A Limey In Bermuda

Renaming the middle schools

In my younger days I attended a school called Hymers College. It was named after some chap called John Hymers, a local clergyman who died in 1887 and left some money in his will for the founding of a school....

Institutional racism

Following a discussion of institutional racism on this site last month, I sent an email to CURE seeking their perspective on the problem. I asked what information they had on the existence of institutional racism in Bermuda and whether any...

The UBP's deputy leaders

When I heard that Jon Brunson had replaced Wayne Furbert as the UBP's second deputy leader this week, I offered him my congratulations along with everyone else. But nevertheless, two questions persist. First, does the Opposition really need two deputy...

Avoid the US Postal Service

A word of warning to those with a ZipX account: don't use the US postal service (USPS) to send goods from the retailer to your ZipX address. Last week I ordered a video game from Amazon.com. For reasons best known...

The wrong Colonel

Rules of engagement (revised)

As my enthusiasm for blogging slowly returns, it's time to reiterate what this site is and is not, and my expectations of those who choose to comment here. The primary aim of A Limey In Bermuda is to provide a...

Comment moderation turned off again

For the last ten days, all comments that have been posted to A Limey In Bermuda have needed to be explicitly approved before appearing on the site. Now, however, comments will once again appear as soon as soon as you...

My kind of solution

Everybody seems to agree that Bermuda has a traffic problem. On the way home tonight, I had an epiphany. I figured out the solution to Bermuda's traffic woes. Let me be the one to decide who gets to keep their...

The Burch is back

I can't say I was that surprised by today's news that Ashfield DeVent is to be replaced as Minister of Works and Engineering and Housing by Lt. Col. David Burch. Mr. DeVent received the poison chalice from Terry Lister at...

Read it and weep

Think that Bermuda's government is the only one with a tendency to over-react to satire? Think again. According to the New York Times, now the White House is trying to stop The Onion from using the presidential seal in its...

Moving on

When it comes to the vexed subject of race, there are many people who'll tell you that they wish we could just move on. Usually, however, those people are white. It's not a comment you hear often from the black...

Follow your passion

For some time, I’ve been struggling to justify my degree choice to both myself, my peers and (to a lesser extent), Bermudian society as a whole. I have recently sent a barrage of letters to the editor. While expressing my...

Challenge the leader: Poll results

Over the last few weeks I've been running a survey asking who you thought would make the best leaders of the PLP and the UBP. The results were as follows. Party Leaders Who would make the best leader of the...

Of Cabinet and kings

"The time has come," the Limey said, "To talk of many things: Of Scott - and shipstones - and senators - Of Cabinet - and kings" Every now and again, someone on here floats the idea of having a real-world...

The Manipulator

Calvin Smith’s opinion piece in The Royal Gazette on the 18th of October, “Independence fears are derived from ignorance,” is one more attempt to persuade Bermudians that they do not know what they are thinking or why, much as Alex...

Wishful thinking

Online news service Tax-News.com had a short piece today highlighting the recent call by BIBA chief Greg Haycock for the Government to bring forward a referendum on independence. “The message back from our sources of business has been unequivocal –...

Tim Wise transcript

I'd like to thank Robert Clifford of the National Association for Reconciliation for making available a transcript of Tim Wise's recent "white-on-white" forum. You can download it here.

Burnout

The last few weeks have been pretty stressful. Ever since Premier Alex Scott started really disrespecting the electorate a couple of weeks back, the traffic to and number of comments on this site have increased significantly. Keeping on top of...

Caption competition #23 winners

Oyez! Oyez! Gather round for the results of this week's caption competition! Oh wait, he's the mayor now. The winners were: First: J Galt - "..so there's his blackberry, just sitting on his desk, and in comes a mail message...

Limey Never Dies

They killed me off in the first sentence?! Pah.

Caption competition #23

This week's caption competition is eavesdropping on a conversation between E. Michael Jones, mayor of St. George's, and Lawson Mapp, mayor of Hamilton. Photoshop entries are also welcomed and should be emailed to me. Winners will be announced on Sunday....

