It would be reasonable to expect that at tonight’s PN meeting, the new leader announces his path to the office of Leader of the Opposition. Tomorrow is Independence Day and as an official of the state, an occupier of a ranking constitutional title, the Leader of the Opposition participates in the formal ceremonies of the [...]

Judge Antonio Mizzi decided today that Simon Busuttil’s arguments for him, the judge, to recuse himself from hearing the prime minister’s appeal from a lower court’s decision to order an investigation into the Panama scandal is heard in an open court. It was the right decision. The contrary would have been a travesty. It was [...]

Adrian Delia is now leader of the PN. Many expected this for some time. That expectation has peaked excitement and confidence in his supporters some of which leaked in bluster and spittle. His detractors felt dread and a sense of doom. Some of which leaked in bluster and spittle. And now the result is out, [...]

There’s no better day for the government to bury bad news than the leadership election in the opposition party. It is indeed remarkable than in the midst of election day, the PN found the presence of mind and the focus to not let Konrad Mizzi’s quite horrific threat to Air Malta employees pass without comment. [...]

A friend of mine had dinner with Eddie Fenech Adami a few days ago. “Chief”, he asked him, for the oldies will always call him ‘Kap’, “who should I be voting for?” After a pregnant silence – that dramatic pause for effect the consummate diplomat never drops even if he’s been out of business for [...]

I am no fan of arguments for cross-party consensus. I appreciate that negotiation can be productive where confrontation is not. But in political discourse, disagreement is essential to ensure transparency in argumentation, an honest pursuit for alternatives, and the avoidance of collusion between political forces at the expense of the public. A dialectical process is [...]

… is that there is only one of her. She has not been too far from the news for the past 30 years. She is, if you think about it, a more long-lasting feature of our scene than Alfred Sant, Lawrence Gonzi and others who invested their life to exist in the public eye. I [...]

Frank Portelli, erstwhile PN leadership candidate, is all over Facebook teaching us all a lesson in party loyalty and unity after losing an electoral race. He shows us how it should be done by firing grape-shot in the general direction of anyone he dislikes in the process hitting innocent bystanders like there’s no tomorrow. In [...]

We have come to accept as inevitable the interminable twists of court procedures which we are told exist to ensure justice where expediency and swiftness would suppress it. But sometimes it’s just a joke. The long-winded case on whether evidence of crimes presented to the courts connecting our senior politicians to the Panama revelations, ought [...]

I remember when radio stations were first liberalised in Malta. I remember Michael Frendo piloting the law through parliament. Eons ago now. But there was another eon that had just ended when the Nationalist Party was hounded like a para-military organisation on suspicion of possessing equipment it could use to communicate without the regime eavesdropping. [...]

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "People watching the war of words over Facebook are seeing arguments they became entirely familiar with in the run-up to the general election. There is admiration of contempt; rationalisation grounded in misguided loyalty; projection of original sin on any alternative; a shift of focus from the message [...]

For several months at least the computer system of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit worked with a simple log-in/password system for its security. Given the sensitivity of the money laundering investigations this Unit is responsible for that is staggering in itself. What is more amazing is that all staff shared a single password to log-in [...]

The persistent perception of our community is that people of African heritage who live here are a separate and distinct set of aliens corralled in an area lent to them because providing them with solid ground under their feet is Christian charity compared with leaving them to be swallowed up by the open sea. Inside [...]

The passport scheme is a pet hate for me: for reasons of principle, because I cannot conceive how citizenship can have a price tag; for reasons of reputation, because our European friends and allies are rightly annoyed about the implications on them of our little bargain sale; for reasons of social justice, because property prices [...]

See this editorial of the Corriere di Malta, an Italian language website for expats living here. The publication has expressed doubts about the sustainability of the growth of Malta’s properties for some time now. But they are taking their editorial concerns up a notch with this commentary, particularly now that it is witnessing quirky policy [...]

To be a member of the PN one must be a Maltese citizen of at least 16 years of age and accept the statute and the discipline of the party. There’s a safety clause in the statute that also requires a party member to be approved by the party’s executive committee or an official delegated [...]

The primary vocation of a political party is governing. There is no doubt about that. Anything else is second best and therefore defeat. The constitution assigns very important roles to politicians who do not make it to government but government is where they all want to go. And it is right because politics is a [...]

Chris Said had three options to choose from. The traditional thing to do would have been to withdraw his candidature and openly back Adrian Delia in the final round going for party unity and ensuring for himself an influential future in the PN led by his erstwhile rival. That normally happens when the choice of [...]

My piece in The Sunday Times today. It was written before yesterday's PN election result was known but on the assumption Adrian Delia would be shortlisted to the final vote in two weeks' time.