Last week' stories about Bermuda being the top place for single women to find "Mr. Wonderful" was never anything more than a bit of fun and something that might raise a smile when most news is, almost be definition, depressing.

The accuracy of such lists is always questionable. First, you have to find places where men outnumber women. Then you look at the wealth of the city or country, and third, look at the other amenities of the place, like weather, beaches and the like.

Such an approach rapidly knocks out some places ? Nome, Alaska, and the Shetlands, for example. After that, you might as well throw darts at a map.

Anyway, Bermuda came first in a UK Daily Express list of places to find Mr. Wonderful last week and the response has been fairly predictable.

Some women note that such lists are demeaning since they come to Bermuda not to find a man but to pursue a career. Other women have noted the general worthlessness of men, whether in Bermuda or not.

Equally predictably, the story and its follow-up were the best read stories on website over the weekend.

Humanity's search for a good man ? or a good woman ? is eternal and of never-ending interest, no matter how high-minded we want to be. Nonetheless, the reaction from Bermudian men, who apparently don't have the same appeal as their expatriate colleagues, was also interesting.

It would be easy to dismiss it as part and parcel of the same griping that has gone on between Bermudians and expatriates for decades, much as Britons resented the influx of American servicemen in the Second World War: "Overpaid, oversexed and over here."

But among the gripes about housing allowances and the like is the growing sense that Bermudians are losing control of their own destiny.

As one writer said, Bermudians need not waste time arguing about political Independence, because the Island lost its economic independence years ago. More broadly, sustainable development, as has been discussed here before, collides with the need for growth.

With ten or 11 new insurers coming here, one wonders how the Island will find more room on the roads, houses, school places and the like for the latest influx.

It's a valid question, and one wonders just what the Government is doing to balance the two. Of course, Bermuda has never been economically independent. The salt trade in the 18th Century and the growth of agricultural exports in the 19th Century were always dependent on overseas markets and the goodwill of trading partners.

Indeed, the death of agriculture in Bermuda occurred because of US trade legislation, and was not caused by Bermuda itself. What is worrying for Bermuda today is not so much the extent of growth and sustainable development, but the extent to which Bermuda is dependent on a "single crop" ? insurance.

The Island has largely missed the boat on other areas of growth (hedge funds being the classic example). The danger now is that changes in the regulation of insurance, or a profound downturn in the industry could have severe ramifications for the Island ? and the departure of all those Mr. Wonderfuls.