Comments on: Oh, the pig’s tail has gone

By: JM Bartolo

JM Bartolo — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:25:34 +0000

I agree with all but…and it is a but,there are small yes small “things’ and loyal PN voters who love their country are ignored by Ministers and Parl.Secs. And then we get Joe,Toni u l-Ispettur Anglu.

By: Mario P

Mario P — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:19:29 +0000

with all due respect, the word ‘churn’ is being used as in ‘turnover’ e.g. employee ‘turnover’ or ‘churn’. It is a favourite word used in telecommunications to describe the migration of customers from one operator to another.

[Daphne – Not at all: they meant to say ‘churn out more students’ and said ‘churn more students’ instead.]

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:44:20 +0000

There’s a woman next to her hubby (one presumes) on the GWU monument, like some kind of ugly grey wedding cake.

By: Marku

Marku — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:11:58 +0000

Brilliant piece – especially the final part on “Big Talk and Vainglory”. Your reference to the masculine imagery used by the MLP when in power (why aren’t there any women on the GWU and the “Jum il-Helsien” monuments?)and the efforts to instill a “we can do it all on our own” mentality is more evidence in support of your claim that this was and to some extent still is a rather conservative party. I think it might be actually worthwhile to compare the political manipulation of “traditional values” in Malta under Mintoff and in Spain under Franco.

By: Jomar

Jomar — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:50:28 +0000

What amazes me is that within the MLP -err.. excuse me, the LP or PL, there are younger well educated professionals who somehow see their place within a party which lacks principles, with an odd triumvirate at the top. I will not go that far calling them the Mod Three Stooges, although very frequently they act that way ably led by Anglu. How Gowzef can sit beside him and not squirm every time Anglu opens his mouth only tells me that secretly he is cut from the same cloth. His apprenticeship with Super One and One Radio surely taught him to tolerate second raters such as Anglu and Toni.

Are these well publicized changes in the Party’s name and statute part of the earthquake Gowzef promised? Like I have been saying for years, and as someone else suggested quite recently, the only terremot which will cure the LP’s ills is to raze it to the ground and start fresh leaving all the dead and diseased wood out.

By: marika mifsud

marika mifsud — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:49:59 +0000

I often think that many of the people who we describe as pikusi and hodor and who declare to one and all that this time they `will vote Labour` at the last moment come to their senses.
Maybe those who put all the emphasis on the various construction and MEPA problems before considering the big picture will realise how close we came to disaster in the last elections.

By: Tim Ripard

Tim Ripard — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:29:47 +0000

Malta certainly has a problem with pikuzi and hodor. One of our most predominant characteristics is ‘ghira’ which has stronger connotations than its English equivalent, envy. We love to hate and denigrate success in others, as you know so well.

I agree that the construction in the backyard syndrome was a big factor in anti-PN feeling last election but the real problem that the PN has in being re-elected is the narrow-minded mentality that precludes many voters from seeing the big picture and makes them concentrate on a single issue instead. The fuss over utility rates is a prime example. Alfred Sant’s crusade against VAT was another.

Mr Said is right. He sees gimmicks as what they are and no evidence of a comprehensive alternative programme. The big question is how many voters really reason that way?

By: Carmel Said

Carmel Said — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:53:52 +0000

The Partit Laburista would probably win an award for best comedy act were it not for the fact that these people are trying to present themselves as an alternative government. All these gimmicks are doing are helping the poor disillusioned Laburisti, who would vote Labour anyway, regain their lost faith in their own party and give them unfounded hope. If you talk to any Laburist today, they are already convinced that with Joseph leading them, the next election is going to be a walkover (heard this before anyone?) But do they really think that all these antics are going to convince people like me, who have never (but actually considered) voted Labour in their life, to actually vote for them in the next election. I have seen nothing yet from Joseph or his party which even begins to convince me that they are a viable alternative government.

[Daphne – I don’t quite agree with you there. This place is teeming with koccuti, pikuzi and hodor who regard their vote as a weapon with which they may cut off their nose to spite their face. The over-riding imperative is to spite the people ‘in power’ rather than to make sure the country isn’t run by a bunch of ferrets in a sack. We almost got Sant last March, remember, thanks to rather too many wotsits putting the construction in their backyard ahead of the need not to have a weirdo in a wig as prime minister once more.]