The result of Saturday’s one-horse race has been analysed every which way from Sunday (neat use of the phrase, that, when you think about it) but whichever way you slice it, it was a triumph for Lawrence Gonzi.

Labour’s Tiny Elves, even the ones who attribute to themselves some stature within the party (they’ll forgive me for not subscribing to their own inflated view of themselves), have been constrained to toe the party line and pooh-pooh the whole thing, as a waste of time, a foregone conclusion, an avoidance of the real issue, the real issue being Dr Gonzi’s standing in the House and not in his own party, and various other platitudes that have now become wearisome by their repetition. On all of these chestnuts, I commented while taking part in Stephen Calleja’s programme on Net on Monday.

Incidentally, my continuous glancing at my phone during the show, picked up on by quite a few people, was not a “flattery-by-imitation” of Franco Debono, it was merely my attempt to keep up with what was being said “on another station”, which actually was not very much. I didn’t answer any calls or send any messages out but I was able to keep my thoughts, such as they are, topical, which is a legitimate use of modern technology, don’t you think?

That being as it may be, the fact remains that Labour’s Tiny Elves are at first glance quite justified in denigrating Saturday’s vote.

But this is only at first glance: the emptiness of their arguments is brought into stark relief by asking one’s self the simple question: What would Labour have said had Dr Gonzi’s support diminished, even by one percentage point? Yup, that’s right, they’d have done imitations of cockerels on speed, crowing like there’s no tomorrow.

The mere fact that a particular set of four people didn’t vote seems to have sent them into paroxysms of glee, notwithstanding that the only two of them that matter (from Labour’s point of view) immediately gave the lie to Joseph Muscat’s dictum that the Prime Minister now has three people against him in the House. In fact, even the one they’ve been relying on has not actually given them any reason whatsoever to keep hoping that they’re going to be given the keys to Castille.

The other two, Citizen John and Dr Frank (they sound like a has-been rock band from the West Coast) are political irrelevancies in the short to medium term, though, of course, they may have some sort of traction going forward, even if, frankly, I think it’s time they put their bitterness behind them and stroll gracefully off into the sunset.

And there’s the pesky question that really should be answered by Labour: Would Dr Muscat have the spine to ask for a secret vote to confirm him? He’d win it hands down, no mistake, but wouldn’t he feel a slight frisson of anticipation when the pile of no votes started growing even a little?

So let’s have less snide remarks about Saturday’s vote being totally irrelevant, shall we?

My spies tell me that Labour and its Tiny Elves are not exactly ecstatic about Dr Gonzi’s speech on Sunday, either, because it was made clear that the Nationalist Party is not going to roll over and take a Labour victory in the election for granted, for all that Labour think it’s all over bar the carcading.

The speech was as close to an apology for governing the country successfully as could have been made without sounding ridiculous. In fact, it is pretty silly for Dr Gonzi to have to accept that the government has been remiss in taking into account individual components of society while making a decent fist of running the country, but that is the reality of politics in the 21st century.

A dispassionate look at the state of the Republic today leads to the conclusion that things are not as bad as they could be. Sure, our Champagne Socialists look out of the windows of their Beemers and Mercs and imagine that they can see people begging on street corners, and their union buddies fulminate and splutter along with their European counterparts against austerity measures and such-like heinousness, but the fact remains – for better or for worse – that we’re coping and, in the same way as the Tiny Elves point their fingers at the government for what they imagine are the country’s woes, justice demands that credit should be given where it’s due.

The thing is, it’s credit that is not given and, amazingly, the polls show that while the PN is trusted more than the PL for running the economy, when it comes to jobs, trust is reversed. Precisely how the Great Unwashed thinks jobs are created is a mystery, given this, and one has to ask, is it because the jobs they want are with the government?

Actually, it would hardly be surprising if this were to be the underlying reason: back in 1987, had the election taken place a few months later, the MLP would probably have won notwithstanding the country’s critical situation, simply because of the largesse Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s government was showing in dishing out jobs for the boys and girls and it seems that there are vestiges of this mentality still dormant in our national psyche.

A glance back at recent columns shows that I’ve been less than informative about nourishing activities, either of the soul or the body. Insofar as concerns the latter, we’ve been nowhere new but the soul was well nourished courtesy of Palazzo Falzon one rainy night recently when a discourse on wine and food in art was delivered by a learned American whose name escapes me and I can’t look it up ’cos the ’Net is down. Great fun, as was the bottle or two we imbibed with him at Fontanella afterwards.

imbocca@gmail.com

www.timesofmalta.com/articles/author/20