Dear Sir,

Selling our souls to Caricom for full membership is a distraction by Government from all the other financial problems facing the island and will likely and very quickly diminish whatever technical, financial, academic and general standard-of-living advantages we have gained over the Caribbean islands this past century. We could become the proverbial paradise lost!

There is also no doubt full membership will create the junket of all junkets with our elected Members of Parliament, unelected wannabe members and the entire Civil Service doing personal and unnecessary trips to the Caribbean to visit friends and family — all funded by the general public under the pretence of doing “official” business with absolutely no accountability.

The potential waste of money that Caricom full membership presents, along with its massive annual fees, blatantly ignores the obvious dire financial straits the island faces — a country once envied on the international stage that will gradually descend into Third World status:

• Our dysfunctional and broken education system

• Our chaotic healthcare system and its exorbitant costs

• Our decreasing workforce and rising emigration

• Our totally underfunded pension schemes

• Our inadequate bed space in the Progressive Labour Party’s new hospital

• Our atrocious road paving/pothole repair non-event

• Our absurd housing shortage and its stupid solutions

• Our unbelievably top-heavy Civil Service payroll

• Our exorbitant rents, groceries and electricity costs

• Our embarrassing national debt under PLP stewardship

There is a silver lining, though — at least our new airport and national airline are two successful ventures that Bermuda has something to be proud of and which fortunately the PLP has had no control over.

It’s just a pity that visitors are subjected to our high prices, poor transportation and a tacky first impression — Castle Harbour’s unsightly refuse dump!

TONY HAWORTH

Warwick