August 23, 2011Dear Sir,Nobody should be shocked by the growing issue of the cutting of staff at Berkeley being raised by the Bermuda Public Service Union. This PLP government since the Dr Brown regime took over has continually mismanaged the country's purse and practised no fiscal safeguarding of its accounts. Instead of “trimming the fat” of the already broken education system, they should look to trim the fat of the bloated civil service. They were warned by economists and Shadow Minister Bob Richards long before the recession hit to stop their spending and save money for the hard times to come. They labelled these people scaremongers. Oh how foolish they should feel. I said “should” because it appears they in actual fact feel no shame for this blatant disregard of warnings to prepare for hard times and they're in serious denial. Paula Cox has been our Finance Minister and for years has had the lack of “testicular fortitude” as she commented once before to simply say no to government overspending. The people of Bermuda need to seriously ask themselves how are they faring now under this government compared to one year ago, five years ago and ten years ago. I think the number of people who would say worse off would be staggering. Even those who can honestly say that they are doing better financially cannot, however, say that they feel safer as crime on this island is as violent and terrible as ever. Bermudians need a government that can deliver on the principles of opportunity, safety, responsibility, integrity, transparency, fairness, inclusiveness and service. These principles are the core principles of the OBA. I encourage people to seriously and honestly take a look at this country and consider their new option at the next election.ROBERT DAVIESOBA Supporter