Do NOT vote for this man

Published: February 27, 2009 at 6:19pm

vince-farrugiaI said I couldn’t be bothered to write about the MEP candidate list, but after listening to a brief interview with Vince Farrugia on www.di-ve.com (listen: Mac / Windows), I’ve changed my mind.

Do not vote for this man.

There is pragmatism. And then there is opportunism. Farrugia appears to believe he is a pragmatist, when it is plain to me that he is an opportunist.

He justified his decision to stand on the Nationalist ticket by saying that you can’t get elected as an independent. You have to choose Labour or Nationalist. So it makes more sense to choose the Nationalists because they’re in government and have more “say” with what is going on in Brussels. If he had chosen Labour, he said, he would have been at a disadvantage.

His interviewer pressed him. Why would he have been at a disadvantage? He explained that it was because he will be hanging on to his boss-job at the GRTU even if he becomes an MEP. And he thinks he can’t negotiate with the government, as GRTU boss-man, if he’s a Labour MEP.

Il-veru bla misthija. Not only an opportunist, but greedy with it. He’s going to hang onto to his GRTU salary even when he’s doing a full-time job in Brussels.

Somebody tell Vince that when you align yourself to a political party, it’s because you share that party’s ideals, and not because you want a hot ticket to a fresh role elsewhere, one that comes with a large salary and pension.

Not to put too fine a point on it, lest Vince misunderstands me – he can take his candidacy and stuff it up his butt as far as I’m concerned. We all know he’s Labour deep down anyway. He gave the game away when he said, to his di-ve.com interviewer, that “UNFORTUNATELY”, the 1996 Labour government which was appeasing his demand for no VAT was voted out after a short while.

Really, Vince – unfortunately? Most of the rest of us think it was a stroke of bloody good luck, possibly the one good thing that unwashed miserable bastard Dom Mintoff ever did in his life. That’s why we’re in the European Union – and we have VAT, not your man’s weird-but-not-wonderful CET. Or have you forgotten how your attempts at removing VAT nearly crippled the economy?

Pos-1998, Vince Farrugia swung again. Now he began to campaign for EU membership. We are supposed to be impressed and to tell him that all is forgiven. Meanwhile, all I can do is wonder whether he did it out of conviction or yet more opportunism.

What are you going to do when Labour is elected in 2013, Vince? Switch tickets for the next round of MEP elections? You would have to, using this argument.

I have no doubt that the members of the GRTU will vote for this man in large numbers. Equally, I have no doubt that the rest of us will stay away. He may be calculating that all he needs are the votes of GRTU members and their families. He shouldn’t count those chickens. I imagine that some GRTU members can think straight.




42 Comments Comment

  1. Tony Pace says:

    So now we have Vinny. This man is another one of those guys who actually fits so well into Labour’s shoes. His profile, his antics, his lack of finesse, his opportunism, and the brand of champagne socialism he adheres to are so obvious to everyone. As they say, bandiera first class. Why oh why did the Nationalist party accept him as a candidate? Hopefully to use him the way he is trying to use them. But if the reason was only to try and poach a few Labour votes it’s not good enough.

  2. Tony Pace says:

    and D, I hope Kev is not contemplating accusing you of not being objective.

  3. Mario Debono says:

    This just might do nobody any good. At the end of this blog piece a few people may accuse me of fouling this blog, and you, Daphne may be accused of having given hospitality to heretical and even dangerous thoughts. But t is my desire, and my duty, to talk to your audience with some candour about your piece here.

    There was many a time when I felt that until you know the measure of a person and the organisation he is employed with, you cannot speak, but you cannot speak on the basis of perception alone. Perception, not fact, is driving you. Perception and the patent inability to accept the fact that people can change their views and it’s not necessarily because of opportunism. You are as complicated as the rest of us, most times driven by fact, sometimes driven by passion and dislike. That’s your right, as this is your blog and your space and we are all guests here.

