From my article in The Sunday Times today: "There are family dynasties that wield enormous power in this country, not quantified by votes or popular support and not tempered by the prospect of replacement by rivals in an electoral cycle. Unlike Nationalists or Labourites, corrupt politicians and honest ones, popular or cerebral, these oligarchs are [...]
There is something only slightly more horrible than the prospect of the Labour Party unilaterally deciding what our new constitution should look like. And that is the prospect of the constitution being drawn up in some smoke-filled room between the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party across a table chaired by a President bred out [...]
This Guest Post is in response to an earlier Guest Post that looked forward to a PN without Adrian Delia. This response takes the opposite view. It is sent in by someone who calls himself Ouaga. I have just read the guest post by ‘Lake’ and the article brings back nostalgia as well as examines [...]
Sometimes, rarely, a Guest Post is sent to me in verse. This was sent by someone known to me. Truth She looks at you quite calmly Never angry nor perturbed She looks at you yet sharply Your every move observed She knows you know You know she knows That’s it’s too late for you The [...]
Post number 3 in Godfrey Leone Ganado's series on the background to the 17 Black scandal. This post is a brief follow-up to article 2, and it is based on a comment made to article 2 in Truth Be Told: “interesting article from Malta. So what happened to the Malta exist cash? Surely some of [...]
Partit Demokratiku’s motion of no confidence in Konrad Mizzi is important and needs to be done. If Parliament does not confront government, who will? Political stability requires governments to be propped up by Parliamentary majorities. That’s fair and it’s why things work. But accountability requires governments to answer to Parliamentary minorities. And Parliament is not [...]
Sit back and watch this Parliamentary speech by Karol Aquilina. If you say you don't understand what this is about it's because you're not watching. It's not that complicated. Look here. https://www.facebook.com/aquilinakarol/videos/2789994427892741/
You can see them take on the practice at the White House press room. If a question is fobbed off by the President or his spokespeople, the next journalist to take the floor asks the same question. It's the only way for the media to survive political control. The Speaker of our Parliament ordered The [...]
This article is the second in a series by Godfrey Leone Ganado digging up the background to the 17 Black scandal. I would like to start by recommending that you read my first article and also that you refer to an article published in The Malta Independent on 20 May 2018, penned by David Lindsay [...]
Guest Post sent in by someone I know who calls himself 'Lake'. I sometimes wonder what happened to the Nationalist Party. I remember a time not so long ago when I used to follow Eddie Fenech Adami. I was fifteen when he regained a parliamentary majority with a mandate to re-initiate EU membership negotiations. [...]
This is a statement delivered by Repubblika today: Repubblika expresses its anger in reaction to yesterday’s statement by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat that justified his decision to retain in office his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Minister Konrad Mizzi. On election’s eve in 2017 Joseph Muscat had already been justifying himself for two years [...]
17 Black is the worst scandal ever to have hit Maltese politics. There’s never been anything like it. At least there’s never been anything like it we have found out. The evidence is overwhelming. The documentary evidence is inescapable. If you cannot convict on this basis then really it is impossible to ever convict a [...]
An employee of the State with the job to take care of underage girls at an open shelter used his access and authority, and exploited their vulnerability, isolation and helplessness, to force them into sex. They’re underage so we can call it as it is: he raped them. At this point he is innocent until [...]
If all the loose ends are too much, Simon Busuttil patiently takes you through the 17 Black scandal and why you should be furious right now. If you aren't angry it's because you haven't understood what this is costing you. So watch this.
Employees of companies whose accounts are held up at Satabank for over a month sat down for lunch today at the entrance of the Ernst&Young office in Msida protesting at the "amateurish" way the 'competent person' appointed by the MFSA to administer the bank is managing the crisis there. I spoke to a number of [...]
John Oliver two days ago. Tell me if this is familiar in any way. Parental advisory to the editor of l-orizzont, Brian Hansford and fellow travellers. The video contains frequent use of the f-word. Shudder. For the rest of you grown-ups this is compulsory viewing.
A prosecutor in Bari has declared the case of a woman who thumped a journalist for asking her uncomfortable questions, an act of mafia. For decades we have gone on with the idea that organised crime is for movies and other countries we go to for holidays. It is clear we need to think again. [...]
Malta Today scoops everyone this morning with the news Darren Debono is back in Malta. There have been many reported sightings but Yannick Pace is the first to confirm the news. He doesn't say how he confirms it as his sources appear to be people who actually saw it but there is no quote from [...]
A few days ago I argued editors of independent media should seek the protection of the courts to stop the executive from choosing which journalists to speak to and which to ignore. I made the point after the Institute of Journalists complained Konrad Mizzi only invited One TV and TVM to his press conferences. The [...]
I had been looking for the right quote because I knew he had said it. I found a quote from the eve of the last election saying that if charges were brought against Keith Schembri he would have to resign. I found a report of the prime minister announcing his Cabinet in 2017 and confirming [...]