Dear Sir, In Bermuda there is a view that political leaders, regardless of party affiliations, have failed to demonstrate the vision and capability to resurrect Bermuda's society from a quagmire of despair, except for the late L.F. Wade.

We have never had a leader who could apply intellectual rigour and reconciling Bermuda's competing interest. What we have had in Bermuda are charismatic leaders who were utterly disastrous and left Bermuda struggling with the legacy of their personal excesses. There is no shortage of talent in Bermuda, yet as a country we appear unable to focus on our talent. There is a widely held view that serious deficits in education exist, yet political leaders seem unable or unwilling to agree on solutions that would reverse the downward slide.

In Bermuda politics, as usual, is unsustainable as we face an onslaught of drugs, crime, violence, corruption and renewed racism. It is time to rebuild civility in pubic discourse and integrity, not the pursuit of private ambition. In Bermuda political tribalism is an ugly fact that robs the country of the energy it needs to overcome political divisiveness.

RAYMOND RUSSELL Pembroke One call isn't always... April 17, 2001 Dear Sir, I've just read two letters in your column of today's Royal Gazette, one by Joshua Richardson and the other by Human ATM, both making reference to charges by a local telephone provider. Now, I would like to add my "two cents''.

Just yesterday I called BTC's customer service to question a charge for 54 additional calls on my bill for a line that is used only to provide Internet service to my computer. My Internet bill, which shows dates, times, number of calls and duration of calls showed that I had only made 76 calls, so I was wondering where the additional 28 calls came from. Well, after being told by the customer representative that my bill wasn't bad (compared to others, what's that got to do with me and my bill?), I wanted to know two things: 1) How many "free'' calls am I allowed in a month? 2) Am I being charged for an additional call if I am on the phone for longer than one hour? The answers are as follows: 1) There are 50 free calls allowed per month. OK, I can live with that; and 2) This is the tricky one. You see one call isn't always one call. Apparently after one hour, your one call becomes a second call. And guess what? You are also charged an additional 20 cents for "excess usage'' or whatever they call it...the mystery charges that Human ATM referred to. I had those as well! And, I don't even want to think what happens if you go over a second hour.

So, in actual fact, BTC actually gets you for three calls for the one call you made. This is particularly lucrative if you are on the Internet, because an hour can pass pretty quickly.

I'd also like to add that this information was not readily supplied by the customer representative, who had to go off twice to ask someone else the answers to my very pointed questions. I am not blaming her, as she was very polite and professional, but this sounds like information that they do not like to share.

I find it deceitful that BTC is charging an additional charge for calls over an hour, as well as recording it as a second call. I remember years ago that I was told that the telephone company did that and of course it was denied. I was also told that if you dialled a number and it rang for more than five rings, it was recorded as a call...whether the call was answered or not! Think about that one for a minute or two.

Perhaps, now that we have had relief on the overseas calls (thank you North Rock & 20-20-321!), something will be done about our local service, because I can tell you, I'm getting pretty tired of being ripped off by BTC.

CR St. George's P.S. Can anyone tell me how North Rock is able to charge me for time used to a fraction of a minute for my long distance service, but BTC can't do it for my cell phone service? Phone bills are a puzzle April 17, 2001 Dear Sir, I heartily agree with your correspondent in today's Gazette who says you should check all bills -- especially your telephone bills! I recently received a bill for March which I called into question. It included a ludicrous charge for a four-and-a-half hour call plus a charge for late payment (I have never ever made a late payment) plus 94 extra calls (on top of my allowance) mostly, when checked, to people I have never heard of! I now not only check the bills, but make a note every time I make a call.

GAIL Paget