Everything changes and everything stays the same
Just look at this photograph. And please tell me whether you can really spot the difference, because I can’t. If anything, the line-up has changed for the worse, because Michael Falzon and Charles Mangion were a whole lot better than Toni Abela and Anglu Farrugia. The ineffective Stefan Zrinzo is still there, like just so much wallpaper, and so is the arch-survivor Jason Micallef. Meanwhile, on the podium we have Alfred Sant Mark II, complete with hand gestures and verbal tics, but too much false smiling instead of no smiling at all.
When this picture was taken, the Labour leader was giving a press conference to mark the government’s first 100 days in power. I found this extremely interesting. He must think he’s the prime minister already.
Muscat had plenty to say about the government’s decision to privatise the shipyards, a decision that was greeted with a sigh of relief by all those who don’t work there. All of it, of course, was negative. He accused the prime minister of refusing his help on this ‘national issue’. Come off it, sir. It’s not as though Lawrence Gonzi, with his legions of advisers, is waiting for you to come along and help him, with your lengthy and highly relevant career experience of 12 years at Super One and four years in the European Parliament.
He insisted again that the Labour Party is prepared to cooperate. Excuse me, but cooperate on what? It doesn’t have anything to bring to the table – no experience, no expertise, nothing. And here Muscat is, saying that he has lots to offer to the very politicians who negotiated Malta’s difficult entry to the European Union while he was chiming after Alfred Sant: “Ivvota le, ivvota xejn, jew hassar il-vot.” Ajma jahasra.
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Dear Ms Caruana Galizia
I tend to differ with your claim that the MLP and its Leader has nothing to offer on matters related to the EU.
Malta’s first few years of EU membership have been a learning process (and still is) for many of us including government politicians.
Please note that, even though government politicians have negotiated Malta’s EU membership, they are still letting us down on various counts when it comes to matters that in some way or another ‘link’ to EU objectives.
Note, for example, how we are still lacking much behind on matters related to the environment…matters related to ‘family’ affairs…the Lisbon Agenda!
And what about EU funds…government managed to negotiate a very good deal with respect to EU funding. Nearly 1 billion euros were made available for the period 2007 – 2013.
Unfortunately, however, last year government contributed around €50.2 million to the EU whilst managing to ‘get?’ €56.3 milliom from the EU…a positive balance of around €6 million euros only (rather small no?).
Government is really taking very long to make use of EU funding…it is really dragging its feet on a number of projects which are potential magnets for such funding.
If the MLP and its Leader just manages to keep government aware of its shortomings in this respect, then it would already be doing a lot in terms of EU matters.
Regards
KC
Hang on, didn’t the government simply announce that it was calling for an expression of interest. In other words wasn’t yesterday’s conference simply a way of saying there will be an advert out soon.
Is Joseph Muscat wanting to give advice on the copywriting for the advert? after the billboard saga is that advisable.
Or is he clevere then we think and paving the way for teh future. When the going gets tough he can refuse to collaborate (and earn brownie points form teh die-hard socialists by saying, i offered a hand of collaboration before but it was refused. That way the MEP (who knows perfectly well that under EU legislation there is no alternative) can wash his hands, and appearing angelic.
At first glance the whole picture reminds me of an asceptic laboratory, or some ultra high tech operating theatre. Oh I get it. Its positively gleaming with chrome and muted hues. Maybe Daph can do something on Flair about the decor. Otherwise its just an empty space, with not much inside. Just empty words.
[Moderator – It’s 2001: A Space Odyssey – in more ways than one.]
Agree with PM re Malta Shipyards privitisation.
By the way, did the Drydocks/Malta Shipyards workers ever thank the Maltese taxpayer for the millions of subsidy paid to the yards or do they think they have a God-given right to this ?
Let us move ahead without or without the MLP/GWU agreement – let us not waste more time on this.
@Kevin – first just a point of info – the EU pays months after one puts a claim – don’t forget the EU’s bureaucrats are not much different from the rest. As for last year, the payment received from the EU was still part of the 2004-2006 (the actual end of the lifetime of that budget is 2008).#
Ther 2007 has not as yet even began to be spent- this is unfortunately due to a very bureaucratic system of project proposal assessment that takes months to complete with a lot of useless and repetitive questions being asked as well as a cumbersome procurement process. Here the fault lies squarely with the Civil Servant Department/s taking care of these proposals but ultimately with the Government as it seems powerless to control certain people within its departments.
As for the MLP and especially JM, they made us waste 10 years whilst trying to convince us that the EU is bad, instead of helping restructuring and preparing the way, and now out comes the great saviour with a happy admittance – “Yes I was wrong, I do not mind admitting that I was wrong”) Unfortunately though I would love to be proven otherwise – I do not see much hope of change if the MLP ever make it to government – most of the problems with our civil servants are a result of the socialist culture that has truly been ingrained in the Maltese. If there was ever a successful programme under the Mintoff era was the formation of a generation of socialists. Unfortunately, the PN (the party that I have voted for since 1981 – my first vote) has continued with the propagation of this socialist trend!
