At our local supermarket a cute four-year-old was running up and down the aisles while his parents were doing their shopping. Until a man, who I can only presume was his father, suddenly turned towards the child and shouted aggressively, “Stop it or I’ll thump you”. (“Aqtaghha ghax se nifqghak”).

The violent hostility of the adult, delivered in the midst of a supermarket packed with shoppers, sent a cold chill down my spine. I shudder to think how that child is treated in the privacy of his home. If one could be so vicious with his own young child no wonder the country is drowning in offensive, vulgar rudeness. How can a child exposed to such violent intimidation by his own parent grow up to be polite and civil?

Why is everyone so rude? Why is everybody so aggressive and abusive? If parents speak to their own young children with such aggression is it surprising that hostile abuse is the norm for our nation.

That same hostile rudeness was on full display in a local council meeting in Qormi at which the Labour mayor, Josef Masini Vento, launched an offensive tirade, laced with explicit profanities, against, of all people, a Labour cabinet minister - Miriam Dalli.  The mayor’s behaviour was nothing less than atrocious.  Swearing repeatedly, he shouted insults at the Minister and at his Deputy Mayor, Donnha Barbara, a member of his own party.

It wasn’t a momentary loss of control.  His aggressive abusive tirade lasted for several minutes.  Other members of the council attempted to calm him down and encouraged him to be civil. Instead he shouted even louder, swore repeatedly and called the minister and his deputy clowns.

The situation escalated uncontrollably such that one of the council members decided to mute the mayor. “I muted him,” the council member commented. “You’re shouting for nothing,” she told him as he continued to rant and rave.

The Qormi Labour mayor was upset about the most trivial issue - the siting of a BCRS machine in his locality.  Such offensive behaviour is never acceptable but over the location of a BCRS machine?

“She can’t oblige me,” he shouted in reference to Minister Miriam Dalli, “and if she tries I will personally go and dump it on her ministry’s doorstep”. “The Minister is a clown,” he added, “incompetent, and she’s expecting to be prime-minister”. “She should… resign”.

As his deputy tried to calm him down he turned on her.  “I don’t need Labour to get a government job, I don’t need anybody least of all that clown, that incompetent minister Miriam Dalli…she’s rubbish, rubbish”, he shrieked at the top of his voice.

“I’m going to hang up”, his deputy remarked.  “Hang up, you clown, bootlicker,” he shouted at her, “go and bootlick, you should thank God Labour lifted you up, thank God for a Labour government, go and suck up to her”.

“Because here we defend the minister and we bootlick with our long tongue. That’s our country, whoever sucks up the most to get the favours he wants.  Am I lying?”, he shouted.

“Come on Josef, this language, are you for real? This is the council, in the name of the host, Madonna!”, another council member commented.

There was no stopping Josef and his behaviour. The meeting had to be suspended.  You’d think Josef Masini Vento was some uneducated illiterate.  You’d be wrong.  He’s a notary who received a tertiary education but behaves like a boorish lout.

That recording of the shambolic Qormi council meeting is depressing. Is this the chaotic intimidating environment in which our Labour led councils function? What’s even more depressing is that council meeting took place in 2022.  Despite his hostile abusive behaviour no action was taken against Labour’s Qormi mayor.  The party hasn’t condemned the mayor’s abuse against his own deputy.

It’s evidently clear the man is entirely unfit for any office. He shouldn’t be allowed near any other human being with that behaviour. But that abuse towards colleagues seems to be acceptable for Labour.

Masini Vento’s vulgarity isn’t a one off.  It seems to be a pattern of insolent and abusive behaviour. He was been sued by one of his fellow notaries after he uploaded a post entitled “From the server: the Notary who is dogshit”.  The court decided that although the mayor had insulted his colleague on social media using rude and vulgar abuse, this did not constitute defamation.

Notary Masini Vento has no place leading anything let alone a local council.  Our mayors should be worthy representatives of our local communities. They should set the example of polite and civil behaviour, particularly during their official duties. The least we should expect is a basic modicum of respect for fellow councillors. The party those mayors represent should expect it too.

When Labour tolerates such offensive and aggressive abuse by its Mayor against his fellow Labour deputy Mayor it normalises and promotes abuse. Labour’s failure to take immediate action to remove him is a slap in the face of common decency and a confirmation of Labour’s abysmal standards. Labour should have immediately stopped him from contesting the local election in its name. Now he’s been elected with a bigger vote tally.  But that’s Labour.  Didn’t it let another former Qormi mayor, Rosianne Cutajar, contest a general election.