The State that ignores its own

By
2018-10-22T18:16:42+02:00Mon, 22nd Oct '18, 18:16|

Karol Aquilina asked Joseph Muscat two weeks before the anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death what his government was preparing to mark that anniversary. He replied today saying “the Caruana Galizia family have numerous times expressed their lack of confidence in the Maltese State. The State, therefore, respects this position”. So the government of Malta [...]

Satabank: And how I let them bully me into silence.

By
2018-10-22T17:47:22+02:00Mon, 22nd Oct '18, 17:38|

A reader wrote in to ask me if I felt vindicated after the Maltese regulator froze the operations of Satabank and after the police raided the bank last night. He asked me that because he remembered my piece of March 3rd last when I outed Satabank as a money-laundering operation, a criminal conspiracy that unlike [...]

Journalism most foul, he said.

By
2018-10-22T17:42:36+02:00Mon, 22nd Oct '18, 17:14|

I have given Sunday’s article by Steve Mallia some more thought. Here’s his Facebook post yesterday night saying he was moved to come out of retirement to write it. Here he is being complemented by his former colleague at The Sunday Times and his current business partner in the PR business they have together Ariadne [...]

Tactical marriage

By
2018-10-22T16:51:54+02:00Mon, 22nd Oct '18, 16:51|

The great political dynasties say the Kennedys and the Bushes, are famously careful to arrange marriages to further their political aims. They are the heirs of the numbered kings of old who married daughters and sisters to secure alliances and seal political pacts. The Labour Party's Alex Saliba got married this weekend. My sincere congratulations [...]

‘Professor Joseph Mifsud’: will he ever show up?

By
2018-10-22T16:39:22+02:00Mon, 22nd Oct '18, 16:39|

For a while, there was a suggestion he might be dead. But then his Swiss lawyer said he's very much alive but in hiding. Stephan Roh told me as much when he offered to obtain answers to my questions to Joseph Mifsud in exchange of an agreement to testify for his character. Of course, I [...]

BBC: From our own correspondent. John Sweeney.

By
2018-10-22T18:34:10+02:00Sun, 21st Oct '18, 09:18|

This is the script of John Sweeney's From Our Own Correspondent feature on the BBC after he participated in Tuesday's March for Truth and Justice. A crowd of seven thousand or so stood in silence in the main street in the capital Valetta, holding their phones up with flashlights on, a very twenty-first-century tribute in [...]

Cold feet

By
2018-10-21T09:00:26+02:00Sun, 21st Oct '18, 09:00|

They tried it out on One TV but in Saviour Balzan they find a willing ally. So the eyewitness who told the camera of France 2 he had seen Chris Cardona speak to Alfred Degiorgio before the latter’s arrest has since told the Police he had lied about it. When do you know that a [...]

The alibi that stayed in bed

By
2018-10-20T17:37:40+02:00Sat, 20th Oct '18, 17:32|

Labour needs to hold its domestic audience together. The stories about Chris Cardona on France 2 from last April are starting to penetrate One TV audiences only now it seems that they have been confirmed again with additional facts by La Repubblica a few days ago. It appears Labour could largely ignore the April reports [...]

Thank you for ensuring we are not alone

By
2018-10-27T17:52:41+02:00Fri, 19th Oct '18, 17:15|

Labour wants the world's press to stop being interested in Malta unless it is to sing the praises of Joseph Muscat, but the presence of international NGOs, MEPs and journalists during the past week is important for us. I’ll explain this in simple terms for the trolls and the tyrants to have no difficulty understanding. [...]

International free speech NGOs finalise recommendations

By
2018-10-19T12:00:20+02:00Fri, 19th Oct '18, 12:00|

The International Press Institute, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and the European Federation of Journalists have today formally reiterated their call for a public inquiry into whether Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination could have been prevented. They have also called upon the government [...]

We walked into the police station. And then back out again.

By
2018-10-19T10:47:09+02:00Fri, 19th Oct '18, 10:47|

So we went to the police station this morning to accuse the Cleansing Department of stealing the protest memorial: the banner, the flowers and the candles, including the wreath left by the Leader of the Opposition. The wreath did not have the identity of the Leader of the Opposition still stuck on it but I [...]

Courage

By
2018-10-19T16:54:13+02:00Fri, 19th Oct '18, 10:34|

Read today’s The Malta Independent leader.  It can be assumed to be a direct line to the thinking of PN Headquarters. Every newspaper has a right to choose its editorial line and it is no better or worse for choosing to disagree with others. Of course, though it complained about remarks made about a story [...]

GUEST POST: Afraid of those that break the law

By
2018-10-27T17:47:24+02:00Fri, 19th Oct '18, 09:27|

By Mark Sultana, BirdLife Malta CEO Malta is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Its strategic position was always appreciated by war strategists, economists, peacemakers, traders, and the likes since the link between Europe and Africa was crucial for their missions. This train of thought works the same with nature and more [...]

And now that the international press has flown out

By
2018-10-19T09:01:48+02:00Fri, 19th Oct '18, 09:01|

Our democratic government has again censored the protest memorial in Valletta. The assurances given by the Prime Minister to international press freedom NGOs that the matter would be reconsidered had the longevity of the Munich Agreement and the sincerity of the Prime Minister as that of the proponent of that deal. They waited until journalists [...]

Snort

By
2018-10-18T19:22:21+02:00Thu, 18th Oct '18, 18:18|

The current story about the testing of MPs for drug use is seriously unpleasant. I don’t think any of the politicians involved are handling this well. The public already has much reason to mistrust politicians and if the crisis of confidence in the political class continues getting worse the route to populism and democratic failure [...]

The Mugabe syndrome

By
2018-10-18T20:15:21+02:00Thu, 18th Oct '18, 18:15|

Robert Mugabe used to be the darling of the West. His fight for majority rule in Rhodesia was respected because it was just. And his government was mostly sensible at first. He was used to being portrayed well in the international press as the Good African President. Then corruption, tyranny, greed and violence set in [...]

Thoughts on the bus

By
2018-10-18T17:50:46+02:00Thu, 18th Oct '18, 17:50|

Public transport users have fond memories of me. Many people would be on a bus and spontaneously think of me and my old association with buses. But if they think of reading my blog on a bus, they're not allowed to do so on the Malta Public Transport wifi network. You can though visit glennbedingfield.com [...]

Tuesday’s homily

By
2018-10-18T15:59:33+02:00Thu, 18th Oct '18, 15:59|

Civil society is rising. Tuesday's turnout was a response to the indifference and mockery from the political class of people acting in defence of what is right and out of love of country. The people marching on Tuesday were not responding a call to support this political party or that one. They were not cheering [...]

Go to Top