Dear Sir,

Is Government House the next Montpelier? Move the Governor or the Deputy Governor somewhere “temporarily” until repairs are completed, but then never do the repairs and wait for the building(s) to fall down?

Has anyone looked recently at the former residence of the Director of the Department of Agriculture in the Botanical Gardens? It’s a disgrace.

The Government finds all sorts of money to throw away for so-called recording studios in Dockyard or to subsidise concessionaires — Horseshoe Bay, has anyone seen the disgusting state of that place? — but not to make essential repairs and necessary maintenance on government-owned buildings.

It used to be that when one went to the Caribbean, the difference between the islands down south and Bermuda was immediately apparent. Bermuda was so much better cared for and “First World” than anywhere in the Caribbean. That was our unique selling point in attracting well-heeled tourists from the US eastern seaboard — as well as the shorter journey. Those tourists were our bread and butter.

On a recent trip to Antigua, I was immediately struck by how Bermuda now looks very similar to that island. The drive from the outstanding new airport — paid for by the Chinese — to English Harbour looked very similar to being back home: their potholes are just as big as ours, their roads just as dangerous, their foliage just as unkempt and overgrown, and their buildings looking just as scruffy as, with a few exceptions, Bermuda’s now do.

It’s a tragedy.

ELSPETH A. WEISBERG

Warwick