I hesitated from wading in into Parliament’s decision to give uncapped pension to any Parliamentarian serving even a single term. Knee jerk reactions are usually not a good idea, especially when they beg themselves. And this one does. After all it’s not that much of a debate. I have not heard anyone outside Parliament say [...]

Yesterday I wrote that the manner of the removal of the court decision against Yanica Barbara from the public record ought to be investigated. Owen Bonnici stepped up and spared the need to investigate. ‘I did it’. He ‘explained’ to the Times of Malta this was applying the legal principle of ‘the right to be [...]

Lawyers for Jonathan Ferris this morning filed yet another protest on his behalf giving a detailed account of the sort of runaround he is being given by the authorities whose interest lies in him remaining silent. We are supposed to have whistle-blower protection in this country. The theory is that when the bosses are corrupt, [...]

From Arguably Kelly's blog post of today: "The sheer arrogance of our PM and his gang of cronies is actually astounding at this point. It’s an arrogance that became even clearer when Muscat was asked about his thoughts regarding the government’s accountability in the case of Daphne’s murder following their Slovakian counterpart’s response: "Naħseb li l-accountability tagħna hija li nsibu [...]

So Yanica Barbara got her lawyer to point out she was merely conditionally discharged when she was found guilty of stealing a credit card and using it for some shopping. Although the crime she was found guilty of committing carries a prison sentence, the court decided not to impose that penalty and let her off [...]

The removal from the public record of an embarrassing court decision against a government official is a scandal in and of itself. The stupid 19 year old girl who stole a credit card and went on a shopping spree is now a 28 year old woman around whom rules are bent and exceptions made just [...]

Watch this remarkable speech in the Commons by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, far from my favourite person in the world but brilliant here while making a strong case against the use of libel laws and defamation suits to silence critics of politicians and independent journalists, as well as rules to subject the press to state [...]

The goings on in the political and banking scene in Latvia should be attracting more attention here. Latvia’s third largest bank, ABLV, has just been driven out of business after the United States Treasury proposed to ban ABLV from having a correspondence account in the United States due to money laundering concerns. The Financial Crimes [...]

I’m not a caveman. I do not want to give the impression that I think wives allow themselves to be used as mouthpieces by their husbands. Anyone who knows my wife knows that is one primordial macho prejudice I most definitely cannot have. But read through this Facebook chat started by Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi [...]

Creditors and depositors of Cypriot Laiki bank are on tenterhooks to see the purchase of that bank’s shares in Lombard Bank go through. Indeed contrary to mistaken information in a The Sunday Times report, the purchase of the shares would go a long way to settle moneys owed to creditors and depositors, not the Cypriot [...]

Ivan Camilleri’s Times of Malta story on two law graduates passed by the reviewing board of judges for their warrant in spite of a criminal record makes for great reading. And it caused something of a stir. First a summary of the facts: eight years ago Yanica Barbara and Thomas Sant were found guilty and [...]

One of the first tasks undertaken by the new management of the Karin Grech, Gozo General and St Luke's Hospitals was to dismiss administrative staff. This website is informed the entire accounts department is being shut down and staff made redundant. I have asked Vitals Health (now owned by Steward) to confirm or deny this [...]

Even logic is subject to mood. If one’s own hypotheses are not challenged they become dogma and one is stuck without a way out. In times like these we give in to despair when argument is not enough, logic is optional, truth but a version of reality likely least favoured by many. But in despair [...]

Take some time to read this article in The Guardian by Yascha Mounk on the uncertain state of play of liberal democracy in the world today. It is hardly comforting that Malta is but a part of a worldwide trend. The fact of the matter is anyone born after 1980 is not directly experienced in [...]

I’ll be honest with you. I cannot be fagged to go down the comments board, particularly the ones under the Facebook posts, to give individual answers to the shocked, the obtuse, the stubborn, the disappointed, the angry, the stupid, the facetious, the cowardly and even the odd sincerely confused. What they all seem to be [...]

So Chris Cardona’s secretary regrets suing Daphne Caruana Galizia for libel and filing to have her bank accounts frozen in the process because she said he was with his boss at a brothel in Germany while they were supposed to be on duty. When his expression of regret emerged in court, his lawyer, Pawlu Lia [...]

Nicky Vella de Fremaux, Adrian Delia’s wife, is back on Facebook. She had deactivated her account during her husband’s leadership campaign. In an 8 October interview with Rachel Attard of The Malta Independent she explained her reasons. From that interview: “You have always been outspoken. Why did you close your Facebook page? I did not [...]

Robert Musumeci is famous for many things: dexterity with planning permits, dexterity with political allegiance and dexterity with logical summersaults. He’s not famous for dexterity with language. His tweet mantra these days is ‘holier-than-thou’ thrown willy-nilly at critics of his twin deities du jour: Joseph Muscat and Adrian Delia. I suppose I can guess what [...]

Transparency International EU and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project have teamed up to produce a study on how citizenship- and residence-by-investment schemes, commonly referred to as ‘Golden Visa’ programmes are vulnerable to abuse and undermine the fight against corruption in the European Union and neighbouring countries. Read their reports on Malta here and here.