Many tertiary educated people of many countries end up living and working in a country other than their own. This has been a pattern for a long time and is to be expected in a small country with few opportunities for advancement in certain areas. The Bahamas has been very fortunate in some ways and perhaps not as fortunate in others. When we consider the scattered nature of these islands, the relatively few citizens who have benefited from higher education and the difficulties of establishing and operating a business successfully, it is almost a wonder that so many have made it to what we would call the middle class. Of course, this sector of society is under threat from higher taxes and pressure from cost of living increases as well as inflated real estate prices but compared to even a few big countries we have not done so badly. There are people out there in the wider world who would be pleased to come here legally or illegally when they compare this country to their own.

Many of the above comments are very counterproductive and some are irrational. The concept of a national health insurance scheme is popular in many countries where the population base is large enough and the economy vibrant enough to afford such a scheme. A small country will have a hard time funding such a scheme especially where many people are unemployed and unable to contribute their fair share to the overall operation of the plan. NHI will result in an overcrowding of health facilities and a stressing of resources overall if all the illegal immigrants as well as indigents are covered even for basic procedures. A country such as Sweden, as one example, obtained the consensus of the population in the late 1940s to raise income tax levels to provide uniform health services (among other services) to a population in agreement as to the benefits thereof. They have the concept of "lagom" which means "enough" and they accept the idea that no one should be too rich or too poor. On this side of the Atlantic that concept is truly foreign.

Unfortunately almost every politician will try desperately to avoid bringing to the attention of the voters the need to reduce the rate of reproduction in this society where there are relatively few opportunities for real progress and advancement for the average man. This unwillingness to present the unpalatable truth to the voters in combination with a weak and lost educational system that provides little guidance, must result in more unemployment, violent crime and social fragmentation. Just look to the south to a single island nation with over 2.5 million inhabitants to gain a reasonable idea of what to expect. Many young people are unable to compete in the real world and, out of frustration, turn to what appears to them the easy way out: a life of crime and evasion of legal and moral norms. Also, being geographically near to a major producer of firearms and violent films and television shows presented in a common language is not of great help in the fight against criminal activity and the mindset that helps to produce such behaviour.

Absolutely unbelievable that grown people would pay attention to such foolishness. This sounds like the "Bloody Mary" nonsense that was making the rounds in the schools some years ago and reminds me of the wickedness perpetrated by the children in "The Crucible" when they pretended to be possessed by so-called demons and caused the death of a few adults whom they had targeted.
Read about the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century and get these children away from video games and electronic devices.

As far as the institution of royalty is concerned you have opened a can of worms. Many of your opinions are shared by many people around the world. Royalty is an endangered institution which has provided a few interesting scenarios. When King Farouk of Egypt was exiled by the army colonels in 1952 he is reported to have said that soon there will remain only five kings in the world, the king of England and the four in the pack of cards. Some defend it as a unifying institution as seen by the King of Norway riding horseback in Oslo and rallying the population against the occupying Germans toward the end of World War 2. Of course, I had a bit of fun when I asked a British friend if his country is classed as democratic. He responded that it certainly was democratic in reply to which I asked if that was the case how was it that they had one family that was better than everyone else.

Many years ago (in the early 1970s) I remember seeing a similar situation with emaciated horses trying to pull surreys around La Vega in the central mountains of the Dominican Republic. It was not a pretty sight. In all fairness it does seem to me that the horses in Nassau were in generally better condition many years ago than at present. Are they victims of these economic times in which we live at present?

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The fundamental problems facing the country are not a priority for any existing political party, which, by their very nature, are dedicated to the advancement and enrichment of their partisans very often at the expense of the rest of us. No one addresses the overpopulation of this country in light of the available sources of employment. No one addresses the inadequacies of the educational system which is not preparing the youth for the realities of life in this country and in the wider world. Instead we have any number of carnivals and public spectacles incapable of advancing the country in any meaningful or worthwhile direction. The DNA will very likely split the opposition vote once again with the chance that the results of the next election will not be what so many seem to be eagerly anticipating. For those of my generation who saw great hope and potential in the post 1967 Bahamas I can say that from my personal point of view there seems not a great deal of good news to anticipate in the coming years.

In the event that Bahamians eventually are required to pay real property tax on their Family Island homes, etc., a simple question arises relative to the return that can be reasonably expected for their tax dollars. Will the roads of the many and far-flung subdivisions be paved at public expense and will street lighting be installed along with the commencement of regular garbage collection services? Provided that the newly-enrolled taxpayers see some return for their contribution there should be less resistance to the imposition of a new tax.
Also, government agencies should make a sincere and sustained effort to inform the general public of the "advantages" to be expected from membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

As an aside to this lively debate I will put forward a simple observation: The surname Darville is intimately associated with Long Island, is it not? If that is the case I should like to point out that many Long Islanders are proud to point out that they do not have an illegal immigrant problem (at least not of the Haitian variety) since they don't allow them to remain on their island if they by chance happen to land there.
An interesting point isn't it?