Where are the textbooks?

April 3, 2007

Dear Sir,

Why bother to comment, I think, yet I still do. I was just wondering if the current teacher walk out at CedarBridge will cause any further delay in the text books for Southampton Glebe school. We are in the last term of school, does it matter? Is there anyone listening? Not sure they really care anyway, the indigents’ opinions surely didn’t matter. Maybe the leaders know something I don’t, like the children should be able to learn better without workbooks, they’ve done so this far into the school year so why should it matter?

JUST ANOTHER CONFUSED UNEDUMACATED PARENT OF A POTENTIAL GENIUS

Southampton

Don’t believe UBP hype

April 1, 2007

Dear Sir,

I constantly hear people in the UBP like Senator Gina Spence Farmer, Suzanne Holshouser and others talking about how difficult it is for young people in Bermuda to get ahead. These people are blaming this on the PLP Government, rather than blaming it on the bad choices that young people make.

My brother and I are young Bermudians, I am 25 years old and he is 27 and we recently purchased a house together which is being rented. We were able to do this because of our family values that showed us the importance of home-ownership.

I agree with Premier when he talks about people in Bermuda now having a “welfare mentality” and I believe that this mentality is being fed to people by people like Gina Spence Farmer and Suzanne Holshouser. My grandparents were hardworking Bermudians who did not look for handouts from the government, in spite of the fact that they had little formal education and five children. However what they did have was dignity and common sense and they were able to build their own home and educate their children because they worked hard.

I cannot imagine my grandmother asking the government to feed her children breakfast because she was having hard times and I know that she did have hard times under the UBP Government. My grandmother prided herself in the meals that she was able to prepare for her children and grandchildren in spite of not having a lot of money.

I would like to encourage young people to stop believing the hype that is being put out there by the UBP that Bermudians cannot do for themselves and that we must have the government do everything for us. That is stinking thinking. If my brother and I could buy a house, any other young person can. Right now we are not living in that house but it is an investment in our future . And, by the way, I know of other young people just like my brother and I who have purchased their own homes and are doing extremely well under the PLP Government.

My advice to young Bermudians is to stop listening to the UBP telling you that you can’t make it in Bermuda, instead, listen to Dr. Brown and get rid of that welfare mentality.

NO TO WELFARE

Devonshire

PLP work for working class

April 2, 2007

Dear Sir,

I listened to MP Suzanne Holzhouser on the VSB news the other night talking about how many children are going to school without breakfast because their parents are so poor. If the UBP managed the economy so well while they were in power, why is it that we now have so many poor people in the island?

Mrs. Holzhouser even suggested that the Government give money to Sheilagh Cooper so that she could start a breakfast programme for these hungry children. I’m surprised that Mrs. Holzhouser would push for Sheilagh Cooper especially in light of the fact that Mrs. Cooper along with Khalid Wasi and Stuart Hayward are intending to dismantle the UBP at the next election.

I really don’t understand where the UBP is coming form all of a sudden showing concern for the poor people in Bermuda. They’re acting as if poor people never existed prior to 1998. There were poor people in Bermuda during the UBP’s time in power and I cannot remember anyone in that party ever showing concern for anyone other than the merchants and their offspring.

The PLP has always shown concern for the ordinary working class Bermudian. The PLP Party has always stressed the importance of teaching a man to fish rather than giving him fish. But the UBP is now telling people don’t learn how to fish, instead, wait for the government to bring you fish and in some instances they’re even suggesting that the government set the table and spoon feed people.

H. CLIFFORD RUSSELL

Somerset

Fractionals don’t add up

April 6, 2007

Dear Sir,

I listened with interest to the Minister of Tourism, aka the Premier, regarding his plans to return the Bermuda hotel bed count to the 1986 levels, which by his words was the “Peak”. The most interesting point however, is that the developers are not really increasing hotel beds. What they are actually doing is building a small true hotel, as a sop to the Government and to ensure they get the associated tax breaks. Then they build fractional ownership villas, aka timeshares.

With fractional ownership, you sell the buildings up front, and because you have split it between a number of owners, you can make a huge profit. Having done this, the developer has made his profit. He has regular income through maintenance fees and he could not care less whether or not anyone ever uses the villas and in fact he makes more money if nobody uses them.

In the current market it is very difficult to sell time shares, anywhere in the world, without a freehold possession which can be inherited by the purchasers’ heirs! This is a real estate deal. This means that this land is then lost to Bermudians forever.

It is my understanding that Bermuda law restricts ownership of property by non-Bermudians to the one generation who makes the purchase. The property is not permitted to pass to their heirs. What secret deal has the Government done to change this law? Clearly we need to reclaim the derelict hotel properties, but are the current plans really the right solution for Bermudians now, or for future generations?

PETER G. FORSTER

Pembroke

Internet users will win

April 4, 2007

Dear Sir,

For what it’s worth ... if, (and I repeat if) I were to pay for broadband service in Bermuda it would cost about $80 + $60/month or so for the “service” (perhaps more). In the UK I pay about $45-$50/month ($$ not GBP) for up to 8mb/s and full phone service whereas in Bermuda you pay two to three times that amount for a piddly 256kb/s ... what a shame when Bermuda could be the model environment (but alas, there’s money to be had). I’m surprised Bermudians are not charged/taxed for the rain that falls. I have no doubt that Mr. Saints is concerned about C&W’s interests but this can be a win-win situation for C&W and Bermuda.

HUGH BLACKWOOD

England