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Bermuda is crying out to Government for guidance and direction, Shadow Minister without Portfolio declared during the Throne Speech Debate.

And he said: ?This is the saddest debate I?ve seen in my political career having had 23 Throne Speeches, and it is sad because the Throne Speech reflects the state the Government finds itself in. ... The country is in trouble.?

And he took exception to newly appointed Minister of National Drug Control earlier speech, which he said had lasted more than hour but had spent less than one tenth of that time talking about how the problem of drugs is to be tackled.

Mr. Burgess said: ?The scourge of drugs and the impact that it has on our communities is what is pulling us down. It is the single largest threat against all of us and if we do not look like we are trying to go to war on it then those in that business will think they can keep on keeping on.?

He also said education was now the single route out for young Bermudians trying to make something of their lives, but that a Bachelor?s degree was now comparable to a high school certificate 30 years ago in terms of currency for securing a quality job.

He said the Island?s young people were having their dreams snatched away because of the failings of the education system.

The mood lightened a little as Mr. Burgess mentioned the Throne Speech pledge of fees being waived for seniors wanting a British Overseas Territories Citizen passport.

?When they (Government) thought that out, they wanted to give me a passport so I can make it ?out there? because I can?t make it around here,? he said.

Turning to the Employment Assistance Programme he said the greatest assistance that can be given to someone who is unemployed was to give them a job.

He praised the Government?s initiative to give members of The Regiment a full financial grant if they attended Bermuda College, but said it would be even better if that scheme was extended so that those in the Regiment not able to attend the College could be given an incentive to go into a lower tier of education that could still improve their prospects.

He also hinted that he felt householders who confront an intruder in their own home should, in that moment, be at liberty to take what action they feel necessary to protect themselves and their families.

Telecommunications Minister revealed the Government has been in discussions with Microsoft to secure educational mentoring programmes for youngsters.

He also mentioned the proposed Government television channel and said the reason for the Government?s own media outlet was because: ?Much of the good work of the Government goes unpublished or deeply buried in the media.?

And he said he looked forward to the day that Bermuda had its own sovereignty so that it could hold direct discussions and direct decision-making to secure its interests in the global scheme of things.

Earlier in the evening , Minister Without Portfolio, had attempted to list a number of recent housing projects that had been completed by the Government and accused the UBP of trying to thwart attempts by the Government to build housing by getting protestors to object at every turn.

The Government did not reveal in advance where it was going to put housing to lessen the change of the plan being scuppered by UBP tactics, Mr. Lister claimed.

?The UBP objects to every place where the Government wants to build. Every time we try to build for middle or lower income people they picket. But they never say a thing when it is (a development) for one of their friends.?

Opposition Leader Dr Grant Gibbons objected and said the comment was implying improper motives upon the UBP.

But Mr. Lister said the people of the country know that any time the Government tried to build housing for the middle and lower classes the UBP would find reasons why it shouldn?t be permitted.

Turning to the proposed Government television station, he said it was not the ?first step to dictatorship? and claimed the UK had the BBC, the US had Voice of America and places like St. Kitts have their own TV channels disseminating government information.

And he said a story that had stated the new Government car park places were costing $22,000 each was wrong and that this mis-information had then been repeated on the radio.

Shadow Minister for Works and Engineering criticised Health Minister Patrice Minors for not responding to an earlier call by members of the Opposition to say something about a case of a senior staying at the Pembroke Nursing Home who had ended up with gangrene in her bed sores.

She questioned the wisdom of bringing in the foreign company Cemex to run the Island?s main cement supply company while a new local operator was selected during the next two years, adding it could surely have been arranged to find someone already on the Island to run the business as a stop-gap measure rather than bring in a foreign company that would bring its own workers and put extra strain on the Island?s infrastructure.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin also took issue with claim that seniors unable to afford the $10 flu jab could have the fee waived if they pleaded their case. She said that many of the seniors would be too proud to let it be known that they are walking a tightrope between being able to eat or having a flu jab and she said: ?It would have been better for the Government to have said that it would simply waive the cost for all seniors.?

Shadow Education Minister berated the Government over a statement in a sustainable development delivered to Islanders during the summer which claimed there was no clear date on the levels of attainment at school.

He said this appeared to show the Government was ?flying in the black? with no understanding of how students were doing.

And he said the education system began to fail students once they had reached the second part of their middle school years.

He said: ?We are ahead of the American average mean (attainment) for primary schools but if you look at the middle schools that when the data gets concerning.

?These young boys and girls seem to fall off the learning experience and seem to get further and further behind compared to the US.?

Opposition House Leader questioned the cost of the proposed Government television channel ? and asked who would watch it.

?Has anyone done a cost study on whether it is going to be value for money?? he asked.

He said if the PLP wanted to get its message out directly to voters it did not make sense to set up a station in competition with existing media outlets.

And the UBP MP joked: ?Perhaps they could make it mandatory in jails and we could see a reduction in the prison population.

?Let?s be serious ? people do not watch that kind of thing. It?s not a good use of resources. Have you got money coming out of your ears??

He said the proposals ?smacked of desperation? and told the PLP to take bad press on the chin as he said the UBP had done in previous years.

However, Mr. Barritt did say using the state channel to broadcast live Parliamentary debates would be a good idea.

Premier has revealed the new TV service will use the weather channel ? cable channel 4 ? to broadcast. But he did not say how much the venture would cost, when it would start or how many hours a day it would be on air.

He said it would not be another ZBM, VSB or Fresh but would be a ?lean and mean operation?.

The Premier also denied critics? claims the station plans meant the party was on the brink of dictatorship ? and said people could always switch off.

Speaking on the Independence issue, new drugs Minister said he did not trust polls Opposition members pointed to when it said most Bermudians did not want to sever links with the UK.

He said phone polls of just under 500 people did not represent a random sample, and he said the UBP wanted to simply ?abort? the independence issue.

But he told MPs Bermuda had been ?put back in the melting pot? and Government would take control and was not going to rely on white people to come up with solutions.also said Government had to speak with one voice on tourism and criticised its spending on travel.

But in response, PLP MP said his party had to travel to ?sell the Island? in an increasingly competitive overseas market.

He twice branded the UBP response to the Premier?s Throne Speech ?negative, negative, negative, negative?.

Shadow Environment Minister said travel benefits announced in the Throne Speech for members of the Bermuda Regiment should be extended to firefighters, reservist constabulary and St. John Ambulance volunteers.

He also called for legal clampdowns on ?construction rogues? who flouted planning laws, with Government planning officials given more resources to fight the problem.