Our lasting impressions of people often have less to do with their words than with their body language and tone of voice. For me, it was like that with Mario Tabone, who died on Saturday. I was introduced to him in my youth and, years later, got to know him better when I became president of AŻAD (2001-2009) and needed his advice as one of my predecessors (1992-96). Imagine two dogs, a spaniel wagging its tail as an older retriever tells of the latest prize dragged in from outside, the smell of the new gardener and where best to hide household shoes. Whether we had arranged to meet or simply bumped into each other, it was always the same: Mario’s head would tilt slightly to the side, leaning in, with a faint conspiratorial smile and twinkling eyes, as he told me what he was currently reading or the latest thing he was up to. It was characteristic that, one day, he sent me a copy of a book he liked because he thought I too would find it interesting. A juicy bone is shared. As AŻAD president, Mario (in partnership with his director, the late John Camilleri) set the Christian Democrat think-tank a new set of challenges to consider, an agenda for the 1990s. Under Ċensu Tabone...