St Paul, or so the story goes, arrived in Malta in 60 AD. Blown by the shipwrecks of fate, it’s widely believed he brought Christianity to these shores.  Good job he arrived before he’d have been jeered off the island with taunts of ‘Go back home to your own country!’ We should be grateful, too, [...]

The new President, George Vella, sent an interesting signal today on his thoughts about Constitutional reform. “In spite of the fact that there’s a feeling we need to make changes to the Constitution without delay, I believe we must proceed with caution. Whilst being efficient, it is important for us to avoid undue haste." It’s [...]

When Michelle Muscat waxes melodramatic about her miserable fate, she truly asks for it. The best I could do yesterday was "insipid, solipsistic, self-indulgent, sob story whose idea of music is no better than Jason Micallef’s". Ryan Murdock writing for The Shift News this morning was far more elegantly succinct. He called her "The First [...]

Press Release REACTION BY REPUBBLIKA TO THE GRECO REPORT At the request of the GRECO committee, the Government today released the findings of the Group of States against Corruption, known as the GRECO report. Malta joined GRECO 20 years ago. During that period, it has received 4 reports. Each time it has received recommendations for [...]

The government will be told by Greco today that it has exploited conflicts of interest and the shady past of its appointees to make sure public agencies are run by cronies that serve the corrupt interests of Joseph Muscat. And there goes the government rushing to prove Greco right once again as if Greco hadn’t [...]

I confess I’m utterly perplexed at the schizophrenic way the PN is dealing with the storm of criticism coming towards the government of Malta from institutions outside it. The way they bashed Green MEP Sven Giegold in the last few days “condemning” him for calling for the European Commission to start Article 7 procedures in [...]

The Council of Europe ‘group of states against corruption’ (Greco) wanted to leave no ambiguity. “Malta has on paper an impressive arsenal of public institutions involved in check and balance” and to prevent corruption against ministers and senior government officials. BUT: “their effectiveness is being questioned as the country was confronted in recent years with [...]

Photo: Mission Lifeline There was some legal discussion about the incorrect use of the term “piracy” in the case of the El Hiblu 1 rescued passengers who got the captain of the ship to sail towards Malta. The term was wrongly used by the Maltese armed forces and by Matteo Salvini. In simple [...]

One of Zuzana Caputova's first acts as President-elect of Slovakia was to visit the street memorial for Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova and join the people's demand for truth and justice for an assassinated journalist and his fiancee. She lit a candle there. https://www.facebook.com/projektn.sk/videos/1190569297777364/ It makes sense of course. Slovakia elected a civil rights and [...]

Read this feature on Il Corriere della Sera that grasps the irony of the fuss Malta makes every time a migrant ship comes anywhere near Malta but then employs thousands of migrants that come down from Italy and employed on terms only slightly better than slavery. Migrants that land in Italy often hear they can [...]

The Magistrates Court today underlined the right of anyone to express themselves freely without fear of physical harm. Magistrate Joe Mifsud was specifically speaking of the right of protesters to lay symbols like flowers and candles at the Great Siege Memorial in protest after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. He made the remarks after [...]

Stuff Media Network podcasters 'Stuff they don't want you to know' ran an episode on the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. They take some time before they get into the hard stuff but it's worth the wait. Here's a link to the podcast. You'll need Spotify.

https://youtu.be/aqT8q71tSyE

The government — today through Ministers Owen Bonnici, Edward Scicluna and Helena Dalli — is rolling out unopposed the strategy of twisting the Council of Europe reports into Malta, discrediting them and at the same time exploiting them as an opportunity to continue to crush democratic liberties in this country.  Various institutions of the main [...]