How would Anton Refalo feel if a Caravaggio vanished from St John’s and was found hanging in my living room?

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2022-05-19T13:42:08+02:00Thu, 19th May '22, 13:13|

See this comment by Anton Refalo to Times of Malta who pressed him over the milestone marker from Victorian Malta that’s been ripped out of its unspecified original location and erected in Anton Refalo’s private garden instead, for him to admire while bobbing in his pool. Part of the reason Anton Refalo continues to get [...]

We don’t want

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2022-05-18T15:56:35+02:00Wed, 18th May '22, 15:56|

In a way Byron Camilleri is partly right. The criticism addressed to the Maltese military about the way they treat migrants struggling in our waters is unfair on (most of) the soldiers themselves. Ordinary soldiers have no role in deciding whether a group of migrants should be rescued or allowed to bob in the water [...]

So much for changing the world

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2022-05-17T17:34:05+02:00Tue, 17th May '22, 14:38|

Oliver Scicluna had a very brief career in politics. He was co-opted to Parliament in January 2021. He captured the headlines a year after that with a Facebook post expressing his disgust at a political system where voters appear to expect personal favours in exchange for their vote. He failed to get elected in March [...]

Not neutral. Just cowards.

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2022-05-16T12:16:33+02:00Mon, 16th May '22, 12:16|

I don’t put up this link to Joe Brincat’s Facebook to add to the case that he’s an antediluvian Mintoffian grotesque. That case has rested a long time ago. I put it up because it might answer my question of this morning on why Maltese Eurovision voters behaved differently from all other Europeans and did [...]

Unsubstantiated claims

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2022-05-16T08:42:11+02:00Mon, 16th May '22, 08:42|

Election candidates who fail to get elected are an inevitable side effect of the voting process. Their unhappiness with the outcome is their problem. When you enter any race you dream of glory but you’d better be prepared for the statistically likelier outcome of disappointment. Dignity in defeat looks nice but it’s not mandatory. Candidates [...]

Bless political Eurovision voting

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2022-05-16T07:40:08+02:00Mon, 16th May '22, 07:40|

I couldn’t be dragged in front of the Eurovision broadcast even if I had been in chains. The only fun bit is the voting at the end because it’s a bit like watching a regatta, but it’s way too late into the night for me. Since the winner is chosen mostly by popular vote a [...]

Witness

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2022-05-14T08:27:12+02:00Sat, 14th May '22, 08:27|

I had not heard of Shireen Abu Aqla before she was killed. When I first heard of her death I thought it was sad that another war reporter found themselves between a bullet and its intended target. Then I heard an interview with her former boss who explained that that morning she wasn’t on some [...]

Court orders liquidation of Keith Schembri’s film-making company

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2022-05-14T08:22:41+02:00Sat, 14th May '22, 08:22|

The Civil Court has ordered the dissolution of a film production company half-owned by Keith Schembri after one of its shareholders complained in court the banks were treating him with prejudice because of his link with Joseph Muscat’s former chief of staff. Film producer Oliver Mallia set up Cinebiss Limited in 2007, the same year [...]

George wagging at short skirts

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2022-05-14T08:12:57+02:00Sat, 14th May '22, 08:12|

Perhaps President George Vella doesn’t see the contradictions in his remarks, nor indeed, the fact that implicitly he is blaming Ukraine for having been invaded by Russia. But that’s no excuse. George Vella is quoted here by TVM making two comments. I am translating them. In 2014 I suggested that Ukraine goes neutral for between [...]

Where’s a cop when you need one?

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2022-05-12T12:36:16+02:00Thu, 12th May '22, 12:36|

I was writing this morning how disappointing though entirely in character it was for police chief Angelo Gafà to say absolutely nothing about one of his staffers admitting in court that the police knew where Ryan Schembri was 5 years ago but made no move to nab him. Then someone pointed out to me why [...]

A political appointment

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2022-05-12T12:03:48+02:00Thu, 12th May '22, 12:03|

Mario Cutajar is leaving the headship of the civil service. The man turned a position that should in and of itself be an institution of our democracy into a loyal branch of the Labour Party. In the process he not only undermined the ethos of the civil service, but he also undermined the basis of [...]

And they mocked the idea of having anti-mafia laws

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2022-05-12T10:39:43+02:00Thu, 12th May '22, 10:39|

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli I decided to wait 24 hours before writing about the shocking admission of a police inspector who told a court yesterday, he had no idea why the people responsible for one of the biggest manhunts in recent criminal history completely ignored information from the UK police about the whereabouts of [...]

RIGHT OF REPLY: Ivan Buttigieg writes in

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2022-05-12T09:56:38+02:00Thu, 12th May '22, 09:56|

The below refers to this piece and, presumably, this piece, I published on this website two days ago. As usual no comments will be published beneath a post carrying a response claimed under the right of reply. 11 May 2022 To whom it may concern, Following various media reports regarding my alleged involvement in the [...]

Getting things not quite done

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2022-05-12T09:53:09+02:00Thu, 12th May '22, 09:53|

There are paving works in and around the Rabat playing field just outside Mdina Gate. They've been going on for ages. They're still going on and the area is inaccessible. One thing's done though. This plaque says the completed works were inaugurated by Ian Borg on 24 March, two days before the last election. The [...]

GUEST POST: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Stupidity

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2022-05-11T10:32:09+02:00Wed, 11th May '22, 10:32|

(Apologies to Nicholas Cage) I don’t purport to be Greek, like one of our politicians. I don’t pretend to be British even though I am a British citizen by virtue of having been born in the UK. Wherever I go and whoever I deal with, I identify myself as Maltese. How could I do otherwise? [...]

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