Not too bad a show for the first 100 days plus a few. After all, when a baby starts to walk, he needs not just his hands held but his whole body. So, for a baby running the marathon, this government has not performed too badly.

But, unlike a baby walking or running, this government had quite some time to plan what to do when it was elected. It also had a lot of pledges, promises and platitudes to honour. It promised so much that, in fact, it outdid itself and is now trying hard to accommodate everyone. And, except for blaming others for anything wrong under the sun and for dishing out transfers galore, the government led by Joseph Muscat has done practically nothing. And this after promising that, as from day 1, they were more than ready – with plans and road maps – to take over and run the country efficiently.

In a recent speech, the Prime Minister said that not all ministries have really set off. To be honest, I thought they were all having a day-long, never-ending siesta. There has been no new measure, no new idea, no new opening to make sure our employment remains buoyant.

The ministers are so unprepared to run the marathon, The PN team, with all their troubles, did a fine job of running not just one marathon but a few of them, and all very successfully. The Labour ministers are so unprepared for running the marathon, or even taking a walk, that some have already been replaced or had their responsibilities hived off.

These toddlers run and run and all they do is tumble and fall. Dr Simon Busuttil, and all his team, shouted blue murder at what was happening in the secret services. The PN was accused of fomenting confusion and of being trouble-makers. Then, a few days later, government officials admitted we were right to worry and the Prime Minister accepted Dr Busuttil’s request for a meeting of the security committee. All was explained and cleared and the PN is now satisfied that everything is in order in the security sector. This has to be commended – this is the way forward.

The PN is a serious, responsible party and its role in the current circumstances warrants that it will oppose – strongly, when necessary – but it will act even more responsibly in discussing and resolving. Its duty is to act as guardian and lash out when things are not done properly.

This is a far cry from what we saw when Labour was in Opposition, just a few months ago. Responsibility called for the Opposition to vote for the budget with which they agreed, but they did not – because their own selfish reasons demanded that they agree with a PN dissenter to cause more hardship to the government of the day.

The Labour Party should have voted in favour not to save the government but to save the budget and to ascertain that the government – irrespective of what colour or size – would implement the budget measures with which both parties agreed. If you agree with the government, and you are responsible, you say so and go beyond the saying – in our case the PN voted with government when the budget was discussed because the measures were good not for Labour or Nationalist voters but for everyone. That is how responsible the PN has been, still is and will always be. How different to Labour in Opposition.

The Labour party in power is finding that what can be easily achieved while sitting on a fence criticising anyone or anything as long as you gather more prospective votes is hardly the way to govern. Now is the time to dump slogans, fire marketing gurus, bury painted smiles and pull up those sleeves to really get down to the tough job of governing. Your hands might get grubby but that’s the only way forward.

It was hardly an easy ride for the PN when they were in government. But they did their utmost and did wonders for the country. It would be a terrible shame if the babies now trying to run the marathon with no one to guide them and prop them up were to threaten the wealth and well-being of our nation. We have all worked too hard to lose even part of it. In fact, ironically, were the PN still in government, no one would have doubted or worried about us losing our hard-won status and everyone, including die-hard Labourites, would have been expecting our lot to get better.

That is the way of this country – with the PN in power the country moves ahead while with Labour we are already worried about losing what we have.