The chicken-brains have done it again (and again)
Hooray, Jason is back
Oh guess what? Jason Micallef is general secretary again. They’ve elected him. That’s right. Did any of you think it could be any different? It’s not like he didn’t have the power of incumbency and pulled all the right strings. As though we needed further confirmation that in the Labour Party it’s every man for himself, with the hierarchy putting themselves before the party and public opinion, this is it.
You can’t really blame Jason. He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to politics, or pretty much everything else. But he’s good at self-advancement behind the palace walls. He puts me in mind of one of those Renaissance courtiers who survived by whispering in all the right ears and strutting about tossing his cloak defiantly at all those who didn’t count, like Leo Brincat and the rest of the peasants out there, confident in the knowledge that he had the ear (and in some distant historical cases, other body parts besides) of the prince. I say you can’t really blame him because Alfred Sant led by example: he stayed put for 16 years, right through four consecutive hammerings at the polls: three general elections and one traumatic referendum. Jason probably tells himself that if Sant could do it, then so can he. And he’s right. After all, this is the party of selfish opportunists who put themselves first and hang party reform or electoral success, or even that remote and distant thing called efficient government.
So the new Labour Party (yes, my dears, it’s New again) is composed of Joseph Muscat, who appears to have peaked and petered out already, five years before the general election, the comedy duo Toni Abela and Anglu Farrugia, Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi (again), Jason of the tight pants (again and again), and look at this…..Alex Sciberras Trigona as international secretary, the newest of the bunch.
Do we need any more confirmation that the Labour Party has lost the plot? If there is more confirmation to be had, I think we should be spared it. All this has been too much. This is no longer a political party. It’s a comic act, and the unbelievable thing is that half the population votes for it, out of dogged, determined and entirely misplaced loyalty. I used to say that a minimum of 47% of the population will vote Labour even if the party is led by a one-eyed Martian. Now I know for sure.
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Put a torch in a monkey’s hand and the Labour die hards will vote for it. Defeats logic and all comprehension. So when all is said and done, the only one to be precluded and given the brush is the only one to be the least accountable for the umpteenth electoral defeat – Dr. Michael Falzon. New political beginning indeed !
maybe he has them by the balls (hopefully not literally).
Interview with the delegates:
Q) Can you elect a loser?
A) yes.
..five years later
Q) Can you elect the same loser?
A) yes.
..five years later
Q) Can you elect the same old loser?
A) yes.
…Bidu Gdid…
Did you expect any different, Daphne? Have you forgotten the comment made by Mr. Smiley against George Abela on Xarabank? This was payback time.
How right you are Daphne. It will be difficult for the smiling Jason to say that the Nationalists do not have an overall majority when he just got throgh by the skin of his teeth (those teeth again)So I presume it is now back to the old, old MLP with dear Freddie still pulling the strings with the lonesome Joe Muscat at the head. Or is he? Who is really leading when we have two deputy leaders and another leader of the opposition? And how will Michael Falzon and Leo Brincat be able to live within the Party now?
No new Labour after all.
It is said that a country gets the government it deserves. In this case the MLP got the leadership it deserves.
Just think about the team they could have had, had they played their cards right!
Leader: George Abela
Deputies: Joseph Muscat and Michael Falzon
General Secretary: Joe Vella Bonnici
Jeez, had Alfred Sant contested the post of Lijder, the Delegates would have surely elected him…
Mur saqqi l-hass tal-Marsa Jayz…You know you have it in you
Pleeeease Daph, don’t insult the chickens.They really are intelligent creatures you know.
It seems that the choices of the delegates have left little hope for the short-term and medium-term future of the MLP. Alfred Sant, while not part of the official party structure, lurks somewhere in the shadowlands of the party and has a five-year spot in parliament, unless he gives up his seat. The most rational critics from among former or current members are marginalized in their influence: Lino Spiteri, George Abela, Leo Brincat, Michael Falzon; the arrogant are the survivors: Joseph Muscat, Anglu Farrugia, Toni Abela, and Jason Micallef; and it’s public opinion and the electorate be damned, full speed ahead!
Now, for the average thinking person in the street, the most rational and efficient political choice for the medium future remains the Nationalist Party–for all ones efforts at effecting reform, renewal, and political-social advancement. There is no reason for me to entertain analytical or emotional energy, or possible political support, for the MLP, except perhaps to catalogue its failures.
If there is any medium hope for political activism in this country, it won’t be through the MLP of self-interested conservatives, which shows itself to be more spiteful and headless, unless that head is a hydra. Regarding Jason: Lino, George, Michael, and Leo made their political positions clear on the position of party secretary, along with Jimmy Magro, and also the other contenders for the post. Their political fates are not bright. It is also sad that Karl Chircop, quite a decent rationalist among the MLP, is now in hospital–may he recover, God willing.
