February 10, 2005

Dear Sir,

I wish to state that there is no such thing as an African Diaspora Heritage Trail.

In 2002 David Allen initiated in Bermuda an African Heritage Trail Conference, which was hailed as a success. David Allen should have known what Diaspora means.

The Oxford English Reference Dictionary states:

“Diaspora n.1 (prec. by the) a the dispersion of the Jews beyond Israel...b Jews dispersed in this way; Jews living outside Israel. 2 (also diaspora) a any group of people similarly dispersed b their dispersion....

“The main Diaspora began in the 8th-6th centuries BC, and even before the sack of Jerusalem in AD 70 the number of Jews dispersed by the Diaspora was greater than that living in Israel. Thereafter, Jews were dispersed even more widely throughout the Roman world and beyond (for example, into India). The term embraces concerns about cultural assimilation and loss of Jewish identity which are at the centre of the movement of Zionism.”

One could regard the following as a diaspora: (a) The many black Bermudians who have left Bermuda because of the political situation and high cost of living that exist in Bermuda, and have found satisfaction in settling in the southern USA; and (b) the white Bermudians who have relocated in the northeastern USA.

And getting significant numbers of tourists from Africa is very unlikely and something that has not been given reasonable thought.

I add another curious step being taken by the Tourism Minister: Chinese tourists! He already has a close relation with the infamous Fidel Castro! Both are Communist countries! Both are enemies of the United States and both wish they could destroy it. On the other hand without the United States Bermuda cannot survive. Very strange! Very strange!

A VERY CONCERNED BERMUDIAN

Smith's Parish

Misleading statistic

February 2, 2005

Dear Sir,

The other night as I was driving home I heard the latest traffic accident statistics, which had been segregated into age groups.

The Road Safety Officer and the Police were being quoted as saying that because most accidents occurred within the older age groups, say, 30-45, and, in fact, the youngest riders among us had the least number of accidents, therefore, no one could say that the youngsters were the cause of most accidents - because older people had more accidents. Slightly faulty analysis and wording - on the assumption that they were quoted accurately!

1) Just because you have an accident doesn't mean you caused it.

2) There are more people in the older age groups. I don't know who ‘causes' most accidents but just as the last strains of the story faded, one of our 16-year-old diddleybops (nice school uniform) decided he needed to pass me on a clear straightaway.

Scene 1: Moving at the speed of light, with his left hand tucked into his butt, looking like this is the most normal way to drive, he passes me with about two to three inches to spare and then (he only had about a mile of clear road!) he decides he has to get back in front of me by coming so close to my front bumper that if I had moved an inch to the right he would have spent some time at KEMH! Sound familiar?

DIDDLEYBOP'S DAD

Southampton

Everyone dropped ball

February 28, 2005

Dear Sir,

I would like to thank a few people responsible for the destruction of the hillside on St. Anne's Road, now known as the Hamptons.

Firstly to the developer, thanks for getting rid of one of the few green belts left in Bermuda. Thanks for doing your part for global warming, when one looks up from the South Shore and sees that massive scar, it is breathtaking. I know that with all the money you will make from this development you will take your kids to Canada (where he is from) and show them real trees.

Thanks to the architects who drew up the plans to build those cloned, pill-boxes all in a row. In rows so close that the neighbours can pass the sugar bowl to each other through the windows.

Thanks to Planning for helping to solve the housing shortage for the people who can afford $1 million-plus condos.

Thanks to the National Trust. (Sorry did I wake you up?) for dropping the ball and not fighting for this properly. Finally I have to thank all of my fellow neighbours (myself included) for not doing anything to stop this disaster. This once wonderful piece of Southampton is now changed for the worse forever.

DUSTY ROAD

Southampton

Ps. Good luck in your phase two (I can hear the chainsaws in the distance now).

Wake up, Bermuda

Dear Sir,

I am asking, seeking and knocking on the closed doors of the many churches on a Saturday morning. The Lord teaches us in Exodus 20 to keep the Sabbath. After much research, I realise that this is Saturday and not Sunday and that the Lord commands us to keep the Sabbath holy unto Him. I have, by tradition grown up going to Sunday School and church on a Sunday. I am now aware that I should be going on a Saturday and although I live within walking distance of four churches, none of them worship on a Saturday. One, for some strange reason used to worship on Saturday but have now changed to Sunday. I can get to at least a dozen churches within ten minutes by car. However, I can receive Holy Communion at one and that would be at 8 a.m. only. I have considered going to the Seventh Day Adventist Church but I would like weekly Holy Communion.