And to make things worse, this trend has also permeated within the EU establishment.
Hearing the new legislation that the right wing government of Berlusconi has just launched in trying to get to grips with the Civil Servants, I am really eagerly awaiting to see its results hoping that this government shall have the courage to follow suit.
Until then I have to state that my hope in this country is fading very fast and I am only sorry that I did not jump ship earlier on.
@chris – so your hope in this country is fading very fast eh? Please go and jump ship to …. where exactly? That was my train of thought when I was 20 -30 (many moons ago) but today I realise that with all our hang ups (and our liliputian parochialism), it is still a nice country to be in.
Hmm…. a second Chris on the website. this can get confusing!
It seems that the MLP view of themselves in opposition is profoundly confounded with the normative concept of being in government. There is nothing that warrants the type of consultative relationship they now demand, or seek: the MLP policy was been one of withdrawal and non-participation on almost every issue: EU membership negotiations, pensions reform, euro zone membership, and privitization (from HSBC, famous in AS’s objections, to Malta Drydocks now), Smart City.
First Labour demand zero-sum politics, and now that they obtained “zero,” the want to have some “sum above zero.” Their policies have been absurd, crazy, or unfounced upon objective criteria, and now they want to “cooperate” [participate] in decision making. If they can participate in a way that builds MLP credits for credibility and trust, then we might begin to listen, as an initial step to political rehabilitation. But, after so many years, and with the current MLP lineup, Malta Labour is Preposterous (MLP).
dear Daphne,
Guess what? It’s Charlo and PBO. Only 7 days to go. Ouch what a blow for poor Lorenzo ;-) Cheerio.
@ Chris I – SO I Shall be Chris II :))
@Mario P – 20-30 years for me was also many moons away – in fact about to turn 30 when the PN came in power – 1987 – so I was full of hope – and that was my undoing -had an opportunity to go to greener pastures, where you are respected for you are capable of doing (as opposed to what you think that you are capable of doing) and where strategy and planning are the rules of the day.
I could agree with you that life might be somewhat simpler here, the weather is fantastic (though I tend to prefer a cooler climate) and that it might, just might, be a bit easier to bring up children as well as being somewhat safer.
But otherwise, when it comes to work, research and influence, I receive my dues from other countries and not from this country! I am sincerely sorry that I have to say this as I feel that I am someone that loves his Country, my origins and my heritage – but this is the frustration that I and others feel. The result, is the brain drain that we are experiencing – basically we are paying for others to get our best brains.
Mario P: Lots of people *are* jumping ship. It’s a nice country to be in but that doesn’t exclude raising our standards and actually meeting them. It won’t keep the ship jumpers here, but it would make it a whole lot more bearable for the ones who *don’t* jump ship.
This week 26 EU countries are desperately trying to find a way forward after Ireland, the 27th member, voted down the Lisbon Treaty. No one, but no one, questioned the validity of the result in spite of the low turn-out of around 45%. In Malta our opposition party led by Dr Alfred Sant and his “Alla hares nidhlu fl-Ewropa” buddies, one of whom was the MLP’s present leader Dr Joseph Muscat, rejected the result of our EU entry referendum which was an overwhelming YES on a voter turnout of around 95%!
Joseph Muscat should be asked publicly to give his reaction to the above and not allowed to get away with saying “sorry it was a mistake” It was bloody-minded and dangerous and cost our country dearly.
I find JM to be extremely dangerous, not in the physical sense, but due to the lack of self awareness.
He is pompous, arrogant, insisting on imposing his say (he calls it offering his help), he started to play the morality card, and he thinks that he is intelligent more than us where has done nothing in his life. He never had a real job in his life. The job he had with Crystal Finance was given to him by Alfred Mifsud, as a favour when the latter was managing Super 1. All he did was selling a few UBS funds to the unrefined clients he met (no offence meant to these investors). He NEVER did anything in his life, and now wants to impose his opinion on the rest of us, when we modest people, had to work hard for our careers. The lack of self awareness and his lack of expertise in any area scares the heck out of me.
Ignorance is bliss.
thanks for bringing back the memories
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjxUbuXu_dA
JM should stop acting as if he is the prime minister. he is twisting and manipulating the word collaboration.
everybody is relieved that the drydocks problem is coming to an end and the government should get on with privatisation plans. the MLP and GWU have had more than enough time to show/collaborate and whatever else they ever wanted to with regards to the drydocks. enough is enough!
I am still waiting for the GWU to publicly express itself on wether it is for or against the privatisation of the Dockyards.
