Ambassadors

By
2020-05-16T09:03:44+02:00Sat, 16th May '20, 07:52|

Joseph Cuschieri has been “recalled” from Rome or so the unofficial parlance goes. Pardon me for being pedantic but one cannot be recalled from an embassy unless one has already been accredited to it. A country can nominate its ambassador in another country’s capital. But it is for the receiving country to accept them. This [...]

“Lack of honesty and integrity”

By
2020-05-16T06:52:29+02:00Sat, 16th May '20, 06:52|

Those were the grounds the Malta Financial Services Authority cited yesterday when it banned Christian Ellul and Karl Schranz from working as directors or providers of any services regulated by the MFSA. Christian Ellul is the ex-husband of the daughter of Marian Kocner, the Slovak business tycoon who has been charged with ordering the murder [...]

Omtzigt’s Malta-monitoring mandate extended to end of year

By
2020-05-16T06:30:13+02:00Sat, 16th May '20, 06:30|

The Council of Europe has extended the term of Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt to continue to monitor Malta's progress on complying with the human rights watchdog's shopping list of actions after Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed. Pieter Omtzigt, known in his own country as the 'hound dog' for his assiduous insistence on transparency and good [...]

Please lead by example

By
2020-05-15T09:37:02+02:00Fri, 15th May '20, 09:37|

There are plenty of pictures around of Robert Abela not social distancing. I lamented on the topic in this post here. Look at these three images snapped within minutes of each other of Ian Castaldi Paris celebrating his elevation to Parliament. I do not know the order in which they were taken. Shuffle the order [...]

Living

By
2020-05-15T09:19:49+02:00Fri, 15th May '20, 09:19|

If you can, spare a thought for the people stuck on the Captain Morgan boats the other side of the horizon. You can say they’re better off there than in the bottom of the ocean. But then again, aren’t we all? Some of them have been on board since 30 April, two weeks now. They're [...]

Blue skies above

By
2020-05-14T22:19:48+02:00Thu, 14th May '20, 12:01|

Every minister wants to be remembered for having made a difference. In most sectors however ministers appreciate there are limits to their revolutions. Consider the health sector for example. Ministers will want to be remembered for extending national coverage say, or opening a new hospital wing. They will fight for the funding, hound the administrators, [...]

GUEST POST: Chambers of silence

By
2020-05-14T12:06:15+02:00Wed, 13th May '20, 15:12|

Last week after the inauguration of the new prime minister, the Malta Chamber of Commerce presented its list of complaints and a list of changes required for Malta to regain its lost reputation. This list is most welcome, coming from the widest section of the productive Maltese economy. It must be a telling message to [...]

GUEST POST: Reflections on the Egrant Inquiry (2)

By
2020-05-13T14:52:14+02:00Wed, 13th May '20, 14:52|

Continues from part 1 in this series, linked here. I would like to begin this article by highlighting once again that court appointed experts Harbinson Forensics state that: "The emails of Pilatus Bank are stored on the cloud and are not available to us; “We found only one Egrant related item not found elsewhere. This [...]

Obfuscation

By
2020-05-12T20:51:18+02:00Tue, 12th May '20, 19:10|

The government was surprised by the world’s reaction to Charles Mercieca quitting the attorney general’s office and showing up the next day on Yorgen Fenech’s defence team. They were surprised because they’re stupid. They should know exactly what reaction to expect when yet another mess crops up. But they keep hoping that the world loses [...]

GUEST POST: Wealth versus health

By
2020-05-12T11:24:53+02:00Tue, 12th May '20, 11:24|

Subtitle: How national political philosophy affected responses to, and preparations for, pandemics. Follows on from yesterday’s article, linked here. The UK, the USA and Sweden started off by pretending that the virus was not serious, then they opted to attempt to solve the issue with herd immunity. First propounded by an English University study that [...]

“Malta a country of exceptional concern for press freedom” – NGOs

By
2020-05-11T18:44:08+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 18:44|

The Council of Europe’s platform for media freedom NGOs have listed the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia as a case of impunity as justice continues to be delayed two and half years after her killing. Cases of impunity “highlight deficiencies in investigations, including the failure to identify the perpetrators, sponsors, organisers or masterminds of these [...]

“Unconscionable and unforgivable failure of Maltese authorities” if disloyal lawyer is allowed to harm prosecution of Daphne killers – Omtzigt

By
2020-05-11T16:43:04+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 16:36|

The Council of Europe’s rapporteur following up the government’s actions after the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia had hard words for Attorney General Peter Grech in a letter sent today. Pieter Omtzigt was reacting to the defection of lawyer Charles Mercieca who switched overnight from the prosecutor’s office to Yorgen Fenech’s defence team. Pieter Omtzigt [...]

Not all the people involved in commissioning Daphne’s murder have been held to account so far – trial judge

By
2020-05-11T12:55:03+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 12:55|

The trial judge in the case against the alleged assassins hired to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia remarked that “it is evident that the criminal network involved (in the journalist’s murder) has not been completely restrained and there are still people involved in commissioning the crime that have not yet been called to give account of [...]

GUEST POST: Covid-19 and national attitudes

By
2020-05-11T11:34:17+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 11:31|

Having had the benefit of spending years in various European countries, worked there, paid taxes there and experienced their healthcare systems, I can understand the different results of the approaches to the Covid-19. Since January, when the virus reached Europe and the USA, countries reacted differently exposing the investments made or the lack of preparation [...]

Rights Commissioner to Robert Abela: bring migrants ashore; stop push backs; stop bashing NGOs

By
2020-05-11T10:46:34+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 10:44|

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Robert Abela, published today, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights urges the Maltese government to fully meet its human rights obligations towards migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, who cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic, in an apparent reference to the government’s remarks [...]

Repubblika on Migration: Silence is not an option

By
2020-05-11T09:50:51+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 09:50|

A statement by Repubblika We, Repubblika, consider that certain decisions and actions of the Maltese government during these last weeks amount to real and present threats and, in some cases, a veritable outrage of fundamental human rights. It is our considered opinion that the right to life, the right to live free from torture, the [...]

‘Insensitive’ is the new ‘serene’

By
2020-05-11T09:42:08+02:00Mon, 11th May '20, 09:39|

‘Serene’ was the de rigueur buzzword that would be deployed every time some PR catastrophe would torpedo Joseph Muscat’s forced projection of infallibility. Famously, Michelle Muscat was ‘serene’ with the allegation that a million-dollar bung owed to her husband by the tyrant of Azerbaijan was paid into an account in her name. Chris Cardona expressed [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: ‘The office of Dr Joseph Muscat’

By
2020-05-10T08:29:05+02:00Sun, 10th May '20, 08:29|

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "I will not buy the excuse that Robert Abela is new and inexperienced. He sat in cabinet for years as his predecessor’s guest. And his ministerial team is composed of veterans of seven years of public administration. And he’s not running a band club. He has a [...]

Go to Top