I will give him a chance up till Christmastime when the budget debate ends.

My “excuses” for Simon Busuttil are:

1. he’s busy putting the party’s financial situation in order;

2. giving enough rope to Labour to hang themselves;

3. playing the same populist game Muscat played when the latter was in opposition.

I am hoping he will fall on Muscat like a ton of bricks when the holidays are over by starting his speech: “Your holidays are over…”.

I agree. I’m sick of seeing Simon Busuttil’s photos of practically every village feast. At least, he hasn’t uploaded another photo of his coffee (yet).

You and Daphne appear to be our only hope. Daphne this is one of your best posts, a true assessment of the current situation within the PN, and of course Malta.

At least in Mintoff’s time we had Eddie Fenech Adami giving people with an ounce of sense and a bit of hope.

Busuttil is pathetic at best and incompetent at worst. In the past 5 months despite the assaults on democracy committed by this government and by the Labour Party, including but not limited to the appointment of incompetent persons to sensitive positions (ambassadors, MEPA), the creation of new positions for those who had been promised payment in return for campaign services rendered (Willy Mangion, Frederick Testa) and the blatant disregard for human rights (pushbacks), the Opposition has been silent apart from a few weak press statements, rebutted by the government as though the Opposition is making a mountain out of a molehill.

This is both frightening and ridiculous. This is NOT the Nationalist Party, which seems to have as much trouble learning how to be in Opposition as Labour is having learning how to be the government.

Jesus Christ, Muscat, after being stopped from violating those poor souls’ human rights tells an EU commissioner “take them to your country” and the Opposition stands idly by and does not kick up a storm of protest to SHOW people here just how shocking it is for a prime minister to say something as rude, cheap and antagonistic as that.

Marlene Farrugia, a Labour MP, took a stronger stand against the government on this matter than the Opposition did. The way we’ll end up in five years’ time will not just be the government’s fault but also the Opposition’s.

Mario DeMarco was glad and relieved he wasn’t elected

I don’t know what we’d do without HER. She’s the last voice of reason left in Malta.

…hawkish PN Leader? I doubt however, if the PN is capable of finding any such leader on board. Dr Eddie Fenech Adami was a great leader, but can hardly be called hawkish.

By all means go and be seen but do you have to post photos on FB and be seen to be doing virtually nothing else.

How disappointing.

As for the rest, apart from Jason Azzopardi, it’s as if they have fallen off the planet. Is it too much to hope that there is a real strategy here somewhere.

This is not the stagnant and sterile politcs of the European Parliament where you have a café au lait et un croissant with anyone and everyone and where there is little need to look over one’s shoulder.

National politics requires ruthlessness and political tussles, constantly keeping the government to account.

Reaction time needs to be instantaneous unlike the European Parliament where MEPs have months to ponder the one two-minute paragraph they are going to read out to a largely empty parliament.

Conclusion, Simon Busuttil is not right for this job.