[Daphne – Not really. There’s one in the cabinet. Perhaps that’s why Franco’s so keen to join.]

I too have long been wondering this, as Franco must surely realize that he is finished, whatever happens. Unfortunately I just had a disquieting thought.

Taking it as given that Franco wants to be one up on his school chum, I wonder if he has been promised a great prize, the Presidency, by Joseph.

Think about it before you discard the idea.

JM gets his wish, youngest PM and all that, Franco gets his reward, and youngest President, and both egos have been duly satisfied. Franco even manages to top his m8 as well, as President is nominally the leader of the country.

After all, our newspapers still report highly delusional outbursts from Mintoff, KMB and Sant.

[Daphne – They were all prime ministers and party leaders, William. You forget. Debono is a nobody: somebody who has been a backbencher for four years. When this is all over, nobody will even remember what he looks like. Who remembers Baldacchino the crossover? His daughter Arlette, Norman Lowell’s friend, is now better known than he is.]

JoeM, the PL has an endless queue of people wanting to be appointed to all kinds of positions. Franco Debono doesn’t have the slightest chance of getting anything.

I’m not so sure that the PN in opposition will scrape off all the barnacles from its keel.

Look at Labour: they’ve been in opposition for ages and are as full of hangers-on as the PN.

You’re right, Daphne.

George Abela helped bring down Alfred Sant’s government in 1998, and he was rewarded by his law course classmate Lawrence Gonzi.

What if I bring down Lawrence Gonzi’s government? I might be rewarded with a technical ministry or EU Commissionerhood by old St Augustine classmate Joseph Muscat in a couple of years’ time.

[Daphne – George Abela was ‘rewarded’, if that’s the right word, for his support in working towards EU membership, which he did, and not for bringing down Sant’s government. You will remember that he was AGAINST a general election in 1998.]

In the context of your article, I think this should read “Oh, that jerk who ALMOST brought down the government”.

Wrong. He really does think that if the motion is carried, Gonzi will be knocked out and President Abela will roll out the red carpet from Castille to Hallelu Yah in Marsaxlokk.

[Daphne – He doesn’t live at Halleu Yah in Marsaxlokk. That’s his official residence, the one in which he refuses to live with his long-suffering tfajla. He lives in Hal Ghaxaq mal-mami u d-dedi. At 38.]