That’s what a threat looks like

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2024-01-30T11:50:49+01:00Tue, 30th Jan '24, 11:50|

Robert Aquilina filed a complaint with the police after a fan of Joseph Muscat, using an alias on Facebook, said he would pour acid on Robert Aquilina for sticking a sign to Joseph Muscat’s office door saying, “Joseph Muscat Prim Korrott”. The court found the man guilty of breaching Article 82A of the Criminal Code [...]

It’s re-education camps for me

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2024-01-29T11:36:03+01:00Mon, 29th Jan '24, 11:36|

Franco Debono has been fuming that I should be sent (up to) 18 months in prison for comparing his determined return to politics to an unpleasant medical condition. Robert Musumeci, well known for having the PN’s interests at heart, has been advising the PN to bring back Franco Debono because of his “moderate voice” and [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: Fascism is not okay

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2024-01-29T09:02:08+01:00Mon, 29th Jan '24, 09:02|

From my article in The Sunday Times yesterday "There’s little danger of Lowell becoming prime minister or dictator, though every vote he acquires is chilling in and of itself. The issue is not that a little publicity on a radio station talk show risks leading the way to a far-right takeover. Though the mainstreaming of [...]

State recapture

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2024-01-28T05:24:43+01:00Sat, 27th Jan '24, 05:38|

Briefly, Joseph Muscat’s grip on the country loosened at the end of 2019. The convulsions after the arrest of Yorgen Fenech shook the leadership of the Labour Party. Keith Schembri was arrested, briefly. Chris Cardona “suspended himself”, briefly. Konrad Mizzi moved from a minister’s office to a better paid government consultancy job. He held on [...]

In character

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2024-01-26T05:33:39+01:00Fri, 26th Jan '24, 05:33|

Neville Gafà was always odd, even for Labour. Somehow his proximity to Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat gave him incredible access to power, completely out of proportion with his abilities. He always seemed out of his depth and yet, somehow, he enjoyed access to all manner of schemes. He was alleged to have taken massive [...]

Of unfortunate metaphors

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2024-01-23T15:20:33+01:00Tue, 23rd Jan '24, 15:20|

I could have used some other metaphor to describe Franco Debono’s periodic returns to the public scene. The one I used, lit up all manner of outrage. I could have called him a mushroom that sprouts back every time you clean it out, mould that blotches the roof after every rain. Or a particularly buoyant [...]

The one who eats the scene

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2024-01-22T10:52:40+01:00Mon, 22nd Jan '24, 10:52|

I remember Daphne writing about the plague of fragile men who must do more than inhabit your life, they must possess it. For them, politics and public life is vital, like air is for most people. They must consume the space around themselves with their real or imagined importance. They must have people speak of [...]

The one who hates the scene

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2024-01-22T10:51:02+01:00Mon, 22nd Jan '24, 10:51|

Saviour Balzan does not like the fact that his sycophantic chats with Yorgen Fenech from before Fenech’s arrest are making the rounds again. An anonymous X (twitter) account is publishing screen shots. Balzan blames two people in particular, Mark Camilleri (who republished the leaks), and Jason Azzopardi, who Balzan believes is the source that leaked [...]

Fraud is not a private matter

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2024-01-22T18:21:31+01:00Mon, 22nd Jan '24, 10:49|

The Data Protection Commissioner has told Mark Camilleri to take down copies of chats he published between Rosianne Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech. The Commissioner said the publication was in breach of Yorgen Fenech’s right to privacy and Camilleri’s argument that publishing the content of the chats was in the public interest is just not strong [...]

Emptiness at the top

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2024-01-17T09:16:45+01:00Wed, 17th Jan '24, 09:16|

In 78 days, a new president should be sworn in. Just before that there’s Easter. Before that Parliament needs to meet and vote and appoint the new president. For the first time ever, the person will have to be chosen with the support of both sides of the house. So before that a consensus between [...]

Victimless crime

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2024-01-17T07:55:50+01:00Wed, 17th Jan '24, 07:55|

Last night, a small number of MPs met with Justice Minister Jonathan Attard who is piloting the law which is all but abolishing temporary asset freezes for people charged with money laundering. They were going through what’s called ‘the committee stage’ which is when each individual article of the new law is debated individually and [...]

Another SLAPP

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2024-01-15T12:28:28+01:00Mon, 15th Jan '24, 12:28|

It’s been nearly three years since an inquiry set up by the government itself has found the Maltese state responsible for the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. It gave a long list of reasons for that conclusion and for each of those reasons a recommendation which the government has proceeded to ignore. One of those [...]

The door has been opened

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2024-01-16T09:11:38+01:00Mon, 15th Jan '24, 11:29|

It is of some comfort that three most senior judges of the land were as unimpressed as we were with the arguments, such as they were, of the Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg and her lawyer the State Advocate Chris Soler that Repubblika’s complaint about Buttigieg’s decisions in the Pilatus case should be heard behind closed [...]

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