The Hon. Dr. Helena Dalli has fired a warning shot across the bows of the good ship MV State Sector, saying that if Labour get that for which they are fairly gagging, the keys to Castille, "unqualified" people will be removed from their posts.

As always with this sort of statement, at face-value, it has some vestiges of merit, although one has to wonder at the hardness of heart that a Labour, forsooth, MP seems to be displaying, when she talks about dumping people from their jobs.

One used to get the same sort of impression on reading that Debono fellow's utterings on law and order, though that was before his irresistible tendency to rant and rave and lash out against everyone and about everything rendered his opinions worth less than those of a burbling infant.

So, according to Dalli, who one assumes was speaking with the full authority of the Church of Labour, you can only keep your job if you are qualified to keep it. This goes hand in hand with her Leader's dictum, some time ago, that "people will be held responsible" at Enemalta when he gets to be boss.

But with the experience of long years with Labour at the helm, and the knowledge of expertise and qualifications of many people who had seen stellar advancement in those years, one has to wonder, with all due respect, what Dr Dalli and her mates really mean by "qualified".

In those times, the only qualification needed was a healthy respect towards the regime, which translates, if translation is needed, into waving the MLP flag, preferably literally, and making sure that you came across as being a servile and humble servant of the powers that were.

It is fair comment, I would submit, to conclude that what Dalli really did was give a good boost of optimism to the thousands of Labour supporters whose general frame of mind is "it's our turn now, move over you horrid Nats".

She may not have intended it, as one has to assume that she was not speaking in code, but to my mind, a code was discerned and well and truly understood.So there you have it, you there, having a good whine at the Government and parroting the "it's time for a change" mantra that is on the lips of so many.You, or someone close to you, is going to be part of the change. Hope you enjoy it.