Old enough to know what Malta used to be like and well-travelled enough to have spent time and worked in places ruled by authoritarian leaders that have overseen the killing and torture of hundreds and thousands. And sensible enough to know that it lacks perspective to get the two confused.

You say you don’t remember the 60’s,neither do i,but my grandparents recall that the true hatred was in the 60’s when the church at that time was hand in hand with PN and did sins that many people to this day can’t forget,can’t forgive.So there lies a pattern that started before Mintoff’s era…shrouded in violence.

HP, a smart brain costs more than Euro 2,000. Later, Joseph thought it costs Euro 40,000 p.a.

“And everyone reaped the benefits.” ….

just look at Joseph Muscat…

Utter nonsense.

Fenech Adami’s vision transcended bi-partisanship. He freed markets, overhauled the country’s infrastructure and spearheaded Malta’s entry into the EU for everyone’s sake. And everyone reaped the benefits.

Mintoff’s brand of divisiveness ran much deeper. He engineered a cultural class war that rages on until this very day. It’s his fault there are some who want to do something good with their lives and earn their own living, and the thousands who want to live on government handouts; the few who want to learn and better themselves, and the many who are happy to be doing just fine.

Surely the open coffin would do better?

But it was exactly the “turmoil caused by the then stupid labour extremists” which divided the nation, not Fenech Adami. Of course you were never at any of the mass meetings organised at the time, but the parting words uttered by Fenech Adami were always to keep calm, to turn a blind eye to provocation, to keep the peace.

You were never shot at, never pelted with rocks and metal bars. Never had tear gas thrown at you or had your education stunted. Never been thrown out of work because of your allegiance to a party. Never had your name blacklisted so you’d never get a telephone service – the list is endless.

Mintoff could never accept dissent from foes or friends. Salvatur? Dittatur, more like.

Similar at school when the children were divided into teams – some would be determined to be in the blue team and burst into tears when it was full (same thing when the red team was chosen).

In the 80’s/90’s things changed. They didn’t become perfect but goodness what an improvement.

Can anyone imagine a radio/TV programme with people phoning in insulting the Prime Minister in the 70s? Or a programme like Xarabank with people yelling obscenities at a Minister or MP?

They didn’t even dare carry the In- taghna but would hide it away.

[Daphne – Die-hard Nationalist? Both my paternal and maternal families were die-hard Constitutionalists, the polar opposite of the Nationalist Party as it was then. If I am committed to anything, it’s to ensuring that your party doesn’t get away with murder as it did in my growing-up years when there was no free press or freedom of speech. I look at Labour and I laugh. Imbarrazz kien, u imbarrazz baqa. And if you must press on with this, then yes, anyone who looks at Labour and thinks ‘Hmmm, that’s a good lot. I think I’ll vote for them to run the country’ must be damned stupid. Either that or brainwashed from birth into the Cult of Labour.]

As for Fenech Adami, I think he did a lot of good but his biggest weakness was that of being too partisan. He never managed to separate his role of statesman from that of party leader. He disrespected and hated the Labourites and all those with opposing political beliefs and created an unprecedented divide between Labourites and nationalists that is still palpable today. He is the father of this crazy political division that has cursed this island for years. He subtly provoked and took political advantage of the turmoil caused by the then stupid labour extremists. Obviously, in the eyes of a die-hard nationalist he is a god, but if you think that being a Labourite in the 80s/90s (not to mention the 60s, but that’s someone else’s story) was painless, you are seriously mistaken.

[Daphne – Kemm int bahnan, miskin. Another one of those born post 1980 who swallowed whole the fictions of their parents. Yours is a spot-on description of Mintoff and you are too young and silly to be aware of it.]