Independence activists who bemoaned the lack of passion for the issue at this week's Bermuda Industrial Union should listen more carefully to the "youngest" member of the panel, Chris Smith.

Mr. Smith, the moderator, who is in his late 30s, said most of his contemporaries were more concerned with issues like housing and youth violence and crime than with Independence.

Unless and until - and the betting here is that it cannot be done - it can be shown that Independence will make people materially better off and do something to solve those problems, along with others like education, health care, then it is unlikely that Independence will gain any traction - and rightly so.