November 8, 2011Dear Sir,In reading the Throne Speech, it seemed to me that many of the phrases used were a copycat of what I have heard on the US news media in relation to American politics, i.e. — stimulus — getting people back to work — emerging stronger and more united etc. Therefore, the Throne speech does not sound authentic because too much of it doesn’t ring true. This Government has been making promises since 1998 and very few of these promises have been kept. We were promised good governance, transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, being “The People’s Government” — the whole nine yards, and what did we get, certainly none of the above.Highlights from the Throne Speech states that young Bermudians will be trained to take advantage of IT opportunities through the “establishment of a Cisco academy” in Bermuda. So here we go again — this academy has not even been established and they have had 13 years to have done so.As far as work permits are concerned, after Government has literally chased international businesses out of the island, they are now seeing the folly of their ways and are trying to save the day by offering all sorts on incentives to woo them back which may be just a little too late. Many of these companies feel, once bitten, twice shy. Bermuda no longer has the business friendly reputation it once had when it comes to international business and the IB community has no time for nonsense, uncertainty and a Government that doesn’t know the first thing about business or how it operates.Regarding removing legal barriers denying home ownership to non-Bermudians members of families, this is just another back stepping on one of their badly thought out legislations that they put in place only to turn around and bite them on the butt, so again, they are trying to save face by reversing this legislation.Regarding the Hamilton waterfront being transformed into a dynamic new hub for business and entertainment, this should have been done way back when Sir John Swan came up with his plan, but I guess certain people did not want him to be the architect of such a magnificent production. But one thing I can say about the waterfront is that we must be the only island in the world that has a bright yellow toilet sitting on such a valuable piece of property! This is very unique and could this only happen in Bermuda.In the paragraph that read, “Air links with Emirates Airlines, to the Middle East are under consideration, along with Islamic finance and green initiatives to attract investment”. I thought to myself, why? This was like Ewart Brown going to India to supposedly drum up tourist business from that country. You have to ask yourself why as those people have bigger fish to fry than Bermuda. And what’s this talk of Islamic investment? Have I missed something?Last but not least, Mr Editor, is the issue of gaming and the revamping of College Weeks. Let’s go to College Weeks. First of all, Bermuda will not make oodles of money on College Weeks as these students don’t have a lot of money to throw around, and secondly, if they do come, where are we going to put them? How soon can we get two or three hotels up and running in time for a college invasion? Incidentally, what happened to all of those hotels Ewart Brown said would be in place? Was the price too high?This PLP Government is delusional and cannot think clearly. If they were thinking clearly, we would have long had a referendum on gaming but no, they are still considering it. Not only that, if they were thinking clearly we would have had a referendum on Independence years ago and that issue would have been put to rest, but this Government is still “considering” many issues because they really don’t know what they are doing.PAT FERGUSONWarwick