A reader pointed out to me this morning that in a speech he made  yesterday the Prime Minister has made it clear that part of the PN election campaign will be based on re-living the past.

According to the report,

“In the coming weeks, the PN will also remember the incidents of the Tal-Barrani mass meeting, the murder of Raymond Caruana and the frame-up of Pietru Pawl Busuttil.

“We are not trying to steam people up but to appreciate what we have today. Those were years when democracy was stolen for five years, a person was accused of a murder he didn’t commit and a man’s life was taken away.”

I doubt whether this re-hashing of Malta’s violent political history is going to endear the PN to floating voters.  After all, not everyone was in the thick of things, going to demonstrations and being politically active, because not all of us cared to spend the best years of our youth in that way. I could not have cared less about politics.  I honestly could not relate to friends of mine who were more determined to go to mass meetings on the weekends… but to each his own.

Speaking personally, I remember the early 80s as a great time when I was enjoying being young, single and going to parties.   A song from that decade is enough to bring a smile to myself as it takes me back to when I was in my early 20s and having the time of my life.  I’m quite sure a lot of you have the same great memories.

So while in yesterday’s article I wrote that the PN’s public relations strategy is always better than Labour’s, now that I’ve read what Gonzi said at Marsaskala I’m not so sure.  Back to the 80s? Didn’t they try that in 2008 with those grainy black and white images used as adverts?

Let’s not forget that Labour did not lose 2008 because people were scared of going back to political violence – the PL lost because Alfred Sant did not convince enough people.

And let us not forget that in 2008 the difference between the two parties was a measly 750 votes.