Sometimes, staying in on Saturday night can be fun
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December 16, 2012 at 1:32am
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Ara Joseph xi jhares lejh.
Prosit Simon
Hi Daphne
Love your blog. Is there anywhere we can see the show streamed as di-ve does not seem to be working anymore. Many thanks.
Boz
[Daphne – wwww.tvm.com.mt and select Live and yesterday’s date. Then go to 8.45pm.]
Li l-programm sar is-Sibt mhux il-gimgha nahseb kien rebha ghal Pl u dan ghal fatt li hafna nies johorgu is-Sibt filghaxija iktar u iktar li ma kienx maltemp u barra minn dan fl-istess hin kien hemm loghba futbol importanti tal-league taljan li bhali kienu hafna li ghazlu li jaraw lilha.
La tahseb li kienet rebha ghal PL ghax Xarabank sar is-Sibt u ma tantx kien hemm nies jarawh, ifisser li int m’intix konvint mill-messagg tal-partit tieghek u iktar u iktar mill-messaggier (Anglu Farrugia).
U ghandek ragun ghax inkredibbli kemm qal paprati.
In fact, the Labour Kazin of Lija (happened to pass by it when I went out) was showing that football match instead of the debate (or the One programme showing at the same time). Tiskanta l-interess li kellhom ;)
Yesterday’s debate on Xarabank showed that Anglu Farrugia is the weakest link in the PL.
There are many contenders for that particular honour in the PL. Hard to call it.
The weakest in a chain of weak links.
Simon’s discomfort in the debate was evident. He could have demolished Anglu who is the incarnation of stupidity. But he did not … and this really worries me. Simon needs to be more aggressive because in this world of images
Wonder what sort of yardstick you’re using.
There was no need for Simon to be aggressive, because Anglu’s stupidity comes out on its own.
Instead Simon concentrated on presenting facts and figures in a cool and transparent manner.
Way to go, Simon. Let others sweat it out.
As Baxxter, quite rightly said,it’s not easy debating with an idiot.
Shooting fish in a barrel.
Being aggressive only pleases the die-hard Nationalists.
He is speaking to those who just might be persuaded to vote for the Nationalists.
Being aggressive throws these listeners immediately on the defensive, which makes it so much harder to engage their reasoning skills (and people who are considering voting for the PL are not very strong in this area).
On the other hand, he might find that he is slightly too polite for the local scene. He’s not in Brussels now.
I don’t know, I’d like to see more politicians like him instead of having him emulate others. He’s not naive, he can handle a situation well enough, as we saw on Friday.
I totally disagree with you. Simon excelled as a true, honest, politician and subtly swiped the studio of Xarabank with Anglu Farrugia.
One does not have to be rude or aggressive to make a point heard and understood.
This is just a taste of things to come in the election campaign due to start next month.
The PN does not want to project an image of aggressiveness. Anglu Farrugia bumbled and fumbled enough on his own.
I agree. Simon should have wiped the floor with him, as Anglu is in another dimension in respect to IQ.
Anglu blustered to hide his ignorance and incompetence, whilst resorting to visual effects in the form of graphs and what have you, whilst Simon was too precise and correct.
Simon unfortunately failed to consistantly pin down Anglu, who managed to squirm his way out of every question.
Anglu played to the gallery, and did a reasonable ammount of damage limitation, seeing he had no facts, and less knowledge.
Simon’s failure was in not delivering the killer blow, and letting Anglu dictate the terms of engagement.
At the end of the day, I would call it a NP loss, soley on the basis that Simon should have had a walkover, keeping in mind his worth.
Discomfort? When? Part of Simon’s strategy was to let Anglu self-implode.
I beg to differ. Simon showed how one should remain composed even when faced with arrogant and uneducated prats like Anglu.
Simon was handicapped by the interventions and questions by Peppi about Franco Debono, which took most part of the initial time. This gave a good advantage to Anglu who started to make a fool of himself to ridicule the discussion.
It was classical when he was trying to explain the effects of good administration on the minimum wage and at the same time trying to link it to the living wage. He was completely out of his depth and Simon’s expression and body language showed that he was pitying the guy rather than trying to demolish him.
Peppi’s questions should have been more towards the PL’s plans than trying to corner Simon because the PN has not published its electoral programme yet. The 2013 budget in itself is already the basis of the PN programme.
Another pathetic inclusion in this debbate was CC for AD. He did not contribute a cent worth of input. Another one with a grudge.
I was disappointed with the whole programme and it was a good thing that I did not have to change any plans to watch it.
Anthony Briffa,
I do not agree with you in the CC for AD comment. He was the one who cornered Anglu to spell out the possibility of the PL trick of reducing electricity costs and increasing the electricity rates.
Yes but carefully, have a look at Maltatoday’s analysis by Matthew Vella, Simon’s ‘condescending charisma’ he called it. Typical ‘independent’ speak.
