I don't recall much about what the PM had said when he had told the quivering masses that we were going to get a Brazilian. Politicians tend to announce these things at the drop of a hat and Dr Gonzi is not immune from the temptation to impart good news when he has it.
On the other hand, I don't recall the news as having been received with great joy and waving of flags in the streets and squares of the Republic, probably because we're not some ruddy Third World Tinpot New Economy Zone that depends on munificent foreigners deigning to descend amongst us to supply jobs to the starving masses. Obviously, the more investment we have, the better and the more choices of places to work that the citizenry at large has, even more the better, but companies come and companies go, that's the nature of a Western economy.
The important thing is that people who want to work have jobs and, while we haven't reached the Acme of Perfection in this regard (I seem to remember my Scottish economics master in the Lower Sixth about forty-odd years ago telling us this wasn't possible, though his accent was somewhat impenetrable) we're not as badly off as we could have been. "We want more and better" should remain our watchword, of course.
It is to Labour's discredit, then, that they are showing such undisguised glee at the fact that the plans made by this Brazilian conglomerate have fallen through, apparently. These things happen, world-wide and all the time, but the way people like Gino Cauchi and Leo Brincat were smirking about it when I spotted them on the box a couple of days ago was nauseating in the extreme. I suppose they, like the rest of the Labour machine, have been moved to cover up their Leader's obvious ignorance of the nature of the operation that was to have been set up, but all the same, they really should learn to curb their enthusiasm when things don't go the way they were predicted to go.
If they don't, can you imagine the cheesy grins they'd have all over the faces, the celebrations in which they would indulge, if some important enterprise were to fail? They'd simply love it.
This is not to say that the Government shouldn't have handled things better. I know it's difficult to put across an argument when you have people like the afore-mentioned Gino Cauchi yapping away, for all the world as if he had chosen to adopt the toddler's way of arguing, which is to repeat the same thing over and over and over, but come on guys, you've got a good message to put across, get on with and put it out there.
Because otherwise the electorate is going to have to choose between Muscat's slogans and wish-lists, to say nothing of his turgidly un-witty billboards, and the PN option, which seems to be to rely on its record. It's a good record, minor blips and Labour red-herrings notwithstanding, but people don't necessarily have memories that go back longer than yesterday's breakfast.