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No-one will ever say that the political parties have not splashed out on advertising as the General Election approaches. There has never been so much advertising so far in advance of what most people assume will be an October-November election.

What does it all mean? First of all it means that the Progressive Labour Party can taste victory and that the United Bermuda Party is fast mustering itself to reply.

Secondly, for the first time ever, the PLP appears to have plenty of money to pay for advertising. That has never been a real problem for the business supported UBP but in the past the PLP has had trouble finding benefactors willing to pay. Clearly that is no longer true.

Thirdly, it could mean that the PLP believes the Election may be earlier than October-November and wants to be in there fighting and the UBP ads may indicate that an election will be held earlier. However we still doubt that the Premier will take a chance on a summer election because there are too many imponderables; not least the candidates who do not like to campaign in the heat and the large number of Bermudians who are away in the summer.

A good many people have learned over the years to view political polls with a healthy scepticism and we are no exception, especially those polls which are locally generated. However recent polls do have one thing in common. They indicate a large number of people who refuse to state how they will vote or who express themselves as "don't know or undecided''. That is a very significant factor. Given the social structure in Bermuda, it seems to us that UBP supporters are much more likely to openly state their preference than some PLP supporters who may be suspicious of who has access to their answers and thus do not answer or say they are undecided. We do not know, but we would think that a majority of those who refuse to answer or who "don't know'' are in fact inclined to the PLP. That makes a great difference in how you read the polls.

The important thing for voters to remember is that Bermuda suffers from most of the world's problems and these problems are not unique to this Island but reflective of today's lifestyles, especially those of North America.

What politicians promise are only promises, many of which are destined to be broken. They are not solutions. There are no easy solutions to any country's problems and there is no instant way to make all of the people happy all of the time no matter what we may be encouraged to believe. If the latest poll is correct, then 64 percent of those polled are either completely satisfied or generally satisfied with Bermuda today. Only 28 percent were completely dissatisfied or generally dissatisfied. We would think that those polled are much more likely to be honest about their satisfaction or dissatisfaction than they are to be about how they plan to vote.

No matter what the political philosophy or how a person intends to vote, we should all remember that all governments move slowly and no political party has a magic formula for solving Bermuda's problems. Political parties have strengths and weaknesses, talented candidates and untalented candidates. That will not change.