This time he got it right.

The quick action by Premier Alex Scott and his wife to ensure that their 82-year-old tenant would be re-housed after this newspaper revealed that she was living in horrendous conditions should be praised.

How nice it would have been if Mr. Scott could have acted as quickly and fairly on the Tony Brannon e-mail controversy.

In fairness to Mr. Scott, the situation with his tenant was not entirely clear cut.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott were not the owners of the property, but acted as agents on behalf of Mr. Scott?s brother.

And there did appear to be at least a verbal understanding that the tenant would maintain the property, at least in part to ensure that she would keep the rent of $300 per month, which is remarkably low by Bermuda?s standards.

Those are mitigating factors for what is otherwise a disgraceful situation, particularly for a Premier who has out the Social Agenda and housing at the top of his Government?s list of priorities.

The fact that, as agents, Mr. and Mrs. Scott had not stepped foot in the building in recent years is worrying. Even so, they must have been aware of its dreadful state. You would only have to drive by to know that there were windows missing and that the house was falling apart.

Then too, one would expect an agent to be aware that the house only had a toilet and sink and no other means of bathing. All of this, in the New Bermuda, in 2005.

And surely the Scotts must have been aware that an 82-year-old woman?s ability to maintain the home was limited, even if they were not aware that she was subsisting on a pension of less than $600 a month.

It?s a pitiful story. One can only imagine what Alex Scott would have made of it in his Opposition days if, for example, a United Bermuda Party Premier had been exposed in the same way.

But the good news, in this case, is that Mr. Scott is doing the right thing now. It would be nice to assume that he is doing it out of the goodness of his heart and out of a deep sense of remorse, or perhaps even guilt.

But it?s okay if he is doing it because his political radar is still sufficiently attuned to see political disaster written all over this episode.

The bottom line is that he is doing the right thing, even if he didn?t over the thousands who signed the Referendum petition and over the Tony Brannon e-mail controversy. Give him a little credit. Maybe he is learning.