I guess Tony and Gejtu are waiting for Joseph’s reaction.
As a taxpayer I am fed up watching the exchequer pouring my money in these bottomless pits.I am not pointing fingers at the workers or the management , but if it is not profitable , why should it be there in the first place?
After all people in the private sector are fired if no profits are generated from their work.
Can anyone tell us how much money the shipyards owe the Maltese taxpayers. I remember Mintoff erasing Millions of liri in debts with a stroke of a pen , then KMB ’employed’ hundreds of voters with Shipbuilding and the Dockyard before the ’87 election , then after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Dollar we found out that the timber (missile) carriers were being built at a loss and were sold for peanuts , then more subsidies and more retirement schemes and the losses went on ………while the middle class dutifully paid its PAYE & NI contributions.
Government is not closing it down , it is selling it to the private sector ,real workers will continue working and earn good money there.
Private shipyards in Malta can make good profits we are already experiencing it.
@Mario P. Correction, it is the greatest little country on earth.
Edward Clemmer you are going against the trend of this blog:
Daphne here accused JM of not doing his ‘supposed’ job because he wants to work with the government:
“Muscat said that he plans to cooperate with the government, instead of behaving like his dog-in-the-manger predecessor, the Polly-Annas in our midst imagine that the prime minister will be giving Muscat one of the spare rooms at the Auberge de Castille and calling him up for advice three times a day. Some people only hear what they want to hear, and see only what they want to see, and so they missed the qualifier in Muscat’s sentence: “as long as the government treats us like an equal partner, because we represent half the electorate.”
In other words, Joseph Muscat wants to share the premiership with Lawrence Gonzi” ……. “get this: there is a government, and there is an opposition. The opposition is called an opposition because it is opposed to the government”.
I don’t agree with that trend of thought at all. The opposition shouldn’t be opposed to the government just for the heck of opposing because it’s the opposition. The opposition should be there to keep the government on a leash. The government is elected by the majority (now let’s not go into whether that majority is a 13,000 one or a 1,200 one) but whether it got elected by a miss or a mile it’s still elected with all due powers. The opposition’s job is to make sure that what the government does is in the interest of the people of these islands, and in accordance with EU rights and regulations.
It’s very immature if one expects the opposition to vote ‘black’ on the simple whim that the government said ‘white’. The way JM is planning to lead is far away from this infantile mentality. Where the government is right sure the opposition should agree. Where it is wrong, like withdrawing the tax incentives promised prior-election because the country can’t afford them, like withdrawing the incentives for young couples to purchase their own properties… Obviously it was not the withdrawal which was wrong, but the actual pre-election promise which had been unjust since it was promised with the short-sighted view of just winning votes. Same goes for the incentive supposedly promised for people to be aided to re-furbish their wooden balconies since they were in an area designating that wooden balconies had to be re-furbished as such by law, to all those young couples who planned to construct their houses using solar-powered and other ecologically friendly appliances, which incentive has now been withdrawn…. well I’d better stop here otherwise the digression would be too hefty!
The whole point is that MLP imo can’t be accused of anything. Heck MLP have only been in government for only 22 months for the last 20 years or so. How can they be accused of doing anything wrong? Sure policies were made, as can be expected of all governments. But policies are made by humans. Who ever said that humans are infallible? I more tend to think that EFA-PN and GonziPN ‘never made mistakes’ because they always had a healthy opposition controlling them. On the other hand, during the short time MLP was in govt the opposition never led any helping hand. There was no healthy opposition party those times. There was a party, saying that Alfred Sant was some satanist, billboards portraying his eyes in a way so that he really appeared like an evil being… you all remember those I suspect?
That was the wrong way of doing things. You should have explained to the public the difference between CET and VAT and how the latter exerted more tax-control on the trader, while the former provided more loopholes for potential abuse.
It’s outrageous that anyone dare accuse the MLP of doing a u-turn on EU membership, Mr Clemmer.
As far as I know, EU membership was decided by a referendum. Alfred Sant urged party members to abstain from voting in the EU referendum, in fact even he himself abstained.
The result was that when one counts the No votes and the ‘abstaining votes’ as instructed by Alfred Sant, they were much more than the ‘yes’ votes.
However, it was decided that in this case the abstaining votes don’t count. The result was that the majority of the Maltese population wanted EU membership.
NOW HOW ON EARTH CAN ONE ACCUSE THE MLP OF DOING A U-TURN ON EU-MEMBERSHIP BECAUSE IT RESPECTS THE MAJORITY WISH OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS?
The issue now is that the Maltese population voted in favour of EU membership and our job (not only that of the opposition but hopefully also that of the government) is to make the best out of it. We have to ensure that we don’t only do our duties by law as are required of EU member citizens, but that we also get awarded the rights which are now taken for granted by ‘older’ EU citizens.
