Vexed Bermoothes » Ewart Brown

Splinter

Caliban — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:47:19 +0000

The Bermuda Sun today has an article about disaffected young members of the PLP and the party’s efforts to bring them into the fold. PLP chairman David Burt talks the right talk, but I think he’ll have difficulty balancing the desires of those splinter groups with the tight oligarchic command of Dr. Brown.

And, in truth, a splinter might be the best thing that could ever happen to our country.

Bermuda is locked in an unhealthy duopoly. The PLP evades all accountability, and defangs the UBP, using the shield of race. The sins of the past are used to justify the sins and failures of today. On the other side, the UBP is unprepared for its role in Opposition and has not fostered new leadership that the community trusts.

The best thing for Bermuda at this time would be for splinters from both sides of the aisle to unite in a new political movement. That way, debates could take place on Bermuda’s current issues and governance, instead of dancing around this miserable mess of grudges, brinksmanship, and self-interest we have today.

The fate of the PLP and the UBP are not important. Good government for all of Bermuda is. The community is crying out for an “Obama moment” of change and hope.

See Johnny Star and Kitesurfer and The Full Elvis and the Longtail for another perspective.

Incentive

Caliban — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:00:38 +0000

Buried under the hoopla of the big resort announcements was a little gift to the developers from the Bermuda Government.

In last week’s Official Gazette was a notice of a change in the tax that non-Bermudians must pay when they acquire land in Bermuda.

The acquisition tax on “normal” houses goes up from 22% to 25% and on “normal” condos goes from 15% to 18%.
However, the tax on the “fractional condos” and hotel residences at the heart of the SDO flood will drop from 15% to 10% on the initial sale by the developer, but revert to 15% for future resales of the fractions.
You can assume that these properties will also enjoy hotel concessions relief (which has typically included duty free imports of construction materials as well as lower land, payroll, and occupancy taxes).

The change is retroactive for the Belmont development. (By comparison, Bermudians pay an acquisition tax on a sliding scale equaling about 5%).

Printer’s Devil

Caliban — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:41:59 +0000

Breezeblog verifies the rumour that Dr. Brown’s mysterious new media concern has been trying to recruit Royal Gazette reporters to join his cause. Good lord, including those treacherous and pesky expats.

This would seem to underline the fact that Government’s recent attacks on the Royal Gazette are personal as opposed to “responsible fiscal management.” The whiff of BCC still lingers.

Bermuda has a long tradition of competing dailies, including several black owned papers, that were very important to Bermuda’s development. Even the Royal Gazette represents the merged operations of several of those earlier papers. Dr. Brown has also tried his hand with the Bermuda Times.

What is key is that all of these papers were independent and free to analyse the performance of the Government of the day. I don’t think that’s what Doc has in mind.