The "New UBP" is winning some converts, judging from the response from some audience members at yesterday's campaign rally. But others are holding tightly to their cynicism about politics in general and the party's efforts to redefine itself.

Dub poet Ras Mykkal told The Royal Gazette minutes before the rally started that he had come with an open mind. He declared himself fairly disappointed with the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) saying that Bermuda needed a change.

"We thought we would have got it under the PLP Government and it never happened... It needs to change by peaceful means, if not it's going to get ugly. There are a lot of fed up people...Local residents are not respected as the people who developed this country."

He said that he had been approached by the UBP and the National Liberal Party (NLP) as a prospective candidate but was staying non-political for the time being, and would not support the PLP unless Jennifer Smith was removed as leader.

But giving his support to the UBP was dependent on whether they were able to demonstrate that they "are serious about changing the direction that Bermuda has been going for the last 40 years. We changed the Government but we didn't change the system. We need to change the system".

Immediately after Grant Gibbons' speech, Ras Mykkal was still firmly perched on the fence. He criticised the speech for making no mention of "social and cultural change" and said the death tax on property needed to be abolished, not just reduced.

"Like all politics it's promises. We are just waiting to find out who delivers. Whoever runs the country for the next five years has to deliver on whatever it is that they promise," he said.

"A lot remains to be seen," agreed another man. "This sits against the backdrop of 30 years in Government and when you look at the things that were presented, all of them are good - Freedom of Information Act, etc. But what happened to those things when they were in power. Why wasn't it done before ?"

"The UBP was, like with all things political, asking people to take a leap of faith," he said. "But with a former Government the difficulty is that you have a track record... I saw a lot of potatoes but I'm still looking for the meat."

Former Bermuda Sun editor Tom Vesey, said that the UBP should be given another chance. "If it wasn't done 30 years ago that doesn't mean it cannot be done now... There's a reason that Governments get kicked out of office and that's so they get some sense knocked into them and if a group won't change after losing an election, they are stupid, really really stupid. So.. you still have an obligation to be sceptical about their promises but I was very encouraged by some of the promises I heard."

Robin Swan, a 22 year old trainee accountant, who was handing out UBP flyers at the end of the speech said she was still debating who she was going to vote for. Dr. Gibbons had touched on some salient points that she could agree with. "My only concern is I am tired of talking. I want action," she said.

Dr. Gibbons acknowledged that there was a fair amount of cynicism in the community. He blamed it in part on the PLP, but said: "One of the nice things, and I highly recommend it to the PLP, is that four years in Opposition gives you a chance to sit back and think and examine what you have done before. Clearly the United Bermuda Party in the past has made some mistakes... But we are now in a very different era. We are not in 1998 anymore and the world has moved forward and we need some different solutions and new people."

For Pat Ferguson the presentation was "fabulous", believable and right up her alley. She had left the UBP twice in the past because she couldn't "put up with what was going on then". The PLP Government kept too many secrets and made too many excuses for its shortcomings, she said.

"Like a lot of people I swung over and I'm sorry I did. But I'm back, I'm back with a vengeance."

Asked why she was so convinced that the UBP would deliver on its promises if elected, she said it amounted to a "gut feeling". Besides, she said, the party cannot afford to be re-elected and then lose again. "So they have to perform well. They have to stand by their promises. Actually, it's what the country deserves. This is not playhouse, you're running a country, this is serious business. And the PLP has made it a party."