax failing which they will be penalised.

Section 34 (3) states that where “any amount of tax is not paid on or before September 15 a further sum of 10 per cent on the amount of tax shall be added thereto by way of an increased tax; and interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum on the amount of tax is to be applied to the tax as increased from September 16 to the date of payment, unless the board is satisfied that the failure to pay the taxes did not result from the default of the taxpayer.”

Where arrears of annual tax payable on land are outstanding for six months, a notice of de­mand will be sent to the owner of the land by registered post.

If after 12 months the payment is not made, the act makes provision under section 41 for the levy “upon the goods, chattels, and effects of the owner; or upon the goods, chattels and effects, being upon the lands so charged with such tax of the tenant or occupier of the lands or any part thereof charged with such tax.”

The act states that anyone authorised in writing by the board, to execute any warrant of distress, has the authority to “break open any building in the daytime for the purpose of levying such distress.”

If the tax and arrears are unpaid for five years, the owner is at risk of losing the property.
 
 Under the act, the BIR must publish a notice in the Gazette and one newspaper in daily circulation and post in its offices and sub-offices for one month, noti­fying the owner of the land that unless the outstanding arrears are paid “before the expiration of the specified period, together with all sums which at the time of payment may be due in respect of any tax, the said lands will be liable to forfeiture to the State.”
​
Section 41 (1) of the act states that the President may, by warrant “order that such lands be forfeited to the State, and immediately upon the registration of such warrant as hereinafter provided, such land shall be forfeited, and shall vest in the State, in absolute dominion, free and discharged from all rights, es­tates, interests, equities and claims of any other person.”

In order to obtain possession of any lands forfeited under section 41, the Commissioner of State land is author­ised under the act to issue a warrant to the board, marshal, police officer, or other person authorising him to take possession on behalf of the State and to evict all other persons occupying the land.

The act at section 49 makes it an of­fence for anyone to try to prevent any authorised state agent from taking pos­session of the land. That person would be deemed to have committed “an of­fence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of $5,000.”

Under section 45 (1) of the act any land that has been unoccupied and un-assessed for a period of 16 years and for which “no taxes have been paid, shall be liable to be forfeited to the State.”

Exemptions
The Property Tax Act section 16 (1) states that “all land in T&T is liable to taxation under this act.”
Exemptions listed under that section of the act include:
• lands used exclusively as churches, chapel and places of public worship of any religious denomination and every cemetery or burial ground that is en­closed and actually required, used and occupied for the interment of the dead, but not land that is rented or leased by a church or religious organisation to a person other than another church or religious organisation;
• school buildings, offices and play­grounds of schools within the meaning of the Education Act.
• property used for a place of learn­ing maintained for educational, phil­anthropic or religious purposes,
• land owned, occupied and used ex­clusively by an incorporated charitable institution;
• land belong to the State, a statutory authority or state enterprise controlled by the State
• land used for public hospitals, asy­lums and institutions for the relief of the poor;
• land belonging to UWI, UTT, COSTAATT or University of Southern Caribbean;
• land owned or occupied by a foreign government or international organisa­tion of which T&T is a member
All Land (including vacant land) in Trinidad and Tobago shall be rated on a Rental Value basis.
Annual Rental Value (ARV) is the rent at which a property will let from year to year.
Annual Taxable Value (ATV) is the rent at which a property will let from year to year after a deduction of 10 per cent for voids.

Annual rental value – vacant land
The annual rental value of vacant land will be found by taking a percentage of the current market value of the land.

Rate of tax (Categories)
Agricultural 1 %
Residential 3%
Commercial 5%
Industrial with building 6%
Industrial without building 3%

Factor used to value residential property
• Location of the property (neighbourhood)
• Classification of the property (executive, modern, standard (I & II)
• Category of the property (agricultural, commer­cial, residential, industrial)
• Dimensions: property floor area
• Modifications to the particular property
Valuers take several factors into account in calcu­lating the unit value of the property which is used to calculate your property’s rental value.
The classification of the property (executive, mod­ern, standard I and standard II) depends on the fea­tures of the building – leisure facilities, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, types of utilities available, special rooms such as game room.

