[Daphne – Yes, I know. I’m part of Franco’s xibka tal-hazen, apparently.]

Muscat will never have Debono, even in his skip of useless dorks.

Debono is his competitor and will do the same within the Labour Party, given a chance.

The part of being kicked out of the NP, I agree 100% and since it appears that an early election is on the horizon, the sooner he is kicked out the better for our sanity.

Debono’s sanity is another matter altogether.

“others who have been absolutely hopeless and yet Lawrence Gonzi confirmed them and ‘promoted’ them yesterday”

Would you describe Mario DeMarco as hopeless?

I agree with all you say (apart from the part on Austin Gatt).

What I hate most is when they bring his mother in all this.

What they are trying to do is make life for Franco so difficult that he will have no other choice but to give up and be quiet.

I don’t think they know Franco well enough. He is not a person who gives up so quickly and the more mud that is thrown at him the more he will retaliate.

I suggest that you will have time to go and watch him in court in one of his cases.

[Daphne – Actually I have read his character very well, Silvio. His mother is part of the story, a part which cannot be ignored largely because she has played a central role in creating him, enabling his behaviour, appearing with him on television, and acting as the go-between between him and the various appeasement envoys sent to his home. Men like Franco do not come out of nowhere. Cherchez la femme. She hasn’t even left the emotional space for him to form a union with another woman, though I am seriously beginning to doubt his interest in women at all. Quite frankly, there we might have another source of psychological difficulty, in repressed sexuality.]

True, minority governments typically do nothing controversial, but there’s nothing like the threat of an imminent election to encourage a focus on good governance. They may occasionally compromise with the other party, but they will essentially remain true to their principles because an election could be called any day.

His Lordship, Dr Debono has played all his cards: he gave the priedka tal-Milied when he was too short to see over the edge of the lectern. He gave the reply address following the President’s speech at the opening of Parliament when he was the youngest MP (yes, we know it is customary, but let him feel special about it). He bellyached ad nauseum about buses and the Ministry of Justice, and now they’re basically fixed. His Form II mid-term marks shone brightly before the cameras for all the world to see and, presumably, they were his best. How many more rabbits can he pull out of his hat?

When Dr Form II C is faced with the first opportunity to bring the government down on a serious vote of confidence (perhaps something of vital importance to the nation, like a budgetary bill, rather than some nonsense about buses) let him take a long, hard look into that gilded mirror in his mother’s front hallway, and decide whether this is the day he wants to fall on his own sword and hop on that plane to Italy.

She does not have a good future with this mental case, and she will always remain the outsider in the Debono family.

She will live in the shadow of his overwhelming mother, she will be constantly compared to her, and presumably she will never be up to his mama’s standards.

[Daphne – I think there are more serious issues. She will never have a proper sexual relationship and then after 20 years of that, he’ll come out of his increasingly transparent closet and have a very public affair with an exotic African designer. I have seen it happen to others and I will not be in the least bit surprised. This is a massive case of sublimation if I have ever seen one.]

If she does not have any self-respect, her parents are responsible to push her to seriously think about her future. She will spend her life competing with this situation in the videos below, and it is clear who will be the odd-one-out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x05hYt7pOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=IyONMu8HMWA&NR=1