The “Arrogance of Burt” was on display perhaps for the final time as Premier of Bermuda and leader of the Progressive Labour Party when he hijacked the delivery of his own Budget Statement as finance minister by calling a General Election for February 18.

While not quite the snap election that Sir John Swan prompted in October 1985 when, as United Bermuda Party leader and premier, he seized on the infighting that flattened the upward momentum of the PLP in opposition and sauntered to what was then a record victory at the polls, David Burt has had the effect of catching even members of his own party off guard if their “come as you are” appearance on Wednesday evening is anything to go by — and that’s just among those who were there, with at least three party stalwarts “otherwise engaged”.

Notwithstanding that, though, the election call in and of itself is hardly a surprise. The PLP has been rolling out candidates left, right and centre since the spring of 2024, while the One Bermuda Alliance has done likewise heading into election year to avoid giving the ruling party a free pass in multiple unmanned constituencies, as was the case in 2020. In between, there have been three by-elections brought about by retirements on either side of the aisle, the resurrection of Sir John with his Movement for Independent Candidates, and a reinvigorated if under-resourced Free Democratic Movement.

Privately, the PLP’s dishevelled appearance would have roiled the Premier — that’s not the way he likes his slickly manicured political machinery to run. Case in point being the recent Confiscated Assets Fund photoshoot where he and fellow male Cabinet ministers were suited, booted and, significantly, tieless. In unison. Contrast that with the comparatively ramshackle look on Wednesday and, well, let’s say that’s not one for the mantelpiece.

What should more deeply disturb Mr Burt is the angered reactions from our young people who have been again left at the altar come election time — effectively stateless so soon after watching their peers vote for new governments in the United States and Britain.

The inability of overseas students to have a say in a General Election is not a cross that the PLP alone has to bear; it is a failing of the political powers that be since the “official” birth of the internet in the early 1980s. Each of the UBP, OBA and PLP has had the opportunity to make it so that our future leaders could have active determination in the running of the country, while also giving them a fulsome appetite to return to these shores full time, but each has failed — and failed miserably.

Given the “Brilliance of Burt” as the country’s first truly tech-savvy premier, and with the many significant advances in that space since the PLP regained power from the OBA in July 2017, such a failing is a damning black mark against the ruling party.

We should not be still arm-wrestling over absentee voting in 2025. The country already has a massive problem with its uneducated and undereducated youth; surely, it doesn’t want to fall out with those who have sought out and received higher education.

A penny for your thoughts, Shomari Talbot-Woolridge, leader of the PLP youth wing Progressive Minds and recently appointed “Vance Campbell Slayer” in Smith’s West.

This is a can that has been kicked down the road, forgotten about until again becoming a talking point the time of the next election — generation after generation. The Government is due soon to agree on a partner in digital transformation, so perhaps in the early days after the next parliament is formed we can expect sustained commitment.

The election itself?

Well, put that down to the arrogance of Burt. He expects to win — to be fair, with a 22-seat mandate, he is entitled to be of that view — and then get back unimpeded to the business of delivering his Budget Statement possibly as soon as February 28.

The issue remains, though, how many of his acolytes will remain with him as Members of Parliament on Reconvening Friday by the new governor, having spilt blood on the election dancefloor?

Now that we have a date, we can close the final chapter on the political careers of Walter Roban and Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, and thank them for their service. But there may be more and, also to be fair, should be more unless the consensus is the PLP has done an exceptional job in running the country the past five years.

Hardly. Not with an increasing cost of living, massive government debt, rising violent crime, an infrastructure long game, schools upheaval, general societal decline, the decommissioning of Curtis Dickinson, and two fingers up to our best and brightest young people.

A message needs to be sent.