A number of times this outgoing caretaker government has organised queues, smacking of oriental human meandering lines, for some exciting scheme or other. It could have been software, internet connection, temper disconnection or medical service at Mater Dei Hospital. What surprised me is that nobody, ahem, noticed that it was an electoral gimmick. On top of this a smiling (broadly) Lawrence Gonzi and (slightly) Austin Gatt had a stroll in Merchants Street, Valletta, to have a chat with future internauts. Some hair was ruffled for the sake of electoral bonhomie. The next queue will be that of Nats openly declaring they will not vote. It promises to be longer - proving the realism of the recent poll by M & E Management Group giving voting intentions as MLP 48.72 per cent and PN 34.62 per cent.

Twenty-five per cent VAT

On January 22 I was listening patiently to Radio 101 to boost (upwardly adjust) their listenership - which is the lowest in the land (like PN local council and Euro Parliament votes). Opinions came in through the very few listeners' interventions. A gentleman phoned in to say that Radio Super One was saying that yet another Nat government would raise VAT to 25 per cent. He wanted an answer but did not get one. I am not sure, however, if people would believe a Nat promise that VAT would remain the same. When it was raised from 15 per cent to 18 per cent, it was only a short time after the promise of "we shall not raise taxes".

Sarkozy revisits Malta

Guys and dolls on billboards have smiles larger than those expressed at the ATM machine refusing to produce euros to Dr Gonzi as soon as the gong of the functioning electronic clocks chimed midnight and first January. The billboards are meant to wheezingly replace the budget euphoria which did not materialise. My car passenger (an ex-Nat like myself) first agreed that all was possible for friends of friends. Then he spoiled everything by starting a litany of very possible taxes we are all paying together.

Now this "Together all is possible" slogan has been used in proselytising, tugs of war, fish-net pulling from luzzus etc. It's as old as the hills and quite boring. It's been used in elections in other countries for generations. Look at the Sarkozy billboards, for example, and you'll see the French version of the PN billboard. This follows copying from Labour's Plan for a New Beginning - a supposedly empty book. And who is the wise guy who advised Dr Gonzi to wear a light blue jersey over a white, priestly, Christian Democratic collar? These shirts are at least 30 years old - when there was a new way of doing collars. With all this originality going a round, voters already have doubts about the new politics of toddler PN candidates replacing the old ones not allowed to appear in pictures in the one-man Gonzi show - proving loneliness instead of togetherness.

Not enough political debates

I believe that lots of people wish to see political debates on TV where both Alfred Sant and Dr Gonzi play away - as Dr Sant challenged Dr Gonzi to accept. PS: A whispered word of advice to Dr Sant: (shhh) "Don't stop anybody from going to the University just before the election". Terinu will not like it.

Haemorrhage

With repressed tears, some are saying "It's nothing; it's only a few people. We don't need them anyway." But the stern reality is there. Nats are abandoning the luzzu and speaking out about their unhappiness at corruption and cost of living. It's only the tip of the iceberg. Recently in this paper letters by confirmed Nats weepingly stated that they suspect that many Nats are not voting in this election. Let's face it; we all know this for a fact.

Hunters

I have no affinity with hunting, but there is absolutely no doubt that these people were tricked re spring hunting etc.

Oil and porridge

So sometimes high cost-of-living prices are blamed on oil and cereal prices abroad. This is now referred to as the oil and porridge excuse. Together all pretexts are possible.

Greater transparency

The government is repeating that it has plans for greater transparency. Better late than never. This will excite Transparency International and put us back in a less uncomfortable position regarding corruption. There is one problem, however. If the PN electoral billboards became transparent, wouldn't we see at the back Nicolas Sarkozy declaring "Ensemble tout devient possible" - which was translated and copied onto the local billboards?

And now the French kiss

I am told that the old man kissing the old woman in the PNGONZI (or is it GONZIPN?) song is a retired teacher of French. It seems as if, after the French Sarkozy billboard photocopy, now comes the French kiss. Have we totally forgotten our Christian Democratic roots?

Health centres

It seems as if two more health centres will be closing. At the same time people are told not to increase the numbers at Mater Dei Hospital emergency. Never heard better double bind.

The curse

A letter appearing in this paper makes a long list of failures in many things Dr Gonzi has attempted since he has been at the helm of the PN with two strong hands and a new way of doing politics. These include four local council elections, the Euro Parliament election and the Commonwealth election. The author of the letter mentions that Conservative leader John Howard of Australia lost power soon after Dr Gonzi visited him and that Juventus lost after meeting Dr Gonzi. On top of this, the ATM did not deliver. (Please stop sending the photo of the Cyprus President's ATM success while accompanied by the trop décolletée lady; I have received the e-mail 100 times!) The author of the letter is inspired by Tutenkhamun and calls this misfortune "the Gonzi curse". Now "curse" is too strong a word - but the failures are there. It seems as if together every failure becomes impossible.

Zero tolerance

So far the PN's reaction to Labour's determination of zero tolerance for corruption has been very weak. People are indeed talking a lot about corruption and the least they expect is for all parties to insist on the persecution of all corruption without time-barring. Dr Sant made his intentions clear even to each member of his team: "If you are my friend and do something corrupt, you are no longer my friend."

Reception class

Various serious university and other educators have spoken positively about the reception class a Labour government intends to introduce due to its success in many European countries. The need for this has always been there so that students can have a more solid pre-University education. I have always spoken in favour of it even when I was in the PN - and nobody disagreed then.

Contact me

A PN candidate on Tuesday, February 5 at 1 p.m. told me that he is sick and tired of Nationalist conservatism. Please contact me. We'll talk some more.

Dr Licari teaches psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and geolinguistics at the Department of French of the University of Malta.

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