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 [...]

As predicted the Nationalist Party has a new leader, Bernard Grech. Saturday’s election result proved that all surveys pointing to his victory were correct. He won 69% of the tesserati vote. That is quite a feat, seeing that Robert Abela managed about 57% of the delegate vote in his electoral victory over Chris Fearne. A [...]

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 [...]

If you follow Michelle Muscat’s preferred media, my dear, you might think that Malta is the gold  standard for a democratic country where “institutions are working” because the new Attorney General moved against Keith Schembri, Brian Tonna and his cabal in Nexia BT, where the Accountancy Board stripped Tonna and Karl Cini of their warrants, [...]

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 [...]

This is the text of remarks delivered by Sylvana Debono, President of the Istitut tal-Ġurnalisti Maltin this morning at the Daphne Caruana Galizia protest memorial in Great Siege Square, Valletta. In 2020 Reporters without Borders ranked Malta in the 81st place in press freedom ranking. This marks a whopping 36-point fall from grace in 7 [...]

“Not the behaviour of a civilised country.” Avvenire journalist Nello Scavo described the scene outside the court building this morning with these words. A bunch of thugs, besmirching the Maltese flag merely by holding it, waited for him to step out of the court building after testifying in the case filed by the police against [...]

The SOFA (state of forces agreement) situation requires some analysis. First, what is it? Until the government publishes a document signed with the United States and then presents it to parliament for ratification, we cannot be entirely sure. At this point we can judge by what we know the United States has asked from Malta [...]

col·​lu·​sion | \ kə-ˈlü-zhən \ Definition of collusion: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose acting in collusion with the enemy. The collusion between criminal and crooked mafiosi politicians with high police officers is now well known to one and all. The testimonies coming out of the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry and the compilation of evidence against Yorgen [...]