I’m full of sympathy for the cause of artists and performers who have been unable to earn a living throughout the covid pandemic and are still not allowed to perform in front of an audience of a reasonably economically viable scale. I share their frustration that some of the instructions by the health authorities about [...]
This one also goes out to the chest-beating patriots who think this would be paradise if only there weren’t any black people. Visual evidence has been published by search and rescue NGOs that shows the Libyan coast guard trained, and aboard infrastructure paid for, by the European Union ram a raft with migrants on board [...]
Maybe this one is for the chest-beating patriots who think this would be paradise if only there weren’t any black people. Two architects are found guilty by a court for not doing their job properly and causing as a result the death of a woman. It was hard enough in a place like this where [...]
Sent in by Gaius. Everyone needs someone qualified to assist them in a legal matter at some point in their life. One may require having their interests defended in Court, or they may require simple advice on a particular legal point. Whatever it may be, they rely on the qualifications and the professional standards of [...]
In November 2019, I wrote to Michael Farrugia, then minister for home affairs, asking to visit detention centres operated by the government to detain migrants. He ignored me. He was busy accusing Repubblika activists of sedition at the time. A few weeks later, a new prime minister moved him away and replaced him with Byron [...]
This satirical short story in Maltese was written by a friend of mine who cannot sign his name because of his workplace. Click the Maltese flag above or on this link to read it on the Maltese wing of this website.
Manuel Delia · Five Wrong Answers To The FATF It’s hard to imagine reacting to the FATF grey-listing development in a worse manner than ignoring it or underestimating it. And yet, presumably because of the experience of Malta’s conduct since the yellow card was raised in 2019, that is exactly what the FATF expects us [...]
Times of Malta reported Alex Dalli's testimony yesterday in the case I brought against the government for not letting me visit the prison and detention centres to assess allegations of living conditions. Reading the report you might get the impression that I asked to be given free rein around the prison grounds. I didn't. I [...]
Wednesday: The Financial Action Task Force puts Malta on the grey-list because the FATF is not convinced Malta is doing enough to fight money-laundering. Reportedly one of the most sceptical countries is the UK. Thursday: Prime Minister Robert Abela says he thinks the FATF's decision is “unjust” but will continue the dialogue with the FATF [...]
The phrase is a literal translation from German. It's not the twilight of our life, because Malta will outlast the criminals of our generation. It's not the twilight zone, because however mad, the shit we swim in is real. It's the twilight of the sepulchre, the shady place where law is weak and trust and [...]
Rosianne Cutajar and other gift-giving and food-distributing election candidates might have felt like they were getting a leg up from George Hyzler, the Commissioner for Standards, yesterday. Headlines all over the place picking what they were fed from the Commissioner’s conclusions left people with the impression that ‘Rosianne Cutajar had done nothing wrong’. Which, admittedly, [...]
Mr Omar Debono is not a public figure as such. But what he wrote on Facebook and the position he occupies gives insight into the mindset of people in responsibility and of the poor chances we have with thinking like this of emerging from the quagmire they put us in. Omar Debono is one of [...]
'Mhux fair, ħi' sums up the official story about our grey-listing by the FATF. Many feared it, and many more groaned in pain when the news was confirmed. "We're fucked," was a much used phrase. The point is disaster does not happen when you fall in a hole. Disaster strikes when you realise that you're [...]
This is a speech I delivered earlier today at the Crossroads Europe Conference on EU Migration and Asylum Policy and the Public Debate organised by the Union of European Federalists. Thank you, Union of European Federalists for organising this important discussion today. As with every political question, the underlying determinant of how this political [...]
This is how everything that goes wrong in the little universe inside the head of supporters of the Labour Party is explained. And I'm not sorry this sounds like it is suggesting that people who support the Labour Party have deficits for brains. If you're still supporting them, if you still think you can explain [...]
Joseph Muscat only had one comment to Times of Malta. "I fully concur with the prime minister's comments." Mur fucking obsor. The first sign that this country has become serious about raking the shit will be when Joseph Muscat has reasons to disagree with the prime minister. Until then il-Kink is still il-Kink. Prosit Prim [...]
Always look on the bright side of life. We're not as bad as North Korea and Iran, so viva l-lejber.
I sputtered 1,400 words this morning to explain why I think this country is not normal, but just look at this: Look at the person "liking" the message. Claire Cuschieri. That's the daughter of the president of Malta and the wife of Joseph Cuschieri, he who resigned as chief regulator of the financial services industry [...]
If this had been a normal country there would be a political crisis right now. Grey-listing by the FATF is not something that happened to us. This is not some misfortune like an oil price crisis or an oil tanker leak or an earthquake. This is a catastrophic failure of policy by our political leaders. [...]
