There rarely is anything new under the sun, folks, and we are mistaken to expect otherwise. Or so it seems. The Throne Speech contained few surprises except maybe for the bit on the ten percent off groceries on Wednesdays. Yet even that was a bit of a disappointment in view of the build-up that preceded the announcement: but more on that later.

There are also some items that need to be fleshed out, like, for example, this so-called “commercial immigration” and the proposed pathways to status, for us to ascertain precisely what’s planned. Surprises, as we all know, are very often found in the detail.

While The Speech was a little on the long side, and as I said last week that’s become the trend around here over the years, it was mercifully minus quotations, and seemed to strike the right note. It was very workmanlike in approach and in content on the tasks ahead and was tied down pretty well to election promises and advance warnings.

But, as we all know, it is what happens after The Speech that counts. That’s where people are looking for change — and rightly so. I say this not just because of the dire economic straits in which we find ourselves, but in view as well of what the One Bermuda Alliance has been promising and the Progressive Labour Party has in turn been saying.

I don’t mean to steal anyone’s thunder here but they have each been talking an awful lot about the need for cooperation and collaboration. Don’t hold your breath. The early exchanges on and off the Hill post The Speech make this look more and more unlikely.

It’s already jaw-jaw, war-war, not just from MPs but from their party partisan supporters who blog away furiously behind anonymous pen names. It’s a wonder really that we still expect (hope for?) anything different.

The Government of the day gets to set out its agenda in a lengthy document that gets read without interruption and challenge and to which the Opposition gets to produce a formal Reply a week later; and reply, they will, usually in kind. It’s their job, it’s their duty and it’s their right in the Westminster system.

There is bound to be challenge. There is bound to be conflict. That’s the way it works, and if the past is any indication there is likely to be a marathon debate today and into tomorrow morning as each side tries to best the other on what’s best for Bermuda. However, action is what people are really looking for.

You have to wonder then about the need for unnecessary disagreement, division and discord. The new session on the Hill seemed to get off on the wrong foot almost immediately with the PLP’s introduction of the conscription abolition bill and the OBA’s response. It was all so predictable really. Practically Pavlovian.

The Opposition clearly wanted to make their presence felt on the day to show that they too, are working for the people, and on an issue on which the sides are apparently agreed; and actually drafting a Bill was and is a positive step.

Truth is I have been there and done that myself, with some of those who now sit on the Government benches. We suffered parliamentary smack down then too. Governments have the numerical majority and can outright reject the work of the Opposition whether they agree or not with what is proposed.

Sadly, it’s often just a matter of position. No party wants to be one-upped by the other. It’s the political culture around here that no one seems prepared to change. Pity.

The pity is that it devalues not just Opposition members but all members. All of them were elected to make a contribution. Okay, sure the Opposition could have shared the Bill with the Government in advance. But they didn’t. They are human as well as political and they want public recognition for their work.

Fair enough. The further pity is that Government chose to defeat the Bill so quickly rather than congratulate the Opposition on their industry and their work, and instead reserve their position until after they had studied the legislation and come to a view on whether it would work or not.

It is a different approach that might in the long run produce different results, possibly in both performance and in product on and off the Hill. Instead the beat goes on and on and …

Maximise what we have and put our MPs to work

I often get called out for examples on how MPs from both sides could actually work together. There is a good example of how this might be achieved with one Throne Speech initiative: that of Contractor General. I don’t know what SAGE might have to say about this, but we do have a pretty good idea what they might say about increasing the size of the civil service.

Times are harder now than when the idea was first promoted in the UBP playbook and later adopted by the OBA; notwithstanding that on paper it looks and sound like a very good idea that could result in savings and efficiencies.

But why not first maximise what we already have? There is a standing parliamentary committee (Public Accounts) comprised of Government and Opposition members whose job it is to keep a close eye on Government finances and which could and should be doing the job of reviewing, monitoring Government contracts.

Save some time, save some money, and give them both the encouragement and the support they need to get on with it. Add an independent Senator or two if it helps as well and put our MPs to work for a good cause, the taxpayer.

Why can’t we have Wednesday all the year ‘round?

Back to surprises and food prices. Not that I want to seem ungrateful (I am not) but I think we were all expecting something different. There was the advance billing from a spokesman — unnamed, luckily for him, I suppose — who the day before promised a radical new initiative on this front, something never before seen.

You might have been forgiven for thinking some sort of controls were planned for grocers and importers to lower prices and/or mechanisms for monitoring.

As it is a ten percent discount isn’t to be sneezed at even if it is limited to certain supermarkets and only on Wednesdays when we might reasonably expect an almighty crush evenings after work.

Unless. unless Government is going to (1) lead the way here and allow civil servants time off during the day to grocery shop or (2) legislate that henceforth all days of the week will be known as Wednesday. LOL?

* Post your views on The Royal Gazette website or write jbarritt@ibl.bm.