Where do our loyalties lie?

July 8, 2002

Dear Sir,

I am rather confused about Bermuda's sense of loyalty and wonder if somebody can explain the current state of affairs.

As a new resident of Bermuda I did a lot of reading about Bermuda's history and culture before I arrived here. I understood us to be a Dependent Territory of the United Kingdom, with HM the Queen as our Head of State.

A week after I landed in Bermuda, a new Governor was due to be arriving. Having seen pictures of the arrival of previous Governors I was looking forward to witnessing the formal welcoming ceremonies at the airport. After all, the Governor is the representative of HM the Queen.

I was a little miffed (British art of understatement) that the Government of Bermuda chose to ignore the Governor on his arrival. If I was miffed then he must have felt very insulted. It was, in effect, a slap in the face to HM the Queen as it was her representative that was ignored. Then came the second event. Now, as Editor of a national newspaper I am sure that you were aware (for nobody else seems to have been) that a few weeks ago we celebrated fifty glorious years of the reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

It should be pointed out that immediately preceding the celebrations all Bermudians were granted full citizenship of Great Britain (and therefore the EEC) with all of the benefits that citizenship entails. There has been a rush to take up citizenship of Great Britain to such an extent that the Government in Bermuda ran out of application forms almost on day one.

As well as receiving the full benefits of British citizenship, the Bermuda Government was attempting to get Britain to pay for the enormous cost of the US Base clean up.

So! How did Bermuda choose to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of accession? Well, I am still trying to find out. Rumour has it that a sapling was planted somewhere. Considering the considerable benefits that have accrued to all sections of Bermuda's citizens over the last fifty years (and will continue I would have thought that celebrations of a more loyal, public and demonstrative nature would have been appropriate.

Walking around Hamilton over the past week I was initially delighted to see red, white and blue flats and banners abounding. "At last", I thought, "the Golden Jubilee is being celebrated in 'Bermuda time', time to join in the festivities".

My euphoria was soon dashed as a colleague (with a strange accent) explained that these were the celebrations for the independence of an ex-colony; it is a big thing in Bermuda. "Is this independence celebrated every 100 years?" I asked, "the decorations are abundant and far in excess of anything that I saw for just 50 years of HM the Queen's reign".

Well, you could have knocked me over with a Longtail's feather when my colleague explained that this celebration occurredevery year! Just imagine what goes on for the fiftieth anniversary!

So where does Bermuda's loyalty lie? It is obvious that Bermuda is very willing to take the benefits derived from its ancient British heritage and citizenship but is not prepared to show any loyalty. Juxtaposing this is Bermuda prostituting itself to a country that is celebrating its termination of any loyalty to our Queen.

God save the Queen, and Bermuda.

ANTHONY MARLOW

Hamilton