down after some 18 months of political uncertainty. That is a long time in any country but an especially long time for a small island which takes its politics so seriously.

Bermuda has been staggering about uncertainly under the weight of political skulduggery. There is a crying need now for the Country to get back on its feet, stabilise itself and cope with problems which are not based in politics.

It is probably fair to say that politics play too large a part in Bermuda's daily life and that Bermudians spend too much time listening to politicians of all stripes talking a good deal of self-serving rubbish.

Bermuda is so small it could be run by a good town manager. Yet we have a burdensome Civil Service, an enormous array of Members of Parliament and Senators all led by a large Cabinet complemented by shadow ministers. As a result, we must live in the most over-governed and over talked to country in the world today. The interruptions created by the need for politicians to get a message across to their voters have a debilitating impact on Bermuda.

Very often we seem close to solutions only to "shoot ourselves in the foot''.

Why? Very often because politicians meddle. Some of the meddling comes about because Cabinet ministers have to find work to justify their title and their time, not to mention their ministerial salary. Ministers should set their ministry's policy and some guidelines and then let the trained civil servants get the job done. Far too often Ministers act like chief executive officers.

Bermuda could do with some concept of ministerial responsibility. In most other places if your ministry fails you take the fall. In Bermuda ministers just deny blame and sail right on, often making matters worse.

Because Bermudians are so often distracted by politics, we do not spend enough time on solving problems which concern the people. There is a tendency to assume that reports and commissions are solutions in themselves. What happened to the report of the Commission on Competitiveness? Very often we understand the problems and sometimes we know the solutions but nothing gets done. That is often so because politicians fear that any movement might cost them a few votes.

We must learn in Bermuda to put politicians in perspective and on a back burner and keep solutions for our problems on the front burner. Only when we do that will we arrive at any objectivity.

The people voted against Independence. They do not want the issue refought in choosing a Premier.