Angus Black, please be certain that I did not miss the facts.

ad 1: Maybe there were two possibilities, namely, the possibility to which you refer and the possibility that GonziPN would have come out ethically, morally and politically stronger, had GonziPN there and then ad hoc renounced Jeffrey’s help. Retrospectively, one may be more clever but one can hardly ever have a guarantee a priori.

ad 2. I understand the consideration but I have to ask myself whether the painful 4 years in government will now possibly lead to more years in opposition. Allow me to emphasise that I personally would not yet bet much money on a PL election victory, regardless of the current voxpop and electorate euphoria.

The grey cells in my brain tell me to disagree with your last paragraph. At the moment, I cannot convince myself that Jeffrey is out of the equation. Indeed, he might now even be stronger enrooted in the equation.

Hence, I cannot opine that the PN Executive is “reading the tea leaves right”. On the contrary, I must fear that the PN Executive is dangerously fumbling with cold coffee and stale beer.

Issa jiddobba ftit zejt minn wicc Joe Mizzi li ma kellux kuragg jidher xhud ghal JPO nhar it-Tlieta li ghaddiet.

Kodardi.

Leo Said, what you have missed is the fact that the Nationalist Party was only made aware of the situation on 6 March, two days before polling day. They had choices to make.

1. Admit to JPO’s underhanded deal and risk the possibility that the whole party would go down with him.

2. Press on with JPO’s candidacy and hope for the best, as they say, in Maltese, ‘Mill mitluf wiehed jiehu li jista’, and luckily and by a razor-thin majority Malta gained four more years of Nationalist government however painful it turned out to be for the PM.

They read the situation correctly and went for number two. This gives credence to my analysis that the PN Executive, even now, are capable of reading the tea leaves right. Not that this time there is joy in reading them, but with Jeffrey out of the equation, it seems an easier task.

[ 5,100 constituents gave me their first preference vote in the last general elections, which I contested on the PN ticket. I will, out of respect for the clear mandate they honoured me with, continue to collaborate in the implementation of the measures outlined in the PN electoral programme for 2008. ]

But then why did you push for divorce? Or was your intention to drive a wedge in between your fellow MPs?

HYPOCRITE

You are not worthy to hold a seat as our representative! Resign and make way for a decent man or woman.

Maryanne, let me affirm your comment and piggyback on it with this.

There is a reason Richard Cachia Caruana and Austin Gatt are so hated by JP(OS) and others, and by the collective PL. By virtue of the positive (and sometimes abrasive) characteristics they share, they are beacons of rationality who are passionate (in the clarity of vision) to their skillful service to MALTA through the vehicle of the PN, the only political party with the capacity for the mission.

These two persons, Mr Cachia Caruana and Dr Gatt, over the long years of their executive/ministerial service to Drs Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi as prime ministers, have together brought about the generational transformation of Malta post-1987.

The enemies of rationality and vision, of course, would have their heads on a platter, as both Mr Cachia Caruana and Dr Gatt have been wont to burst many a bubble and ambition of Dr Alfred Sant, and they stand in the way of the present aspirations of the PL for their “Movement.”

Along the way of engineering progressive and successful politics through the wilderness of irrationality in the Maltese political environment, these two servants have always been a magnet for their opponents.

And the forces within the PL (and a few certain PN or Ex-PN MPs) are not rational. The PL (and the others) could have achieved their political goals far more easily if they had adopted a truly rational approach.

However, “truth” and “rationality” are inseparable allies, and therefore there is a natural reason for the PL’s inability to adapt, discard, apologize, and amend, and to adopt rationality and sound reason as a standard for what otherwise is its skip.

Irrelevant – they can expel him from the party (he beat them to it) but they cannot expel him from the parliamnet unless he commits a criminal offence.

[Daphne – I actually think he wanted them to expel him, Raphael, as that would have given him an excuse to bring down the government.]

Jew juzah ghalissa u ma jtih xejn la jitla t-tarag ta’ Kastilja.

I cannot believe how far this man has gone in his hatred towards Richard Cachia Caruana. He is blinded by hatred and jealousy and has lost his morals and principles, if he had any to begin with.

He has become Labour’s puppet, and will be discarded by them when they are finished with him.