no room for complacency, Hester must caution. It was several years ago that The Observer newspaper's award-winning journalist John Sweeney , instead of reporting on Her Majesty's visit to the Empire's most civilised colony, stirred it up by dredging up controversial bits of former Governor Lord Waddington's past and dubbing Bermuda the most boring place on earth -- in a full-page article in the top selling liberal British broadsheet.

Much has happened since then and the annoying Mr. Sweeney, having won an international Emmy for his Kosovo documentary, is now a hotly pursued telly correspondent. His latest assignment for the BBC: exposing the Turks & Caicos as nothing more than a tax haven filled with corrupt politicians. Posing as a cell phone supplier to war zones, Mr. Sweeney, armed with a hidden camera, discovered just how easy it was to set up an exempted company and stash some cash in the British colony. He even uncovered some rather embarrassing documents by digging in the Government's trash! And he aired an awkward moment in the Island's legislature when MPs basically warned the new Guv (who replaced ex-Bermuda Dep Guv John Kelly ) that he had better do what they want or he would find his stay in paradise "very difficult''.

Wading along one of the Caribbean isle's sandy beaches, he ended his piece, aired on BBC World here several times last week, by declaring Britain too wimpy to cut ties with these remaining "embarrassments to the Crown'' that exist purely to help rich folk dodge taxes. No word on whether Mr. Sweeney plans a similar assault on Bermuda, but rest assured, Hester has the inside scoop on that ...

Speaking of the media, Hester simply cannot believe the cheek and sheer pomposity of the SUNshine tabloid last night in putting on a media forum, or should she say a tell-us-how-much-you-love-us-fest, and not inviting the Island's only daily newspaper, despite its Editor Bill Zuill's polite offer to appear on the hack panel! To rub salt in the wound, the SUNshine appears to have invited representatives of virtually every other local media organisation (The Bermudian's Meredith Ebbin , the BBC's Quinton Edness , VSB's Chris Lodge , the Vorker's Woice's Larry Burchall and of course the SUNshine's own editor Tony McWilliam , who insisted on the radio news that there's "no mischief'' behind the snub.

But Hester has a feeling there is ! With the apparent demise of the SUNShine's own columnist Peggy something-or-the-other, the ever-popular Hester wonders if perhaps the Ed was terrified she just might steal the entire show. Either that, or the SUNshine is hoping to score brownie points with the PLP Government by following in its footsteps -- and shunning the Gazette . Good move! Hester hears Government is increasingly worried that affordable housing is fast nearing crisis point. Hester hears the number of people appealing to Government to help them with affordable housing has shot up by hundreds this year to around the 1,000 mark, and one need only listen to homeless hero Fern Wade on De People's Talkshow tell of all the evictions she hears of and how hard-up folk are forced to rent $1,200 studios with hotplates from greedy landlords whose mortgages have been paid ten times over.

The buzz on the street is that Housing Corp. boss Raymonde Dill and Health minister Nelson Bascome have been doing the rounds, putting pressure on international business, in a desperate bid to raise cash for a bunch of new low cost homes. Hester hears a cheap bond is one of their ideas, but she hears that business isn't too hot on the idea. Hester has a better idea: rent out rooms at all the hotels that have closed in the last few years and that we poor taxpayers are forking out monthly to maintain! It is common knowledge that the Customs and Immigration services are no respecters of persons -- and quite right too, with Immigration policy and the drugs war to worry about. But Hester would have thought that HE's right hand man, Deputy Governor Tim Gurney -- known as His Prominence to respectful media persons -- might get a tiny little bit of a break from the airport rottweillers.

Alas, no. Mr. Gurney was heard recently to relate that, when he returned to the Island from official business shortly after taking up the DG's post, he was grilled by Immigration officers suspicious about his lack of a work permit. Mr. Gurney -- who, as one of Her Majesty's anointed, doesn't need one -- was asked if he worked here, did he earn any money here, and so on.

Plaintive cries of "I'm the Deputy Governor here'' cut absolutely no ice with the immigration Gestapo. And -- if anyone's interested -- Hester's guess to the answers to the above questions are "occasionally'' and "not nearly enough.'' While the likes of ACE and XL take the annual RIMS insurance meet seriously, the local office of Chubb Atlantic Indemnity apparently did not this year... and Hester wonders if that has anything to do with its parent company's bid to get US Congress to get rid of a tax loophole which it claims ACE, XL and others take full advantage of.

While the movers and shakers rubbed shoulders in San Francisco, Chubb put on its third annual "Anti RIMS'' conference at the Robin Hood with such "time better spent'' workshops as Um Um or Um -- A Guide to dating in Bermuda, Shake Bow or Kiss -- A Guide to doing business Abroad, Sitting at Riddell's Bay Watching Your Company Slip Away and Balancing a Case of Beer on Your Bike...Who says the corporate types don't have fun? Hester welcomes reader email at dearhester yhotmail.com or regular mail care of this newspaper. All submissions will, of course, be treated with the utmost discretion.