Not such a great performance, Prime Minister

Looks like the magic has worn off. It wasn’t just what they said or how they said it, either. The stark difference was also visual.

Muscat looked a nervous shambles, shirt hanging out at one point, trousers slipping down, dramatic weight loss that comes across as the result of illness rather than fitness, jerking and shifting to make his unimpressive points.

Busuttil, shaping up nicely under what is clearly proper guidance, looked as though he’d stepped out of a bandbox – expensive, pristine shirt, perfectly-fitting suit, and that barber Gland Bustingfield told us about clearly did an excellent job.

Muscat is probably a lot better than Busuttil on a one-to-one charm offensive basis, but you don’t win elections one-to-one. Eddie Fenech Adami was a complete non-starter on a one-to-one basis, and stayed that way right up until the end. Nobody could ever accuse him of personal charm.

This is the latest screenshot from The Malta Independent’s online poll.