It's a given that Labour is simply gagging to win the next election and in seeking to alleviate the pain, its spokespeople are going around saying anything and everything to anyone who might give them a vote.

To an extent, this is to be expected, because the function of any political party is to achieve power, though it would be nice if we had the faintest idea what Labour are going to do if they do achieve it.

But this does not mean that the spokespersons can say what they like with impunity and without people like me defying the Saviour Balzans and their conspiracy theories of this world by pulling their leg about it.

So it came to pass that the Labour Party thought it would be a good wheeze to celebrate Iftar with the Moslem community, which in itself is not necessarily such a bad thing, for all that it betrays the ghetto-mentality that still seems to pervade Labour and all its works. They haven't noticed that the truly liberal simply don't see colour, faith and sexuality differences in their fellow human beings and they certainly don't corral them into "special interest groups," to be trundled out when the Leader of the Opposition wants to make a grand gesture.

Just to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt how the ghetto lives on in the Labour psyche, Muscat made the point, and Super One emphasized it, that the party was being held as evidence of Labour's inclusiveness and will to eradicate quarries (check out the other blogs for that reference) "even though it will attract criticism for this".

Why? Why does Labour think that being liberal and inclusive will attract criticism? Or are they worried that their pandering to the less liberal and to the insular will be neutralized by their proximity to the Moslem community and they're trying to wriggle out of it?