The Nationalist Party has now deservedly been in office for nearly a quarter of a century, bar a two-year Labour interlude. There is absolutely no comparison between Malta today and as it was before May 1987. Successive Nationalist administrations have transformed Malta from an impoverished police state on the verge of dictatorship into a European democracy with a very high standard of living.

All this despite our enormous limitations, the global recession, terrorism, rising oil prices, North African conflicts and obstruction by unions more interested in toppling the government than in defending the workers. Not to mention the behaviour of some backbenchers.

I have been a loyal PN supporter for all these years. Several years ago you published a letter of mine in which I said that the Mosta PN club was like a haunted house. But no one seemed to care. Some time later I wrote again and said the club was no longer like a haunted house. It was a haunted house.

I wrote about the apathy reigning in the Mosta PN branch. The club, which had cost thousands of euros and a lot of effort and sacrifice, was closed. The local committee existed only on paper. It was a vicious circle: great apathy among Mosta PN supporters and greater apathy among high party officials.

Long gone are the days when these officials used to call regularly at the club, where they were always very warmly welcomed.

I wrote on this subject in this newspaper; I commented on radio and I wrote several times to senior party officials to explain the situation. I was not asking for any personal favour. I was simply trying to draw their attention to the situation. Not one of them had the elementary decency to send an acknowledgement.

I talk to several PN supporters. Many of them have lost all interest in the party and couldn’t care less what happens. And that was why we lost the majority at the last local council election. And that is why we lost so many votes at the last general election.

In two years’ time we will be having another general election. Once the final results are known, all the wheels of the losing party will come to a standstill.

And while thousands of supporters of the winning party start their celebrations, thousands of supporters of the defeated party, together with several officials, will start assessing the damage.

As a rule, every human feels justified to be proved right and say “I told you so”. If, God forbid, the PN loses the next general election, I shall be greatly disappointed if I am given the chance to say: “I warned you!” This is because, considering the alternative, the PN is not so bad after all.