Men of the Left, insofar as their Beemers, Mercs and yachts allow them this orientation, are often distinguished by being bereft of a sense of humour and by their propensity to react with severe prickliness whenever contraried. Generally, the older and less nimble on their feet these gents are, the more these traits are pronounced.
Not being a shrink, I am loath to fly any kites as to why we always get this sort of reaction from people like Mr Karmenu Vella, who allowed it to get the better of him during Bondi+ on Tuesday. Perhaps having his arguments' coherence questioned by Mr Tonio Fenech, who he must see as a young whipper-snapper, pushed him into it, or maybe it is something more widespread in the Left's DNA, this idea that because they stand up for the worker, they are on the side of the righteous and thus can do no wrong. You only need to recall KMB's antics to see this.
Whatever the reason, the bloke who supposed is to be writing Labour's Electoral Manifesto certainly couldn't have inspired much hope in his Young Master's heart. Despite the convenient issue of yet another bunch of platitudes in the form of a press release about energy and Labour's pies-in-the-sky, perhaps so that Vella could use it as a vademecum (sorry about the dog Latin) during the programme, he floundered from one point to the other, displaying a mix of self-contradiction (it's not easy to keep up with Labour's continual changing lines, to be fair) and self-satisfaction (politicians, especially from the Left, just can't help it when things go wrong for the other side, even when they don't)
It seems that now, the solution for the country's energy problems is going to be a switch to gas as soon as Labour takes over: apparently this is going to be done overnight and without it costing anything. Obviously, neither of the last statements I made are true, so it's going to take time and cost a bomb, and guess who will pay for it, through the tariffs or a VAT-hike being immaterial?
Yep, you and me, that's who, paying because the Ladies Who Lunch and the Soldiers of Steel have improbably come together to give Joseph Muscat that for which he's palpably gasping.
Oh well, there's always Sargas to fall back on, after whom Vella still seems to hanker despite their being Citizen John's buddies, or going nuclear, as Vella clearly hinted when he propped up one his pretty pie (in the sky) charts for the camera.
No wonder Tonio Fenech looked bemused and reacted sharply: how do you pin water bubbles to the wall?