WHAT a pleasant surprise, Mr. Editor, when four o'clock in the afternoon last Friday turned out to be T-time in the House on the Hill.

Members didn't actually break for tea and crumpets, but the Government benches were pretty light when their colleague and former Cabinet Minister Ren?e Webb rose from her seat to break ranks once again this time to tee off on the PLP's latest lifeline to a disenchanted electorate which they call a Social Agenda. The Man (Who Would be Prime Minister) was not in his seat at the time. We suspect that he was not amused. Teed off was probably more like it.

The Opposition benches weren't so empty. Members on that side perked up and declined to exit for tea: and why not? They loved it: they've been there and either done that or had it done to them. But frankly there was none of the raucousness that typically punctuated a debate that stretched that day, Day Two of the Throne Speech Debate, until one o'clock in the morning.

There were the odd shouts of encouragement ? from the Opposition benches ? but generally speaking it was all very civil as Drum Major Ren?e twirled her backbench baton and delivered a reasoned, reasonable analysis of what she thinks Bermuda needs from its Government. It was a far cry from the far cry Ms Webb typically gave when she spoke from the frontbench.

But Ms Webb and her comments found no echo in the Government benches. The PLP and their Social Agenda had been dissed, but there was no reply. There was no criticism in return. No defence either. The silence wasn't just golden, it was deafening.

Instead, member after member who spoke after Ren?e, for and on behalf of the Government, kept to the script and did not deviate from the political path their Man later called honourable and noble. You have to love political lock-step, Mr. Editor. In fact, we were privileged to the rare treat of two senior Cabinet Ministers returning to the House on the Hill late in the evening to continue to push their Agenda known as Social.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Transpourism was particularly keen to try to deflect any analysis of what is really going on inside the PLP.

Trevor Moniz of the UBP must have hit a nerve when he complimented Minister of Finance Paula Cox, and in particular complimented her for her support of the right of the international business sector to have an opinion on the issue of Independence for Bermuda. Trevor quite rightly wondered whether the "less radical" views of a member like Ms Cox were in or out of favour with a majority of her colleagues.

"That member is obsessed with the internal politics of the PLP," complained Dr. Brown. "He's what an old professor friend of mine would call a Division Man."

Call him what you like Doc: but most Bermudians can add and they understand that one and one often makes two. They're also starting to understand subtraction from the Cabinet, thanks to Ms Webb.

The ex-frontbencher also laid it on the line when she said, matter of factly, Mr. Editor, that the PLP had so far failed to come up with a plan of empowerment for black Bermudians and that the Agenda known as Social was a distraction that wasn't going to cut it. The PLP had to change its focus, she concluded, "if it is going to stand any chance of winning the next election".

This from the lady who won her seat by only eight votes at the last election. Ouch, Mr. Editor, for the PLP Ren?e is proving (so far) to be the ow in wow.

Insight into oversight

KEY line of the day for me came from a Ministerial Statement ? one good thing about these lengthy statements, Mr. Editor, you can hold the Minister accountable for what he or she actually said when the words are written down ? and it came from the copy read by Labour, Home Affairs & Public Safety Minister Randy Horton: ". . . if the key driver for political change and Government in the 20th century was democratisation, perhaps the key driver for the dawn of this new century is transparency."

Now that's key, Mr. Editor, transparency, depending of course on how you define it.

Mr. Horton was telling us about how Bermuda was about to host a Conference on Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, this weekend in fact, for four days at the Grotto Bay Hotel ? or what the organisers are billing as insight into oversight.

Later Minister of Health & Social Services Patrice Minors would tell us about hosting two others: a Youth Track forum for locals which was to have been held earlier this week, and the 18th Annual Conference for Counselling and Training People of Colour at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel in December next year.

The one thing each announcement had in common was that there was no mention of how much money had been budgeted for each. Not a peep. Pretty transparent, huh?

Meanwhile, sitting in the gallery were seniors who clambered up the road and steep stairs to get into the House on the Hill who are fighting the proposed doubling of rents of Bermuda Housing Trust properties because, they are told, money for maintenance is in short supply.

Give Ministers their due though. There were two statements and the first was on crime, which began with references to recent disturbing headlines in : "Elderly tourists robbed at knife point", "Off duty police officer attacked", "Woman jogger endures terror ordeal" and "Sex brute terrorises teenager; police warn women to be on their guard."

Sadly, it wasn't until halfway through the piece that people learned what they really wanted to hear: a suspect in the case of the most recent sex attack had been apprehended. Pity the same could not have been said about the suspect who skipped the island via BA, the day he was identified. Results, Mr. Editor, not statistics. Them's what counts.

The House Agenda

THE Great Debate on the Agenda known as Social now behind us, we now move on to specifics. Among the legislative items now eligible for debate, we have ahead of us on the House Agenda:

l The Ombudsman Act: finally. This was a part of the constitutional change obtained over three years ago.

Criminal Code amendments: to increase penalties for assaults, most especially in designated areas where young people tend to congregate. This was promised over a year ago, in the Throne Speech that was not known as the Social Agenda.

Pension increases: no, not for seniors. I am told that these are the cost of living, rate of inflation, housekeeping increases for civil servants (and members of the Legislature too).

An order to make commercial land and boat tour operators eligible for duty concessions as a "scheme for economic development" under a 1968 piece of legislation known as the Industrial Development Act: Who's next?

And speaking of seniors, Mr. Editor, there's also Ms Jackson's motion on that recent report on Ageing in Bermuda, its findings and recommendations.