Why? Are we supposed to accept this unprecedented degeneration?
It’s a hall of mirrors with Joseph. What Simon needs to do is get up to scratch with their allegations, the only tactic left. Yesterday’s explanation regarding the 29 million ‘scandal’ form instance, required more emphasis to uncover their sole consistency, lies. And to what extent they’ll go.
And perhaps turn down the dramatic tone a notch. Let the voters see for themselves, they’re too conceited this time.
What Joseph’s doing is constant transformation of placement, from old to new, from winner to underdog. He won’t be engaged.
In the end all that they’ll be left with is how unfair it would be if they weren’t elected again.
One of my biggest concerns is that both political parties are so heavily into spin, that it has dented my faith in them.
I found Peppi Azzopardi’s explanatory programme after Xarabank was cancelled highly biased and felt like I was listening to one side of the story.
I am concerned that the same presenter coached JPO way back and by Franco Debono’s claim that Peppi Azzopardi sought to mediate in the rift with Gonzi.
Where’s Everybody has practically monopolized the airtime on PBS and its political leanings are very clear.
Having said this, I was immediately reassured by the BA’s statement that Peppi Azzopardi crossed the line. It shows that the regulatory authorities are independent of political parties and left to do their job, unlike the situation in the 80s.
I read this blog regularly and don’t always agree with the content or tone. However, having witnessed Anglu Farrugia’s dismal performance on state TV yesterday, I cannot but conclude that the PL is not fit for purpose.
I really do not want to vote PN as I see it becoming more undemocratic and authoritian by the day and do believe Franco Debono’s claims of an oligarchy. My concern is for how long are rational voters expected to vote PN on the basis of its record in the economy, EU vision and infrastructural modernizing of this country and by default due labour’s lack of substance.
The PN is too smug in its conviction that the PL is not a suitable alternative and growing more arrogant by the day. It has clung on to power and thrown the country in electoral campaign mode for the past year.
It rubbishes claims of poverty and gives itself pay raises behind the people’s back. It does not operate on the basis of meritocracy and has created a society of fat cats who line their pockets thanks to their political affiliation instead of merit.
The time is so ripe for AD to obtain a seat in parliament. The two party system is nothing but a threat to democracy.
+1
Question is, will AD accept to propose realistic, workable solutions?
Cacopardo may be well versed in statistics, but proposing a blanket tax on empty property isn’t on. Did he take into account those who’ve inherited their ancestor’s property?
Does that make them concrete pouring magnates?
And how does he think we feel when they came all out in defence of landlords only to see it fizzle in a matter of weeks?
Restructuring the building industry eh? And who hasn’t considered it? The only criterion is how to make the alternatives profitable, not restrain entrepreneurs on moral principles, noble they may be.
One thing I’m in agreement with, the property bubble will certainly blow up if Joseph keeps playing Zapatero.
Does AD agree that major infrastructural works, including the tunnel link are an instrument to reduce the industry’s demand for land? He mentioned quays yesterday, why not a metro?
Does AD believe that certain zones within the northern inner harbour area are to be recreated from scratch, instead of leaving them ghettoes stiffled by major arteries?
What mechanism does AD propose to agglomerate development? It’s the fragmentation that’s caused the mess.
In short, will AD move away from fundamentalist conservation and experiment with design coordination? Or is it too much to listen to the Polidano’s of this place?
I don’t like it when a 20 year old states that a listed company should be forced to give up a contract. Companies are willing to alter their mission statements if there’s money to be made.
That’s precisely why Labour is silent on AD’s proposal – because it will introduce a property tax in order to finance the lowering of utility tariffs.
It’ll be the the only right thing they ever do, but for the wrong reason.
You mark my words. That is, unless Labour receives a really fat cheque from a really fat construction magnate in the run-up to the election.
‘Jekk tibqa tiehu dawn it-tkaxkiriet, ha jtik ohra Jason fuq il Mosta’
X’umiljazzjoni tkun.
And that is more frightening than PL winning the elections.
This morning on TVM, ‘attakk fahxi’ fuq PBS by Leo Brincat.
And now there’s Jason to finish the job.
U hallina Anglu!
Erga mur fejn kont id-Depot tal-Pulizija investga xi erba’ tit-tfal. Ghax anqas fil-korp qatt ma’ ghamilt xejn hlief tippoza.
Int vera disastru u jekk il-Laburisti itelghu nies bhalek vera disastru jkollna fil-pajjiz.
Let Simon be himself; his forte is that he is level-headed. Not to say smart, sharp and well mannered.
These are the things that makes him so popular and he doesn’t need to be aggressive.
He raises the level of political debates without those silly theatrics Labour fall back on.
In fact Joseph Muscat tries hard to follow his moves but never comes close.
