You are correct, Daphne. Thanks for the memory aid.

The logical conclusion to this is to recommend that David Casa has to sacrifice his position in the EU and relocate himself back in Malta working solely on national political issues.

He is a very good communicator and respected too.

There were masses of people working on that.

Busuttil did an excellent job but he addressed the technical issues in a technical way for people with a technical frame of mind.

He was the most prominent face of the campaign to ‘Sliema’ types, many of whom then voted for Arnold Cassola instead of him.

But if you want my honest view – purely as a communicator – I will tell you that David Casa did as much in addressing a completely different sector of people.

Talking heads and the chattering classes never noticed him and the huge impact he had because his audience was made up largely of what they would call ‘hamalli’ (all of whom have a vote).

Casa had a drive-time show on Radio 101 every single workday, and I always listened to it. I made a point of listening to it because I enjoyed it. It was a brilliant exercise in communication – perfectly tuned and perfectly targeted.

People – ordinary people of all sorts – would phone in, sometimes with the most absurd difficulties and questions, and he would reassure them in a way and in a language that they understood and to which they could relate.

That is exactly why he was elected in the first place.

Important statements should be released before the start of the working day, when everyone’s commuting to work, or surfing the web for news at the office.