In the past year, Dr. Brown has added a series of “management internships” in the Cabinet Office to attract Bermudian college graduates to work for the Government. However, I’d rather they were working for the “revenue generating” private sector than the “tax consuming” public sector! Government’s headcount is frighteningly high as a proportion of the [...]
Entries from December 31st, 2008
Sad
December 30th, 2008 · Comments Off · Transport
Bermuda suffered its 17th death for 2008 on the roads today. In 2007, the US had 13.6 road deaths per 100,000 in population. The UK had 4.8 deaths per 100,000. By comparison, Bermuda now has 26.6 road deaths per 100,000 (based on the UN’s estimate of 64,000 people living here). The word “carnage” comes to [...]
Tags:
Grenada goes PATI
December 30th, 2008 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
Grenada’s Prime Minister, Tillman Thomas, has announced to a meeting of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) that his Government will move ahead to introduce a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public sector integrity legislation, and an ombudsman. It will also work with the sector to establish a common code of practice and ethics [...]
Term Limits
December 29th, 2008 · Comments Off · Business
Lt Colonel Burch is in the news today saying that all the worries about term limits are misguided as he’s approved 95 percent of the requests for waivers “for workers in eligible positions”. Arguably he is saying that the policy is empty – a political grandstand that the PLP does not take seriously – even [...]
Tags:
Faith Based Sponsorships
December 29th, 2008 · Comments Off · Tourism
Why is the Bermuda Department of Tourism sponsoring religious revivals in Long Island? Do we really believe this will attract tourists to Bermuda? Seriously? Or was this just someone’s personal enthusiasm? Kind of like the Playboy casino night? The Department of Tourism exists for one goal: bringing tourists to Bermuda. As such, it should link [...]
Tags:
OHMS
December 24th, 2008 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics
Still no Christmas card from my best friends Ewart and Wanda. Maybe I’ll get a fruitcake instead? Still hoping. The Premier’s press secretary insisted that the cards only cost $20,000 to print, and tried to fit the words “Bermuda Press” as many times in one sentence as he could. (Is that “the devil made me [...]
Tags:
Cost per Visitor
December 23rd, 2008 · Comments Off · Tourism
Last week Dr. Brown announced that Bermuda’s arrivals from New York were up by 1,200 visitors for the quarter due to initiatives like the $500,000 sponsorship of the New York Mets. I look forward to seeing some detailed statistics on tourism in Bermuda at the end of the year so that we can properly assess [...]
Tags:
Another
December 23rd, 2008 · Comments Off · Business
Covidien today announced that it will reincorporate from Bermuda to Ireland. The move is not a surprise, as the Tyco spinoff had highlighted earlier this year that it was wary of the Obama-sponsored smackdown on offshores. At the time: Premier Ewart Brown said Sen. Obama seems to be closing in on the “Tycos of the [...]
Tags:
Struck off the Christmas list?
December 20th, 2008 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics
So the Premier sent out Christmas cards using the voter lists (and allegedly paid for by Government). Now, here’s an odd observation: many voters who live in UBP constituencies didn’t get them. Hmmm. Who is naughty or nice?
Tags:
Pesky Interfering Public
December 20th, 2008 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics
Criticising the Bar Association for speaking out against Government’s rushed amendment to the Bar Act without adequate consultation: Sen. Burch said consultation these days too often was seen by groups as “do as I say”. Well, yes, that is the point of public consultation. The law should be driven by public input not simply the [...]
Tags: