Force MPs how to vote? How? Imprisoning their families? Sending them off to exile on Comino, putting sharks around the islet? The last time MPs were forced to vote in a particular direction was in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. You guys have absolutely no sense of history. You just don’t know what you’re saying.

[Daphne – What is a party whip for, Albert? Nobody can force MPs to vote one way or another, but they should have this knowledge to begin with. Did you hear Adrian Vassallo on Xarabank? He doesn’t care what the electorate says: his duty is to his conscience. They speak of their conscience as though it is something extraneous with a life and will of its own.]

Ah yes, I forgot about that. He’s the conservative who thinks it’s undemocratic to call him conservative.

Crazy.

Mela dak xi cuc.

That’s the ace up his sleeve to assure himself, good or bad, a place in the Maltese divorce history book.

The sad truth is that your ironic remark is far too close to home. The Nationalist is securing a track record of never-ending disappointments, yet come 2013 I know I will vote for them (as I should be a Maltese citizen by then, I bloody hope) as I could not vote for the opposition and no decent alternative has been forthcoming.

Sure, the Nationalists dragged Malta kicking and screaming out of an oppressive 1980s and they secured Malta’s future by joining the European Union, something all Maltese should be grateful for. But for how long can they cash in on that?

When you’re in power the spotlight is on you and every mistake made stands out like Muscat’s bald spot (during times of make-up shortage) with an ever-growing collection of people displaying resentment towards their governance and their pile of disappointments is growing by the day.

Malta is not taken care of, that goes without saying, and while it’s true that Malta’s resources are limited, it’s a small island and the parochial mentality just won’t go.

The list goes on, you all know a few pitiful excuses to insert here – there is so much that could be done and no-one steps up to do them. We are not just talking about a referendum here, but a serial neglect that has taken a stronghold in most of Maltese society.

Why can’t the island stay clean? Why do our roads emulate the moon? Why isn’t corruption at high levels a surprise, instead of being taken for granted?

Why do school children learn that their non-Catholic friends are going to hell?

Why is forcing someone to take a breathalyser test a problem?

These are all petty things, yet with such a list and considering that humans are a whiny bunch, they all contribute to a Labour victory in 2013 – not because they would be fixed by Joseph Muscat’s government, but because they aren’t being fixed by this one.

It’s my biggest annoyance with Labour. They make me vote Nationalist.

Well said!

The PM should save all this silly talk and pronounce himself precisely: that he has no other option but to respect the referendum result and that therefore he is instructing his whip for a Yes vote.

He should show his mettle as a leader and use his “strong pair of hands” – otherwise he might as well resign and face the electorate again.

The way he is currently acting shows that he is weak and lost.

Of course. But that does not excuse the Prime Minister. It’s not as if the Prime Minister would be justified in thinking “Oh, Joseph is worse, so I might as well lower the bar”.