Yesterday's column by the Limey in Bermuda headlined "Throwing the Election", was completely untrue.

It was meant to be. It was satire, a long-established literary form that has its roots in novels like "Gulliver's Travels" and these days is seen most frequently in magazines like the UK's Private Eye, the US website theonion.com amd television's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Unfortunately, not everyone seemed to get the joke, so for the avoidance of doubt, here it is again: Yesterday's column, which revealed that the Progressive Labour Party has put Independence on its platform because it to lose the next Election, was untrue and was meant as a joke.

In hindsight, it is possible that the Limey in Bermuda and this newspaper should have attributed the quotes attributed to real politicians to made up ones instead (Wart Drown? Lex Snot? Rant Fibbons?).

Perhaps foolishly, we thought that people would get the joke. Wrong. PLP spokesman Scott Simmons called these offices and asked: "Do you know what you have done to this Country?" Asked to elaborate, he hung up. (This is true). Sen. Walter Roban wrote to the Limey in Bermuda to say: "Perhaps you ascribe to this being the 'Silly Season' in local politics which is why you penned this column in some strange sense of humour.

"If not I can only say it is fictitious at the least and at best a blatant fabrication of comment by the Leader and Deputy Leader of the PLP," he added, although "the least" and "the best" parts come to the same thing.

For what it's worth, he concluded: "This confirms The constant struggle to represent itself as a respectable daily."

All the Limey did was take a reasonable question ? why does the PLP keep beating the drum on Independence when 65 percent of the population consistently say they don't want it, thus putting the party's electoral chances at risk ? and then pursue the answer to a logical, but bizarre conclusion.

Why bizarre? Because, as the Limey said on his web log: "What political party would ever voluntarily give up power? Even if there were such a party, what Premier or Deputy Premier would admit it to any journalist (let alone a Limey blogger like me)?"

And if there was any doubt at all, what Opposition leader would ever admit that he believed his party had no chance of regaining power, as the Limey supposedly quoted United Bermuda Party Leader Grant Gibbons saying?

Still, for anyone who actually believed the Limey in Bermuda's column yesterday, we apologise.

And in future, we will run a disclaimer on any satire we run, stating: "This is satire. None of it is true. Honestly."