Election Playbook: Robert Abela's unseasoned chicken

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Abela’s Day in the Life: When I saw that Robert Abela’s team uploaded a Day in the Life video on Sunday, I knew I had a goldmine of playbook material at hand. And it did not disappoint. If the brief close shot of the boxing gloves was a nod to Joseph Muscat’s boxing metaphors, then I consider it high art. In between visiting investment announcements and Labour Party activities, he was filmed making a humble lunch at the Castille kitchen. And sure was it humble... a grilled chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper, a small serving of sauce (mustard?) and a bowl of Dujardin peas. It is the quintessential “boy dinner”. The peas are in one of those kitchen bowls that come free with cereal boxes. The chicken is so white it’s racist. A new tender is open at the Office of the Prime Minister and it’s for a spice kit.

Il-Kamp Politiku: Labour Island starts today! Because I refuse to work unnecessary overtime, I am writing this before the series premiere at 8:10pm. But I’m going to take the opportunity to make a few uneducated predictions on what will happen. I’d say Jesmond Marshall is going to have the best one-liners, followed by Alex Agius Saliba. They’re going to have a cute homemade dinner, and two MEPs are going to share a bed or sleep in the living room. No deep political discussions just yet – that will come in episode two. The first episode will be dedicated to setting the scene and humanising the MEPs.

Metsola media: Between Abela’s day-in-the-life and Il-Kamp Politiku, I’ve been writing a lot about Labour’s social media content. Who can blame me? As much as I would love to see Bernard Grech doing a what’s-in-my-bag video, the Nationalist Party hasn’t been forthcoming. But Roberta Metsola makes up for it. On Facebook she’s going out and about while adding a personal touch to her social media content, always commenting in her own posts about how her white jeans were “less than ideal” for a day of meeting fishermen and farmers, or that there are few better establishments than is-Serkin for some pastizzi. Note how she didn’t say is-Serkin is *the best*. And at MaltaToday we agree, but we give the top spot to Roger’s in Żejtun.

We Ryde at dawn: And I can’t talk about social media personalities without talking about James Ryder, who apparently makes the top 10 candidates list as per IDEA Group’s Malta Survey project, right below Arnold Cassola. Maybe it’s because he recently launched a new political advert that was aired on the state broadcaster during Sunday’s Love Island showing. And of course, he took the opportunity to adopt a Love Island approach to the advert. “I want to couple up... with your vote” and “I’m the bad boy of politics” are only a handful of the humorous one-liners on this advert. It’s certainly one of the better campaign ads doing the Love Island rounds.

What’s happening today?: The Nationalist Party will be in Naxxar at 6:30pm. The Labour Party will be in Floriana at 5:30pm and in Gżira at 6:30pm.