December 16, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was appalled at the statement by Mr. David Chapman that, "In reality the visits of the British Monarch set us back as a nation more than they take us forward".

Does he not realise that the Queen is greatly respected, admired, and listened to throughout the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the World?

Bermuda is not a nation as it is not independent. It is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom with internal self-government.

The Queen's visit united all races in Bermuda as nothing else has and she therefore certainly "denoted oneness".

To say that "Bermuda society is far from being 'one' with its British colonial masters", is absolute nonsense. The Turks and Caicos Islands provide a good example of what Bermuda does not want to become!

Ranting about the "psychological wounds of slavery and colonialism in our community" is out of date thinking that shows a omplete lack of awareness of the real situation in our Country.

No one should try to mislead the people of Bermuda, especially its youth, by such a prejudiced article!

JOHN T. GILBERT

Paget

Take Queen off our currency

December 2, 2009

Dear Sir,

In response to "Curious", Wanda Brown, wife of the Premier, like Michelle Obama, wife of the current US President, is a US citizen and US citizens are not required to curtsey before the Queen. At the G20 meetings in London earlier this year Michele did not curtsey before the Queen "... It would be the right thing (for Wanda) to do," stated Curious. No, it's a breath of fresh air that she has followed protocol.

However, my question is, why is the Queen on our currency?

Scotland is not independent of the United Kingdom and its paper currency does not have the Queen's image as its legal tender. There appears to be no monetary reasons for Her Majesty's image on our currency, for example, we do not pay taxes to the UK Treasury nor to the Queen, and the UK does not pay us.

Moreover, is it not proscribed in our Constitution or any law, English or Bermudian. To our credit, Bermuda's currency holds its own internationally. In my experience, it trades higher than the US dollar, additionally, the Bermuda dollar can be exchanged very easily at bureaux de exchange and post offices overseas.

So, why is the Queen's image on our currency? Being the monarch of Great Britain or a sovereign head is not a reason because there are no plausible explanations that underpin that fact, such as legal or economic implications and, as the recession has reduced Britain's revenue base of taxes and weaken its currency globally we should be very thankful that our currency is not linked to the pound sterling. But is the Queen's image on our currency nothing more than a tradition? Then it's a tradition that can be phased out without any negative ramifications monetarily, economically, socially and politically as being a British overseas territory does not require that the image of the Queen remain on our currency indefinitely.

VALIRIE AKINSTALL

London, UK

Editor's Note: Ms Akinstall says she has been able to exchange Bermda dollars at a much higher rate than the US dollar in London and has also been able to buy Bermuda dollars there. That may be so, but officially the Bermuda dollar is fixed at $1.0043 to the US dollar and cannot be traded outside of Bermuda.