L-isbah wiehed, I apologise if I misunderstood you.

Jozef, clientelism does not work because it pits people against each other in a tribalist war.

What happens if I have the construction of a room on my roof approved by my minister (padrone) at your detriment as it now obstructs your view of the sea? You have no say as your representative (padrone) is not in power.

The party should definitely not go back to its roots. A good number of the voters leaving PN are doing so because of the PN’s conservative stance on many social issues (divorce, civil unions etc).

Agreed. The sooner Mario Demarco declares unequivocally he has no intention of challenging Simon Busuttil for leadership, the better for the PN.

Grace has its moments. The inherited duo may in fact, subscribe to the idea that their memorial could be in the way.

When one hears Busuttil was all for the civil unions bill but had to maintain an internal peace, out of his characteristic sense of loyalty, implies anything similar repeating itself will destroy him. If Maltatoday’s graph is anything to go by, which they usually are, Busuttil has the perfect argument why no-one can threaten with resignation anymore. That, if I may, was absolutely not on.

Busuttil has the alibi to take over the party and direct it back to an incorporation of all values out there. Values which haven’t yet been recognised as being in sintony with the PN.

But boy, is there common ground. It is up to Busuttil to stop apologising for the PN. Team PN was the wedge between GonziPN and the future. That future is now.

I won’t refuse his statement were he to declare a break with the past. Nor would Lawrence Gonzi.

His predecessor did the unthinkable, consider this place grown-up. So Malta panicked and preferred informal intimacy.

Lesson learnt, policy being an art. Muscat built himself on a promise he can’t refuse. Busuttil has the freedom to go beyond that and propose back.

I dunno albona, l-isbah wiehed mentions a genuine problem, sincere enough to come here and talk.

As for the Sicilian, frankly speaking, I’m starting to get a tad tired of condemning outright this way of doing things. If we have to go beyond it, at least we could consider it a natural state.

And by that I do not condemn or impose it.

I was under the impression politics was also about people and not some abstract set of rules which inscindible nature leaves the space to those who will make use of clientelism to keep us back.

Renzi won back Sicily from the Cinque Stelle yesterday. Now if we want to label him a socialist and the Cinque Stelle a bunch of loonies, please bear in mind corrupt practices were augmented by Berlusconi’s supposed liberal right.

Grillo’s success in Sicily had been about getting rid of any collusion between a political class riddled with the behaviour you mention and a criminal underworld.

I voted, every time, but I can assure you, there were times when my rights were considered as some concession by a bureacratic machine which had been left to fester.

Some archaic, feudal laws, which should have been tackled aeons ago weren’t ever recognised as being the poison trickling into the social pact established in 1987.

The result was a bunch of authorities left to ‘interpret’ fundamental rights foremost amongst these, one’s property,

Whether that was part of Labour’s plan remains to be seen. All I can say is that the PN administration seemed unwilling to take stake of such a possibility.

What matters at this stage is the radical rethinking of how government works. That lessons be learnt. Going by Muscat’s mentality, he has no intention of changing or trim any of that monstrosity, just use it to keep his clutches on our lives.

Seems that you belong with Labour with that kind of thinking.

Of course…most people are ignorant and the few ‘elite’ who follow Daphne’s blog are intelligent professionals.

Pfff….no wonder why people have, and will cotninue to, vote PL. Once this mentality changes, then most people would think about voting PN again.

[Daphne – It is indeed a fact that most people in any given country are ignorant, most spectacularly in the world’s largest democracy, the United States of America – so there is nothing new in what I say. It is simply a statement of fact. Elections are all about persuading the ignorant, the intellectually challenged, the prejudiced and the indifferent. All others will work things out for themselves regardless.]

The PN has lost its way, and has become an insipid version of what it was even 5 years ago. We tried to reform it, but the lawyers and the vested interests inside wouldn’t even let us get into the door.

I also cannot stomach the fact that Simon Busuttil fence sits, especially on the hunting issue. I am sure that if he didn’t do this, the result would have been better.

I don’t respect or like weakness in leaders. Busuttil is weak, Beppe Fenech Adami is very lazy, and Mario Demarco is a schemer who I will not like to see as leader. He did a lot of harm in the previous government, and Gonzi here was at fault for trusting him with MEPA.

This is definetly not the case. I do not want to harm the PN so I won’t get into details, but I couldn’t believe the answer I got. And what I needed had nothing to do with placements, or any other type of favouritism. I needed help for a genuine problem my special needs kid was facing.

The abstainers come in here and tell us how awful Labour are. Yet they still can’t be bothered to go out and vote for the Nationalist Party.

Unbelievable.