Government raised expectations in recent weeks when it promised a bold Throne Speech with as much reform as Bermuda could handle in one year.

But the speech itself did not seem to be that bold, although in fairness, there was very little detail on those proposals that were outlined.

That lack of detail has been exacerbated by a change in approach by the Government from having a press conference after the Speech to a policy of silence until a series of press conferences over the next eight days or so when all will be revealed.

Of the ideas that were floated in the speech, few would disagree with the idea of national service for young people, although what has been described appears to be a system whereby some young people will be required to mentor and train younger people. Some form of national service has been supported by this newspaper for some time, although the general idea has been that young people would give service to the community, as opposed to receiving it.

The other major proposal in the speech concerns health. The mismanagement of FutureCare means, according to the legislation tabled in the House on Friday, that seniors will now be part of a three-tier system:

Those seniors already in FutureCare will continue to get a high quality, highly subsidised from of insurance.

Those seniors who failed to join HIP before the FutureCare deadline will now get a lesser quality form of insurance. If they want FutureCare quality insurance, they will now have to pay insurance companies for it, either at a vastly higher cost than FutureCare or the insurance companies will be forced to offer it at a huge loss.

In the meantime, Government proposes to revamp the Bermuda Health Council, which has been almost moribund, at least publicly, since it was formed, and will devise a new health care policy.

Gambling, which is the hottest potato in politics now, will be debated, but via a Green Paper. That suggests that any changes to Bermuda's gambling laws will not come quickly since the legislative process of moving from a discussion paper to a Government policy to legal changes is laborious. But the debate promises to be one of the more intriguing ones this year.

More is covered in the speech, particularly in education, crime and youth policy. Much of that was expected. Some looks good, but again, the lack of detail makes it difficult to know just what is planned.

What was surprising, as was pointed out by the United Bermuda Party on Friday, was the astonishingly upbeat assessment on the economy, especially given the almost weekly news of job losses and the gloomy outlook from the Bermuda First report (which received no attention at all in the Speech).

Instead, Government declared: "Make no mistake, Bermuda has not been immune to these global issues but our economy is proving resilient and this Government has committed to fostering the conditions required for every stakeholder to realise continued success in the New Bermuda."

Just what continued success the unemployed will continue to realise is unclear; what the speech lacks is almost any indication of how Government plans to revive the economy.

And that may be how this Throne Speech is remembered: For better or for worse, not as bold as was promised, and astonishingly out of touch with one of the most critical issues of the day.