Definitely the fact that Malta is a small country doesn’t mean that we have less rights than the French, than the Germans, and than the British (the British have even refused to adopt the Euro). Neither can we keep playing the part that we are saintly superior to the Vatican City and keep insisting in our Constitution that “Malta
What about us Maltese citizens who don’t adhere to the Catholic religion? What about the plethora of EU citizens who have come to live here now? Does our government have the right to refuse them the civil rights they are entitled to in the rest of Europe?
The first article of our constitution states:
“Malta is a democratic republic founded on work and on
respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual.”
But where do the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual stand if our constitution continues by saying:
“2. (1) The religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic
Religion.
(2) The authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church
have the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and
which are wrong.
(3) Religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith
shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory
education.”
How can you say that the religion of a particular country is a given one?
In what position does that put other EU citizens who choose to live, work and set up residence and family in Malta?
[Moderator – The Labour Party has only been in government for 22 months in 20 years precisely because it is doing everything wrong.]
ANother note to add on the Shipyards. During the 1992 election campaign, the Drydocks manufactured the billboards (ie.e the metal structure)for the Labour Party, during working hours, using the enterprise material and I suspect, for free.
I wonder what other services did they perform over the years. No wonder the GWU and the MLP are in tandem on this one, and they want to join a useless taskforce, ignoring the fact that we face a fait accompli. FInally, the government, as the shareholder of MDD, took the inevitable and bold decision (after so many wasted years) to privatize it, as is its right and duty.
Just mention one entity which is the property of the government of malta and which is yielding funds as it had been before the PN took hold of this country 20 years ago?
Quo Vadis Telemalta/Maltacom/Go?
Mid-Med? Sold to HSBC for 80 million. Even the bare land occupied by Mid-Med was worth more than 80 million, let alone a going concern which makes a profit of 40 million every year. Check here http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/newsroom/news/news-archive-2007/hsbc-bank-malta-p-l-c-preliminary-profit-statement-for-the-year-ended-31-december-2006
“During the year ended 31 December 2006, HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. and its subsidiaries generated a profit before tax on ordinary activities of Lm41.4 million” and our wise government sold Mid med for Lm80 million. It would have got Lm80 million in 2 or 3 years without selling.
At least Daphne should say that Alfred Sant did well because he opposed this transaction. He was in the opposition, his duty was to oppose wasn’t it? ;)
Enemalta? Let’s see what’d happen once it loses its monopoly. The government can’t subsidise it any more because EU laws prohibit the govt from giving subsidy to any company in the interest of competition. That’s why the surcharge keeps increasing and why it’s going to increase again next July.
SeaMalta? Cottonera? Tigne?
If I comment any more I’d make another long post which will result in someone saying that the MLP is the one which always does everything wrong so I’ll refrain from elaborating.
At least Mistra was caught just in time…
Now the Shipyards, something which always brought profit to our country. Unfortunately such profit started declining, surprisingly (?) these past 15-20 years.
The Shipyards should have been strengthened. The way the present government argues that because this country is a Catholic country entrenched in the constitution, one has to work on strengthening the families not dissolve them.
However, the government works on two measures here. It sells local enterprises, shuts down factories, because they’re failing. It doesn’t endeavour to strengthen them, unlike failing families on the other hand where it is now planning to even condone adultery through the regulation of co-habitation, while the rest of the EU regulates this matter differently.
Excuse me to digress, this government is against divorce because divorce is forbidden in a book of the catholics called the bible. All other EU states allow and recognise divorce. We hypocritically recognise divorces given in other EU (AND non-EU) countries…
Imagine the scenario where a foreign couple is living here, do you thing our government (PN or MLP or whatever) has the right to refuse granting them a divorce just because they happen to be in Malta? So this couple has to incur a lot of extra expenses to reside in another EU country while their divorce is finalised? I don’t think so.
And if this is allowed to foreign couples while being disallowed to Maltese citizens, there’d clearly be a ground for discrimination worthy to bring before the ECHR, no?
@ P Shaw
“During the 1992 election campaign, the Drydocks manufactured the billboards (ie.e the metal structure)for the Labour Party, during working hours, using the enterprise material and I suspect, for free.”
Please quote your sources showing that the MDD manufactured the billboards for the MLP, during working hours payed from our taxes, using material purchased by the MDD, for free.
If it really had been so, then definitely action should have been taken. I’d really show that the PN is snoozing if it hasn’t yet.
@ Charmaine – “Now the Shipyards, something which always brought profit to our country. ” – Profits???!??!?
As far as I can remember -at least from Mid 70’s onwards – shipyards meant losses, loans backed by government, written off debts, subsidies and overblown paycheques not to mention thugs banging on trucks, chains, iron rods etc – some felt clearly on our backs, back in those glorious days of the workers’ aristocracy and the champions of freedom of speech and expression!!
