will leave members of the public somewhat puzzled. While a good deal of it sounds good and it is our impression that it is better than past Budget replies, it is still a fuzzy document lacking in any financial specifics.

It is our impression that this is much more of a Speech from the Throne than it is a Budget reply. We say that because it contains a good deal of "pie in the sky'' and even more statements made to make the public feel good.

That, of course, is the easy way for the PLP to go. The hard way would be to deal with specific funding and tell the public just how the PLP would deal with finances and how it would propose to tax the public to finance its programmes. It does not do that even though it has quite correctly identified some areas which need attention, like affordable housing for people with low or fixed incomes.

For a political party which bills itself as the "government in waiting'' not to deal with specifics in an election year seems to us to be an attempt to say to the public, "We'll make everything better but we are not going to tell you how we plan to do that.'' Surely that is not good enough for a party which thinks it is on the verge of power.

It comes down to the public's right to know how the political parties plan to govern and, more importantly, how they plan to tax the people to raise the cash to put their programmes in place.

Finance Minister Grant Gibbons presented a Budget full of specifics and clearly it was a "people's budget'' or, if you will, an election year Budget.

He was specific because he has the responsibility to get the job done. The PLP has been critical but it is very easy for a party out of power to criticise and to make promises to the public if they do not have to face the realities of upsetting the people and losing votes when they tax to find the money.

The PLP has also been unfairly critical of Dr. Gibbons' Budget, implying that it does not care for the people, especially people with lower incomes. Yet the truth is that Dr. Gibbons devoted the majority of his budget to social programmes and recreation for the people and, if you include in that the huge amounts devoted by Dr. Gibbons to health care and education, then his Budget is overwhelmingly devoted to the people of Bermuda.

No Government will ever present a Budget which pleases everyone and there will always be areas which could have more attention. It is human nature to ask for more and more but it is also human nature to object to paying more taxes. A government in power has a fine line to follow and we think Dr. Gibbons succeeded in that.

The PLP, on the other hand, follows no line and provides no specifics. We think that once again it has demonstrated that it has little grasp of the realities of running an economy. It promises a lot but never tells us what it will cost the people to achieve those promises. In reality, if the PLP came to power it would face the same problems and the same public pressures that this Government faces and right now it tells us that it has a magic wand. There is no such thing.

We do know finally that the PLP would not move to income tax but we do not know what it might do to the public's pocket book and that is not good enough.