This long never-ending PN saga is getting many people mind-bogglingly bored. The extremely hot weather, the many distractions around, plus the fact that the final outcome is still uncertain – and the accompanying fact that most of us have no real say in the matter – and you just feel you must give up.

Anyway, the outcome is in the near future, possibly in the coming days, so one waits to see what happens and comments afterwards.

And there’s so much going on – and this morbid fixation on Adrian Delia keeps people hooked on this Sicilian blood feud and distracts them from the real issues around them.

At the widest level, there is the threat of a world-wide trade war between America and China and between America and Europe with implications so grave that it can affect us all.

Closer to home, there is a Europe getting ready to give itself a new Commission, a new Parliament and countless heads of other bodies such as the European Central Bank – a cascading tumble of appointments hopefully coming our way over the next few days.

As an aside, the time has probably come for Malta to announce its new Commissioner, with possible cascading implications if it involves a Cabinet reshuffle.

Then there are a couple of countries that matter a lot to us and that are passing through rather difficult times: the UK is trying to choose Theresa May’s successor with Boris Johnson looking very much the main contender and Italy facing enduring financial troubles and heading for a showdown with the Commission and, at the same time, coming to grips with more asylum-seekers crossing the sea in small boats or NGO ships.

And talking about the economy – our economy at this stage – which is going beyond the spin about l-aqwa zmien and the people still at the risk of poverty and getting excluded from opportunities to have affordable rents.

And the huge construction sector brought to a shuddering halt by the government’s panic-stricken reaction at repeated crashes and its knee-jerk reaction which, in the circumstances, may be the right one or not the right one.

Other issues, equally important, such as the state of the environment and its future prospects lie on the nation’s back burner while the clock is ticking.

And, of course, the national issue of the rule of law still festers, an open wound which has and still is bedevilling the national spirit where Malta’s good name is repeatedly dragged through the mud as happened at the Council of Europe, where only MPs from Azerbaijan spoke in favour of Malta.

With all these issues, where does whatever happens in the PN matter: who wins – Delia or his opposition? People converging on Dar Centrali must take a reality check before entering and ask themselves who will be the party leader at the end of this long feud, confronted by all these real issues.

Unless, that is, it’s all about power.

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