I don’t think the MLP have any chance to get their act together for at least ten more years. This is not to say that they won’t also continue to be a national nuisance, while the MLP and GWU continue to downsize–but fighting against the current all the way.
Given the state of the MLP, I would expect enthusaism for the PN to increase over the medium term if it is responsive to the national and public interest in these difficult times ahead. It certainly has public support on the transportation issue. And I suspect privitisation of the drydocks will also be supported by the public (may we be spared another Sea Malta at the hands of the GWU; but may the best way forward have bi-partisan support). A sustainable economy, social progress, energy supplies at affordable costs, health and education, aging population, and immigration factors give us a full political plate for the present years ahead.
I guess no more comments are necessary – reading from the times website – Genius!!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080805/local/i-will-be-everyone-s-general-secretary-jason-micalle
I will bet from now that PN will win again and this time with not 1500 votes but far more then that.
I feel it already…..
I would like to know how the different factions are going to work together after all that has been said.
MLP are really working hard not to get elected next time round.
Immediately when I heard the news that Jason was re elected, Hot Chocolate came to mind with their song ‘So You Win Again”. I’m NOT singing it for Jason but I’ll be singing it from now on to the next 5 years changing the ‘you’ to ‘we’ hehehehheheheh. Thanks to all the Labour Party Delegates for their choice that come next election shall AGAIN give Malta the government it deserves!
Well, Alex Sceberras Trigona (note the first ‘e’ in Sceberras) is better suited for the post. What he replaces is an InterNeJxinall “think-about-us” Segretri, so there…
As to Jason’s feat, it’ll do a lot of good to his skyrocketing arrogance. Well done Jason! You need no superglue – the Party is all yours!
A strange coincidence indeed! A media survey published today places MLP media far ahead of PN media. It is either that most delegates follow PN media and swallowed the bait to the last atom, or that the survey is dramatically flawed or that the delegates are right down morons!
First of all I have my doubts whether Joseph is really the leader who is pulling the strings. I agree with Stanley JA Clews that the invisible Sant is very much the spider spinning the webs of intrigue within the MLP.
The focus now is not Jason Micallef – there is nothing new about him. The real focus should be Leo Brincat, Michael Falzon, George Abela, Jimmy Magro, Evarist Bartolo and the others who openly declared that they cannot work with Jason.
Do they stay or do they act independently of the party?
One cannot spit a declaration one day and lick it the next.
If these declared anti-Jason stay, it confirms, without a doubt that confusion and derision are rampant in the MLP. What is truly amazing is the number of ardent followers who continue to be blind to the antics of the clique which continues to operate unhindered even under a new leader.
Then again, maybe it was part of the overall plan.
Anything is possible at the MLP – together or not.
I can’t understand what’s happening within the Labor rank & file…it seems there exists a collective unconscious fear of change …it seem that clinging to the past is a kind of guaranteed security.
It’s either one moves forward or fall backwards. There is no middle way. Labor delegates are so ticklish they are so easily aroused to hysterical clapping sessions… minds are stalled and become impotent to produce ideas…
Well the scenario is set: they have chosen as early as yet for another Nationalist election victory. The whole affair is becoming, politically humorous, boring, and worrying
@ Joseph Michallef What you saw in the Media Survey is definitely not strange , it reflects exactly what happened yesterday at the MLP conference . MLP supporters listen to Super One ONLY; the rest of us listen to 101 , RTK , Bay Radio, Smash , Calypso , Lehen il-Karmelitani etc etc .
Yesterday at the conference the diehards voted Jason , and the rest voted to the others .
First past the post Jason and Super One .
Do these reflect what the majority wants or follows?
The answer is a resounding “NO”!
When I read the news on the electronic Times, I literally screamed in amazement, and my work colleagues thought something was very wrong with one of our IT systems!
It seems that for the Party Leader election, delegates voted to tow the ‘New Labour’ party line; for the other posts, it was ‘every man for himself’ and the result was, well, I won’t give titles else I hurt someone’s feelings!!
Ah so Jason is ready to forget what was said abt him in the past! What about what HE said abt others in the past? The sheer arrogance in his comments mirrors what his attitude shall be in the forthcoming years. It’s a question of more of the same. Thanks MLP delegates! The PN’s future in government is guaranteed.
Dear Daphne and her blog readers
I expect you all to be somehow a little bit more rational and intelligent. Jason Muscat, Toni Abela, PLUS the other Deputy Leader (I forgot his name – apologoies!), Jason Micallef and Alex Sciberras Trigona are the way forward for the Malta Lablab Party…lablab: let the leader’s brothers and sisters, shrouded in a veil of fraternity and socialist renewal, gradually enjoy their five-year-to-come-yet-another-failure in the general elections. You, you who dare criticise and question the Malta Lablab Party, let them re-taste, re-swallow, re-experiment with their disasterous ‘NEW’ team…poor Jason Muscat.
