The Broadcasting Authority has tried to justify its decision to order TVM to switch off the cameras when journalists start asking questions to ministers during covid-19 press conferences. It said the transmission of press conferences was a public service because it allowed people to acquire information on the pandemic. But “unexpected” questions provoke a political [...]
The effort to stay awake is exhausting. Electric shocks start out as torture. But now our body aches when the shocking stops. This is a sample from only this week, the slowest news week after Christmas, of the ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ moments we’ve had. The Broadcasting Authority ruled that journalists create imbalance [...]
Tort ta’ Simon Navarra ser jgħid lil tal-One is-segwaċi, minflok jammetti li l-gvern inkapaċi: “Il-virus mhux miċ-Ċina ġiet, imma mill-kċina ta’ Simon, kif kien qed jgħalli l-brussels sprouts mal-ispinaċi.” Par Joseph L-eks Kummissarju staqsewh, “X’inhu l-fattur ‘R’?” “Kieku b'Joseph no problem, għax dak kellu par! Dan xi storjella ta’ Marmarà? Qalli 'No Action Needed' [...]
Cosa Nostra is the Italian mafia organisation that originated in Sicily in the 19th century and forms an association of criminal groups that share a common code of conduct. The basic group is called cosca, a family or clan. Each family takes over a territory, usually a village or town in which it operates. Although [...]
MATSECs should be dropped this year and replaced with teacher assessments While Robert Abela was telewanking from his watery home off the coast of the Ragusano, 16- and 18-year-old students have spent their summers in anguish and anxiety, fighting the heat and their nerves to keep on top of their preparations for their high school [...]
Peter Grech’s resignation letter posed no risk of destabilising the country and its administration, so President George Vella published it. No destabilisation will come of a moping, whingeing, epistle of self-pity. Peter Grech dumped us with “It’s not me. It’s you.” In brief, he said the job was making him sick and he needed to [...]
The main issues and points of divergence clogging the re-emergence of the PN as an alternative government amount to party renewal. This needs to be the prevalent theme of the leadership campaign. An electorate would not place its trust in a party that for long years has been plagued with its own internal disputes revolving [...]
CBS 60 minutes replayed this week, their film on Malta and the aftermath of the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. They had first broadcast the film in December 2018. It's worth watching again because you realise that Malta in December 2018 was a different country. Joseph Muscat was still untouchable and he was smug enough [...]
Sent in from a senior pathologist known to me who must remain anonymous for reasons I understand. Like everyone else on the island, I awaited with bated breath (not) yesterday for the mitigation measures against covid-19 to be announced. I will not say too much about our prime minister because it has all been said [...]
The prison authorities have been ignoring requests from journalists, including this website, to visit the prisons and assess reports of poor conditions and over-crowding. But prison warder Alexander Dalli organised a PR visit for social media "influencer" Terry Muscat. According to Terry Muscat herself, who brands her social media character as Terry ta’ Bormla or [...]
Malta Today reported today that the interdiction the court handed down to Aldo Cutajar in 2005 was just a few months later revoked by another court order. The court sympathised with Cutajar’s plea that since he had already lost his government job as a result of the case, the interdiction should be lifted to reduce [...]
L-allat u l-annimali Kien hemm bniedem għaref Laburist, Li tal-allat u l-annimali kien tarrfilna l-ġist. U b'Mario Cutajar, L-alla li jtajjar, Ah! Kemm kellu raġun Evarist! Verġni Kien hemm kap tac-ċivil li xtaq limerikka Ieħor mill-kċina ta’ Kastilja li ħa falza stikka, X'm’g’amlux dawn in-nies? Agħar minn orġa f'quddies. Imbagħad jilagħbha tal-verġni bħal sħabu tal-klikka. [...]
On a comments board I saw the admittedly cheap witticism that summed up Edward Scicluna’s statement of last week that the country was (is?) run by two levels of mutually exclusive government. There’s the now notorious ‘kitchen’ cabinet were the real decisions were taken. Edward Scicluna, the Finance Minister, was not part of that. It’s [...]
It is noble of the prime minister not to want to imprison us all. He said that when he was justifying his decision to stand back and watch the virus spread in our midst without as much as insisting we stay 2 metres apart. You get the gnawing feeling Robert Abela held back on any [...]
Ineptocracy is a system of government where the least capable to lead the country are elected and put in power. Malta is the perfect case study. Premier Robert Abela took centre stage after Health Minister Chris Fearne and Professor Charmaine Gauci, Superintendent for Public Health, managed to control the first wave of Covid-19, working through [...]
Look, the issue with Mario Cutajar is not that he is guilty by association for the deeds of his brother. This is not what this is about at all and Mario Cutajar’s defence with Lovin Malta that he is not his brother’s keeper is responding to an accusation that is not being made in his [...]
We have some perfectly capable civil servants working in the foreign office posted near and far. Governments sometimes have entirely legitimate reasons to dispatch their political appointees to run embassies usually for particularly sensitive political reasons. You can have career diplomats or you can have political appointees dispatched to diplomatic positions. You would not expect [...]
The police have asked the court this morning to order the freeze of the assets of Aldo Cutajar and his wife. They also asked the court to issue a perpetual interdiction on Aldo Cutajar “because he’s a public officer”. If the court agrees with the request by the police, he’ll lose his job at the [...]
