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I have very mixed feelings about Premier Ewart Brown's one-hundred-days speech. It is a good idea, I believe, for the governing party to list its accomplishments - and that task falls to the Premier. It is, however, narcissistic, and even arrogant for the Premier to present the government's accomplishments as though he and his new administration were solely responsible.

It would have been less misleading, for example, had the Premier acknowledged the work over several years and two previous administrations that was just bearing fruit in the past 100 days, such as the senior's home in St. George.

This apparent taking of credit for the longstanding groundwork of others does not gel with claims of "honesty in our discourse", a quote from his speech. Similarly misleading was the attempt to brand his administration as environmentally aware and friendly by citing two items: A recycling programme and the Environmental Awards scheme.

The proposed recycling programme is laudable. However, it is too limited in scope to make a serious dent in Bermuda's contribution to climate change, and in any case has been in the pipeline for years, but still not officially announced.

Of far more significant and negative contribution is the high rolling luxury Dr. Brown favours and promotes. Whether through oversized cars and motorcycles, traffic congestion and speeds, or luxury hotel/residence schemes, our actions are directly opposed to the Premier's words expressing concern for global climate change. These things expand rather than decrease Bermuda's ecological footprint. And this is the real measure of Bermuda's very significant per-capita contribution to global climate change.

Environmental Awards have been granted each year since 2003. And at $100,000 per year pales into insignificance alongside the $4.5 million per year pledged to a couple of sports - just to put things in perspective.

It would have been more reassuring, for example, if the Premier had announced the Blue Ribbon Panel of economic advisors he promised to engage when he took office, but which has not materialized. As a result, all talk of a strong economy is suspect and flies in the face of reality.

Certainly the money seems to be rolling in, but the government seems to be in denial of the hurt and terrible stress being visited on families by the overheated economy: Having to work multiple jobs, difficulty finding affordable housing (housing being, by the way, the most fundamental ingredient for family stability), escalating costs for everything from hospitalization and health care, to food and transportation.

I've wanted for a long time to address Premier Brown's slogan of "taking things to the next level."

This slogan has no substance. It can be used to mean whatever the speaker says it means. For example, one could point to the increasing numbers of people, young people, being killed on our roads as "the next level".

Or that Bermudians have been "taken to the next level" in their fears about being attacked or robbed. The "next level" of school building maintenance resulted in a massive infestation of moulds. The "next level" of Parliamentary decorum contains the words "racist dog". To be fully accepted, the Premier's report cards will need specifics - mentioning "creative ways to combat crime" is a generality, without specifics. And the contradictions need to be explained - if the economy is so strong, how come we're short on police resources? A report card is a good idea. The next one should share the credit, be checked against reality, and humbly acknowledge deficits. That would make it more believable.[[In-content Ad]]

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