@Charmaine : MMU and Maltacom were privatised by the MLP.
@ Charmaine – Governmnet has no business being in Business. Period. You cant run businesses with a civil service mentality. And you cant let a Unjin run a business for you. Its a recipe for disaster.And u certainly cant run a business with exces worker capacity and low individual productivity. We have been subsidizing the drydocks for far too long. Its time we stopped. These guys have no divine right to be subsidized. If tey did, then the Governmnet should not discriminate but subsidize every failing business on the island. Likewise the Governmnet should not run banks. It is making more money in taxes and people are making more profits individually from dividends from shares they own in HSBC than the governmnet would ever have made, plus we need the clout of an international bank in Malta to grow. Charmaine, i hope you are not employed in a private business. If you were employed with me with these opinions, I would soon put you right. You have no idea what it involves in running a business, and making sure your employees develop themselves and are happy. none of my employees reason this way because they are involved fully in the business, and thats the way most maltese businesses do things.Grow up, and get real . I really cannot stand this outdated way of thinking . Bloody Champagne Socialists!
@My Name is Leonard – Thank you for the clip, especially Atom Heart Mother by the great great great Pink Floyd. The music still moves me so much. I had forgotten that part of my teenage years. Thank you a million times.
@Charmaine
The moderator’s response is correct. The trend of my contributions to this blog is consistent with that response.
I am “going against the trend” of those who fail to appreciate the difference between poltical rhetoric and political action. The MLP have been full of the former, and the history of the latter accuses the MLP of their own crimes.
The responsbility for government lies with the PN: that “premiership” is not shared. There is a parliament, however, in which both sides may express their views, and that responsibility is shared–but not the decision making, which is in the hands of the executive powers. The parliament legislates, and if the MLP should like to go along with the government on its legislation by contributing to the healthy construction of more positive legislation, that would be revolutionary political action.
I know the difference between CET and VAT because I am a businessman, and I lived under the consequences of both. CET was a disaster and a fraud.
I see that you are still nder the delsion that the “abstaining votes” were somehow decided not to count in the EU referendum, and that therefore the EU Referendum “won.” The only votes that ever count are the “yeses” and the “nos.” That’s why they call the others “abstaining,” along with others that may be “invalid” and those who don’t vote, simply didn’t vote, even if they were eligible to vote. Their eligibility only counts when they vote.
We all are trying to make the “best of the EU”, not because of its deficiencies, but because it is the best way forward for this island nation.
@Charmaine.
Solet me get this right. If HSBC made a profit then government is wrong to have sold it and Labour was right to object. What would the tune have been if HSBC made a loss, that the government sold it to the wrong bank???
If memory serves me right the bank was sold circa 1999, Don’t you think that there are a number of factors why HSBC made such a profit in 2006 (e.g. greater and more mature banking methods introduced to the island,a flourishing economy, etc.)
Forget mixing religion with politics, i really despair when people try to mix the economy with politics. Let’s get things in perspective. The economy works when the government/politicians let go of it. The job of the politicians is not to push the economy,it is to take its hands of it to let it flourish. After all, most politicians are truly bad businessmen. This is even more so when it comes to academics, and especially those who study that science called economics!
So please can we have a serious arguments.
Luckily for us the age of Socialism is dead. Hopefully politicians have realised that their role is to stop the excesses of capitalism and not to create wealth themselves.
@Charmaine
According to you: “Now the Shipyards, something which always brought profit to our country. Unfortunately such profit started declining, surprisingly (?) these past 15-20 years.”
When and what profits did they make? If you had to look at the REAL numbers – you would find a history of losses which would pale anyone ! The Socialist movement (MLP+GWU) needed the Dockyards for their political objectives only, and never bothered about profitability or anything.
The mismanagement of the yards was at its peak during Labour days, with the employees managing the yards (read: the GWU managing the yards) and it is amazing how this has been conveniently forgotten! Additionally many employees there expect/ed not to give their day’s work but then get paid for overtime etc…ask some of their clients there and you would hear horror stories.
Finally: i fail to understand why the yards expect to be considered differently from any other company: they are NOT strategic to Malta’s economy any more, they have the worst records in terms of losses and public funding, they acted as “rent-a-crowd” for many publc disturbances in recent history etc etc… it’s good that Government is privatising – the good employees need not worry since they will end up with as good conditions at least; as for the others: welcome to the real business world!
Charmaine says that profit from the shipyards started dropping in the last 15-20 years. Can she specify WHICH shipyards she is referring to ?
@Charmaine
Telemalta/Maltacom/Go is a private company not the property of the government of Malta.
Regarding HSBC note that when the bank was sold the profit was nowhere near LM40 million it was more like LM4 million per year.