    Daphne, your piece about Vince was just pure projectile vomiting on someone who doesn’t conform to your norm. I am sorry, I do agree with you on some points, but as one of the persons who is intimate with the story behind Vince’s standing for MEP, I need to counter your piece in the strongest possible terms. I will try and do so without the passion and anger I feel. That and the fact that you denigrate the organization that employs him and that has proven to have no political agenda except the agenda as dictated by its members. Call it narrow and sectorial, but GRTU’s agenda was always in favour of small businesses, and against the old boy network that sees an upper-crust of businesses always successful, whatever happens, and a larger, bigger segment of people who were always the underdogs. Until GRTU shook itself out of slumber and employed Vince and a host of other people, that was the case. Happily the tables have been turned.

    In your denigration of Vince, you go on to say that he was responsible for the PN’s 1996 defeat. I have every right to say this because I am a Nationalist from the beginning of my existence, and my father’s existence, and his father before him. We are no Strickland turncoats. But let me say that I was not in GRTU’s council in 1996 but the writing for the PN was on the wall, in a big way. It’s not VAT that got businessmen’s goat; it was the way it was introduced, with a heavy hand and with little concern for the small businessman. It made the strong stronger at the expense of the weaker or the new startup.
    Allied to this was the monumental cock-up made by Austin, Lou, Roger and yes, dare I say it, RCC, because THEY DID NOT READ THE ELECTORATE RIGHT.You, of all people, should know what I am saying, Daphne.

    It was not just VAT, Daphne, it was our fault, because you and me are both members of the PN, or at least support it. So no, although GRTU was vociferous about VAT, it was not the tax in itself; it was the WAY it was handled. It was a straight fight between GRTU and a very hard headed John Dalli who thought Might Is Right. That’s never good.

    [Daphne – YOu can hoodwink yourself all you like about this one, Vince. VAT was the main thing and you know it. And please listen to Vince Farrugia’s interview with Vanessa Macdonald, dated yesterday not 1996, in which the word “unfortunately” slips out when he says that Labour was voted out shortly after attaining government. Vince has yet to tell us whether he thinks that CET was better than VAT, and please, without the benefit of “hindsight”. You might also wish to put this down on record: Richard Cachia Caruana was not involved in the 1996 election campaign. He was squeezed out by others who thought they could do it just as well and obviously couldn’t. I can assure you that he read the writing on the wall perfectly.]

    Another similar and typical episode was the direct attack on pharmacy owners by Louis Galea, in order to accommodate some good friends of his, in 1996. In one fell swoop, he would have ruined us all. GRTU had to strike. Again, a Might Is Right attitude, the attitude it that lost us the 1996 election.

    Whilst the stamperija was burning, our spinners were telling us all was well. Even Eddie believed this fairytale, one of the few mistakes he ever made, and for which he apologized profusely with the words “messna smajna iktar”! That’s the mark of a true leader. Don’t rewrite history Daphne, because the truth will out you.

    [Daphne – I’m not rewriting history, Vince. You are so involved with the GRTU and Vince Farrugia that you cannot accurately quantify public perception of the man and the organisation. Let’s leave the organisation aside for now. To those of us who are not involved in the GRTU, and who were DESPERATE for EU membership to widen the horizons of this cruddy little piece of rock and its worthless passports, he will forever be the man who reduced us to misery in 1996 with his vicious campaigning against VAT. So we got rid of VAT and in one fell swoop also lost all hope of ever having EU passports. Vallapena! It was only by a fluke that the Sant government collapsed. Had it not done so, where would we be today? Not in the EU with that opportunist-tal-prima-klassi trying to become an MEP, that’s for sure.]

    What else can I tell you? Shall I tell you about the mutual, sometimes visceral, dislike between Alfred Sant and Vince Farrugia, that persists up to this day? But GRTU deals with governments, and in 1996 the people had spoken, just as they did in the referendum. GRTU had to deal with the government of the day, regardless of what its members’ partisan leanings were, or whatever Vince thought.

