This week I had a fair few things in my diary. By far the most pertinent of these were the passing away of Mrs Fenech Adami and the divorce vote in parliament

My first thought goes to our dear Mrs Fenech Adami, a Sliema football supporter. Whenever we won the league, we went to meet the president of Malta and presented Mrs Fenech Adami with a Sliema shirt. My condolences go to the family. I hope they find the courage to move forward in life.

I held my annual summer barbecue on Friday for friends, just hours after her passing. Quite unusually for me, I gave a small speech and dedicated a one minute of silence to Mrs Fenech Adami. The 500 people present obliged before breaking into a moving and rousing applause. A proper and fitting moment.

The second reading of the divorce Bill is over. We all had our share of talking time and MPs finally expressed their views on the subject. My personal view was consistent even before the campaign; that I would respect the popular vote, the same vote that made me an MP. When I became an MP, I took an oath to be faithful and loyal to the people.

That oath encapsulates the meaning of a democracy and Christian values and I could not vote against.

If I voted no, I would have made fools out of the electorate and I would have made a mockery out of the oath that I had taken.

We got the answer from the people, albeit at an expense of some €4 million, and if this message, along with a whole lot of other messages are not heeded, then we surely will lose the plot. I was against divorce in our first vote prior to the referendum.

I do believe that the Nationalist Party will read the writing on the wall, and will start heeding the people. Arrogance has been thrown out, and the people’s will must be sovereign.

I am worried about the new buzzword, ‘conscience’, that has recently started going round. I hope we are not setting a precedent that can, eventually, be used badly, and too freely.

I cannot finish off my piece without mentioning the importance that my recent articles were given, in this newspaper and others. I am grateful as it highlights a situation that is real, and on the ground.

If someone was unaware, then they now have become aware, of the issues I recently raised about Sliema and parts of St Julian’s. Lying is a form of defence, and the more one lies, the more one believes his own stories. Add a dose of promises and you have the right recipe to bake arrogance and fool the voter. You must, however, go for a different voter each time, as the promises are invariably not kept. Asking the people to back you, then changing the goalposts, is not on for most people.

I am not in the business of fooling people. I hope the readers will enjoy summer and after the final vote in parliament at the end of July, will get some respite from all the issues that have taken up so much attention. Happy holidays.

Robert Arrigo is parliamentary assistant in the Finance Ministry