The Muscat twins and the prime minister’s mother go to lunch with the Commonwealth spouses

It’s the 21st century, but nothing much has changed: the Commonwealth heads of government are men and the spouses are women, and a couple of days ago the spouses were hosted to lunch by our very own Spouse of the Prime Minister.

She wore one of her 1950s outfits, complete with hat – when was the last time anyone wore a hat to lunch? – and gave them one of her talks. Only this time it wasn’t about how women ‘disappear into tin air’ after they have children, or how women who don’t work are a bad example to their children (ahem).

No, the pep talk was about how they all know what it’s like to be married to a man who is rarely at home because of the demands of public life and work, and how they must do their best to fill in their time in other ways, seeking inspiration in the people they meet, and helping them.

And Mrs Muscat took her children and her mother-in-law to the lunch, too – when that was absolutely no place for children and particularly not for the hostess’s children when there were no other children present – and had them seated at a separate table with her mother-in-law and some women who may or may not have been other relatives too.