Arrival figures are one thing

November 24, 2009

Dear Sir,

After reading the article under today's headline, "Tourist arrivals up 12 percent", I had to read it again three times to figure out what it all meant. Every quarter we get tourist/arrival statistics that are so convoluted and confusing they are of no use to anyone. The cynic in me believes this is done on purpose to mask the truth. If this is the case, I would hope journalists or other stakeholders would help simple people like myself with tables and graphs so we get the full picture. How do September's air and sea arrivals compare to January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August? What is the trend across this period? How do these months compare to the same months in 2008?

When it comes to cruise ship passengers, how much impact has the new $70 million terminal had? It would appear these statistics are comparing 2009 (two cruise ships in Dockyard) to 2008 (one cruise ship in Dockyard). What is the actual value of the second ship? How much money did the 225,000 cruise ship passengers spend in the 3rd quarter? Before declaring any success, we should review the amount of money being spent by these visitors. Getting people to Bermuda is one thing; how much they spend in the local economy is surely more indicative of our success/failure? It is time to stop meddling with the tourist/arrival statistics. If the news is as positive as the headline suggests, there shouldn't be an issue with releasing easy to digest statistics.

KENT SMITH

St. George's

Childish behaviour

February 24, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was stunned to read in Mondays edition that our Minister for Education, El James, found the topic of improving public education so unimportant that he thought it amusing to loudly pretend to be snoring while a fellow MP was speaking on the topic in the House last Friday. Perhaps this is an example of the "lack of political will" that caused the last Chairman of the Board of Education to resign! Improving public education, Mr. James, is no joke. I hope the Premier and the new Chairman of the Board of Education take you to task for your childish behaviour.

R. KEILL

Smith's

Disappointed & disgusted

November 18, 2009

Dear Sir,

Can anyone tell me why we, the working taxpayers, continue to cover the cost for convicted murderers to appeal their convictions having paid for the initial trial costs? I also want to know why the sentences of convicted murderers are being reduced. Everyone complains that the Police are not effective; however, when murderers have been convicted from evidence produced by the Police, our esteemed judges dismiss the evidence. It is said that they have rights. What about the rights of we law abiding citizens? Do we not deserve protection? Our Ministers pontificate in the House of Assembly weekly. Why are they not discussing the amendments to some of these antiquated laws so that we the working taxpayers receive equal protection? I am disappointed and disgusted with the state of affairs in Bermuda right now.

SONDRA M. WARNER

City of Hamilton

Leave the bad apples here

November 15, 2009

Dear Sir,

It is no surprise that some of our athletes misbehave when they are overseas representing Bermuda. Are they really representing Bermuda or themselves? Do they know what it really means to represent our island? First they have to know how to represent themselves and their families. Many have little or no self respect and care less about others around them.

They leave Bermuda dressed in uniform and are always the best dressed team in any tournament. However, when they are waiting at the airport their language is always foul. As young as some of them are they don't even know when they are swearing when told to stop. They also leave their food containers everywhere besides the trash bin. Remember most of these athletes are not children! Where did this behaviour start? While we may want to place the blame on officials when things go wrong, (and let me say that some officials are to blame and set bad examples in front of the players) you cannot control the attitude and behaviour of people on tour if you do not have control before you leave the island.

Many of them come to the national level with behavioural problems and are given every opportunity to improve their behaviour. Even three-year-old children believe their pants are supposed to be below their butts. We do not have a lot of internationally competitive athletes to pick from and in many cases our best athletes are the worst behaved. I have been an advocate for leaving the consistent bad ones behind. It disrupts and weakens the team and can even cause the team to lose and/or be embarrassed. While the Ministry of Sports can strip the uniform off a team who has abashed Bermuda, we need to leave the problem people behind no matter what. Bermuda has been embarrassed many times before because of bad behaviour and it hasn't been fixed. Athletes are still allowed to play and display bad behaviour in front of the youth because the sporting bodies overlook bad behaviour for a winning team.

Athletes who tell you they would rather play for their domestic team when asked to represent his/her country should not be picked to represent Bermuda no matter how good they are. Any athlete who is disciplined for bad behaviour while representing Bermuda should not be able to play in any major competitions locally. Any athlete who is a problem in domestic sports should not represent Bermuda. We cannot continue to be embarrassed by good athletes who are rude and encourage others to follow. Most times this person is a senior in the team or is one who is looked up to.

I would suggest that the Department of Youth and Sports have the code of conduct guidelines filter all the way down to every sporting organisation and not just the teams representing Bermuda. Homes and clubs are also to blame for the actions and behaviour of our athletes. To the Sports Minister Blakney, do not drop the ball on revising the Code of Conduct. It needs to be fixed.

GERALD BEAN

Paget

A galling commemoration

November 20, 2009

Dear Sir,

When I read in The Royal Gazette recently that "The Workers [sic] Voice" had put together "The Ten Best Ewart Political Moments", I had to look at the date of the newspaper to see if it was April 1. It wasn't an April Fool's joke, but it might as well have been. Apart from the fact that Dr Brown's "return to the Island as a physician and forming of a relationship with the Lahey Clinic" can hardly be called a "political moment", no less than the removal of one of Bermuda's most committed environmentalists, Stuart Hayward, from the Sustainable Development Round Table, the citation of any significant achievements by the Premier for the community of Bermuda as a whole is like bailing out a boat with a sieve – you can say you're bailing the boat out, but it's still sinking.

What really galls about this "commemoration" of the Premier's so-called "political achievements" is that it comes at a time when: shootings around Bermuda (and not just in deprived areas) are reported almost weekly; violent crime has become endemic; big capital projects in the past few years have incurred wholly unnecessary cost overruns sufficient to boggle the mind; numerous hotel projects that might have enhanced tourism in Bermuda have never materialised or been bungled by incompetence; Education Ministers have come and gone through a revolving door of ineptitude; initiatives to improve educational standards have been virtually non-existent;

The National Library remains closed many months after it was supposed to reopen; God knows what's happening with the hospital; planning regulations, especially for heritage buildings and sites, have been ignored or, worse, bludgeoned to suit the government's crass and philistine ambitions; the Premier dances on the grave of one of Bermuda's newspapers just because he can't stand the heat of any media that dares to oppose him (or his party); and all the while he swans around with bodyguards and an armoured car (or is it cars?) to protect him from the community he professes to "serve" – all this, and much, much more (or rather, less); these are just the "moments" that come most immediately to mind – and "The Workers Voice" commends the Premier for his "achievements".

I think I'd better look at the date of that newspaper report again.

GWELLY GET REAL!

London