It has been an interesting October, following a barren summer, in terms of serious news and developments. Lets start from the closest developments and move backwards. Well globetrotting PM Joseph Muscat is off abroad yet again. And once again to serve as a salesman for Henley and Partners. He's been to London, Miami and New York; and now Singapore. All this is besides the Henley sales seminar held in Malta, where our Prime Minister also got engaged as a sales clerk by a company which seemingly has him within their hold.  Sometimes I wonder what his real interest is, considering that no Prime Minister should take on the role of salesman. Why were the Henley guys chosen to sell our passports? And is this the only hope our Government has of collecting some cash (and I ask how much so far; and how much in all; and where is the agreement with these people - why is Joseph Muscat afraid of publishing it? Perhaps something serious to hide?) to finance its seemingly wild promises of reducing electricity tariffs for households and businesses.

Which leads us to another development, or rather non-development, where, one, the power station project will not be ready on time, and, two, the omnipotent Prime Minister has refused to resign on this issue, as he had solemnly pledged to do before the 2013 general elections. These are guts for you! And it interestingly seems that he might very well be a scapegoat at the end of the day. His hysterical declarations in Parliament about George Pullicino, trying to deflect attention from his grave shortcomings, are a sign of panic and desperation. He is the sacrificial lamb, placed on the altar of deceit before the last general elections and proved to be a trump card with regards to the gullible. They bought the rantings of this sleek and smooth man. And the point is that whatever happens, and whatever new deadlines may be met, Konrad Mizzi (at least) has already failed miserably and should go.

I never believed that the Prime Minister would keep his word (notwithstanding declarations he repeated after the general elections), but Mizzi who may have misled him (sic), must now pay for his misdeeds and unnecessary and absolute pomposity. There is so much more to say, including the tactical declaration by the PM that 58c COLA increase is not enough. Of course it is not. And I would have bet my last dollar on him saying that. Now he will give some more - at least to some. All in all is the PL already drowning?

Moving on, the PN Convention held over the last weekend was a very important exercise. It has finally brought the PN back to its grassroots. It was the most important development in the reformation of the party during the last eighteen months. It is important to set up policy groups and professional units, but it is mainly the grass roots who must be reined in. PN leader Simon Busuttil was highly impressive, both in content and delivery/presentation, opening up himself and his party to the "people". But, that being said, the PN must not open itself up against its principles. The basic principles must be upheld. I do not mean conservative principles alone. I am a bit of a liberal myself, but there are limits. Yet I voted against divorce, though I was in favour of civil unions, though not in the way they were equated to marriage, and would certainly oppose adoption by gay couples (as a couple not as one of the partners, which is already perfectly legitimate today). But now we have talk of discussing abortion and euthanasia. This is going too far and the Nationalist Party is going too far. It may very well be neutralising some of the positive attitudes that came out of the Convention. Why were these issues raised in the first place? Very unwise. These are no go areas. The issues should not even be contemplated, let alone discussed. The PN is being very unwise in trying to take a lead on the Labour Party. A big mistake. Please forget abortion and euthanasia. But otherwise the Convention was a very good step forward. Keep it up. All in all I believe that the PN is slowly bouncing back.

And now a tribute to my friend and colleague Manni Spiteri, who passed away last week.Though I do not want to seem presumptious in any way by referring to him as colleague, since I was very far down the scale of broadcasting in his regard.Manni does not need my tributes. He has received enough. But I will just sketch the first experience I had with him. We spent some weeks in PN headquarters prior to the 1981 general elections. He would spend sleepless nights preparing the necessary material for Ritchie Muscat to broadcast on television from Sicily, in a bid to keep the beacon of democracy alight. The other soldiers of steel were the late Mario Ascione, Larry Calleja and Lewis Portelli (the latter crossing over to Sicily on a regular basis to deliver). I would prepare daily news bulletins for Ritchie, which I would send by telex. Manni was the driving force. A humble and unassuming man, but a relentless man of steel. I could recount so much more over the years.My sad condolences to his wife Anna and family.Rest in peace.