only one has disturbed us. That was one announcing that Sir Lynden Pindling, former Prime Minister of the Bahamas, had arrived in Bermuda to attend the opening of Parliament and help the PLP celebrate its victory.

There has been great optimism in Bermuda since the PLP victory and a feeling almost of euphoria. Even hard core UBP supporters have been saying: "Wait and see. So far so good.'' Thus it strikes us as rather strange to find Sir Lynden Pindling, who is widely credited with tearing apart his own Country, and a delegation from the Bahamas Progressive Liberal Party, arriving in Bermuda at the dawn of what Premier Jennifer Smith calls "a new Bermuda''. Sir Lynden is the symbol today of the "bad old Bahamas''. The PLP knows probably better than any other group that their friendship for Sir Lynden has been widely criticised in the past and that he is less than well regarded these days in his own country.

We know that Sir Lynden has had a long standing friendship from their days at law school together in London with some of the older PLP leaders, notably Lois Browne Evans and the late Walter Robinson. He was invited here to help open the PLP headquarters at Alaska Hall at a time when he was under heavy fire in the Bahamas. That was not a wise move, friendships aside.

It is all old history now, especially since Sir Lynden was swept out of power in 1992 by the Free National Movement which now holds 34 seats to the PLP's six. The Bahamas has clearly changed for the better since the going of the PLP even though it has taken the FNM some considerable time to sort out the mess largely because they found the treasury empty and the Bahamas heavily in debt.

We will not get into the multitude of accusations against Sir Lynden but when he became leader of the Bahamas he moved to tax the international insurance companies and to heavily curtail work permits for non-Bahamians working for international companies. That worked to Bermuda's benefit because many of the companies moved here. The banks, which Bermuda does not accept, moved on from the Bahamas to the Cayman Islands.

That is exactly what so many people have feared the PLP might do in Bermuda and to put to rest that fear alone, it would have been best to let Sir Lynden stay at home. We should never underestimate the effect of fear on fickle businessmen especially during a time of great political change.

Sir Lynden has said that the PLP victory in Bermuda is "one of great joy''.

He did not add that his defeat in the Bahamas was "one of great joy'' for the people of the Bahamas.