How about now a debate between the four i.e Lawrence Gonzi, Simon Busuttil, Joseph Muscat and Anglu Farrugia.
I am convinced that he printed those graphs out from clip art and didn’t even know what was on them.
He was given those graphs with keywords attached to remember when to use them.
I half expected a page three girl, taf int, to break the ice with his audience.
Watching yesterday’s T.V debate convinced me that both parties made the wrong choice in choosing their deputy leaders.
If Simon could not reduce Farrugia to mashed potatoes, I think he is nothing but a big headed idiot.
On the other hand, Farrugia is nothing but stupidity at its true meaning.
And than my friends blame me for not going to vote.
Vote for whom ?, if these two are expecting to be our next vice primeminister, what are we to expect from the other elected members?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121216/local/Xarabank-stunt-has-backfired-on-Labour.449701
Fine thinking indeed. Alison Bezzina fits in perfectly in with labour elves way of thinking.
“Media analyst and popular blogger Alison Bezzina felt that while the original idea might have been good, it was poorly executed.
The PL would have done better to let the debate go on as planned and then introduced Dr Debono midway through the programme, she suggested.
“That would have put Simon Busuttil and PBS on the spot. If he had walked out, he would have looked bad. But as things panned out, the PL just ended up linking itself to Franco Debono and giving the PN the option of backing out.”
“I’m not saying Dr Busuttil looked good by not accepting the challenge, but the PL didn’t think things through,” Ms Bezzina said.”
You need a perfect idiot to agree with her
“j brincat
Today, 10:34
“The PL would have done better to let the debate go on as planned and then introduced Dr Debono midway through the programme, she suggested”
Agree – that would have strategically been better and would have shown more finesse!
But the fact still remains that Dr Simon did not come out to face Dr Franco who was ALL alone!
(jb)”
Yes, fascinating how she thinks good politics are about conning people and managing to look good.
Anything to distract from the vacuum they’ve brought on themselves.
Yesterday Anglu was confused about the reduction of water tariffs.
This morning Jason Micallef appeared on TVAM.
This morning Joseph Muscat had to declare that water tariffs WILL go down.
I think that this whole farcical episode was masterminded by Jason Micallef in his bid to get the electoral vote instead of Anglu and to show his leader who pulls the strings
Jason IL-KING
No, canon, I disagree.
Yesterday’s debate on Xarabank showed that Anglu Farrugia is an arrogant bumbling idiot and embarrassingly a very weak link within the MLP.
There was absolutely no indication that he is the weakest.
A chain is as strong as its weakest link.
That makes the MLP vulnerable.
You missed this one:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=126954124131185&set=o.107710212687371&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
It will be interesting to find the name of that judge in the appeal case Anglu Farrugia kept referring to. One never knows.
Daphne – Anglu got his statistics all wrong – transparency.org/cpi2012/results – Malta fares better than Colombia
The Movement of Contradictions.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121216/local/muscat-insists-water-bill-will-go-down-too.449780
Joseph Muscat has just put all that Anglu said yesterday to rest in peace.
Anglu didn’t even know what his party’s position is regarding the reduction of water and electricity tariffs.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121216/local/muscat-insists-water-bill-will-go-down-too.449780
Anglu ‘Look at me’ Farrugia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-F_MQTvCw
My take is that Anglu did better than on Bondi+ and he successfully achieved his objective: come to debate and not revealing anything what MLP will do once elected.
He also managed to confuse many weak minds with his incoherent talk.
MLP just want to be in power but have absolutely no plan for the country.
If they had a decent plan they would be proud to reveal it.
The future of many families would be destroyed if MLP is given the chance for a long five years in government. The very thought scares me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RHBOfM9CFQ&playnext=1&list=PLB017202AEBD3BDCF&feature=results_video
What about the comment Anglu passed about Colombia’s corruption ‘bid-drug traffikers ecc…’
I couldn’t believe my ears – that’s stupidity on a whole new level. How terribly insensitive. International relations, here we go.
Absolutely cringeworthy. I know that civil servants cannot express any partisan views, but for god’s sake, John Paul Grech, speak up.
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9978/thekingsspeech15copy.jpg
Stuttering lessons.
I just saw 30 minutes of this debate and I went to bed rather worried and concerned.
This is no laughing matter. If someone can use such statements and words on TV imagine what they would do if in power and riding their high horse.
As of today, I’m starting to campaign not in favour of the Nationalist Party but against the Labour Party. Similar to the divorce issue, the word of mouth, one-to-one strategy will help reduce the gap.
The best one coming from Anglu was ‘Kolumbja’ ahead of us in the corruption perception index, mentioned repeatedly.
It’s Colombia, Ang. Columbia is a federal district in the USA.
They can’t even get the basics right.
The gap between the parties has gone down by four points in three weeks.
