Although I thought I was pretty clear that as far as I am concerned, the PM has the right to appoint whoever he likes to wherever he likes (as long as certain rules of independence and separation of powers are respected) some commenters chose to misunderstand me.
That's their problem, as it is also their problem that by exercising this right, Joseph Muscat proved that josephmuscat.com won the elections. To something of a great extent, the lie has been well and truly given to the empty slogan "you may not agree with us, but you can work with us", though in the manner of good marketeers all over, Muscat has done just enough to let the terminally bewildered carry on believing him for a bit longer.
By appointing my mate Bondi to the Foundation for National Jollity, the PM did just that. It's not a position of astounding financial remuneration, quite the contrary, but it has a bit of a profile (probably an attribute more strongly connected to the appointee than to the appointment in this instance) and the more cynical amongst us could very well think that it's just a bit of smoke and mirrors, designed to shut people up.
Well, you could say that, but I certainly shouldn't, if you'll allow me to invoke Francis Urquhart, because Bondi actually has the credentials to add value to this sort of shebang. Just as he has in the Valletta 2018 context, though as things stand, it seems that Jason Micallef has prevailed and bossed his boss out of the idea.
The reaction to Bondi's appointment has been interesting, to say the least. If we were watching an episode of "Yes, Prime Minister", the PPS (were Mario Cutajar capable of such Anglo-Saxonisms, which is not a given) would have whispered "it's certainly a courageous move" in Sir Humphrey's unctuous tones, thereby scaring the bejesus out of our very own Jim Hacker and ensuring that no such appointment was ever made.
The thing is, we're not in "Yes, Prime Minister" and Muscat seems still to cling to his rather touching belief that marketing is everything, meaning that Bondi, formerly a figure of much less than undying love, has been smiled upon, to the chagrin of the less tolerant of Labour's rank and file.
The mere fact that even people like Joseph Cuschieri, a European Honourable, no less, and Joseph Grima, no longer Honourable but a Big Beast within Labour for all that, absolutely hate the idea of Bondi not being cast into the outer darkness make it even more of a Good Thing, in my book, but please don't let us run away with the idea that is anything less than a single swallow.
Oh, and please don't give me any guff about the John Dalli appointment, whether or not it was by special request of the Minister of Health, which really would strike me as a fine example of a turkey ticking the box for Xmas. Dalli is as much a PN activist nowadays as that Pullicino Orlando chap or that Debono fellow are, that is to say, not at all.