Apologise for Playboy visit

September 18, 2008

Dear Sir,

I have sat and waited patiently but nothing has happened. It has been long enough but the Premier still hasn't issued a public apology for a mistake that he made. Now, I will be the first to say that no man is perfect but I do believe that it takes a big man to say he is sorry and a bigger man to say he was wrong. Premier Brown made a trip to the Playboy Mansion and made a donation to a "charity" with money from Bermuda's account (taxpayers money), not his own personal account. If I am incorrect with this theory then I am sure someone will correct me. The last time I checked this same charity, that is run by his son, is being investigated on various fraud charges. Doesn't he owe the people of Bermuda an apology for making a bad decision with regards to our money? Let me reiterate that no one is perfect but if he had given the money out of his own pocket I would care less, but he didn't, he spent our money and I think he should address this.

As I read the article in the paper about the charges being filed against his son I had to shake my head. Innocent until proven guilty, yes, but come on Premier, if you were in the Opposition and another Premier did the same thing, you would be ripping him apart. Firstly, I believe, (and this is my opinion) that it wasn't in good taste for the leader of my country to be at the Playboy Mansion and secondly, I believe you made a hasty decision with giving this charity money run by your son. In my opinion, that was the only reason. If I am wrong for this assumption, I apologise.

At the end of the day, I would like to feel that you at least feel some sort of regret for the decision you made. I will remain just a little more patient because, who knows, the press release, which contains your apology and reasoning, could be sitting in your out-tray for delivery.

GREJAI SMITH

Devonshire

Testing overload

September 18, 2008

Dear Sir,

On reading the article in The Royal Gazette of September 17 2008 concerning the performance of public school students in the recent Terra Nova assessments I took note of the comments of personnel from the Department of Education that it intends to investigate the possibility of local students from Government schools participating in the TIMMS or PISA assessment programmes at some future date. The stated rationale is "to compare Bermuda's public school system to "the broader international community"".

I would hope that that investigation takes the following matters into consideration:

The PISA and TIMMS programmes each test a sample of students from the population of a country so that they can report on the comparative performance of that country against various other countries. In order to ensure a reasonable level of accuracy in the report, the sample includes students from private schools as well as government schools and also includes students from all income levels. A recent article was published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD is responsible for the development and administration of PISA and this article was published on-line on April 12 2007.

In that article it states that 400,000 students were tested in 57 countries in order to prepare the PISA report for 2006. This is an average of 7,000 students per country but I assume that a large country like the United States with more than 49,000,000 students will test more students than a small country like New Zealand which has about 700,000 students. Bermuda's public school system has fewer than 7,000 students and would not fit the requirement for inclusion of both public and private schools or the full range of income levels. For these reasons the validity of a comparison would be questionable.

The following quote from the OECD article is instructive: "On average across the OECD, students in private schools outperformed students in public schools in most countries. The picture changed, however, when the socio-economic background of students and schools was taken into account, with public schools taking the lead."

The quote continues "Streaming at an early age tends to increase the impact of socio-economic background on student performance, PISA 2006 indicates. The earlier students were stratified into separate institutions or programmes, the stronger was the impact which the school's average socio-economic background had on performance. Schools that divided students by ability for all subjects tended to have lower student performance on average."

Finally, we should take into account a tendency towards testing overload within the local public education system. Near the end of the school year some students take all of the following: Terra Nova tests, BSC tests, GCSE tests, the new McGraw/Hill locally standardized tests, school-based tests for graduation or promotion and practice tests for all of the above. Adding PISA?

J.T. CHRISTOPHER

Warwick

Editor's Note: Dr. Joseph Christopher is a former Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education

Know what buttons to push

September 18, 2008

Dear Sir,

As we all know, there is a presidential election coming up in the United States. On the one hand they have Sen. Barack Obama – Democrat, and on the other side they have Sen. John McCain – Republican. It is a matter of fact that it is the Republicans who always run the sleaziest campaigns – who delight in character assassinations and misrepresentations of fact. I don't think even the most rabid of supporters amongst the Republican ranks could deny this.

