BACK in 1988, on what I call “Ash Friday”, 19 February, the first Friday after Carnival, the first Thank God It’s Friday column appeared in the Express; that was 27 years ago, today, measured from Friday-to-Friday, and one day more than 27 calendar years, by date; and it gives me real pause to think I’ve been holding down this gig for that long; why, I’ve had sex with people that age.

Of of course, I was near that age myself, back then. In June of 1988, I turned 30 “in the papers” (and wrote my first birthday column, “30 With a Bullet”, that I’ve since taken to 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 56 With a Bullet”). I’ve done this job now longer than anyone else, bar Professor Selwyn Ryan, and longer than many people have been alive; particularly young black males between Queen’s Park East and Arouca who, if they reach age 30, become elders, and are venerated for their wisdom; like, “Remember, it have one in the chamber”.

IN WHAT MAY prove yet to be her political masterstroke, containing more grace in the coup than even her ejection of Basdeo Panday from the leadership of the party he founded, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar sacked almost everyone she could see (and a couple she couldn’t even hear) from her government on Monday night; and time alone will tell whether firing so many Cabinet members in one sitting was enough of a splash to distract us from what we should really be doing: wondering whether the ex-AG should be behind bars (and if he will meet House Speaker Wade Mark there) and following those developments, or lack thereof, closely, not the red herring of whether Police Complaints Authority chair David West should resign.