Get back to being hot!

June 6, 2010

Dear Sir,

I view myself, all other retail workers in the cruise ship ports in Bermuda, and taxi drivers as the front line of Bermudian hospitality (other than hotel workers obviously). We are the ambassadors to tourists and we are the very first people they make contact with once on shore. I work in retail right on Front Street, so I deal with the public and especially tourists on a daily basis, as well as the cruise ship directors that come on shore. Many are starting to express frustration over something that I think the Government must fix. As per a conversation I had with a director and a group of tourists, I was told Dockyard is "absolute bedlam with about 7,000 people crammed there..."

The cruise ship director and his many passengers were upset that only one ferry comes back and forth between Dockyard and Hamilton and yet a bus comes every five minutes to go to Horseshoe. We spoke for 20 minutes. We came to the consensus that another two vessels should be used at least. Enlisting other vessels already around other than ferries ... (i.e. the Longtail) to shuttle people back and forth to Dockyard and Hamilton is a must. Dockyard is OK, but only so big, and going to the beach is a must to glimpse our beauty, but coming to Hamilton to spend money in our stores, restaurants etc. is a major necessity! We need these tourists to come into Hamilton.

We need a fresh source of outside money to pour into our economy. Also, have you seen the line to go back to Dockyard? It extends almost as far as the Flagpole some days from Albouy's point with hot and bothered tourists waiting to go back to their ship. Our Government spent tons on those new fast ferries and millions on advertisements now going all over the US East Coast ... what good is it all if when the tourists come, they just get annoyed and have a bad experience, and to be frank, don't spend money! Having said that, I was informed by a few Bermudian owner of large boats that made a bid to do this very job and ferry people to and from Dockyard, and they were denied by government. Why? This is a necessity and would open up a few more jobs for Bermudian. Why did Government slam the door on them? Wake up. Tourism is in a shambles. Let's get this island back on the road to being a tourism hot spot!

ROBERT DAVIES

Devonshire

Another Alice moment

June 11, 2010

Dear Sir,

I sometimes feel like Alice in Wonderland. Bermuda can be a very strange place in which to live and, as Alice said, it gets "Curiouser and curiouser". We have lots of churches in Bermuda but the Ten Commandments don't seem to hold much water. "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Honour Thy Father and Thy Mother" seem to be choices rather than commandments, yet we refuse to allow homosexuals space in our Human Rights Act. I don't recall reading a Commandment that says: "Thou Shall Not Be a Homosexual or Lesbian or Bisexual or Transvestite".

We recently had a "gaming" bill tabled in the House of Assembly and it was failed by the very Party that brought it forward. How strange. Gaming is already legal in Bermuda. Children sell raffle tickets. Adults play Bingo, often in church halls. We love to rattle the dice at Crown and Anchor. Some charities even hold "Casino Nights" to raise funds. Recently I went into the Mechanics Building on Church Street and saw a sign for "Sea Horses" with an arrow pointing to the basement. I thought sea horses lived in the ocean, not in the basement of office blocks. In another "Alice in Wonderland" moment, I see that single cigarettes are for sale at the checkout of the newly revamped store on Flatts Hill. Why sell singles at 75 cents each? Adult smokers are pretty picky about buying their favourite brand in a fresh pack or carton. Finally, I recently observed a well-marked truck offloading cases of liquor of just about every description at a grocery store. Again, how strange. We make criminals out of people who want to smoke a joint. At the same time, potentially deadly and addictive nicotine and alcohol delivery systems are both legal and readily available alongside our bread and milk. As the Cat in Wonderland said, "We're all mad here".

