Mrs. Mussenden, the Trinidadian-born wife of

Yes, but first of all, I want to thank you for the invitation. I was very surprised that the would have any interest in my views, and I am pleased to have the chance to share some thoughts from my own perspective.

I am a Trinidadian citizen, married to a Bermudian. I met my husband Francis Mussenden at Harvard Business School in 1998, and we were married three years later, and then I came to Bermuda.

It is quite a big jump, but my then-employer in Trinidad, the Tourism and Industrial Development Company, sent me to an executive programme at Harvard. It a long journey from my birth to that Harvard experience.

I was born around the time of Trinidad and Tobago's independence in 1962, and I consider myself a product of that, so I have had experiences which I can attest to, which perhaps many Bermudians are not aware of, and I wanted to share these experiences.

I was born, fortunately, in an environment and in a country which was ready for self-government, and as to my own background, my parents were educators, one of whom is still working, the principal of a secondary school.

My siblings are professionals, one a product of Harvard Law School, now with Air France, and the other a surgeon practising in Trinidad. I have a very varied background, and even at primary, an all-girl Protestant school, we were fortunate to have the influence of teachers from around the world: India, Africa, Europe, Latin America and so forth.

: Well, I have benefited because my background is varied. I am a mixture of many different races, predominantly African but with all of the other races folded in to produce what you see today. It's certainly not a mono-culture, and is very diverse in its cultural views, although I do believe the people share a vision, which I think is very important to the country moving forward.

That process is necessary for any country to get to where it wants to go, and of course that necessitates discussion, and that's ongoing, because we are a society in the making, there are no pretences about that. But the diversity of views, and the extraordinary amount of discussion and communication among everyone creates a very fertile and stimulating environment for progress.

Yes, I left in my late teenage years and went to Canada, where I spent a number of years in school. I attended Concordia University in Montreal, did a programme at McGill, and went on to do a Master of Arts at York University in Toronto. I had done Fine Arts in Montreal, but decided that it couldn't help me, (laughs) if I did not have real talent.

Absolutely. I thought that the exposure to that in Montreal did wonders for where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do at that time, and again, I thought the Canadian environment was very stimulating, was very receptive, and that's why I decided to go on to York and pursue a degree in inter-disciplinary studies: law, political economy, culture and communications ? a political and economic programme based on history and heritage. That's what really introduced me to the world of politics, to political aspirations. Well, after that, I decided so much for the theoretical and intellectual aspect of my studies, that was not going to get me into the business world, because it was too 'pure', so I went back to Montreal, to Concordia, and did a programme there on commerce and administration.

Yes, I began to understand that self-sufficiency was a requirement! I am no longer a teenager here, and I had decided I could try and mix business with some of my natural talents. Then I 'set sail' back to Trinidad in 1984, and only two months later I was ensconced in a position in Antigua, working with LIAT (Leeward Islands Air Transport), a regional airline, doing marketing and public relations.

I spent almost nine years with LIAT, and it was an interesting experience, because my job involved liaison with the 11 Caribbean governments who were then LIAT shareholders, and that formally introduced me to the world of politics.

No, as a matter of fact, it excited me, and it helped me develop certain skills that were required to negotiate between very different, very demanding and very competitive entities.

But after nine years, conditions conspired to convince me that it was time to move on. There was a new CEO, and LIAT was being directed differently, and discussions on privatisation had gone on for two or three years, with which I was quite involved, and another position came up in Trinidad, with a new entity called the Tourism and Industrial Development Company.

Well, yes, a national company and statutory body which was the product of an amalgamation of three different state enterprises. Its objective was to market Trinidad and Tobago, to create a 'new brand' for the country.

We had always depended on the oil and gas sector for our foreign exchange earnings, and it was felt that we had sufficient resources in terms of beauty and natural assets, that the tourism product could be developed.

Yes, it was an executive education programme, with an emphasis on marketing. The company felt that this short Harvard course would be suitable for me. Well, yes, but actually I first came here on a business trip in 1989 for two weeks when I was based in Antigua with LIAT, looking at the possibility of opening up new routes. I put the onus on the PLP Government to carry Independence forward. Having said that, as a foreigner living in Bermuda, I have seen very little evidence that the topic of Independence has consumed the average man or woman on the street.

I feel no excitement about the topic from people that I meet, that this is some all-consuming passion, or that people are sufficiently aware of all of the issues that should be discussed concerning Independence. And I am on the street, I take the buses, I love to explore the roads and parks.

Yes, I do, because I believe that I am politically aware, and have been for a number of years, and I think that's natural, but I find that people are just not interested, perhaps because they feel they have nothing to contribute.

I don't get the impression that there has been wide reading on the topic; I am not seeing the Bermuda College professors come out and make sense of the issue, so where one would expect the 'shining examples' to make sense of the issue, to contribute to the debate, we aren't seeing it.

