Coldwatergate: Guest post by Dire Straits

There are many Labour people I meet during the course of my work; we usually avoid talking about politics. They get all defensive on me and fall back on ‘imma r-rota mhix iddur jew?’. I don’t take it very well.

But I owe Chris Cardona a thank-you. Somehow we can all talk about him and laugh. They smile wryly at me and agree that he’s beyond the pale.

I must have had a dozen conversations about Coldwatergate in the last couple of days, most of them with Labour leaners. Not one single person among them doubts for a second that Cardona was in that brothel. Many have their own story about some friend of a friend who used to go out and get trolleyed with him at strip joints.

But it’s not really about our anything-but-cool Minister for the Economy (hasta la Rivolucion, Chris). It is that he personifies all the sleaze with which this government is awash. He is not the exception whose poor behaviour has let the cabinet down. He’s the lecherous, corrupt and greedy sod who perfectly exemplifies that cabinet.

We can picture him all too easily: pasty, pink flab jiggling a little, probably sporting goosebumps from that terribly cold water – “Il-liba kemm hu kiesah man” – ogling those poor girls on the couch before picking one to share with Joe, his Policy Officer (vera wertit). Whoever bravely took them on, I hope they tipped her well. But I very much doubt it.

In around a year’s time there will be an election. It is absolutely vital that we get rid of this scum and put in a proper government again, one that we might not always agree with, but one that doesn’t embarrass us and let us down at every turn.

We need to rally together and get behind Simon Busuttil. He’s whipping the Nationalist Party nicely into shape, he’s laying hard and cleverly into the government (though you might not always know it by the way it’s covered in the press), and the series of policy documents which have been released show that this is not just an opposition, but a government in waiting.

If you’re still not convinced, take the time to have a look at the Environment document he has just published – flick through it and see if it is not closer to the Malta that you want than the second-hand ‘Dubai fil-Mediterran’ that this sleazy lot want to create.

Labour will be tough to beat. They start with a massive majority, they will attempt to buy favour with public cash like there’s no tomorrow, and the economy is still maxed out on construction industry/sale-of-citizenship steroids.

But they can be beaten. As long as we all rally round and make it happen; and as long as we don’t snipe at each other and keep our eye firmly on the correct target.