I do not know if it was undervalued but when a price was estimated during Sant’s term if I am not mistaken it was somewhere between LM40 and LM50 million.
.Note also that if the bank makes LM40 million profit in a year, the government still gets 35% tax ( LM14 million) and 40% and of the rest HSBC only owns 60% ( LM15.6 million).
Also since the government got LM80 million, then there was the same amount of bonds which were not issued since this amount contributed to reduce the deficit.
This amounts to another LM4.5 million less interest issued each year
@Charmaine
I don’t know where you dreamt up your nonsensical view of our economic past and recent political history, but remember one thing. Propaganda has to bear some resemblance to reality for it to have a chance to convince even the gullible. The wilder a story, the less credible it is. Your distortion is an insult to anyone of even the mildest intelligence.
Your statement:
‘Now the Shipyards, something which always brought profit to our country. Unfortunately such profit started declining, surprisingly (?) these past 15-20 years”
Why, that’s the wildest story I’ve heard in years!
The shipyards have mainly lost money and suffered an excess of workers since WWII and the gradual rundown of the British Navy, and has only been kept alive by successive governments over the last 60 years for social reasons, which in hindsight would have been better served by creating alternatives (as has been happening for the last 20 years) and letting them wind down to a minimal sustainable level serving local ship repair and construction needs.
They were even the cause of the split in the Labour party in 1949, when one of the principal disputes was over how the scaling down of the shipyards and services to the British military establishment should be handled, i.e. via negotiation and diplomacy (Boffa) or via confrontation (Mintoff). Well, Mintodff won that one and its been a downhill road (true to form, based on confrontation) for the MLP ever since.
The situation was made worse by the MLP governments of the 70’s and 80’s who first put the running of the drydocks in the hands of the workers and then proceeded to employ thousands of unneeded employees in a combination of the building of a (sometimes violent) power base and a desperate bid to remain in government.
We have thrown away millions of liri in a wasted bid to keep the drydocks open so that overpaid employees can put in an average of a couple of hours of work a day, at best, whilst the GWU and the MLP have consistently supported or directly instigated this sorry state of affairs. It is high time the drydocks are left to sink or swim. The time of subsidies are over. The EU does not ban subsidies to failing enterprises because it wants to hurt people, but because subsidies to failing enterprises distort competition, penalises other healthy industries and is a crazy economic idea.
If someone is willing to buy the shipyards, he’s welcome to take them. As far as I’m concerned, if we give them to someone for nothing then we’ve made a bargain. My worry is that we may actually have to pay someone to take them.
If the MLP, the GWU and their apologists are so sure the shipyards are (a) viable once reformed (b) actually reformable, maybe we should hand them over for free. The problem is that the financial track record of both the MLP and the GWU is so abysmal that it would make the situation worse.
With respect to your comment about the EU and U-turns, please get real!
The Labour Party, including Joe Muscat at the forefront, told us for years that EU membership was a bad thing for Malta, a disaster in the making, and that we should vote no (as you have conveniently forgotten) or abstain.
The MLP, again including Joe Muscat, then refused to accept the result of the referendum, reinforcing their lack of democratic credentials and making us the laughing stock of the democratic world.
To simply turn around and say ‘oh we made a mistake’ is just not acceptable.
Anyone who performed a decent, serious study about the overall pro’s and con’s of EU membership for Malta came to the conclusion that it would be a grave long-term mistake for Malta NOT to enter the EU.
So either the GWU and the MLP, including Joe Muscat, degree in European Studies and all, were so thoroughly incompetent that they came to the conclusion that EU membership was a bad thing, or else they knew full well it was the right thing for Malta but their inferiority complex vis-à-vis the PN led them to believe that they could only compete by preaching the exact opposite.
The point is that if they were so completely incompetent then they are not fit to be our major opposition party, let alone the government of our nation.
If on the other hand they knew membership was the best thing but worked against it, then they are traitors to the nation, should not even be in politics, and we should hold them in contempt.
Although the Labour Party’s electoral campaign and recent internal elections demonstrate a high level of incompetence and self-flagellation, I cannot believe that they are so absolutely incompetent as to have genuinely come to the conclusion that EU membership was a bad thing for the country at large. They MUST have been in bad faith.
So that leaves the second, more serious option, that of the treasonous behaviour for which I have nothing but contempt and disgust.
Either way these people don’t have the credibility or credentials to lead us into being, as they put it, the best country in Europe.
On another note, you finish your statements about divorce with another fine example of MLP U-turns.
I don’t have much to say about divorce itself, except that although I personally have no great need for it, I see it as an necessary and inevitable civil right, and will vote in favour of it in a referendum when and if it comes. The interesting thing is, will the MLP respect THAT referendum? Or does the MLP respect and believe only the decisions that tell it what it WANTS to hear (referenda, court judgements, police investigations etc).
