other than financial whiz Michael Bloomberg . The massive building site on a prime piece of waterfront property in Tuckers Town, the Island's enclave for the super-rich, belongs to Bloomberg. But the American billionaire appears to be one wealthy chap with a heart. Hester hears he was so worried about noisy equipment on the construction site for his huge new home upsetting his well-to-do neighbours that he ordered his local rep to have expensive bunches of red roses sent to not just the occupants of the surrounding homes but to everyone in Tuckers Town. Such Class! But geez, Hester thinks the least he could have done was extend the courtesy to the whole of Bermuda, after all it's only 60,000 people. Incidentally, Mr. Bloomberg appears to be a big fan of Feng Shui and she hears the trendy Chinese style of home design will be incorporated into his posh new local digs' -- just as it was at his Big Apple HQ for Bloomberg Financial, where waterfalls soothe workers and the boardroom has no door! Hester always finds it refreshing when a judge makes fun of himself, but a recent plea court comment by Magistrate Archibald Warner takes the cake.

Slapped with another parking ticket, Hester happened to get caught in a bail hearing for an alleged drug importer when Mr. Warner explained to the Crown counsel and defence lawyer Larry Scott what the proper procedure for holding a long form preliminary inquiry was. The ex-legal hotshot jumped on Mr. Scott for implying he intended to challenge the star witness during the LFPI. With a sardonic smile, Mr. Warner chided Mr. Scott: "A Preliminary Inquiry is not a test of the facts.. I used to do that myself, but that's not the law.'' Hester wonders if perhaps Mr. Warner, and the rest of the local legal fraternity, are learning these legal tricks from telly. It appears Hester's not the only one who enjoys the battery of legal dramas on the American networks. On more than one occasion she's overheard a number of the Island's top legal eagles quietly and excitedly discussing the latest episode of such top TV shows as Law and Order , The Practise , Ally McBeal , American Justice , and Burden of Proof . Some have even confessed to taping their favourite show if God forbid they've had to spend the evening preparing for their next case. With all this devotion to hideous American television, it's no wonder our esteemed British courtroom traditions are slowly going the way of the Empire. There's already talk of doing away with the gowns and scratchy wigs.

Hester wonders just how long it will be before lawyers are calling the Learned Judges "Ya Hanar'', like the general public, rather than, say, "Your Worship''.

It's often been said Bermuda doesn't make sense, but Hester found it most interesting to observe the motley crew who turned out to hear left-wing ex-politicians Michael Foot and Dudley Thompson . It was standing room only as Hester, who felt right at home with the rather mature crowd, was forced to squeeze her bottom into a space on an aisle to hear the political visionaries speak. Independence pitbulls Phil Perinchief and Rolfe Commissiong were in the crowd, and said to be shaking their heads over the fact the currently anti-Independence PLP brought in the two staunch Independence advocates. There was also the irony of Attorney General Dame Lois taking a front row seat to hear the left-of-left Foot make the point of how ridiculous titles are. Others spotted in the crowd were Labour Minister Paula Cox , ex-PLP candidate Rodney Smith , Sen. Milton Scott , and Bob Stewart .

But the most perplexing question of the night was why the Environment Ministry hosted and FOOTed the bill for the two leftists, who stayed at the posh Elbow Beach Hotel. Does it signal a fracture in the increasingly close-to-the-right PLP? The official reason from Environment Minister and supposed `leader in waiting' Arthur Hodgson though, is simply that the talk's theme was political change and its impact on developing countries and their environment (although most of the talk was on politics in the end). He also makes no secret of the fact that the three have in common the fact that they were each Rhodes scholars at Oxford and he sees Foot, who lead the UK Labour Party in the early 80s, and Thompson, a lawyer and former Jamaican government minister, as "illustrious visionaries''. For the record Hester considers herself left of right and right of left. But she was particularly interested in Mr. Thompson's comment that Independent countries tend to have three courses upon which to embark: "dictating the affairs from a strong central government'', "putting black people where white people used to be'', or, the "best course'', "to have a vision of who we would want to call a good Bermudian at the end of the day''. Now does that make too much sense for Bermuda? It's the much-anticipated Budget Day next Friday and Hester's got her ear to the ground for snippets of any shockers, such as a rumoured duty hike on cars, which she actually thinks wouldn't be a bad thing at all. But one thing she hears a lot of buzz about is that there's good news for all those folk who whined about being put on the Government historic properties list -- they felt it would lessen the value of their homes because they had to undertake special upkeep. Apparently a chunk of money's now being set aside to help the moaners maintain their historic properties. Hester wonders if this will prove the impetus for a certain high-ranking civil servant to spiff up his uncomely looking home in the midst of Hester's beloved Old Town of St. George's.

Not to harp on about the Dockyard Millennium Fiasco, but could it possibly be true that Wedco spent several thousand dollars on hiring a video technician to film the New Year's concert and festivites, only to later be handed a completely blank tape due to, er, technical difficulties? That must really be the icing on the cake.

Footsie? Visiting political visionaries Briton Michael Foot and Jamaican Dudley Thompson.