ALICE IN BERMUDA

Smith's

Mr. Ratlett's true position

June 7, 2010

Dear Sir,

In response to Valirie Akinstall's June 1st letter, headed "Media Watchdog Endorsement", and her inclusion of a letter from David Ratlett, Lecturer in Law, University of Kent, having now finally stopped chuckling and having wiped away my tears of uncontrollable laughter, I should like to applaud the lecturer's subtle tongue-in-cheek use of the English language. Clearly he is not in favour at all of any censorship of the press. Neither is he endorsing any form of oversight of the press. Ostensibly, his letter is in favour of control of the press, but as one reads further on, his real meaning becomes cleverly apparent. He quotes Leon Trotsky, and that is the first clue. Trotsky was a Menshevik and a Bolshevik, depending upon the climate. The political climate that is. His history as a politician is one of a brilliantly rhetorical orator and scoundrel ready to do anything to justify his cause.

The Media, under his and his party's ruthless crackdowns became nothing more than a propaganda machine. He wrote a very one-sided history of The Russian Revolution, and near to death wrote: "My faith in the communist future of mankind is not less ardent, indeed it is firmer today, than it was in the days of my youth."

Clearly, David Ratlett is cunningly ambivalent over this whole issue, especially since communism has been such a disastrous failure and has caused so much misery, death, and torture, and everyone agrees, not only is it unworkable, but those who professed conviction to put it into practice became nothing more than ruthless murderers, tyrants, and despots, adopting the lifestyles of those whom they usurped. Even the country which nurtured it has now rejected it. And another country which adopted it has set it aside in favour of good old tried-and-trusted wealth-building capitalism; now reigned-in with throttling regulation and legislation, but still the only way to maintain growth, employment, and reward aspiration and endeavour, and to spread newly-generated wealth throughout an economy and its citizens.

To cite Trotsky, a man of dubious character, whose political efforts led to a complete distortion of the media and its use as a propaganda machine (under death threats to the former proprietors and the eventual installing of state goons in charge of publishing garbage) can only suggest that Mr. Ratlett is having a huge laugh at our expense.

"Cutting Edge" of media legislation? It's been done since time immemorial; the attempt to muzzle the press. The paragraph quote of Trotsky's on "the production of information" reveals Mr. Ratlett's true position. Only someone with a limited understanding of what happened throughout history when media was censored by The State could profess to uphold such a concept.

Mr. Ratlett is a university lecturer. I think he is "damning Trotsky with faint praise" in order to show us what danger we are in, in which case, it's a very clever and subtle letter, worthy of a university lecturer. On the other hand, if it's not what I suspect it to be, and if we are meant to take it at face value only, then it's not only Bermuda which has a problem with its education policies. Leon Trotsky, alias Lev Davidovich Bronstein, died in 1940, in exile in Mexico with a big hole in his head from an ice axe attack by a Soviet secret agent. He was one of the few instigators of the Bolshevik Revolution who has not been "rehabilitated" by the Soviet Union. We need this legislation like Trotsky needed a hole in the head,

TACITURNUS

Warwick

Bring back hanging

June 16, 2010

Dear Sir,

As much as I dislike the idea, I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to approach Bermuda's gun violence and drugs wars. Murder with a firearm should carry the mandatory sentence of hanging. No ifs and/or buts. Just hanging. Drug importation except for small quantities for personal use should have a sentence of mandatory life in prison ... not a few years with parole but LIFE. Husbands, wives, children and parents of those so sentenced should be taxed with the costs of keeping them in jail. Relatives always know what goes on and many benefit from the illegal actions of their kin. I know this is draconian but I think it would provide Bermuda with a future and I am beginning to despair at our chances.

FEARFUL

Smith's parish

Follow the law

May 28, 2010

Dear Sir,

Bermuda Employers beware! In my opinion, the day has now come when a judge interferes with the hiring and firing of an organisation. Those who fear being fired can simply go to a judge and get him to put an injunction on the organisation until the judge decides if the company has the right to hire and fire. All employers need to read the laws on employment. I thought you had the right to hire and fire as long as it's in keeping with those laws. After reading the recent judgment on the CedarBridge case I think not!

EMPLOYER

Warwick