A chat with E. Michael Jones

A couple of weeks ago, I sat down for a chat with St. George's mayor, E. Michael Jones, about cruise ships and Bermuda's ailing tourist industry. WEDCO and the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George's are all considering how their...

Not a letter from the Premier

Royal Gazette Opinion, Thursday 13 October 2005 The other day, Premier Alex Scott accidentally sent me an email from his Blackberryi Dated 30 September 2005, the message appeared to be intended for Beverle Lottimore, director of the Government’s Department of...

Tim Wise: White on White

Last night, around 130 people squeezed into Cathedral Hall to hear visiting author and anti-racism activist, Tim Wise. Billed as a “white on white” forum, the audience was predominantly white-skinned – and predominantly white-haired too. Tim’s talk lasted for only...

Pedestrianising Reid Street

I was interested to read about the Corporation of Hamilton’s plan to pedestrianise lower Reid Street in Monday’s Royal Gazette. While the idea has been discussed before, the decision to invite architectural tenders does seem rather sudden. “I am surprised,...

Open mike: Fresh TV

Another chance to talk about a topic of your choice. First comment sets the subject for debate. If you ask a question, please be sure to provide your own thoughts as well, even if it's in a subsequent comment. »...

A word to the Wise

This evening I was fortunate to be able to join a small group of people for dinner with Tim Wise, an American author and anti-racism activist who’ll be giving a number of talks in Bermuda over the next few days....

Challenge the leader

The last couple of weeks have not been good for Premier Alex Scott. The disappointing BIC report; his comments about the people who signed the Bermudians For Referendum petition; the whiff of racial prejudice in his email to Tony Brannon...

Caption competition #22 winners

This week's caption competition attracted a record 72 entries, making picking the winners even harder than usual. But then I figured, hey, you'll still disagree with me anyway, so why worry? The winners were: First: Yet Another Limey - As...

Caption competition #22

This week's caption competition is going to the dogs. Photoshop entries are also welcomed and should be emailed to me. Winners will be announced on Sunday. Part of the OTB Caption Jam.

Equal rights for gays

Royal Gazette Opinion, Thursday 6 October 2005 Almost one year ago, Bermuda’s gay community were celebrating. Last November, Minister of Community Affairs Dale Butler announced that the Government would be extending the Human Rights Act to make it illegal to...

A letter from the Premier

Well, it may have taken five days, but today the Premier finally responded to the public concern about his controversial email to Tony Brannon. It came in the form of a lengthy advertisement in both the Royal Gazette and the...

Crash

Paul Haggis’ Crash was released last year to rave reviews. Readers of the Internet Movie Database rated it an impressive 8.5 out of 10, making it the 53rd most popular movie on that site. But until readers of this site...

CURE cannot investigate race complaint

Following Tony Brannon's decision yesterday to lodge a complaint against Premier Alex Scott with both CURE and the Human Rights Commission (HRC), CURE today said that it is not within their mandate to accept complaints. As such, Mr. Brannon will...

The Bermuda Smut

Last week, in what seemed like a cheap bid to boost sales, the Bermuda Sun put a picture of a vibrator on its front page. It accompanied an extremely serious (cough) story about how a local pharmacy is now selling...

The sound of silence

Four days have now passed without any comment from Premier Alex Scott about the Tony Brannon debacle. When the Premier learned that someone was posting comments on this site using his email address, a press release was issued that night...

Caption competition #21 winners

This week's caption competition has now closed. Picture courtesy of BermyNet The winners were: First: JackRabbit - I'm tired of taking crap from people who look and dance like him. Second: Combat Banker - Prequel to "The 40 Year Old...

Resign

When I first read that Premier Alex Scott had written that he was “getting tired of listening to, and taking crap from people who look and sound like [local white activist Tony] Brannon” I just shrugged my shoulders and sighed....