    [Daphne – I had to point this one out to you, Mario, but a confrontation between two men in toupees is the subject of comedy, not seriousness. I guess the one could never countenance the other because doing so flagged up his own psychological shortcomings. When you’re a man in a wig, it’s hard to sit at a table and talk business with another man in a wig without coming face to face with all your own problems, which you can pretend to ignore otherwise.]

    GRTU was always publicly pro-EU, and Vince was and still is our standard bearer. That doesn’t mean he has to toe your or my line, but as long as he reflects the mindset of an incredibly diverse Council, we have no problems with him. That was also the fact in 1996-1998.

    [Daphne – Eeeermmmmm? Excuse me? EU membership without VAT? How does that work, pray tell?]

    When Sant started playing games with businesses, it was GRTU that decided to act. I remember a particular protest by our stevedore/haulage section, when we didn’t even allow the Prime Minister to get into his office by car, police or no police, and he had to walk from Florana to Castille. This was in 1997, Daphne, and the protest was led by Vince Farrugia. And there were more instances. Go to Tessa’s archive at the Stamperija and ask her. You may refresh your memory and be surprised. You may refresh your memory even further as see that GRTU and Vince always spoke in favour of EU membership.

    [Daphne – I remember. And do you know what my reaction was? That you brought it on yourselves – and on everybody else as well. It’s called ‘the consequences of one’s actions’. Why didn’t the rest of us work to undermine the PN government in 1996? Why didn’t we vote for Sant? Because we could see that coming a mile off.]

    You, much more than I, know what contribution GRTU and Vince personally gave towards entry into the EU. Was this opportunism? Do you really believe that, even after what happened, and how close it was? GRTU and Vince risked all in that campaign, because WE BELIEVED IN MALTA’S DESTINY AS AN EU MEMBER STATE. Our catchphrase was….God Forbid we stay out. Time, or better still, the present Global Financial Crisis, proved us right.

    [Daphne – Let me get this straight: this is how the GRTU thought AFTER 1998, right? If the GRTU thought this way before 1996, why in God’s name did it campaign against VAT and give anti-EU Sant a leg-up into government? I’m just curious. When I want something, I tend to keep my eyes on the ball. Doesn’t the GRTU do the same?]

    If you do believe that this was opportunism, and then I will have to equate you with the FAA, for whom we share a mutual dislike. That’s why I am disappointed. I expected better. You say Vince is Labour deep down. That’s a view shared by some people, in the PN, and I can’t say I blame them. But it’s a bigoted view, because it denies the fact that a person has the freedom to believe in the party that is closest to his ideals. Who recognises the PN today as the same PN that existed in 1982? The party has moved to the centre, and now with Gonzi at the helm, to the left of centre. It’s sometimes almost too socialist for my liking, until one sees that its position will have been taken to address some social issue or another. I happen to know that this centrist view, being aware of social issues without taking your eyes off the fact that the business sector, is also essential and keeping a balance between the two, is much more in line with the man’s personal views. That is a fact.

    Another fact that it was the prime minister himself, who expressed a desire for Vince to contest the MEP election on the EPP /PN ticket in the summer of last year. It is a fact that this decision tore Vince apart, because he was going to have to make a courageous choice. He is going to contest with a party that is wary of his outspokenness. Many people will vote for him for this very reason. Many people will see him being himself as confusing. In many ways he is like Daphne, not afraid to speak his mind.

    [Daphne – No, he isn’t. I don’t tie myself to organisations and I don’t stand for election, precisely to remain free. And unlike Vince Farrugia, I actually hate the limelight and have it forced on me. I certainly don’t actively seek it out.]

    You didn’t create this situation of fear of Vince. You are merely exploiting it — and rather successfully. By doing so you are doing what was done in 1996, but this time, you are hitting far below the belt, and the consequences may be a loss of face for the PN, and no one else. Certainly not Vince. If he gets elected, he will do his bit for Malta. That’s his motivation. One thing that he does not crave is some kind of salary. He has been paid a salary far below what you and I earn for years at GRTU, for we are not a rich organisation. You are being disingenuous when you make that claim. You are wrong. But Cassius was right. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” It’s 1996 all over again.

