I do not blame Lawrence Gonzi for defending the €500 weekly rise he and his ministers approved for themselves, though the worker got only a measly wage increase, and pensioners just 11 cents a day. What could one expect him to do, having done it and done it surreptitiously too?

I did the right thing, it was the right decision, he told a PN Independence Day activity. What I object to is that his listeners actually applauded him when he said it. No one had the temerity to boo him. Could not they, at least, have shown their disapproval by remaining silent?

And at the Independence mass meeting he told his followers he would hold to his promise of reducing the deficit. “If we get these results when everything is against, imagine what we can achieve when the storm subsides,” (referring to the economic situation in the world) The Times quoted him as saying (September 21).

That is throwing logic out of the window, which the Prime Minister is so apt to do by his inept reasoning.

He must be aware, surely, that the deficit was ballooning long, long before the economic and financial storm hit the world, when all was calm and he and his predecessor were so profligate with the public finances.