I am completely baffled by the almost obsessive preoccupation of Sanders Frith Brown, Arthur Hodgson MP and Terry Lister MP on the issue of children born out of wedlock.

Specifically to Mr. Hodgson and Mr. Lister, it is no secret that there are currently five sitting members of the House of Assembly who have fathered children born out of wedlock.

What they need to do is turn their attention and talents to eradicating the appropriate laws that discriminate against the fathers of these children.

These fathers must be treated under law no differently than fathers who are either married or divorced.

If they cannot do this for the hundreds of Bermudian men who fall in this category, then maybe they can do it for the five members who sit with them in the House and the children that they have fathered.

Let's stop the hypocrisy! SPIRIT OF '68 Devonshire Cost is killing tourism April 4, 2000 Dear Sir, I refer to today's coverage of the Bermuda National Tourism Conference'.

During the last two years my wife and I visited a number of travel agencies, or travel connected businesses, in upscale US East Coast population centres.

Specifically, the states visited were Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

After finding out we were from Bermuda, a composite of the ensuing conversations with these people would go as follows: Agent: "Hey, you people are from Bermuda? What a place to live!'' Bermudians: "Yes, we have always lived there, we love it!'' Agent: "If I lived there I'd never leave. But tell me, why is it so expensive? We're afraid to recommend it any more because we get too many complaints from our clients about the prices they get hit with.

It reflects badly on us. Bad word of mouth with their friends too. Another thing is the airfares.'' Bermudians: "Well, it does cost a bit more, yes, but we have to import everything.'' Agent: Blank stare -- other places import everything too -- anyway this is not his problem. "We can still sell a cruise, if they're interested. That way they know that it's going to cost. No nasty surprises. But the ships are booked pretty solid. Not easy if they're last minute. In the end, our business is to make people happy, not to send them someplace where they come back and tell their friends my agency sold them a bad deal.'' The tourism conference should stop smothering the fact that we are an unacceptably expensive destination, and that the more people we fool into coming here with advertising razzmatazz, the more disappointed people we will send home to tell their friends we are too expensive.

If we are at all serious, the conference should initiate a professional, arm's length, no-holds-barred cost analysis of why Bermuda is so far out of line, identify what to do about it, and then do it.

Should it be found the remedies suggested by this are unacceptable, rather than continuing to give Bermuda a bad name, we should abandon the tourist business entirely and find something else to do.

Quite what however, is another question.

FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE St. George's PLP's tinted obsession April 11, 2000 Dear Sir, So now we have the PLP running things here in Bermuda.

They were finally voted in because their slogan went something like "Vote PLP -- the people for the people''.

Well tell me exactly what have they done for the people of Bermuda so far -- except waste our money. They don't seem to be doing much of anything but worry about tidilly little things like tinted car windows.

What is the big deal? I just got stopped today by a very impolite Police officer who kept warning me that he could take away my car away for good if I did not abide by the law of the PLP.

The main reason that I had the tint on my windows was because it is a way of avoiding skin cancer from the rays of sun. Everyday I look at my father and see the pain that he goes through because basically he is dying before my eyes from a cancer which has no cure.

Dr. Ewart Brown, you are no doctor if you are putting our people of Bermuda in harm's way and not trying to help them by letting them protect themselves.

Don't worry Dr. Brown, you will have your day when you too find yourself or someone close to you diagnosed with cancer and then you'll wish that you hadn't been so stupid.

The main problem here in Bermuda is that whoever works really hard to get anything -- a house or a car -- it really doesn't even belong to you, it belongs to the Government.

You buy land and build a house on it, but still you have to pay land tax so therefore the land belongs to the Government. You buy a car and then have to pay outrageous money to have it licensed, so therefore the car is not yours so that is why Dr. Brown can dictate to you what you can and cannot do with your car.

What is next. I guess with the larger cars on order for the MPs, they will dictate to us that we must all buy little matchbox cars so that we won't have to pull over to the side of the road when they are travelling the opposite direction.

Bermuda please wake up for the next General Election and vote these people out. Regardless, being in power has definitely gotten to them and they have lost track of the slogan.

DISGUSTED Southampton PS: I for one, did not vote PLP.

Editor's Note: Whether tinted windows prevent skin cancer or not, the law limiting the density of tints was put in place when the United Bermuda Party was the Government.