Many people who were touched in their lives by Ivan Fenech, former Deputy Editor of Times of Malta who died after a sudden illness last week, remarked on how impressed they were by his commitment to his principles. Ivan Fenech was not swayed by crowds. He did not hop on to bandwagons. He argued his [...]
Repubblika statement today: Repubblika expresses its support for the protest being organised by Moviment Graffitti on Tuesday 18th June in Pieta’, starting from St Luke’s Hospital at 6 pm and proceeding towards the Malta Developers’ Association offices. Repubblika agrees with Moviment Graffitti that developers do as they please all over Malta, to the detriment of [...]
Maurice Mizzi is no longer the guardian of future generations. That’s neither here nor there. Although he had an appointment letter signed by Jose Herrera that said he was, I didn’t see him guarding anything. A wealthy man with nothing better to do than inflict the excess of his time on the rest of us [...]
Statement by #occupyjustice after their action in Valletta today. Have You Read the CoE Report? A number of #occupyjustice activists today gathered around Castille square while the Press Conference for the 6th South EU Summit was being held. The summit was attended by Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Mr Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of [...]
Intuitive reactions are uninformed and thankfully not the way people are judged for crimes they are convicted of. I respect that. Nor am I the ‘lock-him-up-and-throw-away-the-key’ sort of guy. But let’s face it. Erin Tanti admitted his guilt on a charge of murder which is punishable by up to life in prison. He also pleaded [...]
The PN's sectional committees in Mosta and Paola issued declarations that are highly critical of the headquarters of the party demanding that instead of trying to explain away the recent electoral losses, party elders should be assuming responsibility for their failures. They follow the more urgent clamour from the Gozitan party activists who went ballistic [...]
The piece is written by a regular contributor who has adopted the identity of Tyndareus and apologises to Edgar Allan Poe for the heading. Some would say that you cannot expect a snake other than to hiss and slither. That is his nature. So even though the situation is dire and most did not expect [...]
This is a letter sent today by Repubblika to the heads of state and government meeting Joseph Muscat in Valletta today: Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of France Mr Nicos Anastasiades, President of Cyprus Mr Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy Mr Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece Mr Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal [...]
The Prime Minister yesterday issued a royal decree ordering all excavations or demolitions stopped until further review of the rules that according to him are now causing buildings to collapse. Facebook has since yesterday been replete with debates interpreting that decree and trying to define limits around its absurdity. That's why royal decrees have been [...]
The leadership of the PN is drunk on a punch of factional politics. When MPs resort to WhatsApp groups or Facebook posts to express disagreement, subtly or not so much, with the line the party leadership takes that’s officially described as factionalism. It isn’t really. It’s venting of frustration: leaking pipes in a plumbing system [...]
Darren Debono, who has been charged in Italy for smuggling Libyan fuel for Sicily’s Cosa Nostra has been elected to the committee of Premier League club Senglea Athletic FC and now sits on the “technical team” managing the club’s team. A report announcing the news on TVM, the national broadcaster, introduced Darren Debono as an [...]
German public TV NDR ran an investigation this week into links between sports betting shops in Germany and organised crime. The feature interviews the Chief Prosecutor responsible for organised crime in Frankfurt, Noah Krueger, who says his office is investigating whether several dozen betting shops have been used as fronts for operations laundering money for [...]
The Prime Minister ordered all permits for excavations and demolitions issued according to the laws of the land, suspended until he rewrites the law. He looks like “he’s doing something” in the face of a crisis. The crisis is his doing. Avoiding it was not just within his powers. It was his responsibility which he [...]
I sat down to write on the Prime Minister's intervention today after yet another collapse of a building that had the misfortune of being next door to something ironically termed 'development'. I still have some thoughts to add to the below but this guest post sent in by a regular contributor to this site sets [...]
Manwel Mallia was getting ready for battle this morning. But free speech and media freedom NGOs filed their appeal with the heads of government meeting in Malta tomorrow encouraging them to read Pieter Omtzigt's Council of Europe report and learn how Malta is systematically failing in guaranteeing the safety of journalists and upholding the rule [...]
The ‘Competent Person’ appointed by the MFSA to take control of Pilatus Bank has failed in his reporting duties according to law, an article by Godfrey Leone Ganado for this website says. Lawrence Connell, who worked as a financial regulator in the United States in the past, appears to have missed deadlines in submitting reports [...]
In this article I intend to highlight the lack of accountability by the person appointed by the Regulatory Authority in terms of the Banking Act and the Investment Services Act, to act as the competent person for Pilatus Bank. On 21 March 2018, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), issued a notice to the Public [...]
Robert Arrigo was not wrong in expressing frustration about some of the stuff people put on Facebook. Messaging in politics used to be a science. You had trained people who thought words through, evaluated them against the data they collected, tested them in focus groups, and exercised discipline and coordinated speakers to ensure the public [...]
The story of Manwel Mallia sending a WhatsApp Group that includes Nationalist MPs the beginning of a conspiracy to “lobby against” a Council of Europe report is only superficially about him revealing strategy in the wrong chat window. This is not about Manwel Mallia typing on his phone without looking who exactly would be getting [...]
I knew Ivan Fenech for many years, never very well. I knew him mostly through what I heard others say of him. That he was smart, funny, kind, patient, civil and principled. And I knew him as everyone else did, one of the most recognisable pens on Maltese newspapers. I got to know him more [...]