The bullet

I was horrified to hear about the bullet and threatening letter sent to the Premier. It was an utterly despicable act and I hope that the police quickly find and prosecute the culprit.

The UBP unequivocally condemned the threat, however I thought it was entirely inappropriate of them to insinuate that it may have been a political stunt engineered by the PLP. I was also disgusted by the roundabout way in which they did so, trying to imply that this was something other people were saying, not them. Sorry, UBP - by including those rumours in your press release you were clearly trying to legitimise them. Shame on you.

I do not believe that the PLP deliberately orchestrated the incident to whip up support for the Premier. Some of their tactics in this election have been extremely dirty, but I do not believe that even they would stoop to that level.

I was also appalled by the asinine comments of an anonymous "veteran politician" in the Bermuda Sun who suggested that the bullet posed no threat to Dr. Brown's life. Of course it didn't, but that's hardly the point. It was clearly a death threat and I would imagine that the Premier has been quite upset by it.

That said, although I do not believe this event was of their own making, I do think that the PLP are trying to exploit it. As Tom Vesey commented in the Bermuda Sun, what purpose was served by calling a press conference to announce the discovery of the threat, except to escalate tension? The PLP were also quick to label the threat as "just another political dirty trick" and to imply that it was perpetrated by their "political opponents". It is possible that the contents of the letter that accompanied the bullet may have made its source evident, but I doubt it. I suspect it's still too early for the police to say who mailed the bullet. It could have just as easily come from a deranged PLP supporter unhappy about Dr. Brown's leadership as it could from a supporter of the UBP.

It's time for all politicians and their supporters to end the spiral of nastiness and mistrust that has lead to this latest low.