Oops. Point well taken, Mark. I used “island” several times to avoid saying “country” but I see I screwed up in referring to Bermuda’s constitution as the “country’s” constitution. I’m glad you corrected my error both for accuracy’s sake and because it gives me the opportunity to note that one of the things that makes Bermudians wary of Ewart Brown is his secession rhetoric.

Most of the people I spoke with think Bermuda has a very nice arrangement: Britain is very respectful and takes a hands-off approach, allowing the island to govern itself without interference; but Bermuda is spared the security worries (and expenditures) that would come with independence, and has always seemed (to this observer, anyway) quite proud of its intimate tie to the UK.

One of the more obnoxious things Premier Brown said during the debate over the no-confidence motion in parliament after his clandestine Uighur deal with the Obama administration was: “I was performing an act of God that might not have been approved by the Queen, but I can assure you it was ordained by a higher power.” I assumed by “higher power” he meant God, but to hear Evan Thomas tell it …