The House may have been down for months but the political intrigue has been raging even harder throughout the summer with talk of political coups in both the PLP and UBP camps.

One upshot has been the return of the wonderfully controversial Lt. Col. Burch to Cabinet.

Hector understands the appointment may have as much to do with Alex Scott?s desire to stay in office and deflate the growing pro-Ewart Brown camp than any desire to actually build homes which haven?t exactly been a massive priority so far. Certainly there?s no love lost between the feisty ex-Regiment man who resents the ambitious doctor for organising the post election putsch which ousted his former boss Jennifer Smith.

Hector hears Lt. Col Burch wasted no time in getting to work as he went toe-to-toe with Dr. Brown in a loud row which had civil servants reaching for the ear plugs and running for cover.

Being back in Government seems to have prompted another radical makeover for the Lt. Col. who has returned to a close military crop after sporting some natty dreads in his previous role as Quango boss.

Hector most enjoyed the statesman-like grey moustache which made him look like a cross between British ?winds of change? Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Reggie Burrows whom the Col replaces in the Senate.

While enjoying his occasional outbursts, Hector has never quite understood the hype surrounding ?The Colonel.? He?s probably not the ogre that some make him out to be but it?s doubtful whether he?s the seventh cavalry that backers claim he is either. As Jennifer Smith?s right-hand man you would have thought he might have warned her about the huge growing split which eventually saw half of her party denounce and abandon her the moment the polls closed in 2003.

It must rank as one of the worst pieces of advice from a military advisor to a leader since Stalin?s generals told him in 1941 the ranks of Nazi troops amassing on his border probably just wanted ?another knees-up to celebrate the carving up of Poland?. And Hector wonders whether ?the man who gets things done? might more accurately described as ?the man who likes to resign?.

What exactly is it that The Colonel ever got done? His brief stint as Housing Minister was more characterised by purges on defaulting tenants than any action on getting more houses up. And then he resigned, before coming back into the quangos, resigning and then.. er, coming back again. Will one of his first diktats at Works and Engineering be to fit a revolving door at his Church Street HQ? At least no one can accuse him of coming back merely to enjoy the trappings of office. Days after his appointment one of Hector?s spies spotted an exceedingly disgruntled Colonel huddled on his motorbike during a downpour. Maybe the big GP limo will come after he has finally seen off Dr. Brown.

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It seems the appointment of The Colonel sparked rumblings in the Brown camp, forcing the Premier to appoint one of their own men. Whatever the reasons for his promotion Hector is glad to see Wayne Perinchief finally make the Cabinet. The burly plain-speaking ex-Cop will be a refreshing contrast to some of his more verbose colleagues who can?t form a sentence without using the leaden words ?paradigm shift? and ?key stakeholders.? However Hector wonders if his new appointment as drugs czar guarding the nation against drugs is the most suitable. Remember, his most recent appointment was as vice president of a company with exclusive control with supplying rum from Cuba to Bermuda, where he would be actually importing intoxicating substances to the island rather than trying to fend them off.

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Does anyone know the identity of the magazine that Senator Walter Roban said he was ?flicking through? when he came across toll-free telephone numbers specifically aimed at Bermudians? The Senator left an audience of more than 300 at the PLP conference banquet in the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel guessing after tantalisingly almost revealing the name of his favoured reading matter before thinking better of it. ?I think it was Playboy,? suggested one wag at the back.

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Sounds like Sen. Roban was on a sticky wicket. Speaking of which Bermuda?s cricketers have enjoyed an unprecedented summer of success on the field and some unprecedented nightmares at airports.

They were delayed horribly flying to England for the ICC Trophy warm-up games, they were delayed horribly flying to Ireland for the ICC and something was bound to go wrong on the way to Namibia for their Intercontinental Cup semi-final.

Although the worst delay problems involved a lack of steps to get them off the plain at Hosea Kutako Airport, they did have some trouble getting in with fast bowler Kevin Tucker just one phone call to a Minister away from being sent straight home because of a damaged passport.

Everyone was in high spirits when departing Namibia last Saturday and then the inevitable problem arose. ?Due to a fuel shortage we are going to have to stop to refuel on the way back,? said the Air Namibia man with a heavy accent at the check-in desk.

?In Rwanda,? he added ominously.

Fear shot through the team. Stopping in a war zone, what a way to end their African adventures?

Their fears were allayed two hours later, however, when the plane did touchdown for it?s scheduled stop, in Luanda, the Angolan airport city which may sound nearly the same, but is a lot safer.

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Hector was glad to hear the recovering addicts of the Hazelden Alumni had a get together at Fair Havens at the weekend. But whoever thought up the idea of a ?pot luck? supper clearly had no sense of irony.