Yes, Virginia, politics could use a little more Santa Claus. I don’t necessarily mean more jolly and I am not thinking of more gifts; nice as that might be.

Instead I have in mind the give and take of politics, the cut and thrust of debate that is an integral part of the adversarial system that is Westminster. All of us, I suspect, Mr Editor, would probably like to see a lot more give and a lot less take.

Of course, we all have our wish lists and there’s no need to check mine twice. Most of the items have been the subject of past columns. File them under good governance.

But there is cause for optimism as we continue to work what we’ve got. We have had some early stocking stuffers, such as:

• A more robust Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is no small achievement. It has an important role to play to bring about more effective accountability. The committee’s profile has been raised as the PAC has become far more active than it has been in the past — and public. It is even daring to become contemporaneous and to keep abreast of current and not past spending. Kudos then to current members and the chairman, the Shadow Minister of Finance, David Burt. But, please, don’t go too much on about his apparent “conflict of interest”. When you get right down to it, all MPs have an interest in protecting and promoting their respective parties’ interests on the Hill. Besides, he is one of a minority of three on the PAC. The Bermuda Government has a majority of four members. That said, there remains a lot of catching up to do to get current, and the need for a fresh, independent inquiry into past and present practices remains demonstrably evident, to both clear the decks and to let the chips fall where they may.

• The work of the Auditor-General and her office. They deserve a lot of credit here. We don’t ever want them to give up or back down. Instead, what they need is the necessary support they have been promised to catch up and to keep up with Government accounts. Imagine what a beefed up office could achieve.

• Public Access To Information (Pati), is now up and off the ground, legislatively. This is the do-it-yourself tool in the kit to good governance, the full benefit of which we have yet to see, but which hopefully we will when requests for information go in and the answers come back. Or not.

• Opening up membership on Government advisory bodies is also a good move, although to a lesser extent. It remains to be seen what change, if any, this will bring, and not just in membership but in impact and influence on Government policy.

Speaking of influence, it isn’t always just the system that matters but people as well, their nature and their character, along with their vision for what will make for a better Bermuda.

So it is that, at this time of year, we think of family, and of those who have preceded us, whether with us still or not.

Our seniors carried us to where we are today, one way or another, and it wasn’t that long ago that all of those aged 55 and over (!) were described by a pension expert as “the lost generation” of the pension world. Lost?! Not completely. But we knew what he meant in terms of what these seniors have been able to build up over the years in pensions; or rather what they have not.

Most are struggling. They are in the economic trenches. They feel it first, and they who feel it, know it.

There is no need to tell them what’s wrong with the system, whether it be pensions or healthcare costs. They live it.

But here’s something worth thinking about over the holidays. Projections are that there will be more than 12,000 people aged 65 years by 2020, up from roughly 8,500 in 2010, arguably one of the fastest growing segments of our population.

With a smaller workforce, and slower economic growth — “slowth”, some are now calling it — there is every possibility the strain and the burden will increase on seniors, on the Government, on all of us.

Seniors will continue to make up a sizeable percentage of the voting population.

They could and should become a strong electoral force, whose interests lead to a sea change in politics, not just in influence but in actual representation. Here, a nod to the late Louise Jackson, who blazed the trail on what could be done on this front before she left us, now almost two years ago.

Numbers alone, Mr Editor, make it more about arithmetic than politics.

Call it the new math of the old — or “Grey Power” as it is being termed elsewhere — and this should make for interesting times ahead.

You go Santa, and merry Christmas everybody.