FORGET chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Mr. Editor. Christmas in Bermuda is over. Not just literally, mind you, but metaphorically too - and what we now need to be working on is a plan to get our chestnuts out of the fire, and to keep them out. This is our challenge for the New Year and here's why.

T'was the night before Christmas, for real, when I sat down not for a nap but for a read of my December 24th edition of The Boston Globe when I spotted this headline in the newspaper's business section: "Covidien plans to incorporate in Ireland, exit Bermuda". OK, so the story was also in The Royal Gazette that same day, what's the big deal?

Well, first off there's the obvious: the Gazette does not have the reach of the Globe, and it's an entirely different audience, a large portion of whom make up our potential customers, whether in international business or tourism, and as well they are our would-be friends and competitors.

Secondly, and this is the big deal, there was the picture the story painted of Bermuda. It was not a pretty one - from our point of view.

Let me share with you a couple of excerpts that make the point.

The first is tame enough, I suppose, and while it is not music to our ears this is the sort of analysis we can expect astute businesses to undertake:

"The medical-device maker (Covidien Ltd.) said the move would make it easier to do business as it expands abroad, since Ireland is a member of the European Union. In addition, the company said, Ireland has many treaties with other countries that Bermuda lacks."

This is also a firm with five factories and nearly 2,000 employees in Ireland. Apparently there are just five of them - employees, that is - in Bermuda. There are also some 2,000 employees in state of Massachusetts - and the company's "primary base" is in the New England town of Mansfield - which is why the move rated a story and a headline in The Boston Globe in the first place.

Tax-wise, the company anticipates little or no difference. The news piece pointed out that Ireland, like Bermuda, is known for "its low corporate tax rates".

The writer goes on to note however, that this was a company which earlier this year announced that it had decided to remain incorporated in Bermuda when it was spun out of Tyco International Ltd. last year, and it is also a sister company to another spin-off that remains based in Bermuda (for now anyhow).

Inquiring minds want to know what gives - and it is this explanation, the second excerpt which I do not recall reading in the RG and which should give us all cause to pause:

"Nevertheless, Covidien warned investors last month that it was the target of 'continued negative publicity' over the use of offshore jurisdictions.

"This negative publicity could harm our reputation and impair our ability to generate new business if companies or governmental agencies decline to do business with us as a result of any perceived negative public image of Bermuda or the possibility of our customers receiving negative media attention from doing business with a Bermuda company", Covidien said in a governmental filing."

Perceived negative image of Bermuda?! Ouch - and there's the rub. If this view takes hold, Mr. Editor, and becomes a prevailing view of Bermuda, and businesses no longer wish to be associated with us, we may reach a tipping point of little or no return.

It will dovetail nicely too with plans in Washington where the pressure will be on to find (new) ways to fund the $500-billion plus stimulus package that is being planned for the New Year and the new President.

Our response is certainly going to require something more than Christmas cards at the taxpayers' expense to everyone - both the living and the dead apparently, such was the state of the voter's list that was used: but that's another story for another day.

Recession? What recession?

If only peace, happiness and prosperity could be bought so cheaply.

What I think we will need starting in 2009 is a fundamental shift in attitude and in our approach to problems in Bermuda, external and internal. The lists of challenges in each is already long and daunting: tourism (more visitors) and international business (work permits and term limits); education (quality), housing (affordable) and health care (affordable), to name but a few.

It's not just that the same old same old will net us the same old same old. The same old, same old isn't working for Bermuda anymore. Or as they put it so succinctly but eloquently further down south in United States of America in Texas: If all you ever do is all you've ever done, then all you'll ever get is all you've ever got.

Ok, you guessed it. I'm back on about parliamentary reform which is essentially about changing in some fundamental ways the way in which we do the country's business.

There's little or no economic cost either.

If attitudes are going to change, and approaches, it will have to start at the top - and it's on the Hill that we need to start to demonstrate fundamental change - not necessarily by word, although that can be helpful too, but by actions. Bermudians intuit that we remain on the wrong track with the current system of tit for tat, bric-a-brac brickbats, hype and gripe, political dialogue - and I expect that you think I am being (too) kind when I describe it as dialogue. For those who think I overstate how voters feel: at the very least there is growing desire for improvement in the conduct of public life in Bermuda.

We start by building more bridges on the Hill. You are familiar with my refrain so I won't go at length. But what we need are more active bi-partisan committees, open to the public, starting with two of the more important on the Hill, Public Accounts Committee and Private Bills Committee. A joint select committee on educational reform earlier this year was a promising start.

We need to move away from just being stuck with clash on the floor of the House. Otherwise the impression remains negative and the possibilities counter-productive.

Opposites don't work together or are not seen to work together.

Cross party alliances don't get forged and ideas don't get sparked by dialogue.

Stereotypes don't get broken down.

Collaboration doesn't happen.

Trust doesn't get built, and arguably parliamentary democracy doesn't get advanced in the best interests of the people of Bermuda.

A change in approach to the country's business is a start. The effect may not be instant but it's a good beginning.

Ultimately, it may take a new generation of politicians free of the partisan political baggage of the past. It may also be that we need less Mars and more Venus on the Hill and around the decision-making tables of Bermuda.

These are times for change, Mr. Editor, and the future is not what it used to be.

Happy New Year?