If there was an opinion poll about Malta’s intellectual elite do you think the majority would know who these people are in Malta? I certainly don’t.

Yet, if you had to ask the public about the political elite they would understand that better. The political elite definitely exists in Malta, and we know who the members are.

I was therefore, more than a little perturbed to read that our deputy Prime Minister, no less, thinks so little of Malta’s so-called intellectual elite, in an article he wrote in The Times last week. First of all, I am not really sure what he is talking about. Are the columnists and opinion writers in our newspapers an elite now?

He was basically attacking all those who are not in favour of entrenching the anti-abortion clause in our Constitution. He very proudly declared that 88 per cent agreed with him and therefore accused the so-called intellectual elite of being out of synch with the general public.

Well, if we are always going to go on the moral majorities argument I hope we are going to be consistent! Is Dr Tonio Borg going to follow and act on what the majority honestly think we should do with illegal immigrants? I doubt it and I hope not.

If he had to act on what the public think, we would be classed the racist pariahs of Europe, as most people do not want them here and think they should be all sent back. Another example. Will this Parliament, or any other, legalise capital punishment if the majority of the public wanted it? It would, after all, only take a bout of murderous street crime to change the majority’s view on this subject.

I think it would have been more prudent, both politically and otherwise, for the deputy PM to balance the massa view with the view of those who answered a poll in The Times. In that poll only around 55 per cent were in favour of this move. It seemed even The Times were cautious when this result came out, and stated it did not necessarily represent a majority view, which it clearly did not, as the 88 per cent result shows. However it does show something of a moral divide that no political party, and especially in Malta where we are divided so neatly, can just rely on diehards to win an election

But for a seasoned politician to ignore what The Times’ readers think is a little unwise. Are these to be swept away with this intellectual elite tag? It is fairly obvious that the view of many middle class, thinking, intellectual (call them what you will) people, is not at all enthusiastic about this proposal. The government, spearheaded by Tonio Borg on this initiative, may be reading the massa right on this issue, but it is not reading those thinking floaters who, election after election since 1987, have actually voted PN even though their upbringing and their moral inclinations are either more red than blue, or have always been blue but of the independent thinking sort.

These are people who think. These are people who read newspapers. These are people who even bother to read a columnist’s article from beginning to end. I am always amazed when someone approaches me with a view on something I wrote, sometimes ages before, which they remember in detail, which means they not only read it completely, but thought about it enough to give me feedback. I appreciate these people very much. They may not be majority, but having more people who think and bother to read is surely something we should aspire to.

Are we just proud of being a country of mobile phone users, or internet connecters? Is there not some value to people reading, thinking and forming their own opinions?

They are definitely not in the majority here, but does this make them second-class citizens? What on earth is the deputy PM doing being on the attack against his core supporters? I have written consistently for the last year on why the PN seems to be giving up on being (perception wise at least) a party of aspiration and vision, but seems determined to become a blue version of the MLP.

This at a time when, as an individual, we have the best PM we could have. A man who is actually well-liked and respected by the majority of reds, blues and greens, and especially by those who think, by those who read newspapers, by those who have minds of their own.

A lot of good is happening right now. We have, for example, a good, balanced domestic violence bill.

I never thought I would see the day when nice guys from the PN attack people who think and have an independent point of view. Most of these used to vote PN, you know. Pandering to the massa may be necessary for political survival, but both from a political survival and from a moral view I think it was unwise to attack and label those who do not agree with the majority as an out of touch elite.

Who is really out of touch?