Now it's been the Czech Republic which has given a relative majority to the "extreme" right in its latest parliamentary elections. The move of the political compass towards this sector has been too clear and sustained. From the UK to France, Austria and Greece, its reach has been growing.

A friend of mine said: "Extreme" right parties have been showing consistency. As they have been prevented from entering government coalitions, they can go on repeating their arguments and proposals. While other parties have to compromise, they don't need to. The Trump momentum in the US gives them added credibility. Meanwhile, liberal and social democratic parties and politicians are not impressing voters: one only needs to consider the results obtained by Macron in France and Scholz in Germany to get this. The tendency towards the "extreme" right can only grow not shrivel in the future.

My friend's pessimism is exaggerated. But it is true that exponents of the "extreme" right have succeeded in making themselves known as the clearest and most consistent in their proposals.

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GOZO AND LABOUR

It is worrying for the Labour Party to note how it is losing a substantial slice of its support in Gozo (if we are to believe the opinion polls). This is happening after decades during which Labour slowly succeeded to reverse the political dominance which the Nationalist Party always enjoyed in Gozo and changed it to a Labour majority. The development began well before the PN elected a Gozitan leader. Nor can one believe that the reversal has anything to do with the fact that a number of Gozitan voters actually live in Malta and have a secondary residence in Gozo.

It all gets even more complicated when one considers how in recent years, Gozo has been "gifted" with three ministers, which never happened before in any previous PN or PL government. What's going on? One doubts whether the problem can be tackled by the delivery of tough speeches to denounce the allegations that have surfaced about skiving at government offices in Gozo.

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JOE VELLA

Learning about the death of Joe A Vella was a very sad experience, and more so because I got to know about it well after it occurred. One would have expected it to be given more media attention, as Vella spent long years editing the Malta News (which then became the Daily News) and later the Weekend Chronicle - newspapers now forgotten, published by the Union Press (now Unionprint). For a number of years too, he served as a representative of Maltese journalists in their professional union.

I remember him best for having been one of my first (possibly the first) regular contact with Union Press. At the time, I wasn't involved publicly in political activity and so would write occasional articles under the nom de plume Tumas Borg. Joe invited me to contribute regularly to the Daily News, which is what I did for years, once a week. When the paper ceased publication and for some more years he was editor of the Weekend Chronicle, he requested me to continue sending him a regular contribution. It was a different world...

Joe Vella was a modest person, economical in what he said, tolerant, discreet... and an acute observer of ongoing events. My profound condolences go to all his family.