A few weeks ago, I wrote about the acquittal of an alleged rapist who was accused of having forced himself on his colleague inside a police station. In that case the accused admitted he had raped the victim when interrogated by the police but the judge ruled the evidence inadmissible because when he was served [...]
We’ve been waiting for the final NAO report on the hospitals swindle. We’ve been waiting since at least 2019 when we filed and fought in court to start an inquiry into the crimes we were alleging happened in the hospitals concession. We filed in court because the police and the AG ignored the evidence, particularly [...]
One TV has called me many things it would consider insulting. It has called me an extremist, a Nationalist, and a campaigner ‘against Malta’. It has reported as a negative that for some time I lived in Zimbabwe. It marks periodically, nearly thirteen years after the fact, the bus reform with which my name was [...]
The problems of this country today are not confined to criminal-scandals perpetuated by the government and by an assortment of citizens now in survival mode. The diagnosis of prevailing maladies identifies a dysfunctional economy that passed its expiry date, a conglomerate of ill prepared and uninspiring politicians, the thorough erosion of all state apparatus; finally, [...]
Read this article in yesterday’s The Malta Independent by Professor Kevin Aquilina, who teaches and researches law at the university. He’s no big fan of Repubblika. A few days ago, he criticised our decisions about the Pilatus case where we anticipated possible court orders to discuss the evidence we had in hand behind closed doors, [...]
I’m sorry if I’m not letting go of this bone quite yet. Illum last Sunday screamed tabloid headlines that Repubblika “accepted” donations from applicants for citizenship despite its publicly and loudly declared objections to the scheme. In this other post I explained my wonder at how they reached that conclusion when they had no basis [...]
Scroll down for a copy of the letter Robert Aquilina sent today to an individual who had donated €1,500 to Repubblika last year. When last Sunday, we saw ourselves on Illum’s front page, accused of “accepting” a donation from someone who was looking to buy Maltese citizenship we were aghast. We felt guilty of the [...]
Read this first. You may have dismissed that piece of news as the collective moaning of a bunch of gamblers who gambled away their money and are trying to get it back, refusing to accept the stakes of their foolish playing. What follows is not a sob story about gambling addiction. The complaint to the [...]
A campaign intended to discredit Repubblika has started and its likely to get worse. The source of the campaign is not obvious and that’s not just because the hand throwing poison in the pot is cloaked. It’s also because many possible sources have motive and opportunity and it’s hard to figure out which one is [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times today: "We know Abela told Reynders that Malta “learnt its lessons” and the reforms it is introducing are “game-changing”. But has it? Are they? "I can’t presume to know what the European Commission will say when its report is out. But last year’s report is public and I’m [...]
You need to speak either French or German for this one. It's an ARTE documentary about online gaming which you may find interesting.
It’s bad enough to have to listen to the military rhetoric about sieges and invasions poured like hemlock in our ears by right wing populist politicians from the UK, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Greece, and Malta to poison us with hatred for migrants desperately trying to reach Europe. It’s horrible. It normalises prejudice and dehumanises [...]
The dysfunctional critical infrastructure of our islands It is all about Democracy Rules. It is all about acquiring an “understanding” of politics enabling an individual to become a better citizen. Citizens who intelligently can elect parliamentary representatives who are knowledgeable, fit, and capable. Citizens who can evaluate and be proactive dealing with this present crisis. [...]
I don’t want to make World Press Freedom Day about myself. I’m just doing this to give a bit of near-home context to RSF’s findings that it is easier to be a journalist in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, in Orban-smothered Hungary, in conflict-torn Burkina Faso, and in corruption-riddled North Macedonia, than it is to be a [...]
Malta’s failure to adopt the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia has forced the country’s press freedom ranking further down. The Reporters Without Borders’ world rankings published today on World Press Freedom Day rank Malta an abysmal 84th in the world. Greece is the only EU country with a ranking lower than Malta’s. Ireland and [...]
I get the notion of social justice through the redistribution of wealth. That’s what the welfare state is about. Tax those who have, to give to those who don’t. I also get the objection that you can overdo that policy. A government can raise so much tax as to suffocate the smooth chugging of an [...]