The two parallel interviews with the two contenders for the leadership of the PN, which were broadcast on Monday, were deeply disappointing.

If they go to the electorate with that kind of proposals one of them will win but whoever wins will not get any further. They will be eaten up by the Labour machine.

Each of them gave us his potted version of what the PN media, MPs, etc say all the time. The fact that the party has been losing election after election should show us the futility of this approach.

The party should ask itself: why, if it had, as it says, the best policies, it did not get the support of the electorate?

And if, in the coming election it will offer the electorate the same policies with only a new leader will this change anything?

Or should it change any of its main policies, such as move more to the right? Drop its anti-hunting stance? Or move away from the church-mandated stance? Embrace populism?

Or none of these at all?

I am writing on Wednesday afternoon and the latest news accusing one of the candidates of connections to Labour controversial blogger Neville Gafa (denied) leads to fears that the contest will turn out to be less than friendly.

The party must offer hope. That although Malta has accumulated a number of very difficult challenges - massive debt levels, difficult health sustainability, dust, neglect scaring people away, both tourists and young people, dependency on construction industry, on foreign nationals, roads clogged most of the time, less and less areas free of construction, a freefall in education standards, a disfunctional justice system, police and armed forces starved of funds and means, a corrupt and venal bureaucracy, etc - these problems can be solved.

Above everything Malta is sinking under drug abuse and we have had a spate of criminality.  We are seeing an increased involvement of politicians and criminals, more on the Labour side to be fair. 

The two candidates must be ready to submit to tests that show they are drug-free. And one trusts the current examination weeds out any danger of blackmail.

While most of the TCNs are law-abiding, there are some coming from countries at war and violence that we have simply no idea of.

One step at a time. With everything being done in the open. With no direct order. With no promotion of people who do not merit. 

History note

Corsairs and politics

When Mikiel Anton Vassalli, the Maltese patriot, father of the Maltese language, left Malta in 1800, he took with him to revolutionary France a number of Maltese corsairs. Some of the most intrepid sea dogs of the late 18th century had been fellow Jacobins with Malta's foremost enlightened reformer, Vassalli.

For it is now clear that the higher ranks of the corsairs included officers, captains, shipwrights, notaries and financiers of the corsair ships.

This was revealed by Liam Gauci with inputs by Olvin Vella. See Maria Bambina Senglea 2019.

[email protected]