Re: Whoever wanted to leave this rock and venture abroad did so irrespective of EU membership.

You do not know what you are talking about. I left Malta 9 years ago in 2000 and am a so-called professional. It was a nightmare and a continuous struggle to get all papers in order. I envy people who are leaving Malta to work in Europe now, now that Malta is in the EU.

Erm, Ray Borg made a point of saying he voted “yes” to EU membership. What made you conclude he was Labour?

[Daphne – His pro-Labour views. Or maybe he’s just anti-government: one of those chippy people. Didn’t Marlene Mizzi vote Yes and then vote Labour straight afterwards?]

Was it pointless?

“Ray Borg” – Has not your son and his family just left Malta to live elsewhere in Europe? Would they have been able to do so were it not for the people who voted “yes”? Ironic, is it not?

[Daphne – Yes, I am. I thought we were similarly bloody-minded. But I would never have done anything so weak, partisan and stupid as put loyalty to a political party before my desire to join the European Union. Maybe her desire to join the EU wasn’t that great, if it meant so little to her that she voted for an anti-EU party a few weeks after voting Yes. I also cannot understand her incredible stupidity in admitting to this behaviour rather than keeping her mouth shut. What was she hoping to achieve – winning the admiration of those who voted Yes and also of those who voted Labour? I feel really let down. So much for all that about the courage of her convictions, speaking her mind, and the other crap she’s been going on about. Somehow I had convinced myself that she was one of those Laburisti who voted Yes and then voted PN in 2003. There were very many of them. Boy, was I wrong. To my mind, a Yes vote followed by a vote for Sant is much worse than a No vote followed by a vote for Sant, because it’s just so whacko. And that business of telling a man who asked her how she voted that he’s appallingly arrogant – it’s just unbelievable. Why did he even have to ask? She appears to expect people to vote for her without telling them what her political views are. It’s just beyond comprehension: “Vote for me but don’t expect me to tell you how I voted.” Unbelievable.]

At the end of the day, though, I think she just wants a ride on the gravy train (like most MEP hopefuls), though it could be she’s still sore at Austin.

Either way, do you really find the pursuit of wealth and the desire to show someone how wrong he was, very untypical of women?

[Daphne – No, sadly. I’ve known some women to waste their whole lives trying to get even, long after the people they’re trying to get even with have moved on.]

Maybe this was the case 40 years ago, but times have changed. We’re on the doorstep of the age of feminine supremacy and though it’s unlikely there’ll be the violence of the masculine eras, there’ll be greed and backstabbing aplenty, you can be sure. These are no longer male prerogatives. The Spice Girls called it Girl Power. I think it’s just the desire for power (and/or wealth) – regardless of gender.

[Daphne – Women are VERY nasty, as any woman will tell you. Just because they don’t use physical violence it doesn’t mean they’re not extremely violent. Here I am saying ‘they’: I wasn’t a girl’s girl and I’m not a woman’s woman, so I have never been able to understand all that or relate to it. I find men so much easier to get along with, I can tell you. With a man, you have a difference of opinion, blow up and it’s gone. With a woman, you have a difference of opinion, usually involving a perceived threat or competition for something or someone, and she’s chewing at you for the rest of eternity, plotting and scheming and whispering. I remember one of my sons, aged about 12, coming home from school with a great discovery about one of the mysteries of the opposite sex: “When we fight” – we being boys – “we punch each other and then forget about it and go to the playground. But when the girls fight, they go on and on and on and on and when they come back to school the next year they’re still fighting with the same person.” I can see that from my own experience: clamped to my nether regions there’s a whole train of little bitches. Though I must say, I’d rather have their constant sniping, gossiping and evil-mongering than the arson attacks perpetrated by men.]