This is your answer, uttered by no other than Mintoff, in 1973:

“Jiena nitnejjek mill-Kostituzzjoni”

[Daphne – I know, and I don’t give a damn. It’s not like I ever did. Ask around. The great advantage of being socially secure is in not caring what other people think because you have nothing to prove. It’s enormously liberating, and not to put too fine a point on it, only somebody with that kind of outlook could have done what I did over the last couple of decades. Had I worried what people thought, I would have stayed home with my mouth shut. Corinne – best leave it to her. She’s much smarter than I am.]

@ Daphne. I’ve figured out why your writings rub me the wrong way from time to time. I was brought up to believe that it is not where you start in life that counts but where you end up. In fact it was pretty much drummed into me growing up. So when you disparage people for being a “guttersnipe” simply because they are of humble origin that annoys me. When you write in a way that seems to imply that you are better than others simply because you come from a “familja pulita” that rubs me the wrong way. That’s what was eating me up – nothing about you because I have never met you and but for this negative character trait seem to have a very sharp intellect and well honed God given intuition.

[Daphne – Madonna, Uncle Fester, honestly. Like I said, we seem to come from exactly the same background. I never heard the H word at home while growing up, and my parents and grandparents took a dim view of its use. I never use it, either – which is why parodies of me speaking and writing about hamalli are so wildly off the wall. I distinctly remember being ticked off at home for using the word after hearing it at school: “Those who describe others as hamalli are hamalli themselves.” Now down to business: the word ‘guttersnipe’ is a reference to behaviour and not necessarily to origins (def: a child of the slums who spends most of his or her time in the streets: contemptuous term applied to anyone regarded as having the manners, morals, etc. of the gutter
). Given that Dom Mintoff is not a child, then the intended meaning is obviously the latter. Various other members of his family with the same surname have done very well in life and are widely respected as people and not just for their accomplishments. Nobody would ever dream of using the word guttersnipe in their regard, least of all me. Secondly, I do not think I am better than others because of my family background – not at all. I only consider people’s behaviour and achievements, whether I like them or not – that’s all I care about. You seem to miss the point that what I dislike is not people of ‘humble origins’, as you put it – a phrase, incidentally, I would never use myself – but people of ‘humble origins’ who think there’s nothing at all untoward about hanging onto the manners and mores of those humble origins even when they have progressed way beyond them and should know better. In other words – somebody like Dom Mintoff, an architect, prime minister, well-married, with pots of money, who insists on guttersnipe behaviour which is really just a form of inverted snobbery. It’s completely out of place and really offensive.]

More like he must be suffering from the after-effects of too much toad in the hole. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwzgF0s3Dzg

P.S. As to my part of the world – although I live in the South, South Florida is pretty much New York with Palm Trees at least since the 60s. Eclectic mix of conservative Cubans, liberal Jews, blacks, Italians and some redneck holdouts. The place was more Southern in the 60s and 70s. One of my friends here is an African American woman in her 60s. When she was a young girl she was actually arrested for being on the beach while tending two white girls as a nanny. It was a crime for a black person to be on the beach with a white person. She remembers having to have a special pass to get on to the beach – blacks (or negroes as they were called then) weren’t allowed on the beach after dark. Last night was an emotional night for her and all African Americans. I work as a Plaintiff’s lawyer and still see the vestiges of discrimination which are alive and well. Hopefully Obama’s win will be a major nail in the coffin of discrimination.

You claim that you work from within the PN to change it. But think for one moment – what have you changed? The PN today is socially more consrvative than the PN under GBO. It is run by the ex chair of the Catholic action and counts amongst its senior ranks Catholic Action people, Legion of Mary toy soldiers and even Opus Dei members. Remember how they rushed to sign the GOL petition, or have you now convenienty forgot? What has changed?

Then you pretend to be scandalised by the appointment of Sarah Palin. Look at you PN mates. Take a good look around you and stop dreaming that you are the champion of Malta’s liberal party. You are an apologist for the church-driven christian democrats.That you consider the PN better than Josie and his fake-socialists is not the issue. The issue is that thouands of educated intelligent people like you settled for the mediocre. I chose not to.

Sahha!

You are a first class writer, but quite a mediocre debater.

[Daphne – And you are a hopeless politician, a terrible writer and have the mind of an accountant. Now stick to settling down in England. Nick Clegg might need a hand. As for the rest of your silly bitching – are you trying to tell me that I should discriminate against politicians on the basis of their religion? Insisting that I shouldn’t vote for a Catholic because I am not one myself is like saying I shouldn’t vote for a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Hindu because of their religious beliefs. Imagine that. Gullible idiots on both sides of the house signed Paul Vincenti’s petition. I would imagine that some of AD’s people did, too. In fact, I clearly remember your propaganda secretary Claire Bonello championing their cause in one of her articles. You chose not to settle for the mediocre? On the contrary, Edward – you settled for the most mediocre party of all. At least Josie Muscat has entertainment value. Harry, who was last seen smiling circa 1975, went out with a bang: demanding a presidential pardon after 20 years of playing Moral Mary. Your AD project having failed, you sulked and left the country. Ar’hemm hej. Elvis has left the building.]