BERMUDA continues to tentatively talk about ? or talk around, if you prefer ? the issue of Independence. Recently even two of Bermuda's most popular comedians saw fit to turn the issue into the basis of a semi-serious routine in a interview.

Jah Simmons and Nadanja Bailey are better known by their stage name ? The Two Fools ? a soubriquet they chose for themselves, I hasten to add, not one that I would apply to them. Their comments, although supposedly spoken in jest, put the focus on the real state of any discussion on the question of Independence for Bermuda.

Bermuda's continuing colonial tie with Britain is, in many ways for many people, likened to the attachment of a child to a security blanket. Having had experiences with two of my own children concerning their attachment to security blankets, I know that for the most part it is very difficult to break such states of dependence ? even when you logically point out that the objects of attachment have long ceased to serve any practical purpose.

Just look at the stock reason most people advance as to why Bermuda could not survive as an Independent country: "Why do we need Independence? What for? We don't have anything that is ours; we don't have anything that generates income."

Of course, this is a direct quotation from the interview and it highlights the reality that Bermuda's economy is based almost entirely on overseas businesses operating here; that we do not have a local economy that exists in its own right but only as a subsidiary of the off-shore financial services industry.

This point of view suggests that many Bermudians don't understand the true nature of Bermuda's economy and its workings. Bermuda's economy is a service economy; we don't manufacture any consumer goods such as cars or computers or even tooth brushes. But we do sell services and this is reflected in both international business and the tourist industry (which still exists despite its major downturn in recent year).

What we have done is seemingly created an economy out of nothing, but we are not unique in this regard. Take a country like India. Even though it is a manufacturing country in its own right and boasts mining and agricultural sectors, since the advent of computers and because of favourable international exchange rates India has developed a whole new industry in which Indian technicians and analysts process data fed to their country from America, Canada and Europe.

This is what you would call a niche industry which provides plentiful employment and income although it is far from being the main economic engine that generates wealth in India. It can almost be said that due to the increasing interdependence of international economies, India has created a new market for itself out of nothing which depends on the computer skills of its Indian workers.

There are other examples around the world where similar enterprises have been launched but the difference between them and us is that we don't give ourselves the credit for creating a hospitable environment for international business and tourism.

If we came to understand this, then we would never again look at ourselves as hopelessly drifting, being the pawns of the economic whims of others. We would at least give ourselves the credit ? and, more importantly, place value on ? what we do in this country in terms of creating and maintaining a solid economic infrastructure.

It is interesting that we never question what would happen if Bermuda's economy were to suffer a collapse and we were not able to enjoy the standard of living we enjoy at present. Would Britain then be obligated to step in and take measures to restore that economy and give us back the standard of living that we have grown so accustomed too?

I will let the reader answer that question. But the fact is that Britain, even during World War Two when the tourism economy collapsed, has never offered Bermuda financial aid. And also consider this ? I am a blue collar worker; for all the employment opportunities that are supposed to exist in Britain and in Europe for Bermudians because of their ongoing links with Britain, what are the prospects for meaningful employment among those of us whose skills fall somewhat below the white collar level?

In any event, the unspoken corollary to a possible economic collapse upon Bermuda going Independent is the argument that the island would descend into social chaos (as if this has happened in all of the other former colonies that have gone to Independence).

The act of declaring your country Independent is not akin to unlocking and opening some sort of social Pandora's box out of which will fly all manner of evils that will doom the island. No, the fate of a country is often hidden in its historic genes, so to speak.

And Bermuda boasts very good genes in this regard. There is absolutely no need for Bermuda to embark on the path of conflict and criminality if it has enlightened leadership. Take the case of South Africa after apartheid. It was assumed that country would descend into bloody racial violence because of the previous situation there. But such has not been the case, although the country does remain very much still a work in progress.

brings us to the importance of national pride and the role it plays in maintaining one's country. We want all the things that go with a national identity and the responsibility one owes to one's country but we constantly downplay the steps we must take to cement that loyalty. There are times when we are brought face to face with the consequences of this lack of a national identity.

For although the subject matter would have been appropriate for the 'Well I Never Column', when the wrong national anthem was played at a recent international football match I was stunned by the number of Bermudians who stood to attention when the American anthem was played. This surely reveals our level of confusion in these matters.