Look at you, pontificating on the unknown. Isn’t it presumtuous to speak in such tones? And yet, you continue to have no clue. The problem is that although I can tell you where to go, I cannot let you know the truth. One thing I’ll tell you though, Corinne, if anyone had a guarantee to become an MEP it would have been those who had the opportunity to be top-listed in another member state where voters vote for the party. But not everyone is a Cassola. Some prefer not to take such opportunities – not only because it is too cheesey, but also because it defeats the aim.

So it’s not a matter of “I don’t care” because I am a caring person. It is more a matter of “kull deni hudu b’gid”.

This is what has pre-occupied my mind for the past days, Corinne: http://www.elections2009-results.eu/en/new_parliament_en.html But rebuilding a group can be fun, especially when you have someone who is able to attract the right people.

Just stop moaning, Corinne, please – it will do you some good.

Joe Cuschieri thanks you for this wonderful news.

Simon Busuttil ALONE got 68,000+ votes; the combined number of votes of the first three elected Labour MEPs was around 3,000 less, at +-65,000.

Any further comment is superfluous.

Daph, I am not blaming the world recession on the government, far from it. I am commenting on the way that his Minister of Finance was oblivious to the fact that this WAS a world recession which was going to snowball us into it.

Yes, the hospital is state of the art and excellent in most respects. I have commented here on the way personnel (doctors, surgeons, consultants, nurses, et al, are managed and utilised). A seven-hour wait at emergency is no joke, and a four-year wait for an operation is criminal.

[Daphne – Real emergencies are seen immediately. I know this through experience, having had to go to A & E several times over the years. That’s why there’s a triage system: to sort out the real emergencies from the not-so emergencies and especially from those who shouldn’t be there in the first place, but at a health centre or their own GP. Two years ago, I had to wait for three hours with a cracked wrist. I knew it would be like that, so I just took a magazine with me, and sat back and relaxed as best I could (I know this sounds really weird, but it was a welcome break). I didn’t complain because I knew what things were like in there, and also because people were coming in on stretchers and with bleeding arteries, moaning and screaming. My cracked wrist paled into insignificance. Anyone who is left to wait for seven hours is by definition not an emergency case and should have gone to his local health centre.]

Libertas, that’s why I recommended: competent, qualified and experienced advisers. Can you tell me that the Privatisation Unit at the Ministry of Finance handled the shipyards privatisation competently? It’s a complete mess.

The way you work out the seat allocation is called the highest average and it’s one of many systems used around the world to allocate seats in elections. It is as valid as any other, but I’m afraid it’s not the system we have in Malta.
Here we have quotas worked out on an n+1 basis, n being the number of seats to be filled. In this election they were still five. 135,917 votes divided by the quota of 41,362 yield 3.29 seats whereas 100,486 divided by the same quota yield 2.43 seats. Out of five, it is an obvious 3-2. The PN’s remainder at 0.43 is bigger than Labour’s 0.29. So, in our system, the PN was clearly in line for the runner-up. It is the anomaly in our system (of not requiring a full quota for a candidate to be declared elected) that has yielded a 4-2 result, not any ‘fairness’ you might have in mind.

Nigel, don’t be too quick about the ‘technical experts’. They’re the ones who usually advise governments but have no political nous – and then governments and politicians have to bear the responsbility for their advice. This government, I would argue, is actually being too technical. On several of the examples you mentioned (Vat on vehicle registration, healthcare) it is actually government carrying the can for bad advice.

That high and mighty attitude interferes with your ability to communicate with your target audience.

You’d be better off – and, by extension, so would your target audience – if you took a different attitude and branded yourself as a credible source. You could a) change your attitude or b) start up your own blog or news site. That would need to be a credible one – something along the lines of Maltafly doesn’t make the grade.

If you wish “to correct a horrific misconception”, then simply stating facts would be more effective than wrapping your message in a sneer. As it is you come across as someone who’s far more interested in a put down than in correcting misconceptions, horrific or otherwise. That’s sniping.

While you’re at it, you could shed that “I don’t care” attitude towards what happens here, because you clearly do. That’s not a bad thing and it would help your cause if you shed your coyness and stopped pretending you’re indifferent

Daphne, I’m sorry but you got it all wrong this time. PL were 99.9999% certain that they were going to win the seat when they started to celebrate. The PN candidate needed a miracle to win the 6th seat.

[Daphne – I really don’t know what in God’s name you’re on about. I was the first to release the news that the fourth seat was beyond doubt going to Labour.]