If he’s minister of finance he has to do a lot of traveling only to Brussels.

If I’m not mistaken at seventy Eddie Fenech Adami retired and left his post for the fifty-two year old Gonzi.

We can see how demanding it is for our ministers, sometimes they have to skip unproductive ‘ceremonial visits’. Gone are the days when Alex Sceberras Trigona went for a ‘honeymoon’ visit to Australia accompanied by President Agata Barbara(something similar to what Joseph Muscat did two years ago as MLP leader).

I can’t see Joseph as “energiku” for his age. He looks lazy. He had the opportunity to RUN with president Gorg Abela who ironically was the other contender for the MLP leadership race:

http://www.google.com.mt/imgres?q=president’s+fun+run+2011&hl=mt&cr=countryMT&sa=X&gbv=2&tbs=ctr:countryMT&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=5P7cWTD-qPGhqM:&imgrefurl=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111017/local/third-president-s-charity-fun-run-launched.389612&docid=cn30ayGNPleYzM&imgurl=http://c257.r57.cf3.rackcdn.com/fa27fe08d4399503947424e798eac2b03304461792-1318855033-4e9c2179-620×348.jpg&w=540&h=300&ei=D57dTtuVA6P44QSo5sTbBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=168&vpy=330&dur=2772&hovh=167&hovw=301&tx=188&ty=52&sig=108942272748825904910&page=1&tbnh=109&tbnw=197&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&biw=1438&bih=709

Apparently Ciccio Bello walked the last part with the sixty-year old First Lady: Mrs Margaret Abela, Catherine Gonzi, and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

[Daphne – I logged that too. In fact, I should have posted something about it, and will do so later.]

I’d love to be a fly on the wall of the Cabinet’s room.

Ara kemm jibaghtuh jitne**ek. Jew forsi jibaghtul igibilhom xi kafe w pastizz.

And what does he do with the younger (and stupid) pretenders?

Maybe the solution would be a Cabinet of twenty ministers and fifteen Parliamentary Secretaries. That will do it.

[Daphne – Halli mmur go rokna u nibki bikja ghax Edward Scicluna ragel fartas ta’ hamsa u sittin sena isbha minni, ta. Mela l-kandidati tivvutawlhom ghax sbieh? Il-vera qabda injoranti. Qiskom hrigtu mil-primeval soup il-bierah.]

halli lira sur MEP…

I can assure you I’ve no intention whatsoever of “tearing strips” off you.

My point was that you can be relatively old and still very capable.

[Daphne – I did not say that old people have diminished talents, but something else entirely. Read it back.]

You’re right about Censu Tabone – it was Roamer who threw me off track at the time when he had referred to the “octogenerian foreign minister”, and I remained with that impression to this day.

Enjoy your milieu – I have to say I find it very entertaining.

By the way, John McCain did give it a shot, and if he weren’t up against Obama he could even have repeated Reagan’s exploit, in 2008…

[Daphne – I doubt that very much. The democratic west tends to be carried by a common zeitgeist which we in Malta neither share nor understand. The Mediterranean – Italy included – still thinks in terms of village elders.]

So Britain must also be a weak democracy as well as there are old people in government such as Vince Cable and Kenneth Clarke. In recent history many countries had old prime ministers or presidents as in Canada and the US.

[Daphne – Vince Cable and Kenneth Clarke did not start out in politics yesterday. The last old man to lead the United States was George H. Bush, 20 years ago in the Cold War (natch). The democratic west is no longer the same. These things move with the zeitgeist, so pick it up. ]

“Joseph Muscat, ironically, is a tool of the gerontocracy.”

Daphne, this sentence is pure insight.

If you allow me a suggestion, it requires further development and analysis.

You are absolutely right.

Joseph Muscat’s young age plays into the hands of the old dinosaurs (dinozawri for the chap who asked how it’s written in Maltese, or Wisghat Kbar u Wahxin ta’ Zmien Zemzem).

Please do delve into this most interesting topic: Muscat as Tool of the Old Guard.

[Daphne – Not in today’s world, Tonio. Look around you. And if that’s not enough, try and imagine a man in his 70s successfully contesting the US presidential elections today. Try to imagine Britain with a prime minister in his 60s. Impossible, right? The world’s changed. The democratic world, at least. That’s the zeitgeist. Censu Tabone is the best you can do, and you omit the fact that his situation was anomalous because of the circumstances. When the Nationalist Party finally got into government after that terrible 16-year struggle, in 1987, he was already 74. He was honoured, as thanks because of the particular circumstances of the day, with the post of foreign minister, which he held for a token two years until 1989 (when he was 76, not 80) and he was then made president of the republic and the role of foreign minister cleared for the push into Europe. Once again I have to remind you that this is my milieu. Try to tear strips off me all you like. I love the challenge and it keeps me sharp (you know, because at 47 I must obviously be suffering from dementia), but I do have the advantage of having worked in this field for quite a long time.]