It has been said that "the only bad publicity is no publicity", and that is about the only measure by which Premier Dr. Ewart Brown could be said to have had a good day on Friday. All three of the Island's newspapers published stories that were critical of the Premier. This newspaper quoted statements from former Attorney General Philip Perinchief that essentially said it was time for Dr. Brown to go.

No one would dispute that Mr. Perinchief has an axe to grind. A former ally of Dr. Brown who supported him in his successful leadership bid against Alex Scott, he was unceremoniously dumped after last year's election in which he failed to hold former Minister Renee Webb's St. George's South seat.

But leaving aside Mr. Perinchief's likely sour grapes, two things are clear from his comments. One is that he again proves a statement made by Ms Webb that Dr. Brown uses people and then kicks them to the kerb.

The second, and more important one, is Mr. Perinchief's criticisms of Dr. Brown's leadership style, which he says is increasingly out of touch with ordinary Bermudians, and, in Mr. Perinchief's view, his failure to help working class Bermudians in everything from affordable housing to health care.

The Mid-Ocean News' report on the administration of the Ministry of Tourism gives support to the notion that the Premier's management style is high-handed and that civil servants are bullied into carrying out the Premier's whims while consultants are hand- picked to carry out his wishes, while ignoring senior civil servants.

The latter point is important, because the last few years have seen an explosion in the number of consultants, who may now be costing the taxpayer $15 million a year, according to Opposition estimates.

Consultants are accountable to no one except the Cabinet, and are not restricted by the normal Immigration or Public Service Commission rules on appointment or behaviour.

Now, according to the Department of Tourism insider quoted by the Mid-Ocean News, they are often not the best qualified applicants either.

Finally, the Bermuda Sun quoted from e-mail correspondence that put the lie to the claim made by his Press Secretary previously that charities given free trips to Bermuda to offer as prizes at charity events were vetted and selected by the Department of Tourism's North American sales office in New York City.

What seems to be clear from the e-mails between the Premier and that office is that Dr. Brown selected at least two of the charities — one run by his son, Dr. Kevin Brown and the other by a friends of his wife's — and the office carried out his wishes.

Not only is that bad policy, it is a direct contradiction of what was said to have happened.

It is impossible to know what the next few weeks will bring. But it should be clear that Dr. Brown is alienating supporters at a rapid rate.

The attempt to bully Speaker Stanley Lowe over Parliamentary questions, the refusal to answer questions over Coco Reef, the arbitrary decision to allow gambling on cruise ships in port, claims that decisions by Cabinet are being overridden, all lead to the conclusion that Dr. Brown has moved to a position where he believes he is accountable to no one.