article published in an English magazine.

And the controversial seven page story in the Daily Telegraph Magazine states that Sir David Gibbons, chairman of the Bank of Butterfield, is the most powerful man on the Island.

It also states that independence is a dirty word in certain parts of Bermuda.

Appearing as part of the quality Daily Telegraph on Saturday, the magazine article was written by Mr. Nicholas Shakespeare, a freelance writer who did his research during a visit in November.

Mr. Shakespeare's article is headlined "Hanging On -- The cushiest posting in paradise -- or the most dangerous address in the world? Lord Waddington, Bermuda's new Governor, is only now finding out.'' A distant relation of William Shakespeare, the journalist gives the impression that the Governor's role is one of dressing up and making few decisions.

He makes numerous references to the death of Sir Richard Sharples, the subsequent hanging of the men convicted of his murder and Lord Waddington's well publicised support of the death penalty.

He writes: "Waddington's political views are anything but dull. If he is remembered by the man in the street, it is for the wish he pronounced to flog students who had pelted him with eggs, and for his robust appreciation of the death penalty.'' But later on Mr. Shakespeare says: "Something extraordinary has happened to Lord Waddington in the few months he has been in Bermuda.

"After his luncheon speech to the Hamilton Rotary Club I watched a black cameraman punch him playfully in the stomach. A woman enthuses: `What a wonderfully cosy man.' "Elsewhere he is described as a `people person' and as `an open-air man.' Detractors might explain this by suggesting he was required to do nothing in particular and is doing it very well.

"They would be wrong. `For the first time I can remember,' said a hyper-critical Bermudian lady, `we have the right man in the right job at the right time.'' Mr. Shakespeare describes Bermuda as similar in many ways to the Governor's constituency of Ribble Valley in Lancashire.

He points out that the Island has one of the best educated and richest populations in the world.

He said: "To understand this paradise one must bear in mind one thing: the families who still run the place are descended from privateers.

"Some of their ancestors came ashore from the same shipwreck as Governor (Sir Thomas) Gates and their names can be seen over the shops on Front Street in Hamilton.

"These are the families known colloquially as the Forty Thieves or the Front Street Gang. That Bermuda is so prosperous is owing to the Forty Thieves' sophisticated exploitation of its links with the mother country.

"What Front Street Bermudians want from Whitehall is what they get, namely a policy of benign neglect.

"They reckon it is far better to have an absent minded nanny overseas than an interfering America nearby. Says one: `Americans have a habit of interfering which is inclined to end up with dead bodies on the beach.' This tends not to happen with a British Governor nominally in charge.'' Former Premier and Minister of Finance, Sir David Gibbons is described as the most powerful man on the Island, "Its Prospero.'' Mr. Shakespeare also interviewed disgraced Governor Sir Richard Posnett, claiming that his principal crime was that he simply tried to do his job properly.

Before the interview Mr. Posnett had been trying, unsuccessfully, to sell his official uniform at Sotheby's. He decided to sell it to a theatrical costumier stating it would be perfect for an admiral in HMS Pinafore.