Always having had an eye for a man of independent mind - and means - Hester soaked up the words of dickie-bowed backbencher Dale Butler in his exclusive interview with The SunShine last Wednesday.

For those of you who missed it, the fishcake connoisseur spoke to the Press after voting against his Government colleagues on the Opposition UBP's motion to amend the double jeopardy rule.

Will the maverick MP be able to maintain his stoic stance against Madame Premier and the majority of Cabinet in the future? Well Hester can exclusively reveal that Dale was true to his word when he told The Sun's hack: “I am not prepared to follow the rules blindly every single time. You are expected to follow blindly because you are part of a team - whether or not you disagree with the coach.”

Taking a trip up to to the House on the Hill last Friday, two days after the tabloid interview, your columnist spotted the well-read Warwick MP slouched behind a mountain of Parliamentary papers, constituency correspondence and legal literature.

And the self-help book sitting atop his pile of documents? A well-thumbed tome entitled ‘Keys To Dealing with Bullies'.

Is the former school principal just brushing up on playground etiquette or preparing for a major showdown with his boss? You read it here first.

A footnote to the Opposition's so-called double jeopardy motion, which, had it passed, would have allowed those acquitted of criminal charges to be tried for a second time on the same charge.

Government backbencher and Bermuda Police Service veteran Wayne Perinchief chose to abstain from the vote. Why? Hester has two theories.

i) The former senior cop - who is never normally reticent when it comes to discussing matters of crime in the House - has no view either way on this important legal issue.

ii) The Pembroke West Central representative totally disagreed with his party's position on the matter but didn't have the guts to say so.

Hester suggests ‘The Chief' should pop over to The Phoenix Store and grab a copy of ‘Keys To Dealing with Bullies' before it is sold out.

And still with politics. It seems my fellow Gazette columnist and political ‘scientist' Rolfe Commissiong is in possession of either a crystal ball or the Premier's more intimate travel plans.

Interviewed at the weekend on Government's behind-closed-doors 9/9 split leadership vote, Mr. Commissiong said of Ms Smith's future: “It is very analogous to what happened to Maggie Thatcher.”

Students of history will recall that Britain's Mrs. T decided to pop across to Europe just as her own crucial leadership ballot was cast back home in Westminster - a decision that many political ‘scientists' claimed resulted in The Iron Lady's downfall.

Our own leader is currently in the Bahamas having left the Island just after her own close call. Does Rolfe knows something the rest of us don't?

Word reaches Hester that the UK's top judge, in keeping with Prime Minister Tony Blair's “man of the people” appeal, is trying to make the bench more user-friendly.

Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine of Lairg has sent out a memo instructing justices of the peace not to use the suffix ‘JP' to “impress or influence” people.

Obviously the directive doesn't extend to the Kingdom's overseas territories. Hester recently caught sight of a pamphlet printed for a US insurance shindig held on the Island last month.

Among the potted biographies of Bermuda's rich, famous and important people contained in the glossy blurb was this profile of ‘the people's' Premier:

“The Hon Jennifer M. Smith, DHumL, JP, MP, Premier of Bermuda, is the first elected female Premier of Bermuda, the first leader of a Bermuda Progressive Labour Party Government, and the first Progressive Labour Party Minister of Education. Ms Smith achieved these firsts following the Progressive Labour Party's general election victory on Monday 9th November 1998 when the electorate of Bermuda overwhelmingly voted for Bermuda's first change of Government. Her background, both by training and experience, is business, the arts, journalism, and a wide spectrum of cultural and community projects.

Ms Smith is a graduate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government's Programme for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.”

Perhaps those wags at Government Information Services should takes those plums out of their mouths.

Still with GIS, the voice of Government issued a Press release this week cautioning residents “on the impact of their reckless use of the Island's fresh water”.

The release continued: “The prolonged dry spell, with very little prospect of imminent rain, merits getting an immediate buy-in from the public to be more responsible with the water they have.”

As one who receives mail by the cartload, Hester has always been appreciative of our Island's hard-working postal workers.

But she has to admit she never knew the job of delivering letters was so dangerous. After moving house recently, Hester filled out a redirection of mail form supplied by the boys from the BPO. Along with giving details of new and old addresses, those on the move are are asked the following.

“To ensure the Health and Safety of the Post Office Personnel. Please notify the Post Office if you have:

Mail Box.

No Mail Box.

Dog.

No Dog.

Geese.

No Geese.

Hester can reveal that Hollywood glamour couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are expecting a new addition to their family. The pair were given a Welsh pony at a recent charity knees-up in - Wales surprisingly - where the much younger half of the duo hails from.

By all accounts our Cath is planning to ship the shaggy grey pony - named Highland Jinks - to their home here in Warwick.

Hester just hopes that those chaps at Stevedorring Services aren't planning another summer of sit-ins just as the poor beast is dropped off in a container at the dock.