Barack Obama would undoubtedly be the best person for President of America – not only for the American people but for the world as a whole. What I like about Barack Obama is his sense of balance and fair play. He is not an extremist and everything he has done through his adult life proves his willingness to serve humanity. He is a man of formidable intellectual capability. Clearly, he could prove to be a great President of America – the world's most powerful nation. He could well do an excellent job of restoring balance within the US and throughout the world – economically, environmentally and diplomatically.

And, God knows, a great American President would be a very welcome change – for that matter, a mediocre President would be a few steps up. It's my guess we will see the Republican propaganda machine get into top gear. We will see and hear blatant misrepresentations of fact and gross examples of character assassination. Will the American electorate refuse to see the undoubted qualities of the Democratic candidate, Sen. Barack Obama. Will too many of them, for specious reasons of their own, not vote for the best candidate? Will they allow themselves to be manipulated by unscrupulous, dirty campaign tactics and rhetoric?

It is, after all, something which happens in democracies. Clever politicians know what nerves to pinch – what buttons to push. Their campaign managers know to a 'T' the vulnerabilities and prejudices of much of the population – and they exploit these to the hilt. And if enough of the electorate are suckered in – the wrong guy wins. Isn't this exactly what happened here in Bermuda in 2007?

POPULIST

Paget

The USA is our friend

September 17, 2008

Dear Sir,

I always wondered why Americans would say that they were proud of their troops as they headed off to serve in other parts of the world. However, when I saw the photo of our soldiers going off I really understood it. I feel very, very proud to see our guys go off to render assistance to our 'cousins' in Turks & Caicos. Also, as we all know, the US provided the means for our guys to go down there. It amazes me that despite the negative attacks on the US sometimes from other countries, that they never hesitate to lend a helping hand to other countries when it is needed.

The irony also doesn't escape me that despite the US helping us when we need it, and helping us to look good in helping Turks & Caicos, that we-not individually but 'we' as a country-are griping about giving up some land that isn't being used to provide the US Consulate with a parking lot. Talk about biting the hand that feeds us!

What if the US was to say 'OK – never mind. You keep your land and we'll just pack up and get out. While we're at it, you all stay out of our country.' We wouldn't like that, would we? I know that the US would never be so petty or immature to say that but I'm just trying to make a point. It doesn't do much for our relations with the US to make objections. It's silly because for safety reasons this parking lot is obviously needed- for Bermudians, Americans, Jamaicans – everybody.

The US is our friend and the US Consul General who we have now is a wonderful person from what I can see who has gone over and beyond what he needs to do in our community. For Pete's sake, let's stop being whiny Bermudians for once and help out the country that helps so many and is here in our community to benefit us. Give the parking lot the green light!

A. BERMUDIAN

Hamilton Parish

A wonderful doctor

September 16, 20008

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter so that all are aware, about the treatment and care my mother received at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital here in Bermuda, our families were shocked and appalled. Yes, the hospital is named after a king, but in no way was my mother treated as a queen.

First of all, I would like to start with the doctors, nurses and housekeeping staff. They could really benefit from customer service training. Your approach was rude, uncaring and utterly disrespectful. There was much breaching of patient confidentiality, inconsistent diagnosis, and bad attitudes once our family addressed some concerns. The hospital beds and walls had ants for several days,"the weather is the reason and everybody has them", was the reply.

For two weeks my mother endured a lack of responsibilities by doctors, nurses and housekeeping staff. Let me note, not everyone treated her this way, however, it was one too many times and we felt compelled to express my concerns. To think my mother was born and raised here in Bermuda, and she spent her last days in a hospital were individuals have lost their morals and values.

If I had known that the treatment was going to be this bad, I would have demanded that she stay in the US for her final days. Bermuda should not be losing their people to the US hospitals. Patients should receive affordable, valuable and quality medical treatment and care right here on this Island. So what are you doing wrong at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital Bermuda?

Well, at the very last week of my mom's life, our family met Dr. Arlene Basden, what a wonderful doctor, and Bermuda KEMH! Yes, she saved your reputation. This doctor became the angel my mother needed, and I thank God, because her end was made sweet and respectful. Bermuda, Doctor Basden should be cloned, however, since you cannot do that, ask her to teach your other doctors and medical staff a class in 101 bedside manner.

