But now I?m not so sure. I think there must have been some talking going on, for whatever it was worth. The Hon. Leader of the UDP Opposition showed an inclination to tinker before the 2003 general elections. He moved out Sidney Fuller from Albert and replaced him with Marilyn Williams. Then he moved out Kenny Morgan from Pickstock and replaced him with Diane Haylock. Both these moves backfired, incidentally.

I haven?t talked to Jorge in several months, so I have no idea what?s in his head. For sure his record in electoral politics is spectacularly successful, and he left the PUP and Cabinet on his own terms ? that of a righteous crusader for honesty and integrity in government.

I mention this Espat-Peyrefitte thing to give you a sense of how fluid politics can suddenly become, what with actions provoking reactions, reactions provoking counter reactions, and so on and so forth. I don?t know anything about this issue except what I read in the papers, heard on the radio and saw on the television. And that?s not much. So.

The key issue I want to talk about today is the Belize City Council. The administrative situation there is not good for the United Democratic Party. The UDP Council has only been in place for 14 or 15 weeks, and there has been enough confusion to last a year. Amandala has been handling Zenaida and her councilors with kid gloves. I can?t recall seeing anything in this newspaper about the Banak Street debacle, for instance. So it?s not as if the UDP attack dogs can accuse us of trying to throw gasoline on fire.

If the general elections were held today, the UDP would win by a landslide. But 20 months is a long time, time enough for the UDP City Council to implode politically. This is a dangerous situation for the Opposition, because their leadership absolutely put Zenaida on a pedestal during the City Council campaign. Now Zenaida, to a certain extent, has turned tiger, so to speak. A situation that bears watching, for real.

The PUP, however, is in bad shape. They are unable to decide whether it was Ralph Fonseca?s financial policies which caused March 1, 2003, or whether it was the G-7 challenge to Ralph?s policies which led to the March 1 collapse. Party Leader Said Musa is in a bind. He?s not sure which way to turn.

But here?s the thing. Once Mr. Musa makes a decision which way he will go, then the PUP will become stronger because it will become more unified. That could happen at the same time that the UDP is hemorrhaging because of the City Council instability. The opposite could take place, of course. The PUP can continue to push and pull within itself, while the UDP could get their City Hall ship righted.

With respect to my personal situation, I think I?ve learned my lesson. There is no way that we small allies can materially affect how the major political parties behave after they are elected. As a media institution, we need to be as non-partisan as we can be.

Older readers know that a powerful faction in the UDP hates our guts. This is a problem that goes way back to 1972. It?s not as bad as it used to be, but the deal is still that we have nothing pleasant to look forward to, if and when the UDP returns to power.

The column has been more by way of random thoughts than a tight thesis, so I?ll ask permission to conclude with a look at Belize?s foreign policy quandary. Venezuela is bailing us out of various financial difficulties, but the United States is the most powerful nation on the planet. It?s just our luck, bad luck, Belizeans, that the United States views Guatemala as its most important ally in Central America and the Organization of American States (OAS). No need to tell you that Guatemala is our worst nightmare. No need to tell you, because you?ve known that from creation.

I think that foreign policy, given Belize?s serious problem with Guatemala, should be an issue on which the two major political parties work together. Foreign policy, like crime, should not be an electoral political issue.

Oh, one last thing. All of us are waiting with bated breath for Godwin Hulse?s Senate report on the Social Security Board ?irregularities.? So now that Mr. Hulse typed the report himself, big respect, just exactly what is the f??? hold up? Frustration provoked profanity in my mind, because the abuse of our Social Security Board moneys has been an obscenity. Straight like that.