'I had long before come to the conclusion that the party system, though necessary, was at one level irrational and counter-productive. It meant differences had to be either exaggerated or invented; it stopped sensible people cooperating to achieve sensible ends; complex problems that required thoughtful solutions were reduced to battles about slogans'– – Tony Blair, My Journey

'REMEMBER, remember, the 5th of November': It's a special day and not just on account of the Opening of Parliament, although there is that. It's Guy Fawkes Day, folks, the day we used to celebrate the 1605 plot to blow up the UK Houses of Parliament, although given that the Brits have such a wicked sense of good humour I used to wonder – and still do – whether it was the attempt we celebrated or the failure.

I'm pretty sure it's meant to be the latter, what with burning a Guy in effigy and the setting off of firecrackers which of course has long since been banned in Bermuda, a kind of crackdown on bang warfare, you might say, back in the day.

It's also an anniversary of sorts for me: it was 17 years ago to the day that my journey on the Hill began. Nevertheless, I really don't expect there will much in the way of fireworks at the ceremonial opening. There never is. It's usually more pomp and circumstance.

But there is of course the reading of the Throne Speech – the first under new Premier Paula Cox – which is supposed to sketch out Government's legislative programme for the next 12 months. These speeches however have, over the years, become that and so much more, and we usually get a broad brush of Government's plans on and off the Hill for the coming parliamentary year, and there is the very real possibility that what we end up with is a tome and not a Throne Speech.

It was also only three years ago that we saw the Throne Speech used as a springboard for the 2007 election under a new leader and now former Premier Dr. Ewart Brown. Chances are slim it will happen again this time. We are only three years into the term and new Premier Paula Cox has still to show us what the PLP will now do for us, and do differently, now that she is just not Finance Minister but Premier as well.

Cabinet selections were a clue. The lesson is that loyalty has its rewards; disloyalty doesn't. I reckon loyalty was prime. Not just to the cause. But to party. The one exception may have been Terry Lister. Few will have forgotten the speech he gave on the floor of the House calling for Dr. Brown's resignation while still sitting in the Cabinet, and the consternation this caused within and without the party. I suspect we only knew the half of it. His campaign for leader probably didn't help much either: while critical but respectful, he went public.

But there had to be a place at the table for at least one of the two unsuccessful rivals. There are after all only so many the leader can call on and it doesn't pay to have too many unhappy and disappointed faces outside the tent. Exclusion comes with a cost too.

It was easier to make no place for the Butler at the table. He only received two votes and I am sorry to say (for him, not me) that his mention of my name in his administration by all reports went over like a lead balloon.

I appreciated the thought though. Readers will recall my recent series on how we need to change our approach to governance in Bermuda if we are ever going to maximise our talents on and off the Hill. It is going to mean the creation of opportunities to tackle our problems in more meaningful ways than has been the case to date. Development of the committee system is one way. But it has to be done with commitment to making it work and within a framework of a more modern Legislature than the one under which we currently operate.

So far it's been fits and starts: a Public Accounts Committee holding public hearings; a joint select committee on education which unfortunately and sadly appears to have gone bust; and another now on crime which has only just now gotten off the ground.

There was the promise last year in the Throne Speech of a parliamentary conference to modernise and make more effective our Legislature. It never materialised. Pity.

One reader who had been following my series on the need for reform, referred me to Tony Blair's My Journey. He thought that with all the problems Bermuda is facing today now was not a time to play politics, or at least not politics as usual.

"Tony Blair talked about the removal of ideology from political life", wrote this reader. "Let's define that. There are always differences of opinion and parts of the public will not change their minds no matter what, both on the left and right. But the centre, or majority, is more interested in what works and that particular number is growing. Even more so today, compared to when Blair's book was published early this year.

"The political view being developed here is one of support for a political effort of 'working together'. Without that, everything falls apart in Bermuda due to our small size, as we now know, after Ewart's constant division."

But reader GS from St. G believes it just is not going to happen under the PLP.

"Their experience in Government during the last few years", he writes, "has done little more than persuade them that maybe you really can fool all of the people all of the time, as long as you know the right formula. You need to dress and act the part, drive a big car, growl at the press, travel a lot and get your civil servants to write you some statements to use.

"When in difficulty, claim that the only solution to the problem is for all the people in the community to come together to act as one – something on the same order of difficulty as time travel for communities less than half as complex as ours".

His conclusion: "You're at the foot of a very, very tall mountain, Mr. B." Meanwhile I go up the Hill again today, Mr. Editor, for a new session. We'll see.

But the last word this week is to the quick wit who wanted to correct me on my political arithmetic. He said it was old maths. New maths has it that one minus one actually makes for two zeros.