The row over Government polling people on what they think of the performance of Alex Scott is just the latest in a growing list of examples of the erosion of Government integrity and ethics.

That the list keeps growing is bad enough; what's worse is that there is never any acknowledgement that there is anything wrong with this behaviour, let alone an apology.

None of these scandals are on the scale of Watergate or Iran-Contra. None, to the public;'s knowledge involve illegality (the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of Police told us so in the case of the Bermuda Housing Corporation).

But most of them, at the very least make you want to hold your nose and avert your eyes, which of course is exactly the wrong thing to do. Instead, the correct response is to shout from the rooftops that this is wrong and must stop.

Bermudians are often said to have long memories, and they do. It's partly the product of living in a small country, and partly the community's obsession with politics.

But we are not always as good at stringing together the accumulation of mistakes and errors. Perhaps because of our natural politeness, we adopt a resigned air instead.

But to refresh memories, since the Progressive Labour Party took power, these are some of the dubious acts that have taken place: Health Minister Patricia Minors' calls to the Bermuda Housing Corporation on behalf of her father, the purchase of Cabinet Ministers' properties by the BHC, the rewriting of the lease for the Stonington Beach Hotel after it had been granted to hotelier John Jefferis, the refusal by Government to produce proof that Pro-Active Management Systems had paid a performance bond for the secondary school project, the failure of Government to reprimand the BIU Credit Union for loaning $3 million to the same subsidiary in breach of its regulations and the lack of Government action against former PLP backbencher Arthur Pitcher over the illegal and unsafe removal of asbestos from homes at Southside.

The list does not end there, but it is enough to show a pattern of arrogance and a carelessness about public integrity that should worry every member of the community.

What's worse, the response to criticisms is invariably the same. If the acts are deemed not to be illegal, then that is taken as a vindication.

If the criticism continues, then someone, somewhere, is going to claim that the former United Bermuda Party Government did the same things.

Whether that is true or not, two wrongs do not make a right. And back in 1998, this Government was elected on promises of transparency and accountability; promises that have been mainly honoured in the breach.

Today, all one can conclude is that there has been little change. The hopes and optimism of 1998 have been dashed and the only difference between what was perceived as the old Bermuda and the new Bermuda are the faces.

Yet it would be wrong to give up hope. In the current research row, an admission that Government made a mistake in asking people about Premier Alex Scott's performance and the performance of the PLP would go a long way to restoring public faith. It will be interesting to see if it comes.