An appeals court told Arnold Cassola today he has every right to argue in front of a lower court why the new rules ensuring women are better represented in Parliament are against the Constitution. This needs some background because the last thing Arnold Cassola is arguing is that there shouldn’t be more women in Parliament. [...]
Do please read Times of Malta's leader today following up an a Labour Party campaign billboard that featured me who am a candidate, an official, a campaigner, or a propagandist for none of the political parties contesting the coming general election. The editorial says: "PEN Malta said it all when, reacting to the decision to [...]
In June of last year Repubblika published a document calling for the enforcement of our laws to prevent corruption in general elections. Repubblika also proposed improvements to the law since parts of it were last revised before Mussolini declared war on Britain and France. Of course, our call for stricter laws was ignored by the [...]
The thing about Konrad Mizzi finding God, presumably hiding from him inside some Dubai bank account owned by a Panama company held by a New Zealand trust, is that it doesn't matter. May he, if it pleases him, render unto God the things that are God's. In the meantime Caesar is waiting for [...]
Barely a week after Russia invaded Ukraine, the journalist John Sweeney gave an interview to Manuel Delia. Sweeney was, and still is, in Kyiv, surrounded by air raids, bombs, gunfire and shelling. Describing his experience of being the first journalist to enter the TV Tower after it was bombed, he speaks of the blood left [...]
After days of dodging reporters, the prime minister took the time to answer reporter’s questions today. I was about to say that was a good thing. But that’s what prime ministers should be doing, especially in an election campaign they are contesting. So, saying he did a good thing to answer journalist’s questions is like [...]
I was caught out of step with the free speech community in the last few days. I thought banning Russia Today from Western screens was frankly a good idea. They are spreading lies masked as news and people who prefer the lies resort to what RT reports as evidence of what they imagine. That's just [...]
The government quoted the FATF saying the following: “At its February 2022 Plenary, the FATF made the initial determination that Malta has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site visit.” As quotes go it felt short, so I looked up the FATF’s progress report on Malta. This is the text in full: In [...]
Someone please teach this national embarrassment Morse code, nautical flags, tom-tom, sign language, or smoke signalling. Just get him to shut up. @malta.today Anġlu’s dictionary: Hard-g belligerent and civilian fructure #malta #maltafyp #ukraine #ukrainewar #parliament #national #malta🇲🇹 #politics #europe ♬ original sound - MaltaToday
There’s nothing good about war. There’s no reason to welcome Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Last night the Russian army bombarded Europe’s largest nuclear plant. What words are appropriate in the face of such reckless hate? Millions are being displaced. More millions are living underground as thousands are killed. The fear of an escalation to [...]
Photo: Newsbook It’s like one of those dinners in a Luis Buñuel film. If you’ve watched them, you know what I mean, and if you haven’t you won’t get it if I explain it. This election campaign will be as easy for Labour to win as it is easy for a hand to [...]
The US Congress will consider a cross-party legislative initiative introduced jointly by Republican Congressman Burgess Owens and Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen that would ban countries that sell their citizenship, such as Malta, from the program that allows their citizens to enter the US without applying for a visa. Malta joined the United States’ visa waiver [...]
The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic has provided a very succinct, very clear list of principles for European governments on how to take care of people running away from war in Ukraine. This will be useful to those who thought it would be a good idea to block Ukrainians from coming [...]
There's no rhyme or reason in hatred. It is indiscriminate and perhaps most sadly of all, incurable. Pia Zammit and I yesterday stuck a poster by Ġorġ Mallia of Vladimir Putin's bloodied hands to our office sign. We said we stood by Ukraine. I'd like to think most people should have no reason to disagree. [...]
The Commissioner for Children has asked political parties several times to keep children out of political campaigning. Children have a right to participate in a political process if they have views they wish to express. But they also have a right not to be used by political parties as cute endorses reading from a script [...]
NGOs Repubblika, The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, SOS Malta, and PEN Malta have published recommendations on securing press freedom and enhancing the protection of journalists on the back of conclusions by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Public Inquiry drawn up by a three-judge panel last year. The recommendations were sent today to Judge Michael Mallia who [...]
Please don’t absolve Robert Abela on grounds of incompetence or pathological stupidity. Today’s U-turn on selling Maltese citizenship to Russian oligarchs while their patron Vladimir Putin flouts international law and kills thousands of Ukrainian innocent civilians, is not the result of some intellectual inhibition that prevents our prime minister from having the shortest of foresights. [...]
John Sweeney is covering the war in Ukraine as a freelance journalist. Follow his reporting on his Twitter account @johnsweeneyroar. Independent journalists do not get a salary. They depend on what their readers choose to donate to cover their cost and earn a living. Support all independent journalists. You can support John Sweeney by donating [...]
Labour has taken offence at Bernard Grech's clumsy quip that he would designate the footprint of the Labour Party's headquarters as "outside development zone" if he was prime minister. I won't bother to defend the joke, such as it is. Though I did find Ian Borg's hell fire and brimstone reaction as rather comical. Here's [...]
Photo: Miguela Xuereb (Newsbook) It was, I suppose, only a matter of time. A few days ago, Labour ran a campaign video that featured me as a cause of division in the PN. Now I’ve been upgraded to a billboard, alone in a row of 10 men not contesting the next general elections, [...]