While party opponents accused Ewart Brown of having little new to offer in his platform last year, his Premiership has seen some significant policy shifts.

And perhaps most tellingly, increased moves to tackle some of the core issues facing Bermuda.

His first Cabinet saw Dale Butler appointed to the newly-formed Ministry of Social Rehabilitation, set up to tackle issues of child care, foster care, health care and social assistance.

The Mirrors programme to get wayward youths back on track before it is too late was also set up.

But perhaps the largest change has been the admission of failure with public education which sparked a review by overseas experts and a promise to make radical change — whatever the vested interests tried to put in its way.

Supporter Arthur Hodgson has been delighted education is finally being addressed and said Dr. Brown understood the need to get things done while the initial PLP administrations were too cautious.

"But it's hard to fault anybody for being too cautious," he said. "In education and health, he has hit the nail on the head in terms of identifying the problems.

"Decentralising health is certainly a move in the right direction. I am a little bit more reserved with education.

"I hope he will have the courage to dismantle and abort the whole middle school system and go straight to a system that we know works."

Mr. Hodgson said the PLP had long advocated community schools all through a child's education.

"In pure cognitive knowledge alone, a child loses six months every time he changes schools," he said.

"We wasted two generations in education."

And Mr. Hodgson said Dr. Brown had an understanding of the black male problem and appreciated the need to develop sport.

Liberal commentator Tom Vesey said of Dr. Brown's approach: "You have to give him some credit for pointing to some of the core issues, and being frank about them, especially education.

"But it remains to be seen what will be accomplished.

"It is still early to say how much will be translated into fundamental changes.

"The Ministry of Social Rehabilitation? It is unclear to me of how much of that is just reshuffling — putting a new title on a collection of Government services."

And, for all the talk of affordable housing, little had been done — although he acknowledged Dr. Brown had only been there for a year.

Former independent MP Stuart Hayward said there was a lot of hype about Dr. Brown's achievements — successes such as the fast ferries were sometimes more ad hoc than planned and were trumpeted but failures such as the GPS in taxis were quickly forgotten about.

And Mr. Hayward said the PLP had for years been in denial about the state of public education, despite campaigning for years on the issue.

"The move itself is at snail's pace relative to the quickness by which Dr. Brown has attempted to move his other agendas — whether it is assembling a press team or bodyguards or pushing forward his tourism agenda," he said.