@ Jo

Nothing to be sorry about, I was just curious, as I had never heard about this before. Many thanks for taking the time to answer.

John Bundy had an ex-headmistress reminiscing about the difficulties encountered with pocket calculators.

Evarist kept nodding, mela ahseb u ara. Qisu buznanna.

Ridiculous race? Labour’s building a power station and restricting the interconnector to half its capacity.

You’re right, of course. But then again, the Nationalist PR machine left much to be desired. Primarily, it grossly failed to explain much of the government’s decisions, giving Labour a wide berth and leaving its own supporters perplexed.

I get the impression the people knew the government was right all along, but the Nationalist Party failed, time and again, to galvanize the support.

Its energy policy is a case in a point. The Nationalist Party took the right decisions, failed to explain them and allowed Labour to dupe thousands with lies about high utility rates and the BWSC “scandal”.

This without Gonzi, Fenech or Gatt asking Joseph a single question about Labour’s interest in the Bateman offer. Not with the same tenacity, anyway.

As for the rabble-rousing by the GWU/drydockers/bus drivers marmalja, all that was needed was one show of force early on, and we wouldn’t have had any Neanderthals banging on Castille’s door, while the country is paralysed watching them.

They didn’t cause trouble when the army cordoned them off at the Valletta terminus, did they?

Again, the feeling on the ground was anger at the bus drivers/drydockers, not at the government. Gonzi and his ministers missed that, too.

But maybe I am a bit too right-wing for this country.

Still, I do believe there was a chance of Labour losing the next election had the Nationalists persistently shown what it really is. But, then again, with the whole cabinet having to look over its shoulder to fend off the backstabbers, it was nigh impossible.

Remember when bus drivers took to the streets terrorising a coachful of tourists in Floriana?

Or when Austin Gatt’s house was surrounded by pickets walking past the door through the night?

Or when the GWU held mass rallies threatening a general strike with Joseph in the crowd?

I do not think your suggestions are in any way blasphemy, but what you mention requires a responsible opposition which doesn’t look for the first difficulty to throw social partners at government.

What we’ve seen is stakeholders used for their plain isolated interests. Their absolutism is the spanner in the works. He who had promised working hand in hand with government, moderate and contribute to that which is essential.

Joseph didn’t even lift a finger when that Bencini expected to hog the MCESD simply because he couldn’t stick to the CMTU. The polemic disrupted it for years.

Remember the ridiculous objections during the St.Luke’s/Mater Dei emigration? It took ages.

We’ve had Joseph messing with low cost airlines, port workers, customs, even their contribution to renewable energy was a damocles sword hanging over the minister’s head.

Can you take someone seriously when they dismiss feasibility research as a waste of money if the results indicate we shouldn’t concentrate on wind energy?

If Gonzi went ahead as ‘arrogantly’ as they would have us believe, he wouldn’t have lasted the first year.

Blame it on the bloody press, who took it upon themselves to resign this place to a compulsory change in the name of a misguided notion of democratic alternation.

They screwed the agenda with their comments boards taking center stage.

And here we are now, with the same trying to play coy with Labour’s grand design, shocked at their own indolence and bad faith.

It’s not enough, not half enough.

It’s true the country went through a recession and the government had to borrow money and increase spending, and I give credit to the Gonzi administration for doing that so well. But it should have seized that opportunity and restructured the expenditure, especially in social services.

It should have completed the pensions reform, cut benefits, rationalized student stipends and introduced small flat fees in certain areas of healthcare.

Ah, now I’ll get ostracized for just mentioning these.

What you mentioned, Jozef, involved unjustified golden handshakes or a huge injection of capital. I would have expected Austin Gatt, with his bullish attitude and curt statements, to stand his ground and send both the drydockers and the bus drivers packing, and not splurge 50 million euros on each!

The PN’s proposal carries a couple of details which they missed though.

The development of the elearning platform, and the unimaginable ramifications of having teachers wired to students.

The possibility, certainty of involving the IT industry in the development of the system itself.

The knowhow gathered to be shared with other governments, research institutions and the industry.

The development of human capital an industry in itself.

I see a major divide between Labour and the PN.

The former think we have some way to go, the latter happen to be aware we’ve become relevant players.

I don’t see Evarist giving a toss about private enterprise collaborating where it matters to set the pace.

His legitimate concern is to the limits of an incongruous piece of standard kit.

Of such people is this country made. The PM was right yesterday, there’s loads who haven’t a clue what’s going on.

Oh really, I haven’t heard Evarist or Owen expanding on anything about their use except that the PN’s proposal is too ambitious. Not once did they refer to what will be inside.

One telling statement was that they intend to provide inetractive libraries in schools. If that’s the case, why the tablet? Isn’t that the duplication of hardware?

It will be interesting listening to Labour’s arguments, unwittingly giving away their constraints, uncovering some juicy details related to the particular model they have in mind.

Konrad Mizzi all over again. He was IT, should know something.

Prozac – and Nexium tablets.

Ah, distinctions made, clarity provided.

Excellent, so shutting down Malta drydocks, restructuring Airmalta, getting rid of a public transport system dependent on subsidies, privatising sea Malta and packaging Enemalta’s debt isn’t tackling debt.

Nor is getting bashed around the head when the price of energy’s reflected in bills. I suppose the attempts to defeat government with repeated votes of no confidence are a better way.