Dr. Cressell and Dr. Sparling did an excellent job as well, and we were able to trust these doctors, simply because, when they didn't know, they admitted it, and knowing that my mom was nearing the end, continued to behave in such a manner as if my mom was going to live forever.

The Agape House staff were professional, experienced, and were very caring. In my opinion, the staff at Agape could teach the nurses and housekeeping staff of KEMH, how to effectively treat patients and their families especially when the patient is dying. KEMH staff should be the leading in professional medical care and attention which then should be carried over to Agape House.

Thank you Agape House for showing us the way medical care should be done. Finally, my mom passed yesterday on September 15, and believe it or not, her family doctor was right there to pronounce her end, God was in control till the end. So thank you to all who were involved with my mom, and remember, one day you'll be lying in someone's hospital bed. Karma happens!

ORADELLE DARRELL-SEWELL AND FAMILY

Wilmington, Delaware

Something should be done

September 18, 2008

Dear Sir,

I'm extremely surprised as I'm sure most of you are about the creation of a parking lot on the land that belongs in basic terms to us – the people of Bermuda. The former Premier Alex Scott is correct in saying that this land should not be touched, it's a landmark for our tourists, he's right you'd never see that happening at the White House or 10 Downing Street for a neighbour!

Again here's a decision made in haste by our so called "government for the people" without involving us – we do pay for the upkeep of this property. It's bad enough that the existing Premier does not wish to live there – tough luck buster the rest of the world elected leaders live in official residences. I feel that in this instance the Premier should be taking care of his own personal property, however I do know that my tax paid hard earned dollars are going toward the upkeep / upgrades of his personal residence as well as the Official Residence – Clifton.

I guess my real issue is that when the current Premier leaves office – whenever that may be – he gets to stay in his personal residence that we the tax payer have paid for over his term– I'm afraid is not right and something should be done about it, If you look at it he's doing pretty good for himself.

Drives a BMW750 series – had to do one up on the Governor he's drives the BMW735 series

Has us pay for his home while he's in office, lovely new fencing, security systems, probably very well maintained by W&E – nothing much left over for Bermuda Police Service – in dire need of upgrades. Drive around with bodyguards

Brothers and Cousins are owning BGA, Universal Electric – oh guess what Universal are always nominated for government work – a bit like Correia Construction too, oh and lets not forget about the Cement Company. I think everybody gets irate at the time but then what we stop hearing we hope goes away – well guess what – it doesn't.

FED UP AND CURIOUS

What does St. George's want?

August 29, 2008

Dear Sir,

I read in the Bermuda Sun today that the Officials of St. George, Ye Olde Towne is yet again complaining! They said that Government was doing nothing with Club Med and they (the St. Georgians) wanted a hotel in the east-end to revive the dead place. What do they want? According to Mr. Bascome "the infrastructure in St. Georges was never designed for heavy vehicles constantly running up and down our roads".

Rather than complaining about the removal of rubble, give a suggestion what is to be done with it! Shall we dump it at St. Catherine's Beach? I also think that the tourist coming here to Bermuda are wise enough to board a plane or ship, will be careful if they see trucks on the street! Give them some credit for intelligence. I am so sure the next complaint from Ye Olde Towne will be the roads cannot support all the cranes rolling through the town, to build their new hotel.

GIVE US ALL A BREAK

Hamilton Parish

Voyeuristic reporting

September 15, 2008

Dear Sir,

Am I the only person appalled by the excruciating details being reported in the Dill murder case by The Royal Gazette (and the Bermuda Sun)? the sleazy particulars are subsequently broadcast verbatim to a captive audience including children who would not ordinarily be allowed access to such sexually explicit adult material. I have no problem with whatever adults want to get up to in private but I do not need to hear the ins and outs, no pun intended, of what went on within the walls of the Dill home. The case is about the murder of a fellow human being but this fact is made almost insignificant by voyeuristic reporting intent on some kind of perverse sensationalism. Very poor taste indeed.

KB

Smiths

Pigeon problems

September 8, 2008

Dear Sir,

I was just wondering why are pigeons ruining the new Bus Terminal. When you are waiting for a bus you have to worry about what is coming down on your head from those birds. I am sure something can be done to combat the pigeon population in Hamilton.

WONDERING

Sandys