Vexed Bermoothes

Used car salesmen know that, when trying to sell a clunker, they need to spin a big tale.  Catch the dreams of your buyer, so they don’t notice the faded upholstery and blown clutch.  And that my friends is your Throne Speech.

We are used to Throne Speeches not quite delivering.  For example the past promises of FutureCare ended up in a botched rollout, that also soured the private market for health insurance for the elderly, and will cost an unknown sum to future taxpayers.

This year is not starting off so well either.  Friday’s bold promise of human rights protection for all Bermudians … was reeled in by Minister Butterfield on Monday.  It may just be human rights protection for most people.  Who those people are is still being investigated.  Soooo progressive.

Update:  The Premier’s spokesperson has subsequently corrected the Minister to say that the Act will be updated but it’s just a question how.

It was also not promising that the Bermuda First initiative – which the Premier exuberantly lauded as a bipartisan effort to chart Bermuda’s future – was notably absent from the speech.  Just like the two words and a comma, let’s hope those 32 recommendations are not swept aside.  You see – those exempt companies are angry at being ignored and mistreated by this administration.  So this effort allows you to claim some of their ideas as your own.  And you ignore that at our peril.

Signs are that Government is starting to feel the pinch that is already affecting many Bermudian households.  I am dismayed that we’ll spend millions on an ego-fueled music festival but need to cut back ferry service to save money.  And that “the big event” of Bermuda’s 400th anniversary is a $150 a head party.  Very man in the street don’t you think?  Will Nero have his fiddle?