We have come to accept as inevitable the interminable twists of court procedures which we are told exist to ensure justice where expediency and swiftness would suppress it. But sometimes it’s just a joke. The long-winded case on whether evidence of crimes presented to the courts connecting our senior politicians to the Panama revelations, ought [...]

I remember when radio stations were first liberalised in Malta. I remember Michael Frendo piloting the law through parliament. Eons ago now. But there was another eon that had just ended when the Nationalist Party was hounded like a para-military organisation on suspicion of possessing equipment it could use to communicate without the regime eavesdropping. [...]

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "People watching the war of words over Facebook are seeing arguments they became entirely familiar with in the run-up to the general election. There is admiration of contempt; rationalisation grounded in misguided loyalty; projection of original sin on any alternative; a shift of focus from the message [...]

For several months at least the computer system of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit worked with a simple log-in/password system for its security. Given the sensitivity of the money laundering investigations this Unit is responsible for that is staggering in itself. What is more amazing is that all staff shared a single password to log-in [...]

The persistent perception of our community is that people of African heritage who live here are a separate and distinct set of aliens corralled in an area lent to them because providing them with solid ground under their feet is Christian charity compared with leaving them to be swallowed up by the open sea. Inside [...]

The passport scheme is a pet hate for me: for reasons of principle, because I cannot conceive how citizenship can have a price tag; for reasons of reputation, because our European friends and allies are rightly annoyed about the implications on them of our little bargain sale; for reasons of social justice, because property prices [...]

See this editorial of the Corriere di Malta, an Italian language website for expats living here. The publication has expressed doubts about the sustainability of the growth of Malta’s properties for some time now. But they are taking their editorial concerns up a notch with this commentary, particularly now that it is witnessing quirky policy [...]

To be a member of the PN one must be a Maltese citizen of at least 16 years of age and accept the statute and the discipline of the party. There’s a safety clause in the statute that also requires a party member to be approved by the party’s executive committee or an official delegated [...]

The primary vocation of a political party is governing. There is no doubt about that. Anything else is second best and therefore defeat. The constitution assigns very important roles to politicians who do not make it to government but government is where they all want to go. And it is right because politics is a [...]

Chris Said had three options to choose from. The traditional thing to do would have been to withdraw his candidature and openly back Adrian Delia in the final round going for party unity and ensuring for himself an influential future in the PN led by his erstwhile rival. That normally happens when the choice of [...]

My piece in The Sunday Times today. It was written before yesterday's PN election result was known but on the assumption Adrian Delia would be shortlisted to the final vote in two weeks' time.

The deadline for my piece on tomorrow’s The Sunday Times loomed large at 10am this morning. I wrote my piece on the basis of what seemed to me to be the likeliest scenario after today’s vote. I wasn’t wrong. Adrian Delia has been commended to the members of the PN by the members of the [...]

As PN councillors you are entrusted with the responsibility of filtering nominees for the election of the next leader of our party. There has been so much talk bandied about that this candidate or that one should have been prevented from contesting. That there should have been vetting of candidates before the process started and [...]

Of course it may very well be that at the next Independence Day Adrian Delia will be PN leader. There is no reason to doubt his claim that his support among the grassroots has been galvanized by what he has projected as the establishment’s intervention to attempt to prevent him from taking over the leadership [...]