This blog has in the past featured some of the works by artist Joseph Farrugia whose dark, haunting drawings are explicit political statements allegorised in birds and monsters. They are stark projections of the horror we have experienced in this country in recent years. Or at least the horror we woke up to when Daphne [...]
It’s too early to make assessments but we can speak of what we see. Bernard Grech has had a small number of public engagements since he won Saturday’s election. On Sunday he gave a sober run-down of his immediate plans for change. On Monday he published a short list of clear demands on his agenda [...]
I am a father of sons but also a father of a daughter. The first time my daughter heard of Daphne was right after Daphne had been killed. She was 7 at the time. She had gathered that I did something called 'blogging' and in the hours after news of Daphne's assassination struck us, my [...]
You can fetishise any historical figure, polish anyone's biography and make the worst people look good. If you have never heard of Benito Mussolini, the following collection of images will make you think of him as some heroic figure. If you're reading this and you have heard of Benito Mussolini and think he is a [...]
This was broadcast on Facebook yesterday.
Manuel Delia · That's not all folks Beneath the commonplace charm which many seemed to find appealing, Joseph Muscat is a bitter, small man with a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder and the emotional complexity of Wile E. Coyote: self-proclaimed super genius, excited by his own cunning and surprised by the [...]
I wish I was a better man and could just ignore Edwin Vassallo, treating the miserable slug with the contempt that he deserves. On Saturday, I wrote an article to comment on the election in the Nationalist Party and among other things I said that I have learnt with time to take a less adulatory [...]
The Labour Party and the local suppliers of the energy contract that would eventually be known as Electrogas fixed the broad terms of the deal when the Labour Party was still in opposition. This suggests funding of the Labour Party by businessmen who would eventually be rewarded with a lucrative government contract. The suggestion is [...]
The Education Department is trying to manage fears about the possible spread of covid in schools by pretending it doesn’t exist. Several children have not stepped into a school yet and yet unconfirmed reports of positive testing amongst staff of several educational institutions are spreading all over social media. I’m not in the business of [...]
A few people who openly supported Adrian Delia over the past three years, even through the Yorgen Fenech WhatsApp revelations, have announced they are quitting party structures after Saturday’s result that saw him replaced as party leader. There could be perfectly honourable reasons for quitting at this time. Many things were said in the past [...]
The Labour Party’s first reaction to Bernard Grech’s election on Saturday was predictable. “Simon Busuttil’s faction had won”. Which was their way of conceding defeat because the extension of their will had lost. But they described Simon Busuttil’s faction as the faction “that wants migrants brought to Malta” which even for them felt odd and [...]
Updated at 20:34 carrying a reply from one of Robert Arrigo's assistants explaining what really happened. Robert Arrigo followed Adrian Delia in pledging loyalty to Bernard Grech. He's staying on as deputy leader to live out his term. He posted on Facebook yesterday his decision to stick it out. Look at the first comment beneath [...]
Times of Malta yesterday reported there likely will be no SOFA agreement because the Americans are not buying “the diet version”. I can only imagine Robert Abela’s government treating the Pentagon and the State Department the way it treats its own citizens. Unable to say no, it will then try cheap prestidigitation to make its [...]
The Nationalist Party has a new leader. After the disastrous three years with Adrian Delia at the helm, Bernard Grech takes over a party that barely recognises itself. Once famous for its capable organisers and strategists, the PN is almost an empty shell. Once famous for capable and effective communications, the PN is in a [...]
Redundant Air Malta pilots that benefit from Konrad Mizzi's promise to get them a government job that pays them what they earned flying planes, got a letter from Konrad Mizzi's daddy asking them for their CV. One would have thought Lawrence Mizzi would fully expect their CV to say they have flown planes. But we [...]
The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom in a statement this afternoon condemned the insults faced by Italian journalist Nello Scavo as he left the court in Valletta, earlier today. Scavo was testifying in the criminal case against Neville Gafà, who had threatened him online. Upon leaving the hearing, Nello Scavo and the author [...]
Administration, faculty and staff at the Link Campus university in Rome, formerly an offshoot of the University of Malta, are facing indictments in Florence over a system of “easy exams”, a suspected fraudulent scheme to pass unprepared students for their degrees. Just under 70 persons are facing indictments including former Italian foreign minister Vincenzo Scotti [...]
The above shows the convoy of cars transporting US Defence Secretary Mark Esper during his visit to Malta. During his stay here he stayed at the Hilton Hotel. I understand the US government will want its most senior officials to patronise American brands abroad, but isn't this just bizarre? Right about there, where his car [...]
The court registrar filed a case against commentator Simon Mercieca for contempt of court after he ignored an earlier court order banning the publication of recordings heard in a closed court in the police’s case against Yorgen Fenech. The recordings were heard in a closed courtroom because they are part of ongoing investigations and Magistrate [...]
This is the text of remarks delivered by Robert Aquilina, President-Elect of Repubblika this morning at the Daphne Caruana Galizia protest memorial in Great Siege Square, Valletta. Repubblika reiterates its sympathy and support to Nello Scavo who had to face serious threats merely for doing his job. Nello Scavo was working with other journalists in [...]