The joke is on him

Did you really think I was going to let last Sunday's interview with the original Dr Zero go unmentioned? Just for the record, the reference to "zero" is to the number of votes Dr K Mifsud Bonnici had got when he got into Parliament in the Eighties.

He was co-opted.

It's no reference to any attributes or lack thereof that the gentleman (and the word, in a non-political context, is well chosen) may have.

Anyway, according to Dr KMB, the Nationalists reneged on an agreement to appoint Mintoff as President. Let's for a second imagine that there was any such agreement and that this isn't a convenient interpretation that is being given now, precisely what would anyone in their right minds have been thinking in agreeing that Mintoff should become a symbol of national unity?

The man who, as Prime Minister, governed a country that was torn apart by political cronyism, who - at best - turned a blind eye on corruption real and perceived, whose regime was bolstered by thugs and enforcers, some in uniform and some not, and who sponsored some of the looniest economic, social and political policies known to man, was supposed to be the one who was going to unite this country? In 1987?

I can't recall who it was, but in the immortal words of whoever it was, "geddawdahere"! Pull the other one, KMB, it's got pretty little bells on it and will go "jingle, jingle, jingle".

Then we had that other duck of mammoth proportions, the one that goes "the Nationalist Party was the violent party".

If I hadn't been in Valletta on the day a convoy of 'Yard workers had wended their merry way into town, with Dr KMB at the helm, and then, with KMB conveniently sheering off just before, decided to ransack the Curia (just in front of Police HQ, but the boys in blue then were out having a coffee or something) I might - just might - have taken leave of my senses just long enough to give some slight credence to the logic that Dr Mifsud Bonnici was spouting.

The problem is, I was in Valletta on that day, though I wasn't on the day The Times building was burnt down by a rampaging mob of thugs who can never, not even in the fevered imagination of KMB, be described as Nationalist die-hards.

The problem for KMB's thesis, overall, is that I, and many others like me, lived in Malta at the time and we don't remember the "weekly bomb attempts" (his words) that were attributable to the Nationalists.

We remember the disrupted mass meetings, the tear gas, the bullets, the arrests and the sheer vindictiveness that permeated the very fabric of society, however.

Truly, one of the quotes I lifted from his interview, where he said that "My duty was to continue running the government which had been given the support of the electorate. I couldn't follow my mind at the time" really demonstrates the true tenor of the man. With due respect, his duty, if we want to use such high falutin' theories, was towards the country, the majority of whose citizens had, in fact, voted for the Nationalists in 1981, but - perhaps because he wasn't allowed to follow his mind at the time (wonder why?) - he conveniently forget this higher duty.

The Lil'Elves will now have their fun and games twisting the truth and making a mockery of this country's recent past. Let them have their fun - those of us who lived here know what the reality was back when KMB was PM.

Switching to "Stitching", I see that the Board of Censors or Theatre Classifiers or whatever is still in place, impervious to the howls of shame on them that followed their refusal to grant a classification to the play.

Yes, folks, that is the truth, in Malta in 2009, there are still some individuals who seriously think that they have the right to dictate to you and me what we can and can't see at the theatre. Bow down, you second class mortal, and avert your eyes, lest you gaze upon the hallowed visage of such magnificent creatures.

Any more of this and you'd think we were back in KMB and Mintoff's time, when you thought what you were told to think and there was an end to it.

Let's finish with some good wholesome fun. Dinner was had at Lord Nelson's in Mosta last Friday and it was truly excellent. You need to book to be sure of a table, because it's always crowded and justifiably so. Curses on my diet that prevented me going for any dessert, but the savoury stuff made up for it in spades.

If you want a good light meal, on the other hand, head a bit further North by West and go to The Old Priory in Mdina. Worth the slight walk from the car-park outside the city - in fact, all of Mdina is worth that.

imbocca@gmail.com, http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs