What a scream – Wenzu Mintoff 'reported' me to the prime minister, or as we said in primary school, he 'cused' me

This is from the most recent newspaper column written by Wenzu the Magnificent Maltese Ox (no, not the one that’s been embalmed for posterity as the last example of its kind). And guess what? It’s in a newspaper part-owned by Saviour Balzan, who draws a discreet veil over the scurrilous scandals involving those who work for him while pursuing the scurrilous scandals of others in the name of truth.

Ħadd u xejn mhu se jbeżżagħni milli ngħid dak li nħoss b’rispett kemm jista’ jkun lejn is-sewwa u fil-limiti tal-etika u tal-liġijiet tal-pajjiż. U l-ebda Daphne Caruana Galizia mhi se ċċaħħadni mid-dritt li ngħid dak li naħseb anki jekk jien u nagħmel dan, ħajti ssir iktar diffiċli f’din l-ispeċi ta’ demokrazija tal-isem li ngħixu fiha. Dwar dan it-theddid fin u inqas fin ta’ Daphne Caruana Galizia, ktibt email lil Prim Ministru Gonzi fejn tlabtu jiddistakka ruħu mill-kitbiet kollha odju u mibegħda ta’ din is-sostenitriċi ferventi tal-partit tiegħu. Imma l-unika risposta li ħadt kienet tgħid li l-Prim Ministru kien irċieva l-messaġġ tiegħi u mill-bqija skiet li jtarrax.

Can you believe these people? They spend years burning down newspaper buildings, persecuting those who criticise them, frightening journalists into submission, ransacking the homes of those who don’t agree with them, and all these years later, after almost two decades in opposition, they still don’t get it. They still don’t understand what freedom of expression is all about. They still think prime ministers are there to stop the naughty journalists from saying naughty things.

Wenzu Mintoff wrote to the prime minister demanding that he distances himself from what I write. He is deeply hurt because the only reply he got was one of those acknowledgement cards that they pop in the post to keep people quiet. What does the prime minister have to do with me, you appalling fool? Is he my father, my husband, my brother, my son, my employer? And even if he were, girls over 18 are autonomous individuals, not chattels as they were in the past, answerable to The Men.

Unbelievably, or perhaps entirely believably, Wenzu Mintoff does not realise the significance of what he has done: writing to the prime minister and asking him to ‘distance himself’ from a journalist’s articles. What are you going to do when the prime minister is Joseph Muscat and you have access to the corridors of power, Wenzu? Find a couple of thugs and send them round? Organise a couple of jerrycans and a box of matches? No, you believe you’re above that. So you take the polite route, and suggest that the prime minister gives me a strict talking to. Oh baby, do you belong with the Labour Party!