#WeStandWithUkraine: Show your solidarity

By
2022-03-03T07:04:40+01:00Tue, 1st Mar '22, 11:33|

Scroll down for a statement by Repubblika issued this morning: Repubblika is calling Maltese people of good-will to show their solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine by participating in a symbolic action called for tomorrow Wednesday 2nd March 2022. Repubblika is disappointed with the attitude of the government, which is resorting to [...]

Day 9: (1) Public resources

By
2022-03-01T11:06:47+01:00Tue, 1st Mar '22, 11:06|

A member of Robert Abela's security detail is seen in this photo wearing a mask issued to him by the government, showing Malta's coat of arms. U ija. Tfettieq. It is symbolic of a deeper malaise which has not started since Labour took office, which I personally was to an extent guilty of when I [...]

Yorgen Fenech loses Strasbourg court case complaining of Covid risk

By
2022-03-01T10:56:30+01:00Tue, 1st Mar '22, 10:56|

The European Court of Human Rights dismissed a complaint from Yorgen Fenech, who is awaiting trial for killing Daphne Caruana Galizia. Yorgen Fenech complained his fundamental rights were breached when he was kept in pre-trial detention during the covid pandemic. Yorgen Fenech claimed he was especially vulnerable for having one kidney and should have been [...]

Labour must have promised things to the wrong people

By
2022-03-01T08:32:50+01:00Tue, 1st Mar '22, 08:32|

  Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna (remember them?) categorically denied the allegation that €1o0,000 the latter deposited in a Pilatus Bank account in the name of the former was payment of kickbacks paid by three Russian buyers of Maltese citizenship. They said the money was the repayment of a personal loan. While the police and [...]

Day 8: The prime minister who profits from business with criminals

By
2022-02-28T09:49:30+01:00Mon, 28th Feb '22, 09:49|

Accepting Robert Abela’s behaviour in his profession is unacceptable. There’s a line that Joseph Muscat, apparently without irony, had a habit of echoing: “those who do not fight corruption are corrupt”. I regret he is right. Which means that Labour Party MPs, the party leadership, party employees, and all those (likely a considerable majority of [...]

Solidarity a la Maltija

By
2022-02-28T08:50:14+01:00Mon, 28th Feb '22, 08:50|

Look at this screenshot from Facebook. Scroll down for the explainer unless you don't see my point in the picture before I even make it and follow that up with despair and moving on to the next reminder of, as the Maltese idiom puts it, what sort of people Christ died for. Still don't see [...]

Policemen punished for doing their job

By
2022-02-28T08:34:41+01:00Mon, 28th Feb '22, 08:34|

There’s a story on today’s Times of Malta about “a senior police inspector previously tasked with investigating major organised crime in the country” who has now been reduced to doing clerical work in a police station. The Times quotes sources saying that Inspector Kevin Pulis is being punished for “insubordination” in a high-profile case he [...]

Feasting on the suffering of others

By
2022-02-27T08:04:27+01:00Sun, 27th Feb '22, 08:04|

The European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, and the United States issued a joint statement yesterday announcing their common position in response to Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. One of the points they make is that they “commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so called golden passports—that let wealthy [...]

Day 7: The puppet who forgets his lines

By
2022-02-27T07:55:38+01:00Sun, 27th Feb '22, 07:55|

Someone must have told Robert Abela he needs to avoid improvising on the campaign trail. Beyond the stump speech about how proud he is, and how optimistic he is about his future, frozen in the drunk aftermath of being chosen to deliver the little boy’s sermon before Christmas mass, he’s been putting his foot in [...]

THE SUNDAY TIMES: The Sudetenland, further East

By
2022-02-27T07:16:39+01:00Sun, 27th Feb '22, 07:16|

From my article in The Sunday Times today: "And are we truly neutral in this new world that Dom Mintoff, the architect of our constitutional neutrality clauses, could never foresee? Are we seriously ambivalent in the current scenario?" Read my full article here.

Owen Bonnici taught them well

By
2022-02-26T09:59:54+01:00Sat, 26th Feb '22, 09:59|

Watch this video filmed by someone who stayed behind after last night’s protest outside the Russian Embassy in Kappara. The police are picking up and binning candles, flags, and posters. They treat the stuff as one would treat debris left behind after some street party. There should have been a lesson learnt from the constitutional [...]

The absolute relative of media freedom

By
2022-02-26T10:00:24+01:00Sat, 26th Feb '22, 09:36|

I kept thinking and reading up after the post I wrote yesterday reacting to Jeremy Camilleri’s remark that when he was a journalist (he worked as a producer in the early 2000s for Lou Bondi’s TV show broadcast on the public TV station) “the Nationalists” wanted to send him to prison for 6 years. Admittedly [...]

Yesterday’s protest message

By
2022-02-26T08:11:29+01:00Sat, 26th Feb '22, 08:11|

This is the text of the letter handed yesterday to the Russian Ambassador in Malta by civil society activists who protested in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian community living in Malta. 25 February 2022 H.E. Andrei Lopukhov Ambassador of the Russian Federation “Ariel House”, 25, Triq Antonio Schembri Il-Kappara San Ġwann SGN 4239 Re: [...]

Day 6: Such a vavu

By
2022-02-26T08:03:09+01:00Sat, 26th Feb '22, 08:03|

Here’s what you don’t do when the roof over the house two doors down from yours collapses killing everyone inside. You do not organise a party to celebrate the fact that your roof is still standing. And you especially don’t go to your neighbours to tell them how pleased you are that unlike them you [...]

Day 5: (2) Not quite arm’s length endorsers

By
2022-02-25T09:23:10+01:00Fri, 25th Feb '22, 09:23|

Labour is running a campaign video with “ordinary Maltese people” saying how much they love being ruled over by Robert Abela. One of the endorsers is this guy, a restaurateur who operates the Gillieru restaurant in San Pawl il-Baħar. His commitment to Labour is legendary. Look at this series of Labour Party events hosted in [...]

Protest for Peace

By
2022-02-26T08:03:44+01:00Fri, 25th Feb '22, 08:56|

Repubblika statement this morning: Repubblika will be holding a protest tonight Friday 25 February 2022 at 8 pm in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Triq Antonio Schembri, Kappara, San Gwann. The protest is being held to appeal to the Russian authorities to immediately order the stoppage of the military invasion and [...]

UPDATED: Day 5: (1) Who are you and why are you so scared?

By
2022-02-25T09:07:41+01:00Fri, 25th Feb '22, 08:51|

Updated at 09:02 with the story behind the "wanting to send me for 6 years in prison". Scroll to the bottom for an update. There’s this article on Lovin Malta reporting on a statement given by one Jeremy Camilleri at a Labour Party event. He is introduced as “a well-known political commentator” and quoted saying [...]

Day 4: (5) Book your place on the love boat

By
2022-02-24T17:03:17+01:00Thu, 24th Feb '22, 17:03|

I’ll just leave this here. Perhaps you want to suggest they drive by Pilatus Bank again for a street party. Or St Luke’s Hospital. Or the Dellimara Power Station. Or Satabank. Hop aboard on the themed ride of Labour’s glory.

Go to Top