Laws are being ignored

January 4, 2002

Dear Sir,

With regards to the closing of the "sound chamber" at TCD, it might be a good idea to close it permanantly thus saving everyone the bother of having to comply with a law which is flouted all over the Island.

The only time, judging by the excessive noise from bikes, particularly in Hamilton, that one has to comply with the law is twenty seconds a year. Souped-up bikes, ghetto-blasters in cars, double parking on Queen and Reid Streets, going through red lights and stop signs, all with impunity and now seat belts!

The current laws are not enforced so why bother with new ones?

By the way I saw a Policeman in Hamiltion today , is this a sign that Spring is approaching?

GOING DEAF IN HAMILTON

Clean by comparison

January 4, 2003

Dear Sir,

Normally, Eva Hodgson expresses herself clearly in her letters, but I did have difficulty following the points she was trying to make in the one you published on December 31.

The notion, for example, that the PLP has created a cult of personality around Jennifer Smith because the UBP "lionised" Pamela Gordon before the last election didn't seem to me to make much sense. And Dr. Hodgson's long last paragraph made no sense at all! However, one of her statements was crystal clear - she claims the UBP was just as crooked when it was in power as the PLP is now, and the only reason the UBP was never caught at it was that the PLP was no good as an opposition party.

Dr. Hodgson and I are agreed about her inference that the PLP Government is crooked. There can't be much doubt about that any longer.

But to say that the UBP was just as crooked, or that the PLP never blew the whistle on them because they didn't exercise "the kind of scrutiny which they might have or should have", is going too far. The PLP harried the government of the day very efficiently. I'll go further, and say that the PLP's criticism of that government was more efficient than the UBP's criticism of this one. One reason is that the PLP hierarchy has never minded telling lies and half truths to get to where they want to go, but the UBP still sticks pretty close to the truth.

Generally speaking, Dr. Hodgson is wrong to think that the only pressure on a government to keep to the honest side of the road comes from its opposition. That kind of pressure comes from a number of people and organisations that the system relies on to keep people honest. The civil service, for one. The media for another. The Auditor General is a third. The Police, unions, community groups, churches, independent critics, ordinary members of the public . they can all play a part under the right circumstances.

In the kind of democracy we have, and in a country of our size, it is difficult to run a dishonest government and keep it quiet for any length of time. Too many people are in a position to know, and too many people have personal ethics that will not tolerate dishonesty - certainly not dishonesty sustained over time. How does Dr. Hodgson think the Housing Corporation scandal and the Berkeley Institute scandal came to light? It wasn't just an efficient UBP that teased these things out into the open - it took the outrage of a lot of determined people in the background, whose identities we will probably never know. I was involved on the periphery of the last UBP Government and, from personal observation and experience, I can say that they were a pretty honest bunch. But don't take my word for it - think of this. To get through 33 years of government with a clean record they either had to be honest, or better at deception than the KGB was. People will make up their own minds, but the way I figure it, if they'd been that good at deception, they'd still be the government.

BUMPSEY

City of Hamilton

Govt. is clearly wrong

January 5, 2003

Dear Sir,

I am writing concerning the physician who has lost his work permit seemingly overnight. This is very disturbing. And even more so when you read that the doctor has patients he has operated on this past Friday still in treatment. It would seem that what we are experiencing is outright tyranny going against all reasoning. It reminds me so much of the type of household I was raised in where there was only one opinion that was tolerated and that was from my father. Any differences of opinion were ridiculed and responded to with anger. No doubt it is no surprise to anyone that my father later succumbed to depression and addiction but not before a lot of pain had been caused in the family.

We are all entitled to our opinions and to be able to stand up for them in the light of day. The issue with the doctors appeared to be resolving itself as most situations can be between reasonable adults. The key word here is reasonable: the ability to reason things out. We rely on Government to act in a reasonable fashion, the ability to listen to all parties in a dispute without prejudice or favour. From this a fair decision has to be made that is acceptable to the majority and considers the well being of all parties. And then we can move on knowing that the best has been done given the circumstances. But when you get a retaliatory action that is beyond reason. Seemingly the action of an individual or a small minority that does not respect the rights of all parties in the dispute as well as endangers the lives and security of one of the participant's patients. This is very disturbing and the public needs to question what's going on?

I have been hearing of too many cases of people being treated without any humanity by the current Government. People who eventually have chosen to leave the Island because they refuse to be treated without regard and without humanity. And what makes this all the more disturbing is that these are professional people who have wanted to contribute to our community, not people who are only here for their own gain.

We are seeing a lot of violence surfacing among our young. This is no surprise. Look at how we are treating each other. Violence creates violence. Until we look at our behaviour and take responsibility for what we are doing the violence will only increase. People who are in a position of power and abuse that power are sending a very dangerous message into the community. Actions speak louder than words. Children pay attention to what their parents and teachers do, not what they say. We need for Government to be acting in a reasoned and an open manner. So many people have been urging the present Government in this direction. When will they get the message? Unless they do we can only look forward to escalating violence in our community.

FOR TRANSPARENCY

Warwick

We need a plan

December 26, 2002

Dear Sir,

Now that America is on the verge of war with Iraq, I would like to know if Bermuda is safe. What have our leaders of the county done to protect us? They have no real plan to protect us if something happened here. I mean we as Bermudians have the right to know what to do if a terrorist strikes here. Do we even have the medical facilities to operate if anthrax or smallpox breaks out here? We don't know what we are to do.

Government needs to step up to the plate and let us know what is going down.

WORRIED BERMUDIAN

Southampton

Thinking ahead

Dear Sir

What if our time on earth and our span of life had been scheduled to commence - say three hundred thousand years in the future? To a future - wherein our fault plagued kind may have evolved in what will be our tenth or eleventh species.

However by that time a humanity whose 99.997 per cent genes, will have mutated so as to eliminate our primate addictions to self and 'me first' nationalisms. Indeed to the era of an 'upscale' species whose controlled billions will live out their modified lives programmed now so as to insure maximum benefits and protections for all!

Yet an advanced 'model' who would evaluate all forms of conflict as inane: indeed asinine!

WILLIAM SCOTT

Smith's Parish