This would be my expectation, certainly, because in the Caribbean, the faculty of the tertiary institutions do make a contribution to political debate, budget debates, political campaigns, and they write Letters to the Editor if they don't think their voices are heard clearly enough. They make contributions to NGOs, and they will sit on some boards of indigenous corporate businesses. So their voices are heard, their profiles are known, and that's appropriate. Firstly, I would not go so far as to say that there is an intellectual elite that drives Caribbean politics, or not within parliaments. But there is a professional and political elite that is usually separate and apart from government itself that drives intellectual thought.

That number may be smaller here, but there is a considerable duty for intellectuals, wherever they may be in Bermuda, to rise to the occasion and speak out on these issues, and to encourage others to do so.

I think there is a political will to advance the issue, but how it is orchestrated, the avenues and processes, has not been dealt with. I think Bermuda is too small a place not to have the leadership bring everyone in on the debate. I don't know. I do sense that the will is there, but that will seems to be dissipating in light of the opposition to Independence, but any leadership has to have vision, even to move in unpopular directions at times, but there must be a plan in place, or you cannot hope to persuade anyone to come along with you. I would put it another way. I do believe that many Bermudians are intellectually lazy, and this laziness can be easily explained by the enjoyment of the high standard of living that currently exists, and which, to my mind, will not exist at some point in the future. Some global happening or events will conspire to lead Bermuda to reassess its position. I think Bermuda is enjoying its best days, and it needs to be cognisant of what it wants to be, and where it wants to go, because this current prosperity is not going to last, not in the way that Bermuda has enjoyed over the years. Yes, it has to do with exposure. I don't know, but when you look at trends, at cycles in the histories of countries or territories, of economies, you understand that Bermuda may be in a precarious situation at the moment. If you only focus on how well things are today, it creates a false sense of security, which is dangerous, particularly if you are not generating your own wealth. Well, there is a price to be paid for the standard of living that you have, and that is perhaps to the detriment of your cultural identity. You are either submissive and conditioned to respond to the dictates of an external economy, and that will be your heritage, or you are innovative, and you ask if certain things can be depended on, and whether it might be better in the long run to depend on your own resources, the abilities of this population of 64,000 which are largely untapped.

There needs to be creativity brought to bear on defining your aspirations, on where you want to go, and then having the confidence to do it. Of course, you cannot do it entirely alone, you must do it in partnership with some other entities, or organisations, or countries, but Bermuda must begin to reassess where she wants to go.

One person cannot give this answer. The people of Bermuda have to decide, collectively, through information and research, perhaps over years, how they can carry their country forward. There has to be an intellectual centre in this, or Bermuda can just sit back and let the multinationals carry on.

If the people of Bermuda want an economy where the wealth is essentially created outside of their country, and not created by Bermudians, then so be it, but if they want to go another route, they better think about it now, because it is going to take years of evolution to arrive at the point where there is confidence in going in another direction.

There is a huge natural asset in the people, so let us identify our intellectual centres, and let's come up with a working model for governance, for taking the island forward.

Ninety-nine per cent of the response is that it's something that we can't do. Change agents would find it very difficult to convince Bermudians, who have a high standard of living, to change what produces that high standard of living because you think it is going to crash one day.

If you are flying to New York four or five times a year for shopping, and buying Louis Vuitton bags and the whole thing, you are going to say, 'I don't want to hear this nonsense'!

I don't think it's the politicians' purpose, or sole responsibility, to stimulate intellectual thought. The people who come along and provide the impetus for moving forward are not always part of the political scenario, but it is fair to ask, where are the intellectuals, where are the critical thinkers, where are they?

If there is an absence of critical thinking in Bermuda, then one has to be extremely cautious about moving forward. The concept of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' is pervasive here, but the danger again is of being entirely under the control of outside forces, and things breaking up, and producing serious unemployment and under-employment.

The question of Independence is partly a matter of deciding what relationships you want to renegotiate with anyone else around the world. There are so many ways to look at it: you have relationships like the Netherlands has with Cura?ao, and Martinique has with France. The question has to be addressed in a way that gets people reading. I don't see Bermudians reading! (laughs)

: Well, I do read about four hours a day, but I also love conversation. Because I think of myself as being on a continuous path of learning, I am always excited by conversations I have with anybody who is willing to exchange ideas. I enjoy conversations with people who have something to say, who have a distinct point of view.

I have also developed some significant gardening skills, so I am spending a lot of time in my garden in Somerset with my roses! I have also discovered the world of golf, and I have had some lessons.

I like to play golf, and I play with my husband, but he is too good for me, a serious golfer, so I am always looking for people who are beginners, and who play at my level. So my final question would be: 'Anyone for golf'?!