Property classifications:
Standard home I: one Bathroom
Standard home II: two Bathrooms
Modern home: At least one ensuite bathroom with a specialty room
Executive home: May have at least as many bath­rooms as there are bedrooms and specialised areas eg a separate room for dining, office, library etc.
The classification depends on factors such as qual­ity of construction and condition.
 

Why do I start businesses? The answer is the same today as it was when I launched my first company five decades ago: to make a positive difference in people’s lives. I believe that companies should have a similar desire at their core, no matter what industry they’re in.

Our team at Virgin has always kept this in mind whenever we’ve entered a new sector. Take the airline industry. We built three beloved airlines—Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and Virgin America—based on the belief that passengers deserved better. We feel that when people choose an airline, they deserve courtesy and care. They also deserve respect and an amazing experience. They certainly do not deserve to be treated like numbers on a balance sheet, or like cattle in a cabin.

Sadly, not every business shares this viewpoint. (I’m sure you can think of one or two you’ve recently read about without me having to name them).

Companies like these tend to put profit before people and they will ultimately be found out. Every company and business leader makes mistakes. I’ve made more than my fair share, and I know I’ll make more. The good news is that if you face them head on, move fast and have a strong company culture in place, you can recover from any setback.

Maintaining a strong company culture begins with putting people first, and that requires heartfelt service. Allowing your team the freedom to be themselves is key to achieving that. When things go wrong, having too many processes and procedures in place can hinder staff when they need to make judgment calls based on their own experience, their humanity and the company culture.

On our team, we strive to give employees enough latitude to make decisions that are based on common sense, not outdated rulebooks. We believe in giving our staff the right tools to do their job, then trusting them to do the right thing.

Whether it’s dealing with an overbooked flight, a missed train or an issue with a phone bill, empower your front-line team to deal in the moment. Acting fast can cost you some money, but a delay or a rigid response will probably cost you a great deal more in lost good will. And in this age of social media, a customer issue can spread like wildfire across the internet, and cause lasting damage.

Giving your team flexibility and responsibility is part of the solution, but it’s also important to ensure that workers feel like they’re part of a bigger mission than just making money: They will treat customers better, and those customers will prove to be more loyal and come back over and over again. In the end, this will reflect positively on your profits, too.

I recently spent some time taking a whirlwind trip to visit Virgin businesses around the world, which gave me plenty of time on planes to reflect on these thoughts. It was particularly poignant to close a globetrotting week in Seattle, as that’s the home of Boeing, the company that gave me a break 33 years ago by renting a second-hand 747 airliner to a young upstart record producer so that we could launch Virgin Atlantic.

Most people wrote us off at the time and insisted we had no chance of surviving. However, building our airline around customer experiences and having an empowered team meant that we focused on the right things from the beginning.

It helped us create a service culture that attracted loyal passengers and allowed us to adapt.

We brought in more comfortable seats, stand-up bars, seat-back entertainment systems, but none of these features would have had an impact if we had not given our staff the freedom to be themselves.

More than 33 years later, Virgin Atlantic still exudes the same confidence and sense of fun that started it all. It’s a testimony to the leadership and company culture, which was embedded from the start.

If your business is not built on people and purpose, you will only ever be papering over the cracks. But if your business believes in supporting and growing your people, they will thrive; and customers will come back over and over again.

(Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group and companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Active. He maintains a blog at www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/richardbranson. To learn more about the Virgin Group: www.virgin.com.) (Questions from readers will be answered in future columns. Please send them to Richard.Branson@nytimes.com. Please include your name, country, email address and the name of the website or publication where you read the column.)

What is culture?

How does an organisation’s culture gets formed?

Rites and rituals

We all hear that an organisation’s culture is very important in driving performance. But how does one go about building the culture of an organsation?

Edgar Schein, professor at Sloan School of Management, MIT, wrote in the Feb 1990 Journal of American Psychologist a seminal article titled, “Organisational Culture”. There he defines an organisational culture as “a pattern of basic assumptions, invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore is to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”

There are at least six potential sources from which an organisational culture gets formed. First source is the founder(s) of the organisation. It is said that an organisation is nothing but the lengthened shadow of its founder(s). What the organisation’s founder believes as the values on which it would survive and succeed becomes the norm, and then eventually the culture of that organisation.

The other sources that cause a culture to take shape are the parent company values and norms, new CEO or management, market or industry norm, merger dynamics, and, very often, by accident.

The elements of an organisation’s culture can be viewed in three distinct layers (see illustration). At the top, above the surface, are the artefacts which are the visible manifestations of the culture.

These include, the physical structures (how the office is laid out, whether it is open plan or closed offices, etc), the language used (how members of the organisation address each other–in a formal or informal manner, how open is communication between the members, etc), rituals and ceremonies that are followed (how a new member is inducted, how successes are celebrated, etc), stories, myths, legends (about the founders, about significant events that impacted the organisation, etc).

Below the visual part, unseen to the naked eye, are the values and assumptions that underlie the visible behaviour and manifestation of culture.

Shared values are formed through conscious beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong and these arise from shared assumptions formed from mental models of what works to help members to cope and adapt to external challenges and helps them integrate better with the internal organisational norms.

It’s easier to have a strong culture when your organisation is young and small. When it grows beyond a certain size it needs to reinvent itself and you have to be much more conscious and develop strategies to sustain the culture.

One way to do this is to determine what values you want to reinforce in the organisation and use the visible parts of culture to reinforce these values.

For instance, let’s looks at rites and rituals. If you want to foster greater camaraderie and team work among members of your organisation, you can develop some new rites and rituals to reinforce the same.

One organisation in Trinidad, known for its vibrant culture, used to have a rite of passage ceremony when a staff member completed his or her probation. The CEO would place a gold pin on his or her lapel in a ceremony at the staff meeting. This signified they were now a full member of the organisation.

Another ritual this organisation followed was the “wishes in a bottle” ritual. At the end-of-year luncheon, after sharing the contents of a few wine bottles among the staff, each member would write a wish for themselves or for their colleagues and roll the piece of paper and drop it in the bottle which will then be sealed and kept in a visible place in the office.

At the next year party these slips of paper would be opened and read to see how many wishes came true. This created a shared experience of closeness and bonding among the team members.

Symbols such as the corner office or closed rooms can also signal to the members of the organisation the power dynamics within the organisation. One can also use well thought-out artefacts to communicate specific values you want to reinforce among the team, such as team photos on the wall (value expressed: celebration of team work), or glass portholes into closed office (transparency), or the dress code (formal or informal).

Totem poles serve a useful purpose to establish organisation hierarchy and ensure compliance to some degree.

Pictures of the president, prime minister and the relevant minister hanging in the halls of most government offices is a typical example of organisational totem pole. Most organisations have pictures of board members or founders placed at vantage points.

One needs to be mindful that sometimes incorrect inferences can be made from organisational symbols, stories, myths, and other such artifacts, if we do not know how they connect to underlying assumptions that drive behavior. For instance, one non-bank financial institution decided to differentiate itself from the banks by adopting a semi-formal dress code instead of the stiff tie and jacket uniform of bank executives.

The value underlying this dress code was to show the clients that the staff were friendly and approachable. However, over a period of time the reason for the dress code was not shared with new members who joined the organisation and they began to misinterpret the dress code to signify a casual work attitude, and performance started to go downhill.

Therefore, leaders need to often share legacy stories, continuously talk about the culture and, more importantly, share the “why we do what we do the way we do it.” Because values drive culture, and culture drives performance.

© All rights reserved. For more information on Crestcom visit www.crestcomleadership.com/tt or email leadersaremade@crestcom.com or call 684-0728.

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