Keep quiet in case the PN wakes up – Victor Calleja

Back in antediluvian times when the PN was in power in the 1960s, Labour propagandists came up with a winner of a slogan. It went: “Shh. Tgħajjatx għax tqajjem il-gvern.” Loosely translated it means: “Don’t shout lest you wake up the government.”

It worked. It made people laugh. It made even diehard supporters of the PN, then led by Giorgio Borg Olivier, snigger. The government, the joke implied, was asleep, inactive, comatose, practically brain- and body-dead.

Fifty or so years later, the party is in opposition. It is, or should be, in an ideal position. It can talk without needing to face the music of governing.

It just needs to oppose, point out what is wrong and come up with strategies it would implement once in power.

Simple enough. But, with the PN asleep and almost dead, such stuff is impossible to achieve. One would think the PN would gather its forces, create a bit of a spark and generally be seen as attracting all sorts of people to join its ranks.

It should be getting people out in the streets demanding a better life, better air, less congestion, more open spaces, more greenery and a halt to the rape of our countryside, our beaches, our cities, our village cores. And...