Anyhow, Chambers’ point was that we had to put our shoulders to the wheel, since with oil now selling at about $9 a barrel, it was “ketch tail time”.

Eminent analysts would later hail Chambers’ economics during those trying days as “top class”, despite the infectious but demeaning hook line which both children and big people, who should have known better, used to sing with impunity from Plainclothes’ Calypso, Chambers Duncee (Done See).

Production, retrenchments, salary cuts and the likes became the order of the day.

And the rumours at the time were that in order to catch off guard, workers who were skylarking, Chambers used to either disguise himself, or turn up at work places unannounced.

Workers must produce, he demanded, or there will be more retrenchments.

As far as I know, it was never confirmed if either rumour was true, but the point was that if you wanted to see whether people were really producing, it made no sense telling them you were coming.

That will be the day when all hands would be on deck; when lazy men will be sweating bucket a drop.

Why?

People also remind me about those times when dignitaries had to visit the Point-a-Pierre refinery or similar places, grass would be cut and dirty-looking old iron would be painted, literally overnight, to make the place look good, despite the fact that the officials would hardly even notice.

Ex-prisoners tell you that they always knew in advance when a Government Minister or some other high official was about to visit the jail: They will suddenly get proper meals and the place would be transformed overnight.

Tu Pac, the slain American rapper, said that when “bad girl” Madonna threatened to visit him in jail, the wardens were so happy and anxious that he got two baths that day!

Shadow sang, “looking stupid like paint on rotten wood”.

Atherly damn right!

If I am visiting, I want to catch you with your pants down; I want to catch you in your natural habitat.

Let me see what your work environment looks like on a normal day.

None of this false smiling faces nonsense for me.

Health Minister John Rahael, who seems to be doing a relatively good job, despite the regular criticisms of his tenure, partisan, I dare say, should make unannounced, unguided visits to the public hospitals.

You will see them running helter skelter and shouting, “the minister coming, pick up this, clean up that, move fast, he just around the corner …”

Cut out the false niceness for the cameras.

Atherly damn right!

The Fire Service is in a mess and it needs somebody to take the bull by its horns, even if you mash some of your own party’s corn.

Regime after regime has neglected or refused to deal with the mess that is the Fire Service.

Fire officers have a right to wonder if they are really part of the National Security Ministry.

They are more like the “outside children” of the ministry.

The Calypsonian sang, “If Trinidad burn down/We living in the ashes.”

Yes, besides murders and kidnapping and high food prices, we have other problems that must be attacked.

The Fire Service is one of those other problems, and Mayor Atherly must be commended for dramatically keeping it on the front burner.

Not even the People’s Mall fire, which jumped the street and burnt down everything on the other side, it seemed, was enough to drive a fire in the authorities’ backsides to arm the fire officers with enough and proper equipment.

But crime is also real, and we seem to be going nowhere fast in shooting it down.

And that brings us to the Blimp(s), the real issue of this column.

Sky ship, Blimp, what’s the difference?

The people are educated enough to know the police can’t tell us all the details about their intelligence work.

In fact, there is the view that at times they say too much.

For instance, why should they warn the public that they will be locking down a particular area tomorrow?

But, intelligence work aside, seriously, what has the Blimp done, so far, in terms of putting a dent on runaway crime in TnT?

Or is it true that if there were no Blimp, the situation would have been worse?

That there may have been 400, 500 murders instead of “only” 390 or so, and many more kidnappings, even if some of them are fake?

What can Blimp Two do, that Blimp One couldn’t?

It may be unfair criticism, but the people have a right to question this adventure into blimpism by this regime, which seems to be bringing no tangible results.

Have we abandoned good, ol’ police work and replaced it with Blimps?

So now we have two.

There was a fellow whose goal was to make a million dollars.

He worked hard, real hard to reach his goal, yet he was unable to attain it.

Then one day we heard that he had started saving for his second million, even though he had not yet reached the first.

When questioned about his eccentric behaviour, he shrugged and casually responded: “Well, if I can’t reach the first, let me see if it is easier to save the second million”.

You may not find this joke funny, but who said the Blimp was a laughing matter.

So the first one failed, it seems; $25 million down the drain!

So we bring in a second one.

A flight into fantasy, these Blimps?

If the Blimp continues on its present path that is exactly where we seem to be heading.

Humour us, if you may, Mr. National Security Minister Martin Joseph, but pray, seriously tell us, why a second if the first didn’t work?

Vuping?

The reality is that if you spend so much millions on a piece of equipment, it is only expected that the people would expect almost instantaneous results.

And you can’t give them wrong, can you?

The people demand answers, Minister Joseph!