It’s interesting that the Bermuda Government’s contribution to CDEMA is the use of a twelve seater aircraft.

The Bermuda Government has a twelve seat aircraft???

You can donate to the relief efforts through the Red Cross of Bermuda:

• Via bank transfer to Bank of Bermuda, 010-187417-011 or Bank of Butterfield, 20-006-060-663859-200
• Call the Red Cross at 236-8253 with debit/credit card details
• Mail or drop off a cheque payable to “Haitian Earthquake Appeal Fund” to Bermuda Red Cross, Charleswood, 9 Berry Hill Road, Paget DV 03 (just in from the lower roundabout at the End of the Lane)
  

XL has operated in Ireland for most of its corporate history and is very familiar with its regulatory and legal environment. Ireland has strong international relationships as a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union, a long history of international investment, and long-established commercial relationships, trade agreements and tax treaties with the other European Union member states, the United States and other countries around the world. As a result, XL believes Ireland offers a stable long-term legal and regulatory environment with the financial sophistication to meet the needs of XL’s global business.

Here’s the AP’s take on XL’s move onshore:

Many companies have been incorporated in Caribbean islands for some time due to the tax benefits that they can provide. The islands have traditionally used their low tax rates to lure multinational corporations and hedge funds. But the recession has hurt revenue for many islands in the British Caribbean, which could lead to higher taxes for companies based there.

A few take aways from this:

1. Reputation matters.  Small island craziness and Fortune 500 governance standards do not mix well.  Bermuda must clean up its act on the streets, in Government, and in Parliament.
2. Size matters.  Small islands don’t carry much weight in international regulatory circles.  Independence makes that isolation even worse.
3. 2016 is coming.  Bermuda must move to clarify the status of our tax exemption on corporate earnings.  The business sector sees the exploding Bermuda Government deficit and worries that a shakedown is coming.  The international companies will move to protect themselves, particularly as the local community seems unwilling to demand that the Government live within its (our!) means.

XL’s already reduced operational headquarters will remain in Bermuda, but going forward more than half the board meetings will be in Ireland.  A few fewer “tourists”.  Hey, if Doc keeps up his track record, pretty soon there’ll be so few that he can personally greet em.

The truth is that the Governor and the Bermuda Government do hold frequent meetings with the Commissioner of Police to discuss policing matters.

It does make me wonder if the recent Cayman constitution may have an improvement on this setup.  Section 58 of their 2009 Constitution forms a National Security Council which includes the Governor (Chairman), the Premier, two other Ministers appointed in accordance with the advice of the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition or his designate, and three ex-officio members: the Deputy Governor, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner of Police.  It also includes two persons “representative of civil society” appointed by the Governor.

With this setup, the different competing players have a role … hopefully diffusing any politicisation of the Police.

This change has been driven by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), not the Government of Bermuda, and is part of the FCO’s Passport Rationalisation Project set up in May 2008. Its aim is to deliver a more streamlined and efficient British passport operation. Such changes are happening world wide – not only in Bermuda. The efficiencies in centralising the British Citizen passport issuing system are significant.  The new arrangements will work to the benefit of Bermudians.

How exactly, dear sir, will this arrangement work to the benefit of Bermudians?  How is it more efficient for us to deal via courier with a faceless bureau in a foreign country than to simply visit a Government office in our own British Overseas Territory?

Sure, I know this saves the UK money.  But a cynic might understand this kink in the process as a subtle way of dissuading Bermudians from taking up their citizenship rights, and of distancing ole Blighty from those troublesome little pink bits on the map.

Cess pool.

At one point Misick compared Governor Wetherell to a known racist, finally saying the Governor himself was a racist dictator. The Speaker told the former premier he was out of order and must retract this statement. Misick refused to retract it. He was told to sit down but after a few seconds’ pause he was allowed to continue. Late in his speech he told the House that the reason opposition Member of Parliament Douglas Parnell supported the British takeover was because his white father was British. This caused quite a stir.

This is an area in which both Bermuda’s Governor and the Opposition are dragging:   getting their word out to the public in a timely and compelling manner.  The PLP have been effective at grassroots communication – but have gone totally over the top with their impulse to spin and control.  I am not sure anyone believes a word they say anymore.

On another note, isn’t it amazing that the UBP could take a situation where 1) the country has an unpopular premier surrounded by a constant circus of allegations and 2) shoot itself in the foot again.

Some say this might make sense as our economic and social links today are often tighter with our American cousins than with the “mother country” of old.

