March 17, 2005

Dear Sir,

Re: The many articles based on foreign/ long term resident workers taking Bermudian jobs. Based primarily on Parks and Works staff striking.

I am half Swedish, and have always been interested in the dynamics of social interaction between various ethnic groups. In Sweden, where the government is based on a social welfare system, which aims to take care of all people who have the legitimate right to remain within the Swedish boarders, irrespective of national origin.

When specifically looking at the work environment, many generalisations are made when looking at the productivity of an ethnic group. For example, citizens from Southwest Asia are considered to be dedicated workers willing to graft. On the other end of the spectrum, not singling out a specific group, but they refuse to work and live off of the welfare system. This is where contempt from the working population, who pay very high taxes arise.

I read on a nearly daily basis about friction between Bermudians and those who have the legitimate right to live and work here that are not 'true' Bermudians. I am very much for a government and society taking care of its own first when it comes to work, but an ethnically mixed work force will in the long term only be positive if those people are dedicated to being productive. In this day of globalisation, and mass travel, understanding of different cultures and people is more a necessity rather than a recommendation. A company, whether a government agency or a conglomerate should in my eyes embrace a multi-cultural staffing policy.

If non-bermudian's are willing to work and give to Bermuda's economy and society as a whole without expecting handouts from the government as in Sweden's example, I applaud their efforts, and the role they will play in creating unity and understanding.

FREDERICK JELLIFF

Paget

March 13, 2005

Dear Sir,

I would like to draw the attention of your readers to an article in the UK's Observer newspaper dated March 13 (www.observer.co.uk) on the plight of the banana farmers of the Windward Islands.

The following is an extract from the article: "...despite all their efforts, Dominica and the other Windward Islands' small, vulnerable banana industry now faces extinction. From January 2006, the world trade rules that govern bananas are to be changed. These rules are complex and still under negotiation but, in a nutshell, the historic preferential access ? a quota system ? that guaranteed Caribbean bananas a sure market in Britain is to be swept aside. Instead, the Windwards are to be cut adrift and left to float or sink on the waters of free trade. The US, representing the interests of US-owned transnational banana companies like Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte, argued that the protection extended to these ex-colonies was discriminatory. It has browbeaten the European Union since the early Nineties into progressively opening up its market to imports of intensively produced bananas from Latin and Central America, nicknamed 'dollar' bananas because production there is controlled by powerful US companies."

The banana farmers of the Windward Islands are already being undercut by the US companies in Latin America where the plantations are regularly sprayed with pesticides, which affect not only the workers themselves, but possibly also the consumer.

To quote from the article again: "Latest UK government tests show that 59 percent of the bananas we eat have residues of imazalil, the most commonly used fungicide for bananas. The US Environmental Protection Agency classes it as 'likely to be carcinogenic in humans'."

I have only seen Latin American bananas sold in supermarkets here, and I believe we should be doing more to assist our Windward Island neighbours in this respect. At least we should be given the choice.

ALYS DAVIES

Pembroke

March 14, 2005

Dear Sir,

Isn't it interesting to note that at no stage in the sad demise of what was once a "flagship" store, as Mr. Eldon Trimingham said in his letter to the Editor, does the management of the company put the blame squarely where it should be!

It is only the Directors and Senior management of Trimingham's who should be held accountable for the demise of the company. With the right management teams in place both Trimingham's and Smith's would be thriving stores today.

March 10, 2005

Dear Sir,

Re: the closing of Trimingham's.

Did the Premier really say: "The greatest tribute we can pay to such a pioneer of the industry is to build on the foundation they have laid"? Hello! He's referring to one of the 40 Thieves!

I hope this rings loud and clear to all those who continue their tedious accusations that the white establishment never did anything for the average Bermudian. The Front Street merchants were intrinsic to what made Bermuda great. Hence our reputation, hence our strong economy, thence our enviable lifestyle. It's Economics people, pure and simple. And this is how it works. Thanks for the acknowledgement Mr. Premier.

March 14, 2005

Dear Sir,

Nobody really likes education. A political campaign is always based on ephemeral emotive issues like Independence. Here politics achieves an arena of feeling, a level of drama so satisfying to everyone: politicians hear their own voices; the public feels like its making itself heard.

Education is a hard, long and difficult issue that requires a social attitude of unqualified support and discussion. It's too hard for Bermudians and in fact most voters in the world to keep their mind on it. A short term fix never works, only long range planning works, it is almost impossible for any party to create an active and productive policy. So it sinks into the civil service and breeds bureaucracy. We ignore education. We build big schools but they don't solve the problem. I never understood why that was supposed to work.

The disappearance of Trimingham's indicated one thing overall. Bermuda is a very weird economy. We are rich for a host of reasons we share with very few other countries. We are sort of a village built inside a beautifully modern economic machine that was built only for us. We can say only one thing about this place that we live in; it requires educated people to run it. Whoever is educated will run it. Everyone else will watch. The education system in the United States has been underperforming for decades. But it's assumed that it can stumble along. The United States relies on its great cultural power and economic clout to make up for its shortcomings. Up to the present the US has gotten away with it. It may not last long but the extraordinary resources of the US have saved it before.

Bermuda is in exactly the opposite situation. We have only ever had one resource ? brains. Bermudian success has always been based on ingenuity. Other than our cleverness we have some rocks and lots of water we can't drink. A resourceful mind would indicate that only educated Bermudians would have any control of Bermudian destiny, independent or not. One would think that this intelligence that has saved us in the past would, in the current circumstance, indicate to us that we had no choice but to have educational standards that shamed the US. The opposite is true. They are below the US. And have been for decades. It's a ticking bomb.

March 17, 2005

Dear Sir,

I was born in Bermuda in 1946, and I left the Island at age 19. My family still resides there and I return for a visit at least once a year. I have seen so many of the local landmarks change, it saddens me to see all the huge office buildings that have taken over the Island. Now that Trimingham's and Smith's are closing, Front Street will never be the same.

Bermuda is losing its quaintness. I know that it's hard to accept change, but there has to be a point when you stop selling Bermudians' heritage away. Please think about your children's future. No Bermudian is going to be able to afford to live in their own homeland. I pray that you all see the light, and try to return Bermuda back to the wonderful place I remember as a child.

March 16, 2005

Dear Sir,

Word has it that we may need a new Commissioner of Police shortly.

May I suggest Colin Coxall for the post.

March 10, 2005

Dear Sir,

I try to support the Government wherever possible, however, Premier Scott must develop a consistent attitude toward Bermuda and Bermudians.

The Premier cannot put forward a policy preventing individual Bermudians from selling their homes to foreigners under the auspices of "not selling our Island out from underneath us" and then condone the single largest real estate purchase by a foreign company with the Bank of Bermuda sale to HSBC and then the recent purchase of the Trimingham's Front Street real estate by the same foreign corporation.

The rich Bermudians get richer via these sales. The board of directors of both the Bank and Trimingham's will be able to live quite handsomely from these sales while the cash-poor/land-rich Bermudians of the lower to middle classes will not be able to profit similarly from the sale of their homes. Is the Premier genuine when he says he wants to "protect what's ours" and keep Bermuda for Bermudians? Or, is his view that only corporations, not individuals, should be able to benefit from real estate sales to foreigners? This double standard hurts the very people he purports to protect while giving big windfalls to the rich.

When we elected this Government they said they would run a Government of and for the People of Bermuda. They said they would make things better and hold themselves to a higher standard than the UBP did previously. Now we see the truth. We see champagne, first class tickets, home renovations, and drivers picking you up on the runway. God and Bermuda are watching and the emperor has no clothes.

HELP WANTED

Smith's Parish