Why? Because we have Salvu the saviour now?

Yes, well – except for the fact that I’m left with the distinct impression that you don’t think I’m an arsehole at all, but rather the opposite. In any case, like those other insults which are the male and female reproductive organs, arsehole is an insult applied only to men.

You’re an arsehole, Daphne.

There, nothing wrong with that. Most people are, anyway, so she’s not alone.

This is not your poxy party we’re talking about. It’s the country.

He did? How ridiculous.

His raw rants strike a chord with many of those who, like him, feel deceived and betrayed by Muscat. He is attacked but never ignored; he cannot be ignored.

He is an extreme non-conformist, rejecting the conformity even of the self-styled ‘dissenters’, among whom it is fashionable to diss both political parties (but especially the Nationalist Party). Mallia’s unashamedly partisan outbursts disconcert them even though they should, in theory, subscribe to most of his liberal principles.

As an example, one of my biggest surprises recently was to see Alex Vella Gera, arguably the lewdest and coarsest of Maltese-language writers, tut-tutting about Mallia’s use of ‘rude’ words.