Your reference to our recognising foreign divorces but not allowing local divorce is also interesting. I find it even more interesting that you call it hypocritical. And you know what, I agree with you!
And you know who introduced it? The MLP in the 70’s, the hypocrites (your words, not mine!) you obviously support, who whilst claiming to be the party of the worker, introduced two layers of civil rights, one for the poor (no divorce) and one for the better off, who could afford (although that number has vastly increased in these ‘disastrous’ 20 years) to travel abroad to get a divorce.
You also end that paragraph with a reference to the European Court Of Human Rights, the human rights body of the European Council (as opposed to the European Union, being completely unconnected institutions). I don’t know whether you’re old enough to remember, but it was the PN which gave us the right to petition the ECHR, after arguing in its favour for many years, against the resistance and refusal whilst in government of the MLP and Mintoff, who in another spectacular U-turn decided to petition the court himself, in recent years!
@ charmaine
I bet you only see one news and read the GWU papers.
Although the government could have got a better deal on Mid-Med sale, your arguments are half-baked. The implications of a having a renowned bank such as HSBC triggered off the financial sector in Malta. Even the labour party acknowledges the success of this sector.
From your childish calculations did you take in consideration that profits are taxed at 35% besides that the government is also a minority shareholder?
Besides, that other local banks followed HSBC practices and adopted them resulting in higher profits and so more income for government.
But the worst offender is to say that the shipyards were always profitable under labour government. Can you please forward us their past accounts so that we can verify your claims.
As regards to Go you better check their accounts and see that not withstanding the increased competition the company is still registering record profits.
Sea Malta’s and Shipyards work practices are/were the same as in old Labour. Well I admit that past pn governments
had dragged their feet on certain decisions that needed to be taken in these companies. So I am delighted that at last the required measures will be implemented in the shipyards case.
God, Charmaine, throws up so many whoppers, you catch one and miss half a dozen.
here’s one i missed earlier:
Enemalta? Let’s see what’d happen once it loses its monopoly. The government can’t subsidise it any more because EU laws prohibit the govt from giving subsidy to any company in the interest of competition. That’s why the surcharge keeps increasing and why it’s going to increase again next July.
And there i was thinking that the surcharge was caused by the increase in the price of fuel.
Now here’s an economic thought for Charmaine. What if we imported our electricity from other countries, who, because of economies of scale ( that’s an economic term,by the way) would be able to offer cheaper prices, what should govenment do, allow 100,000 households to chose at the risk of some people losing their jobs at Enemalta. Think carefully , because its a trick question.
And here is another trick question, who gets the most benefit from the subsidy rates in electricity? Is it reasonable to say that it is those who use the most electrical appliances? And who would that be, the poor or the rich? Again think carefully!
The Labour Party depends on people like Charmaine for its survival. The minute people start understanding how things work, they vote Nationalist. And when they can’t vote Nationalist because they are Labour politicians, despite the fact that they are converts to the policies of the Nationalist Party, they tell the newspapers that they made a mistake about the EU/VAT/liberalisation and then they grin.
A quote from government’s statement about the shipyards:
“these have only led to an accumulated financial burden to taxpayers of more than £770 million”
If I am not mistaken this amounts to around 50% of the National Debt.
Maybe Charmaine shall see the light.
Look out for Anglu Farrugia’s interview in The Sunday Times tomorrow. Meanwhile, you’ll have to make do with the video on this link:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080621/local/for-pub-sat
Well done MikeC, you have expressed so well my exact thoughts.
@Ethel
Are you one of those people who mind paying taxes to subsidies dockyards but do not mind paying taxes to make up for ‘over paid’ government’s projects??
@Mario Debono: more than welcome. In an uncanny sort of way, the new PN HQ also fits the picture.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080621/local/pn-inaugurates-its-headquarters
My BIG question to everybody out there now is : Why do Charmaines make up 50% of Malta’s voting population ? I have been searching for the answer since the stunning result of the 1987 General Election was announced. I do not have it yet.
Please Help !
Are the Ganni Borgs of Malta happy with the brand new co-habitation of WE’s Peppi and MLP’s Guwzi (the husband of Lil_Din ex-employee of WE?
Daphne wrote about certain labour politicians – they tell the newspapers that they made a mistake about the EU/VAT/liberalisation and then they grin.
Are we meant to trust our future to people who made so many big scale errors of judgement. After all, these are people who went (or should have done) seriously into the subject and still came up with the wrong decision.
It was only after the event proved to be a success that they had to admit that yet again they had made a mistake.
The way Anglu Farrugia described his `mistake` is a gem of political talk.
