The set is by Darrin Zammit Lupi.      

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "Robert Abela is a bit like the child who knows how to ingratiate himself with irate parents who have just punished their elder sibling. He flutters his lashes and rolls his doe eyes, projecting virginal innocence and making an unseemly effort to appear entirely different from his [...]

*WARNING* Contents Include Previously Undisclosed Secret Document Fresh from her claim that she was ‘more sorry’ than Daphne Caruana Galizia’s own family when the journalist was brutally assassinated, Michelle Muscat is now indulging in a public display of grief towards her ‘dear friend’, the wife of Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan who [...]

Some of us look upon the people fleeing to our country as cheap – often illegal – labour, others as a nuisance. Many have got used to their presence, generally in some restaurant kitchen, doing the dishes, collecting rubbish, or working – often dangerously – on some building site. Very few actually concern themselves about [...]

This is what passed for coverage of yesterday’s court decision on the home page of TVM’s website. The report of the PN’s press conference includes a link to an earlier report published by TVM that summarises the court decision. They published that “fair” report hours after the decision was handed down, hours after all other [...]

The court today found the Broadcasting Authority breached its constitutional obligation to ensure impartiality in public broadcasting ordering the Authority and the state broadcasting company PBS to compensate the Nationalist Party. The PN complained about TV coverage on the national broadcasting station of the inauguration of the Marsa flyover saying it amounted to one-sided propaganda. [...]

A few weeks ago, the Court of Appeal overturned a decision by a lower court and found me responsible for causing moral damages to MaltaToday’s Raphael Vassallo with an article I had written in October 2019. The court ordered me to pay him €1,000 plus pay for his court costs for both stages of the [...]

The EU Commission’s report on the state of the rule of law in Malta provides the government with enough quotes to continue its rather unseemly habit of congratulating itself for doing bugger all. There’s the implicit admission that the rule of law under Joseph Muscat was raped and pillaged. I say implicit because they don’t [...]

The police ignored findings of a magisterial inquiry for 15 months. They ignored a court filing denouncing a crime by Repubblika. They replied to a legal challenge by Repubblika by insisting that crime is nobody’s business but theirs. Were it up to Angelo Gafà, we’d have forgotten about Pilatus Bank. That would have been greatly [...]

Prime Minister Robert Abela has broken his public commitment to publish recommendations from experts he appointed to advise him on how to enhance media freedom and protect journalists. A government statement last January had promised the experts’ recommendations would be published within 10 days of the government receiving them, but Robert Abela has withheld recommendations [...]

Sent in by someone known to me. One cannot but compare Malta’s political landscape with that parallel universe abroad in countries we used to hold up as models of democracy. It’s almost as if some nefarious evil force is playing games with our worldwide collective sanity. Brexit, the rise of the French far right and [...]

Manuel Delia · The Killer Speaks Stephen Grey’s scoop yesterday reporting quotes from George Degiorgio is, in my view, significant primarily for reasons George Degiorgio must have been aware of but were not his primary intention. His, and his brother’s conviction, should now be a shoo-in. He openly confessed to being the killer and openly [...]

Playwright Mario Philip Azzopardi has sued me for publishing the script of his play ix-Xiħa which includes a character clearly based on Daphne Caruana Galizia. I had described the play as “spiteful, full of hate, prejudice, and disturbingly incurable visceral violence”. Mr Azzopardi did not sue me for libel but for what he alleges is [...]

The reports of the sittings in court of the prosecution of Pilatus Bank and one of its middle managers make for depressing reading. The magistrate is clearly at her wit’s end. Donatella Frendo Dimech has warned prosecutors “not to bury the case” and that what she heard so far from them is “not relevant”. That’s [...]

Here's another podcast. Listening takes just under 20 minutes, or read it if you prefer. Let me know if this format works for you. Manuel Delia · "Relatively Poor Education Outcomes" Times of Malta’s summary of an EU report on the state of Malta’s education makes for a scary read. There are many cliches about [...]

From my article on The Sunday Times yesterday: "Who knows how many other secrets are protected by the inherent opacity of the AG’s office? Consider, for example, her exclusive power to decide who gets to be prosecuted and who doesn’t for major crimes. In principle, our chief prosecutor must prosecute anyone against whom there is [...]

I'm trying my hand at longer podcasts ... it will take you 25 minutes to listen to this or, depending on your reading speed, more or less to read it. If you like the format (or you don't) please say so.   Manuel Delia · Why Joseph Muscat Does It We’re going to have to [...]

Seven of 14 presidents of Malta’s premier league football club have voted in favour of hiring disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat to head their organisation. The vote, which was taken secretely, showed that exactly half of the premier league clubs agreed with the nomination of Joseph Muscat. After the vote was taken today, Joseph [...]

Media in Malta is at high risk of not being politically independent with significant problems in restrictions on plurality and weak social inclusiveness. These are the conclusions of the 2022 media plurality and freedom report penned by University of Malta academic Louiselle Vassallo. Malta’s rankings place it among the highest risk jurisdictions within the EU. [...]