What kind of man boasts that he’s not scared of another man?

Malta must be the only society I know of where it is considered completely normal for grown men and women to use the playground taunt “I’m not scared of you”, fully unaware of how emotionally retarded and ridiculous they look, and how in fact it makes them sound the opposite: that they really are “scared of you”.

And in his debut speech as party leader, Adrian Delia has done the same, saying: “I’m not scared of Joseph Muscat.” And the obvious thing to think there is: “He bloody well is scared of Muscat because otherwise he wouldn’t have said it.”

When men (or women, for that matter) consider other men their equals or inferiors, they don’t go around saying that they’re not scared of them. In normal society, men don’t go around saying that they’re not scared of other men even when they have plenty of reasons to be afraid. You just don’t do it, not when you’re older than 12.

By saying that he’s not scared of Muscat, Delia has made himself look an even bigger wimp than he looked already, and by default put Muscat into the stronger position.