We see now that Joe Debono Grech is being embraced by JM. Is this because he is afraid of losing out his post in Brussls? Read that JM is pushing GA to go in his place? What a farce these politicans are!!!
Dear Daphne
Not a word to spare on Charlo – PBO? Hmmm. As you said, ‘everything changes and everything stays the same’. That’s it!
@Abel Abela
I don’t get it. Why are you waiting for Daphne to say something about Charlo- PBO? Go on. We’re all ears!
Pinkerton, please don’t tell me that the Labour leader’s wife used to work for Where’s Everybody. That would be just too much.
Pinkerton, could you explain to us dumb mortals how it is witty and clever to write “Guwzi” instead of “Joseph” and how it makes your arguments sronger and more logical?
Cos from where I stand I coud swear it’s the same level of infantile name-calling we used to indulge in while still in primary school.
But what do I know?
@ Daphne. Yes that’s right. My son says she used to be with the audience starting the applause and handing the microphone to the people who wanted to speak.
Pinkerton are you actually trying to say that Muscat’s wife (Shock! Horror!!) used to work for WE?? (faints)
And that when he found out he did not say “Get out of my sight, you Jezebel, and never darken my doors again!”.
Really, what is the world coming to?
Now for the million-euro question; is it witty and clever to write “Guwzi” or “Gowzef” instead of “Joseph”?
“Peppi”,as an option seems to have been taken already as are “JO” and “Josie”.So what are we left with? “Ojj int” as a fitting accompaniment to “Lil din”?
:)
Sybil, would it be equally “clever and witty” if I were to write “Żibil” instead of “Sybil”?
If I wanted to be equally infantile, that is – which I don’t.
@ Sybil you can also write Zeppi – but htat might remind us of Zeppi l-haffi – Il habib kbir ta Fenech Adami!
Dak li għandu “kwalitajiet tajbin u kwalitajiet inqas tajbin”?
:)
@Ganni Borg – certament mhux dak li kellu isifer halli jifhem li l-Unjoni Ewropeja ma tfissirx dizastru ghal Malta, qisu xi hadd minn wara l-muntanji (jew minn Burmarrad).
@ Daphne…
Yeah, Pinkerton is just right. “Lil Din” used to be part of the Where’s Everybody’s team, clapping hands, and entertaining the audience :)
But this she did till she saw the light and converted and went to work for the ex leader Dottor Alfred Sant. Then she saw teh light again and invested in the future leader!
Good investment hux, when considering her initial entertaining tasks to nowadays! “Hobbuha Lil Din ghax hi thobbkom ukoll”. Amen
Ms DCG, is “xiħadd min wara l-muntanji” better or worse than “an obscure village lawyer”?
@Daphne
I can confirm that too – Lil Din used to be part of Peppi’s team in Xarabank, clapping, handing the microphone and generally acting pretty. Trust me – I never forget a pretty chick!
I was reading a book some time ago (Murder Inc. by Burton B. Turkus) about organised crime in the USA.
One of the interesting things it says is that, once the mob had decided to murder somebody, from that moment on they referred to him only as “the bum”.
The theory is that by dehumanising him in that way, they would pacify what was left of their consciences by persuading themselves that, being “a bum”, he deserved to die.
I see a clear parallel here with the habit of many members of this blog of never referring to opponents by their real name bit with some sort of derogatory invented nickname.
[Moderator – The mob is a criminal organisation. We aren’t. You’d do better to apply that theory to the way the Labour Party would cast students as the enemies of the people throughout their campaign.]
Ganni Borg Monday, 23 June 1147hrs
Sybil, would it be equally “clever and witty” if I were to write “Żibil” instead of “Sybil”?
If I wanted to be equally infantile, that is – which I don’t.
“Quite frankly my dear, I do not give a damn” with all due apologies to Rhett Butler.
Ganni Borg: That’s a little extreme, don’t you think? There is no collective plot here to murder anyone, nor any mob, much less one that involves organised crime – unless, of course, you know something that everyone else doesn’t. That would make you the criminal party, wouldn’t it?
I said I saw a parallel – and I stand by what I said.
The use of denograting nicknames insread of real names is a meabs of dehimanising you opponent.
I really have to cure myself of the nasty habit of clicking “add your comment” without checking for typos first – please excuse.
Ganni Borg: Are you short of a sense of humour or are you just reading too many airport novels?
You see a parallel between what is being said here and a criminal mob deciding that someone deserves to die, you say? Oh dear me, that’s one hell of a wild accusation.
Do enlighten the criminal ‘members of this blog’: who are the ‘opponents’ that they are planning to toss off a cliff with their feet firmly planted in solidified concrete?
“Do enlighten the criminal ‘members of this blog’: who are the ‘opponents’ that they are planning to toss off a cliff with their feet firmly planted in solidified concrete?”
Ninja Turtles? Pink Elephants? :)