This is not a review of Mark Montebello’s biography of Dom Mintoff. And the first reason it isn’t is that I haven’t read the book. I know from personal experience that there are many people willing to review my books without bothering to leaf through them, and I know just what sort of disservice that [...]

Jason Azzopardi asked Robert Abela how much money the prime minister’s office spent on public relations and communications consultants since Labour came to power in 2013. The details follow: 2013: €8,000 2014: €49,000 2015: €99,509 2016: €109,614 2017: €124,917 2018: €197,697 2019: €234,636 2020: €126,936 2021: €98,796 All of the money spent since 2015 amounts [...]

When the Standards Commissioner agreed with Repubblika that newspaper adverts taken out by Carmelo Abela to promote nothing but himself were unethical and a waste of public money, the minister’s Cabinet colleagues said there were no rules that explicitly said he couldn’t do it. The Commissioner issued rules that said that as a minimum if [...]