Bermudians last week. Sir David said: "The winds of change are blowing, the economy of the past is disappearing, and we Bermudians need to adapt and prepare for those winds much better than we do now.'' In what appeared to be an attempt to refocus thinking away from political rows and back to basics, Sir David said that in Bermuda we need to adjust our thinking and emphasise the closest co-operation among Government, the financial sector, and international business.

Sir David is concerned from where he sits as chairman of the Bank of N.T.

Butterfield, that an economic hurricane is shaking the world economy and that Bermuda and Bermudians should be prepared. "There is a real possibility that Bermuda could well be confronted with visible unemployment unless we take action.'' His main solution lies in education. He asks: "Are we endowing young Bermudians with the skills to fully seize the opportunities of this new age or are we still providing courses and training for an economy that has been greatly affected by the winds of change?'' He says Bermuda must educate and train people for the opportunities which are available. We have to look at the employment picture and focus our resources on the job growth areas. It is not enough to educate and train people but we must educate and train them for the jobs available.

If nothing else, that seems to be eminently sensible, but that does not mean it will happen because too often we all go on in the same old rut.

"Twenty years ago we were largely self-sufficient in such trades as electrical, motor and air-conditioning for example. Today scores and scores of qualified people have had to be brought into Bermuda as we are turning out all too few qualified people in the technical sector -- and these are jobs starting at $30,000 per annum.'' Sir David then issued a challenge to the Government he used to lead.

We are embarking on education reform but he asks if we are doing it right. He asks what he calls "the difficult questions''. "Are we emphasising the correct skills? Are we offering the right courses? Are we allocating our resources in the correct way?'' He says that if we find the answers we will provide the basis for the resumption of economic growth in Bermuda which will mean growing revenue after five years of stagnation. "Having enjoyed 40 years of growth in our incomes, the past five years have proved frustrating to us all.'' Sir David predicted a strong potential for unemployment resulting from restructuring of business and business failures in the next few years. Is he correct? Probably. We have already seen retail failures and the large business layoffs in recent months are clear evidence of restructuring.

Success, he says, requires the full support of Government and the private sector and the individual must make a vital contribution..."final responsibility rests with the individual''.

The first step is for Bermudians to show appreciation for the fact that tourism is critical to our success ... "indeed survival''. He says that islands such as the Bahamas and Cayman are now way ahead of us in warm friendly welcomes.

It seems to this newspaper that in recent years Bermuda has suffered real difficulty in implementing solutions in almost every area...a kind of paralysis caused by a syndrome of appointing a committee and then doing nothing. We can only hope that will not happen with Sir David's advice. He has not outlined a happy picture and he has been correct too often in the past.