intends to manage the Country in the next year.

In the past, the Government has used a theme, such as the youth, or a philosophy -- such as its five pillars of Government -- and worked it through the speech. This year, the Government takes a nose to the grindstone approach and simply outlines what it plans to do, with many of its plans drawn from the pre-General Election Blueprint, and how it intends to do it.

That does not mean the United Bermuda Party is doggedly attempting to fulfill every promise in the Blueprint without allowing for changing circumstances.

That would be the equivalent of governing in a vacuum, and Government, particularly with its increased emphasis on crime, is showing that it is prepared to adapt.

Overall, the UBP has set an ambitious and challenging agenda for the year and it will have to work hard to do everything it has set out to achieve.

Increasing support for the Police and drug interdiction should help to reduce crime -- but it will only work if Government carries through with its promise to increase support for programmes aimed at reducing drug dependency.

Similarly, efforts to improve race relations and should go some way to reducing crime if frustrations with a perceived lack of opportunity in mainstream society are driving people -- and particularly the young -- outside the law.

One of the new initiatives in the speech, placing released prisoners in the Government works programme for six months after release, should go some way to cutting repeat offences, as long as other support programmes are also in place.

There are a number of bills and discussion papers which are almost certain to be controversial. The long-awaited Education Act and the legislation dealing with race relations, as well as policy and discussion papers on competitiveness, employment, the age of majority, the code of ethics for the workplace and the position on women will all face heavy scrutiny and debate and will be a test of the Government's ability to win debates.

The speech also deals with the takeover of the Bases which, in a fit of understatement, is described as "one of the more challenging'' opportunities facing Bermuda this year. This is a huge task, and will be a test of the Government's management ability.

There is one other issue which could break the Government and that is Independence.

The Speech promises a Green Paper on the issue will come forward this session and also promises to bring back the Referendum bill which failed in the last session of the House.

The Premier must ensure that he has sufficient support for it now, because his Government cannot afford anther embarrassing defeat on this issue. A defeat could split the United Bermuda Party, and that would mean that all the other plans the Government has for the next year would come to naught.