Fact: Dr Joseph Muscat triumphantly smirks in celebration of his Parliamentary victory when the House carried his motion about the question for the divorce referendum.

Fact: the motion included a reference to the date by which the President would have to sign the writ calling the referendum.

Fact: on receiving the Head of State's writ, duly signed as required by the motion, the Electoral Commission published the writ.

Fact: due to the way electoral law works, the electorate for the referendum is composed of the voters on the electoral roll in effect when the writ is published.

Fact: this means that a bunch of people who are eighteen aren't on the roll and therefore can't vote.

And thus it came to pass that there was much squirming and squealing by those bestest of best buddies, the pro-divorce lobby and the Labour Party and assorted others, because from what has been leaked of the proceedings of the Electoral Commission, it seems that the members nominated by the Prime Minister declined to mess around with electoral law by keeping the writ in a drawer instead of publishing it as soon as the President sent it, as is the practice and as should happen, if for no other reason than out of respect for the instructions sent by the Head of State.

To my untutored mind, it seems as if Joseph Muscat failed to spot the booby-trap he set himself and then resorted to the usual "oh well, let's nip and tuck a little, who cares?"

Frankly, the less electoral law is mucked around with by the Labour Party, the more I like it. On this particular polling exercise, it might not have been all that dangerous to close an eye and toss a nod, but when you let Labour loose on electoral procedures, it's a slippery slope and no mistake.