motivated to embarrass the Progressive Labour Party which does have links to the Bemuda Industrial Union and the Co-Op. However, that reaction and the concern had doubtless been encouraged by the silence of PLP politicians.

It is not enough for the PLP to say that the party is not closely allied with the Co-Op. The public perception certainly allies the PLP with the Co-Op. The Co-Op chairman and the PLP party chairman are one and the same. The present and the former leaders of the BIU, on whose watch the Co-Op declined, both sit as PLP MPs.

Now it seems that the 1200 members of the Co-Op, people who may have invested as little as $20 in the venture some 15 years ago, are now being asked to pay $1,200 each toward the Co-Op's debts. If the Senate was not misinformed on Wednesday, that money is being asked for by the Co-Op Chairman, Victor Fishington.

Many of the people who became Co-Op members must have been members of the BIU who hoped to get some break on their grocery and household purchases.

Ironically the BIU is the largest creditor of the Co-Op. Thus BIU members could lose twice. It may well be that the BIU should simply drop any financial claim against the Co-Op.

We can only think that many of the 1,200 members will be unwilling or unable to pay this amount of money virtually for nothing.

The grocery business is a tough area in which to succeed and whether or not the Co-Op was mismanaged as has been alleged we do not know. The fact remains that it collapsed without the protection of limited liability which companies would have had.

In a Country where the Opposition and its adherents are so often accused of being bad managers and unable to understand the Country's economy, that collapse is a significant fact. We think that is a situation which the politicians in the PLP should address.

It is clear that if this had been a privately owned company and the small shareholders and the employees had grievances, Bermuda would have heard a great deal from the PLP. We have not heard very much and that suggests to the public that the PLP is protecting its own. That does not seem very fair to either the members or the out-of-pocket employees of the Co-Op Supermarket. It is also not fair to the public for the PLP to make a double standard so very obvious.