And this before last night’s debate.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121216/local/Xarabank-stunt-has-backfired-on-Labour.449701
‘….But historian and one-time PL secretary general Dominic Fenech argued that the hullabaloo surrounding the incident was proof that politicians took themselves a bit too seriously.
“I saw it all as a prank which showed up PBS and the Xarabank producers. Why not go along with the programme? We’re hardly talking about a US Presidential debate here.”
He drew analogies with 19th century Maltese politics. “Back then, politicians would protest British rule by nominating the village idiot to the council of government, to discredit it. Yesterday, the PL protested it being dictated to by PBS,” Prof. Fenech said.
And how does this git think Malta is under oppressive foreign rule, justifying the attitude he so loves? It’s always about dismantling whatever we built with these pseudo intellectuals.
A fetish for violent reaction to anything outside their scope. And to hell with the financial damages borne by the station and the producers. It’s not their money, comfy in their position and posturing to some lost vocation for la revolucion.
Another one who’s become the system, a cliche’ of himself. These are the ones who really get my goat, thinking any rubbish they spout is some God foresaken truth. Not that they can ever elevate themselves to conceive a Creator, that’d be too much to bear.
X’nervi.
Is Professor Dominic Fenech insinuating in The Sunday Times today that Franco Debono is the village idiot?
No. He is being his usual Left Wing idiotic self.
Let’s all have a larf, says this academic fraud.
Sure, why not have a debate with anyone who turns up? This is Malta, lol lolz. We don’t take ourselves too seriously here.
Of such stuff is our alma mater made. No wonder Labour will win this election.
Why should the poor village idiot be so humiliated?
Slightly off topic but still relevant in a general way:
In an article carried in today’s The Sunday Times – Xarabank Stunt has ‘backfired’ on Labour’ Dominic Fenech, a historian and one-time PL Secretary General was quoted as saying:
“Back then, politicians would protest British rule by nominating the village idiot to the council of government, to discredit it. Yesterday, the PL protested it being dictated to by PBS” when drawing an analogy with 19th century Maltese politics.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121216/local/Xarabank-stunt-has-backfired-on-Labour.449701
Speaking about Franco Debono and the Xarabank programme last Friday, historian and one-time PL secretary general Dominic Fenech drew analogies with 19th century Maltese politics saying,
“Back then, politicians would protest British rule by nominating the village idiot to the council of government, to discredit it.”
I guess that buttons it up.
Anglu Farrugia’s presence on Xarabank yesterday was Labour’s second disaster in as many days.
Way to go, Labour.
Here are some glorious insults from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” – William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Brightthey (A good description of FD too)
“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” – Paul Keating
“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” – Mark Twain
“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” – Mae West
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination.” – Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
And finally…..
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” – Groucho Marx
According to Joseph, the PM and Simon are Batman and Robin. Is he the Joker or Two-face?
I see two alternatives why he even goes there; either to raise the abstention rate or out of sheer spite brought by an inferiority complex.
I wouldn’t be suprised if it were the first though. He can’t engage the PN, not without Franco.
This isn’t 1998 Joseph, you’re confusing tactic for revenge. And don’t ever allow Kurt Farrugia on screen again. He reminds me of some weird character in Victorian illustrated fairy tale books.
Mela we now have two village idiots.
Labour chose Franco Debono as the village idiot on Friday, according to none other than historian and ex Labour Secretary General Prof Dominic Fenech in the Sunday Times.
And yesterday we saw why Friday’s village idiot would still have been better than prospective deputy Prim Minister Anġlu Farrugia.
This is “irresistijbil”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HViz0kTfeJs
Marlene Mizzi
Yesterday
From this week’s past events in tiny Malta ,I suspect that the world is really coming to an end!!
What shall I wear? What shoes shall I put on? LOL
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11 people like this.
Valerie Sacco Muscat A desigual coat so when the devil sees you, he’ll be afraid lol
Yesterday at 9:23am
Valerie Sacco Muscat I hope you got it A DESIGUAL COAT! Ghaliex dalghodu gbajt nesprimi ruhi hazin hehe
Yesterday at 9:24am
Jo Meli BLACK … including undies Marlene !
In FULL Camica NERA me !
Yesterday at 9:26am · 1
Maria Bonnici Marlene hallik miz zarbun, ilbes slipper halli tkun aktar komda ghal li jista jkun
Yesterday at 10:49am via mobile
Mary M. Attard Stick to your biirthday suit. Tahbi xejn. Anyway it would be the end, no? Lolllll
22 hours ago
Marlene Mizzi My dear Mary , It would be ” the- end -of- the -world day” not ‘cellulite’ day …so I’ll keep my stuff on ! lol
20 hours ago
lol. labour is soooo cool. lol!
Don’t blame Anglu. He was born with his foot in his mouth.