Comments made in public last week, by the Minister of Education and by Mr Mario Philip Azzopardi are shameful and harmful and both persons deserve to be removed from their post.

When addressing a PL activity on 30 November, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo described the Opposition as a party that is trying to become a virgin again.  He went on to describe a procedure which is used to re-construct the hymen.  Do not mistake the condemnation as being about the superficial.  It is the sexualisation of politics which stirs the protest here.

This is about what is on the mind of all the over-sexed labour MPs and what they communicate to their electorate and the population.    It was Joseph Muscat who spoke over and again, in the last campaign, about responsibility and accountability.  Both him and his Minister should take responsibility now and be accountable for the harm they are doing in sexualizing politics in this way taking us back by decades.  Much behaviour at present , though private in itself, but evident in public, is serving to diminish values of honesty and integrity and to erode the  higher standards which should be held by people in the public sphere.  Eat, drink and be merry seems to be a perk of the job these days and Christmas breaks are coming early, if not throughout the year.

I would have expected to hear some statement about the remarks made by Mr Bartolo, coming from the Education Ministry itself, the Department of Education, the Church as a provider of Education and also the newly set-up Lisa Marie Foundation which seeks to clarify boundaries of adults working with children and so, indirectly, monitors potential hazards in inappropriate behaviour.  Having been uttered by the Minister for Education himself, the responsibility and repercussions fall immediately in the sphere of education.

The words are typical of people who are stuck in the 50s and still objectify women and think they own and have a right to instrumentalise the female gender and female gender issues.  In parliament, the trend has been getting stronger over these past months for MPs to make snide remarks, unlaughable jokes and sick comments about women whilst knowing where to glance as they make them.  Collectively, they are now trying to feminize the whole of the Nationalist Party because they breed and thrive, as many unfortunate Maltese men do, on the idea that they are the macho, Putin-like chest-bangers who will put women in their place.  It is also a reaction to their own weakness.

Angela Merkel's quote about Putin places it right on the spot:  "I understand why he has to do this - to prove he's a man," Merkel said. "He's afraid of his own weakness."

Sensing the rise of popularity of the Opposition and its leader and facing a barrage of failures and criticisms, the Government side have quickly resorted to using gender attacks in order to justify their own weakness, just as any bully would.

I should like to see both male and female MPs condemn these remarks and the attitude that is being cultivated.  The Speaker of the House should also ensure that the trend is stopped before it is too late as should the Labour Party secretary.

The repercussions on youth and culture cannot be dismissed.  In the UK a Labour frontbencher was sacked for apparently sneering at a white van driver whose modest home is decked with England flags.  How much so should a Minister be sacked for these feminist remarks?  Not to mention that the line of attack, in itself is so ignorant and from another era.

Another meltdown, this time as a rant on Islam,  came to us from the prospective candidate for Artistic Director of the Valletta 2018 project, Mario Philip Azzopardi.  The Association of Performing Rights Practitioners has expressed its disappointment at the choice and strongly recommends that the Government and the Minister of Culture and the Foundation reconsider this appointment. 

This government is really falling to low levels and trying to take the country with it.  It is in panic mode and having been resurrected from its 25-year slumber it has woken up thinking that the world is still the same place it was back then.  During the electoral campaign, the marketing minds tried to pre-empt this perception by saying they will not resort to violence.  But nothing can control the prejudices and infantile behaviour of such a bunch of unfit for purpose relics from the past. 

Can they never just do politics?  Does it always have to become ridicule and dismantling of order?  Is the country willing to wait until the five years are up in order to express their views?  Isn't it time that the public demands higher standards and speaks up to protest the deceit and damage being caused by such irresponsible and vulgar speech wherever it comes from?  The Forum for Equal Opportunities and the Women's Association of the PN have both issued strong statements but more needs to be done.  Some sectors take pleasure in hearing derogatory remarks and even admire them.  It gives them something to re-assure themselves with because otherwise they cannot explain the anger and resentment they feel inside.  But for many more, the mentality of the few is abusive and unworthy and lets down not just themselves but the country as a whole, leaving us with another generation of fools and possibly worse.