The political war has now officially reached a ridiculous level of low. Despite the childishness of the pre-election tactics that are typically employed by our MPs, I had truly believed that things had evolved enough for the usual suspects to be able to take a more laid-back attitude. More fool me.

So, we have 96% of Malta laughing their hearts out everyday at the hilarious memes and one-liners created by satirists like Bis-Serjeta.com, Satiristan (come back, all is forgiven), J'Accuse and the like. The other 4% consist of politicians and their team of lackeys, who apparently wouldn't know a funny if it hit them in the face with a wet fish.

I am referring, of course, to the Gonzi/Gaddafi photoshop job that was doing the rounds last week. It wasn't even a clever meme, in all honesty. The photoshopping was crude. And comparing someone whose biggest offence is probably that of not controlling the price of fuel to someone who was responsible for the killing of hundreds of his own people is really not particularly witty.

But this is hardly the point, is it? The point is that this is (supposedly) a free country. And the days when you get censured for taking the mickey out of politicians are (supposedly) over. I seem to remember that the Nationalist Party itself actually had something to do with that little detail.

Which is why I find it jaw-dropping that they're making such a fracas about one insignificant meme that would in all probability been buried under wittier material in two hours flat. It was bad enough when, last week, the Nationalist party brought out their highest horse for the occasion and insisted that Rachel Tua (the Labour councillor responsible for clicking the 'share' button on Facebook) should apologise.

Where are we here, in some pre-school playground? The whole thing smacked of "Miss, she pulled my hair." "Say sorry and it'll be okay." Puerile at best. Damagingly embarrassing at worse.

Naturally, no apology was forthcoming from Dr Tua. You'd have thought that the matter would stop there. The PN had (unwisely, in my opinion) made their opprobium duly felt. Everyone was happy.

But no, the insistence for the pound of flesh continues. The call for apology was followed up by demands for the culprit's "expulsion". Apparently, since the lady in question is guilty of the worst kind of "vulgarity" (the PN spin guru's words, not mine) she has it coming. There was also some attempt to compare this to the recent resignation of former Labour minister Joe Grima. Because of course, sharing a meme is right there on the same level as slinging accusations of paedophilia.

My advice to whoever came up with the bright idea of trying to crucify someone for a meme: chill. It's only politics. And you'll gain a lot more kudos with the voters if you grin and shrug it off than if you embark on some ridiculous witch-hunt.