Grace, first of all Bondiplus is a talkshow not a ‘political debate’ and Lou Bondi is a journalist not the chairman in a BA debate. How can you make comments and accuse people when you do not understand these basic differences?

Secondly, I never noticed Gonzi to be at a loss for words so he had no need for anyone to come to his aid. The truth is that Muscat is unused to dealing with journalists and looked unprepared and discomposed when faced with an unexpected issue. He is still, at heart, the party hack trying to obtain a sound-byte that can be used for propaganda purposes and is uncomfortable with being the one who has to answer the questions. Perhaps he will improve in time but, at the moment, it is pure wishful thinking to say that he is a good debater.

Albert, sometimes it is appropriate to use a language rather than another, depending on circumstances. Just because you are Maltese doesn’t mean you have to speak/write only in your language. It does not show patriotism as you seem to think but a disregard for others.

As for Mintoff, nobody denies the introduction of minimum wage and children’s allowance but they were insignificant trifles in comparison with the tribal hatred and violence on which Mintoff thrived. Putting the minimal and sporadic social advances on the same footing as the systematic trampling of human rights is historically wrong and ethically malicious.

Using Maltese isn’t shameful. Using Maltese when readers don’t understand it, is. It’s the equivalent of lowering your voice or switching languages to exclude someone who is seated at the same table.

It’s neither rude nor selfish that i write in maltese.Maybe the blog is in english i did not think about that before writing.Excuse me sir.I was writing in my language….if that for you is selfish than i don’t know,maybe i go find another blog.I thought i did see whole comments in maltese.Maltese language is nothing to be ashamed of…at least for me.

You say no minimum wage or pension or children’s allowance can justify the lack of freedom that existed those days.That is not justifying …..but those are things that happened and changed the lives of the middle class.You can’t deny that for sure.And you can’t measure Mintoff with Mussolini for god’s sake…there lies no comparison.Mintoff was a politician that feared no english and no one to get what he thought was best for the people.I agree there were things like corruption that hampered his era….but mussolini was a fascist….dictator.

Do you recall the social security and the changes he made as some advancement?

I don’t shelter my kids from reality, far from it. I try to educate them and tell them what is right and what is wrong. And you have to make a distinction. Children have so much on their minds these days. I assure you they have heard words and arguments like the one you have showed…but you don’t want them talking like that.

As for the illiterate…maybe far more are Labourites…but I assure you I know plenty on the other side as well. I work daily with people so believe me when I say so.

[Daphne – I’m not talking about illiterate people necessarily. I’m talking about defiantly ignorant people and those with a chip – and you can be defiantly ignorant and chippy even when you’re reading for a PhD. Indeed, some of those people read for PhDs precisely because of their chip and a desire to prove something.]

Antoine he is very biased and to me it is very clear that the debate between Dr Gonzi and Dr Muscat was well planned between PN strategists and Lou Bondi. When Dr Gonzi was lost for words Lou Bondi quickly came to his defense with a counter attack on Dr Muscat. Up to my knowledge a chairperson in a debate does not comment, he just chairs the debate, and makes sure both parties are treated equally. All his comments were intended to show the PL in a bad light, PN should be careful because such tactics can backfire, like they did in the 80s when MLP used same tactics on Xandir (dardir) Malta.

I stand to be corrected I meant to say you are prejudiced against her. Maybe hate is too strong a word. Although sometimes very strong words are used on this blog. Claudette might not be a technocrat, but she usually asks for technical opinions before she takes her decisions. People in her village voted for her because they like her and she works hard for them, I know people from outside her village who encouraged me to vote for her.
I also watched Bondiplus, what Claudette did (like many other politicians are doing) was to state what they came to say and ignore what Lou Bondi asked. That might not be what we wanted to hear, but if you watch political debates nowadays that is exactly what everybody is doing, we actually consider political debates hilarious.
I have not decided where my first preference will go, it will not go to any PN candidate, the only one worth a vote is Simon Busutil, but I’m afraid he’s too much of a yes man where EU is concerned. So that leaves Arnold Cassola or maybe I will vote for Sharon Ellul Bonnici she surely is no yes man/woman where EU is concerned.

“Avoid excessive punctuation!!!”

http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w007.html

“Increasing the number of exclamation or question marks at the end of a sentence might appear to increase the overall emphasis, but in reality it just makes your text ugly and informal.”

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/punctuation-errors-multiple-punctuation-marks/

“It’s not that we know we aren’t writing well—and so tack on some exclamations!!!—it’s that we know what we’re saying doesn’t deserve to be written at all.

Hence the salvation that exclamation offers. Like 24-hour cable newscasters, we compensate for the unworthiness of our meanings by being emphatic! (A good rule of thumb: The more insignificant the message, the more exclamations it will require.)”

http://www.slate.com/id/2173076/pagenum/all/#p2

Albert Ellis, your last paragraph listing all the “gifts” Mintoff gave us reminds me of those Italians who recall fondly all the “progress” Mussolini brought to Italy. It is true that there was some material advancement in Italy in the 1920-1940 period but the overall historical assessment of the fascist regime is overwhelmingly negative because of, among other things, the lack of freedom, widespread corruption and the violence which government used against its opponents. The Mintoffjani may not have gone to the same extremes as fascists (sometimes they did) but institutionalised corruption, routine violence and lack of freedom were the characteristics of the Mintoff regime. No children’s allowance and minimum wage can justify them.

(I replied in English because this is an English-language blog and, while the occasional Maltese word or phrase might be acceptable, I personally find it rude and selfish to post an entire comment in Maltese).