I am no great fan of the Lou Bondì style of haranguing/ interviewing that has become the hallmark of Bondiplus.

The format is too much about Lou’s ego and not enough about the person being interviewed. The programme is too much about Lou’s apparent sense of superiority than the personality in the studio.

However, I am still not in favour of the programme being axed, though I think Lou could have been more forcibly encouraged to change style and conduct an even better programme than he already does, rather than this silly decision taken to remove what is, probably and by far, still the best discussion programme on PBS.

Last Tuesday night, when the former Rector of the University, Father Peter Serraccino Inglott, was being interviewed the programme came into its own. It is in fact a programme PBS should air from time to time, to remind us all that there are thankfully some people on this island who do have the intellectual capacity, the love and the confidence to address issues, which concern us all, in an out of the box and ultimately very humane way.

Perhaps because for once Lou appeared genuinely interested in his subject. Perhaps because for once we were able to listen to one of the very, very few persons on this island who still expresses a freedom, an originality of thought that would be so welcome in the higher echelons of the Church but is absent, not only in the Church but from among our political classes too.

Father Peter managed to come across as very clever, very human and very religious in a completely non off-putting kind of way. When Lou asked him about whether he had ever contemplated getting married, he said no but if he had he would have liked a Japanese lady because he loves their sense of style, their kimonos which are all similar but all uniquely different. When he talked about clowns as a symbol of Jesus, because they must keep on smiling whatever the adversity, we too, all smiled.

But he made us think too. About our over adulation perhaps of the new Archbishop, who is a great communicator, a great parish priest who can relate to people one to one. But does he have the intellectual capacity to steer the Church clear of the controversies it has created in the past?

Malta is a secular state, or is meant to be. Archbishop after archbishop in Malta has not understood this fact. Hence they simply cannot exert pressure on those who marry civilly not to be allowed to divorce civilly.

Father Peter also calmly reminded us that independent human life probably does not start at the moment of fertilisation, a point worth drumming in to our over zealous campaigning groups.

The latter are the same people who tut-tut that one in five of our births are now out of marriage. The same people who think the purpose of marriage is only to produce children. People will have sex, you know, and if you can’t even have a morning after pill after one night of unprotected sex I am surprised the out-of-marriage birth rate isn’t even higher.

The parallels, too, between Dr Gonzi and the new Archbishop. Both are incredibly nice. Both are likeable communicators. But Dr Gonzi has yet to convince the country that all the Cabinet is working along his lines. Acknowledgement too that this government is tired. He was clear. This is not only a perception; this is a natural fact and the decision to keep the same Cabinet time after time may yet haunt our Premier.

Father Peter was cool, independent, and utterly truthful; it was a cathartic interview. Cathartic because we are too used to listening to the form of lying that is much of political waffle. So we have stopped listening to politicians. We have stopped reading what they write in newspapers, when before we would hang onto their every word. Times have changed and our political classes have not adapted at all.

That suddenly to hear someone who is very much a PN man cheerfully admit to certain things was a great release. You are not disloyal if you say the government is tired. You are not wanting the old style of Labour back if you criticise certain aspects of policy. You are just expressing the freedoms so many fought for so bitterly in the 1970s and 1980s.

Father Peter simply exemplifies how clever people should be. Clever people in my view have a huge obligation to be nice. They are clever enough to know and appreciate the difference. Clever people know where niceness can get you. Very, very few people though who are ostensibly clever in Malta ever bother to practice their niceness.

And they certainly should. This is a silly culture where those who are academically better, or are in some sort of position of power lord it over the others, love being called dottore and the like. Really clever people don’t just think about themselves or their egos. Really clever people are nice and modest. Father Peter is all those things. What really worries me is this: how many Father Peters do we have within the whole spectrum of our political class?

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