He (the big chief) has told them to pull up their sleeves – I hope they put their old brains in some remote location transceding Alaska point. You, dear Daphne and fellow readers, let the new MLP team reflect on the treacherous voting undertaken by their follow delegates. These are a wonderful bunch: o readers and dear Daphne,you will shortly understand why Jason and his team will shortly gather their forces and attack the EU…unless Alex the great changes his mind and joins the MLP U-TURN team. When shall we be priviliged again to watch him with his broad smile wearing a sailor’s cap/hat?
The MLP delegates fortunately have nothing to do with the Beyjing Olympics…or else, oh readers and Daphne, you would have been compelled to watch Joseph Muscat and his two angelic deputies lit the Olympic Torch with a labour flamed heart.
And – for your serious consideration – has Alex Sciberras (in Maltese pronounced as ‘xiber ras’) sent his resignation from the CNN? It’s better for him not to deny his past because Karmenu (l-ex ‘zero’) will give him a hard smack on his ‘patata’).
Dear Daphne and her blog readers: this is a NEW BEGINNING…for MLP, ‘new’ means ‘repeat, stagnation, monotony, a great sense of helplessness.’
If you wish o understand MLP, visit IS-SALINA!!!
Some thought is most befitting for these most frustrated of Joseph Muscat’s brothers: Michael Falzon, George Abela, Alfred Mifsud, Leo Brincat, Sharon Ellul Bonici, Anna Mallia, etc. And many more who dreamt about a new beginning.
Most of us are convinced that AS is lurking in the background. Now what happens to people like Joe Grima, who werewelcomed back into the fold when they thought that AS was out of the picture for good? With nothing new in leading positions of the so-called ‘new’ MLP, is he going to act as if something did change within the MLP,or is he going to acknowledge that he and some others have taken a falza stikka’.
Kev – An Ellul Bonici (one “n”) should be familiar with “Sceberras” (with an “e”, not and “i”).
Good Morning, folks. Back from good old Blighty to find this humdinger of a story about Jeyzinn’s phoenix like rise from the ashes of defeat, mouth full of white teeth smiling in victory. Rather predictable wasn’t it? Anyone who doesn’t think that the “magna tal-partit”, including the new Dear Leader, was responsible for this stand up and be counted, please. There you are. Truth be told, after the farce election against the grain of the Two Ronnies, aka Toni and Anglu, does anyone think that the Lijderxipp would leave this to chance. No way. There was a heavy backroom engineering job in the election of loyal, dependable, Jayzinn, make no mistake about it. And no amount of self sacrifice by Gino and Joe would have made a tiny bit of difference. All the candidates might as well have committed Mata Hari ( or is that Hara Kiri? I get confused) from the beginning of this so predictable race. Jayzinn it was, is and ever shall be. Good. Am so looking forward to his next cock up. Wonder what that will be?
Oh another thing, people. Take heart. We do need something ( or is that someone? ) to write about, to pillory, to gladden our eyes as they look at the collected wisdom of this blog. We have been reduced to discussing festas, for god’s sake ! ( boooooring!) . Jayzinn is a media person, so watch this space. He will be appearing in so many episodes of “il-Lejber….storja ta’ partit glorjuz”. I can’t wait. What I do feel is that the new leadership has peaked like a rather damp squib, like a bad case of E.P …….. too quickly to give any pleasure to anyone, and bloody embarassing in the process!
Mario, Mata Hari was a femme fatale and exotic dancer who was executed for WWI espionage. She was Dutch.
Daph ….I know, I know, just my idea of a joke. Mata Hari is a euphimism for Hara Kiri. Its in one of the Tom Sharpe books, a cracking read if you ever find them. but u did hit the nail on the head in some respects here .Mata Hari ( read Jayzinn M) was a femme fatale (!) exotic dancer (Or a PCock!) who was executed for espionage ……That didnt happen because Ze German ( the Master) wanted it that way all along. But there are similarities, false smiles ect in this story as well. What we need is now a good dose of bloodletting and knife flashing by those who support Jayzinn against all who didnt. Wonder when that might happen? It will make the Night of the Long Knives look like a picnic in comparison
How insightful of you, Mrs Mallia, to spot our aristocraic quirks.
How about Jason congratulating a “happy birthday” to old Dom on his 92 nd birthday? Mgux segretarju ta’ kullhadd?
Kev – Back in Lilliput, are we, now?
John Schembri – Maybe he should take him a bar of soap when he goes to visit. A new outfit would do nicely, too.
Shame on you Jeysin for not realising you would have probably even made it as THE LIDER of the party after all. Maybe its your future aspiration. Surely even the NP will canvas for you so like the GWU you will GUARANTEE their future in Government and of course your own very livelihood.
No one seems to have thought about the serious, sad and utterly horrific reality/possibility – that of – come next election – this chaotic party will be elected to government. A real dreadful thought indeed ! The present line-up is far, far worse than the line-up under ElfRED !! If under ElfRED they were not able to govern – how will this one fare ?!