Ronnie, Lorry Sant's thug, wants to chop my head off

"Lorry, thallini nabbracca lil Wenzu?" Ronnie Pellegrini

Ronnie Pellegrini was one of Lorry Sant's thugs. Here he is in this picture behind his boss on the left. I was there when it was taken in the early 1990s, I believe, in Freedom Square, Valletta.

It was a much anticipated debate between Lorry Sant soon after he was kicked out of the PL and the man who was instrumental in delivering the kick, Wenzu Mintoff. The latter had left the PL because of people like the former. In the middle is the moderator, Georg Sapiano, when he had hair and was my university student.

I remember Pellegrini hovering in the background with hatred written all over his face, ready to tear Mintoff apart any minute. At one point, Lorry Sant stood up and with fists flying in Mintoff's face told him that he might have done a lot of things in life but he had never, ever, betrayed the Labour Party. Lorry's tribe went wild. No one went wilder than Ronnie Pellegrini. He was just one popping neck vein short of pouncing on Mintoff. And I saw it all.

That was twenty years ago. The irony of this picture today is poignant. Wenzu Mintoff and Ronnie Pellegrini now have desks next to each other at the PL headquarters. I wonder how they get on? Ronnie: 'Wenz, missni taptaptielek dakinhar ta' Pjazza Helsien. Kieku ilna fil-gvern 20 sena. Niccajtaw ta ahna.' And what does Marisa Micallef chat about when she meets Ronnie Pellegrini in the elevator?

Now why did I say that Lorry Sant's thug wants to chop my head off? Here is a comment he just put on facebook. "Il-Partit Laburista jehtieg jipprotesta mal-Awtorita` tax-Xandir kontra l-PBS dwar l-ghoti ta' programmi lil Lou Bondi." The neck veins are popping again. 

The PL leader has recently told some local Muslims that he wants to jabbracca d-diverista. Maybe he ought to consider appointing Ronnie Pellegrini as his official Abbraccatur.