Since Government have allowed shopping on Sundays along with the various sporting events, it seems as though we have now gotten down to only two days that we are keeping holy and that would be Christmas and Good Friday. I can't figure out what happened to Easter as this represents the day of His resurrection. As the majority of the churches meet on Sunday I would have thought that as He still lives and is here with us that this would be considered important enough to include along with Christmas and Good Friday. This seems to imply that we should only worship on the day that Jesus was born and the day that He died and that since He now lives it is no longer important to keep Easter as a holy day. Surely, a life given for our freedom, should at least be honoured by allowing us to obey Him and to worship and give reverence to Him on any day and every day without limitation.

It boggles my mind that with so many churches here on the Island and the money that it takes to maintain them that many of them are only open for family worship on a Sunday and none on a Saturday but shops are open all day and every day. Wake up Bermuda, we need to be fed spiritually as well as physically so that we may all have life eternal as the time is near.

KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR

Ditch the Y&R!

February 24, 2005

Dear Sir,

The Rockaway fast ferries are very comfortable, but why do we have to endure loud music over the speakers on the upper deck and “The Young and the Restless” on the lower deck?

On the old ferries, passengers can quietly read or enjoy conversation with their fellow commuters; without the annoying background noise.

So please Dr. Brown ditch the music systems and TVs overboard.

SILENCE IS GOLDEN

Southampton

Not factually correct

February 28, 2005

Dear Sir,

The statements about Bermuda Asset Management Ltd. (BAM) on the front page of your paper are not factually correct. The policy to which Ms Webb refers pertains solely to stockbrokers, not investment managers. Bermuda Asset Management is not a brokerage firm, it is an investment management firm. So to include me in her web (pardon the pun) is wrong and misleading. That policy was put in place in 2001 by the Bermuda Public Funds Investment Committee (PFIC) that, at the time, had profound conflicts of interest. Two members of the Committee were owners of local stockbroking firms and they did not recluse themselves.

Indeed, Ms Webb was closely associated with one of the brokerage firms represented on the PFIC when this policy was enacted, and now we see there is a connection between her and the now chairman, Mr. White, who was also on the PFIC at the time this policy was enacted.

Readers must differentiate between brokerage firms and investment management firms. Clients give investment managers authority over certain pools of money which they invest at their discretion. Stockbrokers take trade orders from managers and other clients to execute trades in the market. Brokers take a commission for each trade. Managers don't.

BAM had been retained by the PFIC in 1990 to manage a very small portion of the public pension assets, $5 million, with two additional tranches of like amounts in 1992 and 1995. Investment management firms do not get remunerated by commission, but instead by management fees which vary according to the performance of the funds under management. The fee is less than one percent per annum.

I did not solicit, nor did Bermuda Asset Management ever receive any new business from Government after I was appointed a senator in 1997, or after I was later appointed a minister.

In February 2002, I officially, orally and in writing, objected to the policy being applied to BAM. As an investment manager for the Public Funds we would have had to redirect commission generated from transactions from overseas brokers, from whom we received research and analysis which helped us do our job effectively, to local brokers from whom we received no value. Less access to good research could have affected our performance. The policy was set up ostensibly to, “Support the local investment industry.” As Bermuda's first independent investment firm we were a part of that local investment industry, so requiring us to use local brokers was circular logic, and therefore nonsense. Moreover, we are global managers and much of our trading would have been in non-US securities and the only local brokerages efficient in this area, were the Bank of Bermuda and Butterfield Bank, major institutions not in need of assistance from Government.

It is ironic that my business dealings with the PFIC are being used to justify certain actions under a policy that I officially objected to. (But was summarily overruled.) It is also ironic because Bermuda Asset Management was terminated as a manager in 2003. Two reasons were given: poor performance and not fully complying with the 30 percent policy. Well, our 11-year-record was exemplary until the worst bear market since the great depression struck. During that time we suffered like other equity managers. But there were other managers that performed worse than we did and were not terminated. As for the 30 percent rule, well, I guess I didn't give the local banks enough commission business.

