NOTHING moves faster than rumour ? except of course, rumour in Bermuda. Here a jet-propelled Dame Gossip sets new land-speed records virtually every week, careening from Somerset to St. George's and back again in less time than it takes to say "Have you heard . .?"

Gossip is arguably Bermuda's second largest industry, not as lucrative as international business but employs far more Bermudians than tourism and generates a much greater output.

In some regards this island resembles nothing less than a steroid-pumped Peyton Place. So it's not surprising that an ambiguous set of opinion poll breakdowns has resulted in more fat being chewed among Bermudians than a ravenous Inuit tribe could get through after landing a pod of narwhals.

Most of the speculation centres on the political future of a Premier who does not command the moral authority to lead a conga line let alone to lead Bermuda to Independence.

The Premier's spectacular free fall from stratospheric post-Fabian heights continues unabated.

It's doubtful the most elastic bungee cord in the world could guarantee a bounce back from the depths he is plumbing.

He has now reached the sort of abyssal lows associated with his predecessor immediately prior to her enforced resignation by rebellious Progressive Labour Party backbenchers. If he has even the most rudimentary political survival instincts, the Accidental Premier must clearly arrest ? and then set about reversing ? this headlong decline.

But such a rebound is unlikely to happen for any number of reasons.

First, his own credibility has been badly tarnished by the Berkeley Institute imbroglio ? the deepest money pit in the modern history of Bermuda's public sector as well as the most overdue and scandal-plagued capital project ever undertaken by a Government. The magnitude of this fiasco has entirely eclipsed even the most epically scaled, money-draining precedents ? the airport and the National Stadium both spring nimbly to mind. While spendthrift habits are certainly nothing new in Bermudian politics this Premier's signal failure to accept responsibility for a folly of his own making is an unexpected ? and very troubling ? break with the past.

Couple this contempt for accountability with his detached reaction to the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal. Then factor into the equation his ongoing efforts to consolidate political power in the Cabinet Office by unchecking and unbalancing the very constitutional guarantees that provide for good governance.

Finally, consider the worrisome fact that most of what comes out of his mouth these days does not so much deny as completely abrogate objective reality.

The result is a Premier who has a credibility gap with the electorate that has attained chasm-like proportions and which continues to grow. His congenital failure to engage reality and address Bermudians' main concerns, preferring wild and wordy detours into pure fantasy, is now becoming the stuff of local legend.

For example, his last attempt to rationalise the ongoing slippage in his poll numbers was the highly original, if somewhat self-defeating, defence that he fully expected a further drop in support while Bermudians ruminated on his revolutionary Social Agenda.

Say what?

Instead of re-invigorating the Premier, as most such heavily-promoted Government initiatives are expected to do, in this instance the Social Agenda ? freighted with crowd-pleasing spin, almost entirely bereft of specifics ? was actually expected to further erode his already ground-down public standing. At least that's the Premier's take on things. Clearly the man is unfamiliar with the sage political advice about keeping your mouth shut and being thought a fool rather than opening it and been known for one.

He is correct that Bermudians reacted hostilely to the "Social Agenda" but not for the reasons he cited. It wasn't its supposedly radical contents that so irritated Bermudians ? it was the almost total lack of content.

Social Agenda was nothing if not a PR exercise intended to buoy a sinking Premier, an initiative that still exists in name only while taxpayer-subsidised polls and focus groups determine the priorities it will address.

Politicians who lead from the rear were, of course, not entirely unknown in Bermuda before the ascension of Alex Scott. But the fact his Government is unable to itemise the public's priorities ? education, economic stability and public safety ? without having to go to the expense of hiring specialist outside public research and polling firms suggests an estrangement with the electorate it nominally serves on a scale that may be well-nigh irreparable. At least under the current leadership. While Bermudians have a high level of tolerance for political ineptitude ? one that's perhaps too high for their own good ? the Premier's much-ridiculed "Social Agenda" is nevertheless viewed as something of a nadir in public affairs, a Where's-the-Beef? moment that may prove to be a fatal self-inflicted wound.

After all, the Premier unveiled this slick-sounding programme as the centrepiece of his Government's Throne Speech and only began filling in the blank pages four months later ? after first asking the public what he should do. This patently bizarre undertaking suggests The Man is now as isolated from day-to-day realities as Donald Trump is from any concept of good hairstyling.

Given his steadily deteriorating poll numbers, the buzz in political circles is that The Man's obituary as Premier is already being written. It's certainly no secret that his enemies within the PLP view Alex Scott's surprising tenure as Premier as unfinished business. And the cold war within the ruling Progressive Labour Party could become tropically-hot again in a heartbeat if the anti-Scott bloc was assured of not only ousting him but installing their favourite son as his successor.

The coup that toppled Jennifer Smith in the aftermath of a close-run 2003 election victory did not end the schism between what could be called the traditionalist wing of the party and its relatively young Turks, led by Dr. Ewart Brown.

While the rebels succeeded in mortally wounding the ability of their to govern and obliged her to step down as Premier, they were stopped short of their ultimate goal ? the elevation of Dr. Brown ? because they lacked the manpower. The selection of Alex Scott as a compromise leader was, in fact, a major victory for the traditionalists in the short term. But given the long-term damage he is doing to the PLP's re-election prospects, any waverers in the Parliamentary caucus who backed Alex Scott against Dr. Brown must now be ruing their choice.

While probably always destined to be viewed as controversial in some quarters, Dr. Brown has emerged as perhaps the most forthright, energetic and creative of any members of the current Cabinet. He is a well respected public figure if not actually a well-loved one.

His public stock has until very recently remained high even if his ambition and intelligence are viewed with mistrust by some of his Parliamentary colleagues.

, there are some now suggesting the Premier profferred a poison chalice in the form of the Tourism Ministry to his rival in the hopes of sabotaging his aspirations. And Dr. Brown not only seized but drank deeply from the toxic cup.

Certainly some of the Tourism Minister's more endeavours ? underwriting a New York fashion show in return for a runway model sporting a pair of Bermuda shorts, mutterings about forging tourism links with China, attempts to resuscitate a Diaspora Trail that was interred with its initiator, David Allen - all smack of desperation. Or the completely delusional.

The Tourism Ministry blighted the reputations of the last two people to hold the portfolio. Dr. Brown should be careful that Tourism does not become the graveyard for his own hard-won credibility.

Dame Gossip, after all, is notoriously fickle when it comes to changing the targets of her lacerating tongue.