The Republic of Malta v Joseph Muscat

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2024-05-28T16:31:38+02:00Tue, 28th May '24, 16:13|

The prosecutor had been reading the charges for almost an hour. He droned through the cumbersome lists, the company numbers, the formulaic repetitions that cannot be described any more helpfully than boring. He stopped periodically to sip some water. Next to him, an assistant prosecutor followed on her print out. Sometimes the paging on the [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: The great crisis

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2024-05-05T08:13:05+02:00Sun, 5th May '24, 08:13|

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "Daphne could only be killed once. We who remain alive must continue to breathe the poison of impunity. Impunity. Immunity. The privilege that Muscat claims, and Robert Abela – ever his faithful attorney – argues for, which allows a former prime minister suspected of laundering proceeds of [...]

(UPDATED:) THE SUNDAY TIMES: The Maltese mafia is here

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2024-04-27T10:54:09+02:00Sun, 21st Apr '24, 07:04|

If you prefer to watch the video: https://youtu.be/MXUYk9H2y0o   From my article in The Sunday Times today: "There are three questions that must precede the inquiry whether Malta is a mafia state. Is the mafia real? Does the phenomenon exist in Malta? Has it infiltrated the Maltese State? Here’s why the answers are yes, yes [...]

MONEY MAGAZINE: Before the next economic model

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2024-04-11T10:06:08+02:00Thu, 11th Apr '24, 10:06|

My article in this month's Money Magazine. It is almost dogmatic to say that politics cannot do much about the economy. Since the neo-con days of the 1980s, the generally accepted maxim is that the less politicians do, the better the economy is likely to fare. As the phrase “new economic model” is dropped ever [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: The president’s diary

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2024-04-08T07:35:56+02:00Mon, 8th Apr '24, 07:35|

From my article in The Sunday Times this week: "George Vella couldn’t preside over a conversation that would examine the very values that brought him to that presidency. Not even if he wanted to. If he did want to, he would still have needed the willing participation of ministers, of political leaders, of leaders of [...]

Political interference

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2024-04-02T15:45:55+02:00Tue, 2nd Apr '24, 15:45|

I disliked the news that the new company that took over Air Malta’s business removed the requirement that cabin crew must speak Maltese, although my reasons may be a bit different from the ones you’ve heard. I also thought the airline’s response that they didn’t need to speak Maltese because 80% of their passengers would [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: The infallible chastiser

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2024-03-24T07:48:00+01:00Sun, 24th Mar '24, 07:48|

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "An €800 slip-up is not the end of the world or a resignation matter, especially if Abela was prepared to blame a staffer, as he did in any case. The refusal to apologise for a self-evident error and breach of rules, however, is profoundly worrying. It shows [...]

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