But what exactly does this mean?  Here are the facts as I know them:

Well first, the UK would have to approve it.  Which they’d do in a heartbeat if there was a referendum on the issue (well duh!).

But being a British Overseas Territory is not the same as having “free association” with the US.   For example, as a BOT citizen you have rights and privileges across the EU.  And when your government trainwrecks, the UK has an obligation to step in and help set things right (as Iron Mike recently discovered in the Turks).

If you want “free association” with the US, first you have to be an independent nation, with all that entails.  Second, they have to be willing to assume some responsibility for you.

You could then become an “associated state” of the US.  The specific programme is called the Compact of Free Association, which is administered by a backwater of the US Department of the Interior.

The Compact states are sovereign and conduct their own foreign affairs.  This means that such a deal would not give Bermudians a US passport, nor open the door to US immigration into Bermuda.  It would not give the US any degree of “supervision” of our government, nor would it give us any representation in Congress.  We’d still have our own laws and constitution for our politicians to ignore.  Simply, under the Compact the US agrees to handle defence as well as opens some social programmes to the countries.

It would be a bit of a stretch to include Bermuda in the Compact – the US had responsibility for those countries stemming from WWII.  I don’t see much in the way of benefit to Bermudians either – except that it might make it easier for someone to lessen the insecurities and sell the idea of independence.  It would make little sense for us to be associated with a group of relatively impoverished Pacific islands.

Don’t mix this up with what the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have.  They are commonwealths or territories of the US … their citizens are Americans … and those states do not have the right to declare independence unilaterally.  I doubt that King Ewart would want that status anyway as it would mean a loss of sovereignty for Bermuda.

The UK has declined to offer “free association” of its own for the overseas territories, as it obliges them to assume responsibilities for the countries without any real oversight powers within those territories.  And Bermuda’s recent activities provide a case study on that point.

I would be surprised if the US would entertain such a deal for several reaons.  First, it would be a hard sell to Congress after this administration has demonized Bermuda as a tax threat, and second it would open the door for lots of ailing Caribbean nations also looking for a sugar daddy.

The Special Committee of 24 defines self-determination as free association with an independent State, integration into an independent State, or full-bore independence.  The UK argues that a 1970 UN resolution (Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations also makes clear that “any other political status freely determined by a people constitute modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.”

In addition to again calling for Puerto Rican independence, the Special Committee of 24 are also working on the perennial “omnibus” draft resolution entitled “Questions of American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands”.

Interestingly, the committee seems to recommended the recall of the Constitution of the Turks & Caicos in the face of TCI’s current political crisis, welcoming the UK’s efforts to restore good governance and sound financial management there.

This is their Cake.  And they are Eating It Too.

So what’s the difference?

• Jersey has no significant debt.
• Jersey also has two “rainy day funds” – the Stabilisation Fund and the Strategic Reserve – into which they have stockpiled nearly $1,075,000 since the heyday years of 2006 and 1986, respectively.

Bermuda brags about its financially prudent Government.  But, by comparision…

In recent years, Bermuda enjoyed some unexpected windfalls in tax receipts.  Rather than being saved or applied to major capital projects, they were spun away on ill-disciplined current spending.

Our own Dr. Brown has perplexingly tied his boat to the discredited PNP administrations of Michael Misick and Galmo Williams.  It is surprising that he would choose to spend his political capital in this way.

It appears that the Misick glitz has long ago lost its lustre.  At a large church service this week:

At that point, Ellis became political and said that this country has shown a lot of progress since then and “we cannot let the Commission of Inquiry ‘Stop the Progress’”, which was a repeat of the PNP campaign slogan of 2007. “We all have leprosy,” Ellis was heard to say, referring to the population of the TCI, but only Misick is being singled out, he said.

At that point, large groups of people were seen on TV walking out and the cameras momentarily caught the large exodus then turned away. However, Bishop Ellis shouted in front of the camera admonishing those leaving calling them “Sissies and punks.” Then he turned to the remainder of the crowd, telling them, “Go on all you sissies and punks, get out, get out!”

Update:  The TCI Governor acknowledged receipt the report, and said that an announcement would be made within 3 weeks regarding its public release and commencement of the interim government.

The public was obviously unimpressed as the Opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) took a commanding position in the polls (with more than 80% turnout), while voters largely rejected the wide array of independent candidates.

Cayman also yesterday passed a separate referendum on a new draft constitution that features some “modern” features missing from Bermuda’s own, reinforcing the checks and balances of local government.