To my surprise, today a journalist from RAI who was actually reporting from the UK, referred to the Labour Party in the UK as Partito Laborista.

Drop the word “elderly”, and rest assured that the feeling is probably the same right across the generations. I know that I will certainly never be able to identify with people such as Toni and Anglu myself.

A third gate in the fortifications of 16th century Valletta was that at Marsamuscetto (in addition to the Porta san Giorgio and Porta del Monte that you mention). It was the last of the original gates to be destroyed – biting the dust in the early 1900s.

Middle class suggests free enterprise – if you’re capable of doing it, go ahead and do it, not relying on closed shops, tariffs, cartels and protectionism.

The middle class started with the PN coming to power and opening the markets to free trade. Yes, it has its down side, but at least you could have the chance.

Under Labour in the 70s and 80s, a very small number of people became very rich because they enjoyed all the protection they could, had the blessing of the authorities and had a protected market, sheltered from foreign imports.

Let’s say then, that gates may be used in the singular or the plural. Below are websites, among many others, where gates is in the plural. But I do not wish to press my point further as this is a trivial matter.

Many cities had more than one gate – even Valletta has at least two in the second line of defence, what came to be known as Putirjal and Victoria Gate. In the outer defences, there is the so-called bombi gate.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/case/case16.html
http://libraryjuicepress.com/barbarians.php
http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-lindsey111902.asp
http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/conferences/barbarians/index.html

@Antoine Vella: thank you for your comment. As I am sure you know, barbarians (barbaroi) is a Greek word which referred to those peoples who spoke neither Greek nor Latin and did not necessarily refer to uncivilized manners though this may have been implied.

For the stuffy Greeks, even the Romans were barbarians for a time. Hannibal was certainly not a “barbarian” in the sense of being uncivilized as it is well-known that Carthage was highly evolved according to the standards of the time (unfortunately, almost nothing is left of the Punic Carthage or the later Roman one). Hannibal would have been a “barbarian” for the Romans.

Take a leaf out of Bram Stokers’s “Dracula”: Bury him at a crossroads with a wooden stake through his heart so that he will not rise up again. Adding a garlic necklace will also be beneficial.

How can the Labour Party be the party of the middle class (I understand professionals, small business men, retailers, self employed) if they are suggesting a living wage – a concept that could only appeal to the most conservative of British unions?

Spot on. And even the less elderly. I doubt the new voters have the same itchiness though.

[Daphne – They did in 2008. They nearly mowed down the polling booths in their keenness to keep Labour from getting in. And Labour was completely unaware of it. Amazing.]