Progressive Minds

The PLP Romped to its 3rd straight election victory. This is a thread to discuss the events of the last year. Keep it civil PLP Haters :-) We won!

From the RG -

At a ceremony on the Cabinet grounds today Park Hyatt signed a management agreement with hotel developer Carl Bazarian to run a new hotel at the old Club Med site.

While Park Hyatt had previously been linked with the proposed $294 million five star hotel the signing, which was witnessed by golfer Nick Faldo and Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, formalises the deal after other hotel projects have been hit by the credit crunch.

Mr. Bazarian said work would begin next year and the hotel should be ready by the first quarter of 2012 or even late 2011.

I think currently not only in Bermuda, but in the world, there is extreme concern over the financial situation(s).

The US economy has hit the skids, the European economy is having challenges.

The ramifications of these issues will be far-reaching. Countries may have to resort to alternative methods of income to maintain a quality of life.

In Bermuda, we may not escape unscathed. We have already seen tourism numbers begin to decline. However, to our benefit the numbers weren’t as bad as projections and we anticipate steady numbers next year.

St. George’s Police Station-

Promise made, promise kept…During the election campaign of 2007, the PLP government promised to refurbish the St. George’s police Station and to ensure that the police presence in St. George’s would be restored.

Former UBP Leader Michael Dunkley is masterminding a coup at the Mid Ocean Club to return the 40 Thieves to power. Does anyone out there doubt that if the UBP won the last election, Dunkley would bow to them?

I'm curious to hear what our "lean UBP" friends think of Mr. Furbert's resignation. Given Mr. Furbert's comments, it's clear that the party is completely uninterested in change. I'm wondering if those of you who voted UBP in the last election would still be interested in voting for a party that is so uninterested in change that they can't even retain the loyalty of one of their former leaders? Will you express a real difference with the UBP, or, will you just tow the UBP line and throw Mr. Furbert under the bus?

Just reading the quotes from the house this week. For anyone who missed the whole story, read it here:
http://www.theroyalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.js...

I'd like to hear what the 'lean UBP' people that dominate this site have to say about Mr. Winfield's journey. It seems that many of the virulently anti-PLP online activists are unwilling to accept some of the realities that he presents. It's clearly a provocative piece and it's quite telling that these activists have remained so silent and refused to discuss it on their blogs and forums.

http://www.royalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.jsp?a...

When it comes to drug policy, it seems like everyone has an opinion. I'd like to submit the following Royal Gazette article for discussion. What policies do you think Government should be pursuing when it comes to drugs?

--

Government MP Ashfield DeVent has claimed guns are routinely imported with drugs as he urged society to get a grip on the problem amid escalating violence.

He told the House on Friday: "Generally I have been told that a shipment of drugs doesn't enter this country if not accompanied by a shipment of guns, they are hand in hand.

Did anyone else laugh out loud when they read this?

"When the chips are down Charlie Swan will fight tooth and nail and I will probably do it in a calm and measured thoughtful way – I want to make people think twice.

"Why is Mr. Furbert saying what he saying? I have no idea. Mr. Furbert has issues with something or someone other than Charlie Swan and I seem to have been caught in the middle."

It's like the guy is having a conversation with himself.

Having just read the Premier's speech in the house today regarding the UK's financial overview of all dependent territories, I was wondering what the views of independence are from a youth perspective.

http://www.royalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.jsp?a...

Interesting read in today's RG, around the £78m new police/court building. I think it's great that it's being built, but the curious bit is around who is building it. Apparently it is being done by a trust, a trust who don't have to release information about their stakeholders.

If it were a private venture, that would be one thing, however even then if the company were public I'm sure that shareholders could force executives to tell them who was doing the work. However, given that this is paid for by us, I think it is fair to ask who is performing the work, don't you?

This profile is worth a read. Raymond Davis is basically saying that Constituency #31 is a referendum on the UBP. He said that a vote for him is a vote for the "change" faction within the UBP and a vote for Charlie Swan is a vote for the "status quo" faction within the UBP. And, Mr. Davis claims that former UBP leader Wayne Furbert supports his candidacy.

UBP Chairman and committed economic conservative Michael Fahy admitted his party isn't growing in today's Royal Gazette saying that "the party's membership has held steady."

Perhaps that's because the party has proven to be one of the most ineffective oppositions in Bermuda's history. Perhaps it's because the party turned solidly to the right with the elevation of Trevor Moniz to Deputy Leader and Michael Fahy to the Senate. Perhaps it's because, as Wayne Furbert eluded to in today's Royal Gazette, there's still a lot of racism in the party:

In a previous post you brought up some topics to discuss. I will post a couple. But this one Has been on my mind for a while.

2) The current public education crisis in BDA
- What solutions do you think are needed to rectify our once sophisticated
school system? Please do not turn this into the UBP/PLP screwed it up in
the first place boring argument. It is broken and needs to be fixed.
- Do you think making parents more accountable for their children's
education is aplausible idea?

I served in the Regiment from 2003 to 2006. In my first year of service Bermuda was struck by Hurricane Fabian, and in subsequent years I served in Operation Cayman Comeback and Operation Spice (actually, I can't remember the official name for that one...) in the Cayman Islands and Greneda respectively. Both of those non-Bermuda operations were concerned with the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. These experiences have left a deep impression on me concerning hurricanes and their impact on social welfare.

As I've noted elsewhere, I am a dedicated user of the public transport system. I have been fortunate enough to live close or on the main east end route serviced by the 10 and 11 buses for most of my life, and in addition have lived relatively close to my main place of work so that I could walk to work (about five to ten minutes!). I rarely have need to go to the West, but when I do I avoid the buses (8 and 7) and take the ferries as I find them more convenient and, well, better scenery to be honest.

Okay, I'm a big fan of switching away from our current heavy dependency on private automobile transport systems and towards sustainable mass transit, but I came across this technology and it occurred to me that it may be of use for Bermuda. I'll let you all go and read up on it in detail from some of the links found below, but I'll give a brief description here.

Apart from the fun of alliteration, I've been wondering about the practicality of a fast ferry route from town to Flatts. I expect that the same problems affecting the St. Georges route of rough weather cancelling the ferry once in a while would apply. And I also recognise that the famed Flatts tidal current may factor in here also, but surely thats not insurmontable? And yeah, I readily admit I am no engineer or pilot other than casual experience, but I really can't see it being that big a problem.

I came across this concept of a 'solar tree' the other day while I was doing some research on biofuels and comparing them with alternate energy sources (short story: biofuel technology right now not good - net energy losses and net green house gas emissions, plus other problems; other existing technologies better option).