What clearly emerged after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi tinkered with the Cabinet on Tuesday evening is his total grip on what is going on within his own ranks.

It would have been easy for Dr Gonzi to placate the storm on the backbench behind him by giving official roles to a number of unhappy MPs.

But that would have meant that he would have succumbed to the whining of the backbenchers. It would have seemed that, with Dr Gonzi, if you complained you got what you wanted. Such appointments would have been tantamount to admitting that he was no longer in control.

Secondly, it would have gone against his promise of a small Cabinet. Dr Gonzi’s pledge of a leaner team was maintained at a time when he could have used Mr Dalli’s resignation to change things completely. That he did not shows his full confidence in the ministers and parliamentary secretaries he appointed in March 2008.

No doubt the backbenchers are not a happy lot. Mr Dalli’s move to Brussels opened up an opportunity for them, but the door was once again shut in their face, perhaps once and for all. How they will behave from now on is a big question mark, but they should have understood by now that no amount of moaning will push the Prime Minister to change his mind. If anything, it will make him go in the opposite direction.

Thirdly, any shifting of ministers and the appointment of new Cabinet members would have signified a lack of confidence in his current team. If he had moved ministers from one portfolio to another, or made new appointments, Dr Gonzi would have been making a tacit declaration that he was correcting his own mistakes.

As it happened, what he did was simply re-distribute Mr Dalli’s ministry – which was necessary because of his resignation – and shift, in a reduced way, some responsibilities from one Cabinet member to another to improve efficiency.

The bulk of the changes affected mostly Minister Dolores Cristina, who has been entrusted with most of Mr Dalli’s portfolio but “lost” culture to Mario de Marco. Mrs Cristina can now look forward to continuing her sterling work in the education sector, where several reforms are taking place, while at the same time going back to some of the responsibilities she dealt with in her time as Social Policy Minister in the previous term.

As expected, Dr Gonzi took the opportunity to hand over the environment to Dr de Marco too, considering that last summer he was made responsible for the Mepa reform. To my mind, Dr de Marco deserved a promotion to minister, judging by the large portfolio he now holds and his performance so far, but even here there is a reason why this did not happen. Before the election, Dr Gonzi had promised to take the environment under his wing and if he had handed it over completely to Dr de Marco, it would have meant that the Prime Minister was reneging on his word.

It is good to note that Dr Gonzi has listened to suggestions that the self-employed should have their own parliamentary secretary. The appointment of Jason Azzopardi fills the gap that has existed since the election, and will go a long way towards re-establishing the links that Edwin Vassallo had worked so hard to build before the last election.

It was a natural choice to appoint Joe Cassar as the new Health Minister. Dr Cassar has learnt the ropes well in less than two years, and having been behind the launch of the reform in primary health care he was the ideal choice for the job.

* * *

Roses are the symbol of love. Today, Valentine’s Day, millions of roses will be delivered to homes or given directly from one partner to another as a sign of love and commitment.

Mankind did not cheat itself when it chose roses as the epitome of this sentiment. Roses do not last long, they are difficult flowers to grow and they have a thorn.

In other words, they signify an emotion that can wilt quickly once the initial passion is over, is hard to nourish and can hurt.

You may keep the petals of roses for posterity, but they are dry and can be broken easily; just a reminder of something that was once beautiful but is today just a memory.

It would have been better if love could be represented by gerbera daisies, which are brighter and more cheerful flowers, are easier to take care of and last longer. Their freshness and attractiveness is unique, and their bigger size fills up a room more than roses do. Most of all, they do not have thorns.

If love could be brighter, more colourful and without pain, like gerbera daisies, then the world would be a much better place in which to live.

* * *

Three centuries before Jesus Christ was born, the philosophical Greeks were already debating love issues, coming up with the phrase that is now more predominantly linked to Shakespeare: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

And it’s true. What is beautiful to me may not be beautiful to others. It’s what is called human chemistry.

Outside beauty is nowhere near as important as the beauty within. Some women may not be head-turners, but their support and confidence will bring out the best in a man.

They are a better option than, say, green-eyed blondes who are perfect to look at but then squeeze a man’s heart to the last drop and throw it in the gutter.

* * *

Recently, I walked into a supermarket on a Sunday morning to buy an ingredient I needed for preparing lunch. I was new to the place, and I did not know where to look for it. Not to waste time, I approached a young lady who was wearing the supermarket uniform to ask her where I could find that ingredient.

“The second shelf on the right, qalbi,” she replied. Qalbi? I cringed, turned and walked out. For someone like me, who hates even being called “dear” in a letter or email, being addressed as “qalbi” by a complete stranger was stomach-turning.

I had seen this person for the first time in my life, and she called me qalbi. This expression is supposed to be used to address the people who are closest to you, those who love you, not the first man who enters a supermarket on a Sunday morning.

But, alas, this is the artificial way many people look at love these days. If she can say qalbi to someone she was seeing for the first time, what does she call her partner?

* * *

Having a passion about, or a love for, something – it could be anything from music to sport, from art to drama – is positive. It adds spice to life, and can be beneficial to the mind and spirit if it does not become an obsession.

It is better to have a passion than to have a grudge against the world and be so blind with envy that you see conspiracy theories everywhere. It is also better to have a passion for something and enjoy it rather than to believe that you are the world’s second saviour.

[email protected]