POWERING DOWN

In the aftermath to the confidence vote called - and won - by the PM, Labour Deputy Leader Anglu Farrugia was on telly, having a bit of a chinwag about the events.

I suspect Labour really, really would love to kiss and make up with Peppi Azzopardi, maybe he'd consent to giving them some media training. I have no idea who is giving the benefit of her wisdom in this regard to the chaps within Labour, but it sure isn't working, if the Hon Farrugia's performance is anything to go by.

He started out by blooping a big one about Smart City not being within Minister Austin Gatt's purview - the interviewer let him down gently on this, although Bondi was hard pressed to keep his amazement out of his voice. Farrugia's media mediocrity was made worse by his constant efforts to look wise and erudite, all the while ignoring the adage about stopping digging when in a hole.

The bloopers continued apace, the longer the interview went on: Farrugia kept telling us how Euro Commissioner "Citizen John" Dalli went to the PM to give him a utility-tariff solution and was ignored.

Pressed to tell us what the solution was, Farrugia squirmed out of it. Pressed to tell us whether Dalli had told Labour what the solution was, Farrugia squirmed out of it. Basically, after chucking Dalli into the fray, he squirmed all over the place.Now where does this leave us?

Actually, where does it leave Labour? One theory is that they know nothing about what Dalli is supposed to have told the PM, making it quite amusing that after they spent so many years slagging him off, they now take him at his word that whatever it was he dreamt up was a good solution.

The other theory is that Dalli told Labour what he had told the PM and Labour now feels it shouldn't spill the beans, which you might think is indicative of some embarrassment, though on whose part is not immediately obvious.You pays your money and you makes your choice, as they say.

Farrugia's bloopers went on, when he tried to give the impression that the country is foundering in poverty and desperation, with the populace poised to take to the streets.

He's living in a different country to the rest of us, evidently - while even one person living in poverty is obviously nothing to be made light of, Farrugia had to indulge in some pretty feverish skating around when pressed on the matter, ending up whining about the Government's failure to cut income tax.

This was a pretty peculiar corollary to an argument about poverty, given that poor people don't pay income tax.