and featured in this newspaper, the greatest public concerns are crime and drugs. Yet the political parties seem to have their focus strongly on today's economy, the future management of the economy and on which party suggests what in the way of taxation.

Drugs and crime are an "in your face'' issue for Bermudians who see the two problems every day. The economy is a more diffuse issue and Bermudians may have lived so well for so long that they are taking the strong economy for granted. As a Country we fell into that trap once before when we told ourselves that nothing we did would damage our tourist industry and then woke up to find tourism in a major crisis because Bermudians as a whole did not look after it well.

The truth seems to be that in other countries if the economy was as strong as Bermuda's, if the people were as well off as Bermudians are, if things were going as well as they have gone for Bermuda for many years, there would be little challenge to the party in power. But this is Bermuda.

Could we suddenly find the economy in a major crisis? Yes, of course we could.

The world economy is in turmoil. Bermuda has been doing well so far because the United States economy is still strong. But no-one knows how long that will last given the world situation.

The real question of this election ought not to be crime and drugs where Bermuda is making progress, slow progress but progress, but what Bermudians expect of the political parties in terms of managing the economy. Bermuda's success is not an accident nor did it happen without great care and great talent.

The big question mark of this campaign is, can the PLP run the economy and can the PLP deal effectively with very conservative international companies which do not have to stay in Bermuda? The PLP believes it can do both but then Alex Scott suggests one year work permits and no company, local or international, can manage with one year work permits.

We know what the United Bermuda Party can do and it is virtually certain that Dr. Grant Gibbons would remain as Finance Minister if the UBP is reelected.

There are some question marks surrounding the Finance Minister of a Progressive Labour Party government. There are reports, only reports and we put it no higher than that, that there is dissent within the PLP over who would be their Finance Minister. The reports say that the PLP is split between the very decent but older Shadow Finance Minister, Eugene Cox, and the ambitious young Terry Lister, with PLP leader Jennifer Smith hoping that Delaey Robinson will be elected as a reserve. Someone in the UBP takes Mr.

Robinson seriously or they would not be circulating a particularly vicious and dirty advertisement.

The UBP offers the present successful tax structure, like it or not, and the PLP manifesto says it would review the tax structure but gives little indication of how it would pay for the programmes it promises elsewhere.

Bermuda is a middle class country and taxes everywhere fall on the middle class. The poor, quite rightly, get tax breaks, and the rich hire expensive lawyers and accountants and avoid taxes. That's the way it is, like it or not.