Dear Sir,

The paternalistic central planners occupying Bermuda’s halls of power no longer camouflage their modus operandi — rules for thee, but not for me.

In 2020, they at least feigned some embarrassment with the demotion of two Cabinet members, but with little to no House or Senate opposition and a pliant population, it’s just easier to “remove the mask” — an apt metaphor for the times.

The two-facedness of being on camera with no mask and no social distancing at a party one day and then orchestrating media pictures fully masked and distanced the next day says it all — this public health crisis is a sham.

There was nothing particularly unsafe about what David Burt and his colleagues did at the private function. They are all adults who can make their own risk judgments. But that’s exactly the problem. The Premier has outlawed behaviour he obviously knows is safe.

This attitude is common in banana republics. It was just naivety to think I escaped it after leaving Trinidad. The Premier’s pandemic hypocrisy is a reminder that under a centralised expansive government, there will always be an elite class that thinks it doesn’t have to play by the rules it imposes on the people.

ANTHONY DONAGHY

Pembroke