Measuring the performance of a brokerage is very difficult indeed. The practical effect of this 30 percent rule is that it is an open ended entitlement for local brokerages. Investment managers have no such entitlement.

Finally, an ethical breach does not occur when a member of government, in his or her private capacity, had business with the government, so long as that business is declared. A breach occurs when government officials manipulate the system for private gain. A breach also occurs if a government minister and a chairman of a government committee solicit investment management firms to use their brokerage firm when that investment manager is retained by that same committee, which in turn is a creature of that same government. How can you refuse someone who can fire you?

SENATOR E.T. (BOB) RICHARDS

President

Bermuda Asset Management Ltd.

Counter-productive

February 28, 2005

Dear Sir,

I was most saddened to hear in the morning news today that the Anglican Church has decided to award Canon Alan Tilson the OBE: Order of the Boot from ‘Eadquarters.

Why? I could see the need for a change if Canon Tilson hadn't been doing his job up to expected standards, but, in all the years I've known him, even although I'm not a member of his congregation, I have heard many words for him, and not one against, either personally or professionally. “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” Well, it certainly ain't broke!

This seems to me to be a classic example of “Bermudianisation at whatever cost”, and I honestly feel that it's entirely counter-productive to kick someone out of a post just because a Bermudian wants it. By the way, who does want it?

VOX ORIENTALIS

St. George's

A good man let go

February 27, 2005

Dear Sir,

I wish to publicly express my sadness and disappointment over the news that was given to the congregation of Holy Trinity Church, Hamilton Parish, at the end of morning worship today, Sunday, February 27, 2005.

We learned this morning that Rev. Canon Alan Tilson has handed in his resignation. He is not resigning because he has another position to go to. It is not a decision that he and his wife Jenny have taken lightly as they have been in Bermuda for 15 and a half years. It is not a decision that either of them wished to make but has been forced on them by those in charge. Despite the fact that Canon Tilson has the full support of his Vestry and the members of Holy Trinity Church, it would appear that those in authority higher up in the Anglican Church of Bermuda are unwilling to give this highly successful and popular priest the support that he and his wife Jenny fully deserve.

There is something very wrong here. What is going on? On a personal level I owe a great debt to Rev. Tilson. His gifts of character and intelligence which he brings to his work here are not easily replaced. He got me going to Church. He and Jenny have created a vibrant and successful Church in Hamilton Parish. It certainly was nothing like that when I first came to Bermuda in 1968.

This Island, like everywhere else, needs warm and welcoming places of worship. Why is this good man being forced into a position that is lose/lose for all of us in Bermuda?

VAUGHAN EVANS

Hamilton Parish

Arbitrary decision

The following letter was sent to The Rt. Rev. Ewen Ratteray, Anglican Bishop of Bermuda, and copied to The Royal Gazette.

Dear Bishop Ewen,

Re: Holy Trinity Church.

I am deeply troubled by the arbitrary decision taken by you and the Archdeacon to withdraw your support for our Rector. This new “16 years is long enough” policy is taken without consultation with the Holy Trinity Church Vestry (the employer) or the Rector (the employee). I am unaware that such a policy has been approved by the Synod. Rule by “Decree” is certainly not considered the way to go in our society today.

I had hoped that having a local Bishop for a longer time frame could provide the Anglican Church of Bermuda with a Mentor to help grow. A consensus needs much more than just having the Archdeacon agree, broad consultation is essential.

A large number of people have been hurt and feel betrayed. In this period of Lent I am reminded of the attitude and actions of other “High Priests” of long ago. Our Diocese is in trouble and needs to examine the structure of its Governance.

We must accept that the qualities required to be a Rector are much more extensive that the knowledge, skill and dedication required to be ordained as an Anglican priest. If a Rector is not a good match with the congregation the numbers will fall. No matter how good all the programmes are, the effort is wasted if people do not come to church. The congregation must select their Rector. Your duty, as I see it, is to ensure that the person selected is an ordained Anglican priest in good standing with the church and society. Your personal preference should not be a factor.

We must all come together and re-examine our structure and proceeding if we are to save our church. I copy this letter to the Editor of The Royal Gazette because I feel it needs to reach a larger audience. My words may seem harsh but other methods have failed. I hope we can all move forward and rebuild.

MILES OUTERBRIDGE

A member of Holy Trinity Church