It is the essence of democracy that your vote and mine are equal.  You would not like this to be the case, I'm sure, because you're human and you think that your opinion is the very acme of exactness and probity.

As do I, with reference to mine, of course.

But we live in a democracy, which means that both of us accept that, like Mr Jagger and his venerable mates, we can't always get what we want.  After all, we're not Lil'Elves (I just love spelling it wrong to annoy them) and Peculiar Pundits, gasping for a change in Government so their weird and wonderful notions can be given the oxygen they certainly do not deserve.

And since we live in a democracy, we will get the Government we deserve, in a simplistic sense, which is what democracy, in this day and age, involves, the dumbing down of ideas to fit in a tweet.

Do we deserve a Government that is elected on the promise of some unknown plutocrat putting his hand in his back pocket, taking out his wallet, extracting many, many (600?) million euro therefrom, and putting them at our disposal?    To build an un-needed power station in twenty-four months, flying pigs permitting, without wasting time on proper environmental and fiscal considerations?

If you think we do, go ahead, vote Labour.

Do we deserve a Government that, from media reports that remain un-denied, may very well be beholden to the hunters as a result of an agreement entered into behind closed doors not long before the election?

If you think we do, go ahead, vote Labour.

After all, Labour have adopted (a polite word for plagiarised) most of the PN's proposals, including a pretty good chunk of stuff that has been done or is in the process of being done, so in some sense, you're going to vote PN, 2013 Budget and all.

There are other reasons why you might want to consider voting Labour. 

You might look at their crass behaviour on Saturday, parading three bitter renegades just to show their utter contempt for the electorate: they don't bother with their own candidates, such as they are, they just go on cynically and opportunistically exploiting three men whose motives and values have been exposed completely.

Or you might examine the way serious issues with equally serious criminal overtones are tackled by the leadership, with a view to hiding them away in the interests of Labour's image. 

While you're about it, examine the leadership team, if you can find any of them apart from the Fearless Leader, and the panoply of "Star Candidates", none of whom appeared at all eager to take on Simon Busuttil, and see if any of them, including the Fearless Leader, inspire any confidence in their ability to run the country.

If they do, you know what you can do.  If they don't, you know what you should do.