  4. P Shaw says:

    Daphne, V Farrugia is not the only opportunist who is running for these MEP elections. Obviously we will never forgive him for what he did in 1996, the same way we will never Sharon E Bonici for her campaign in 2003.

    You can easily name all the other opportunists like the ginger himself, Mizzi, Scicluna, Louis Grech and all the other ‘have beens’ who otherwise have to face a disappearing career in local limited market.

    I read recently in one of the foreign newspapers (I can’t remember which country) that the EP elections are not really considered important at all, and the political parties find it hard to find any quality candidates. Young people look at the EP with disdain, as an institution full of bureaucratic old people. The fact that in Malta it is given so much importance reminds me of the disproportionate importance that the Maltese assign to the Eurovision (even if not directly related to politics).

  5. NL says:

    Jien naqbel mija fil-mija li hadd ma ghandu jivvota li dan l-opportunist. Mela qed jitlef il-boxla il-Partit Nazzjonalista, biex jaghzel dan it-tip ta` kanditati? Ghal grazzja t’ Alla, hemm minn fejn taghzel ghax kieku kienet tkun l-ewwel darba li ma nivvutax.

  6. Harry Purdie says:

    Have watched and listened to this guy for 16 years. At seminars and conferences, he stands up and asks a non-stop question for 20 minutes then finishes it by answering it. Loves the sound of his own voice. A real piece of work. Hear he patronizes the same wiggery as Alfred.

  7. Malcolm Buttigieg says:

    Hello Daphne, I hope you are doing well. My guess is that you are doing great, judging from the activity on this notebook. Anyhow, elsewhere on this notebook you wrote that you don’t give a hoot about MEP elections!

    [Daphne – I don’t. I think they’re a joke. But I had to say something about Vince Farrugia.]

  8. Arnold Galea says:

    In my opinion, Vince Farrugia most of the time speaks his mind. (Yaybe I have been fooled.) He is one of the few people who dares to criticise both political parties. Generally speaking, his economic arguments do make some sense. However, the way he is dealing with the MEP candidacy is putting into question all his credibility. He should have resigned from the GRTU before contesting with the PN.

    Not only he is not going to resign from the GRTU, he also intends to keep that position even if he is elected as an MEP.

    Being an MEP on the PN ticket and representing the GRTU at the same time does not make sense, especially with the current issues that the GRTU has with the government irrespective of who is right.

    At the age of 64 with the high positions he has held over the years, there is no doubt that he does not need to keep all these positions at the same time. In the meantime, the GRTU will lose all its credibility, if it ever had any!

  9. Alan says:

    I cannot understand how his candidature was accepted by the PN in the first place. I am noticing an uncomfortable lack of valid persons in PN’S list compared to the PL’s.

    [Daphne – And I am noticing an uncomfortable lack of valid persons in the Labour Party hierarchy, in its list of shadow ministers, in its list of spokespersons, where things count. MEPs matter not a jot. These others do.]

  10. mat555 says:

    Daphne,

    Could you kindly explain this to me please? How did the hell the PN and Borg Olivier accept this?

  11. kev says:

    “What’s wrong with people of ability going to Brussels?”

    I should hope nothing’s wrong with them.

  12. kev says:

    I eventually ended up doing a Daphne – reading the comments at Tat-Tajms Hanut tat-Te. Truly hillarious! I could go along and quote – but see for yourselves: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090227/local/vince-farrugia-alan-deidun-confirmed-at-pn-ep-candidates

    (And they say the looneys are at VivaMalta.org?)

    [Daphne – A lot of them would be the same people, Kevin.]

  13. kev says:

    From De Tajms comments soup –

    “C Mangion (17 hours, 42 minutes ago)
    I’d rather ask. Shall I trust those who have always been pro-EU or those who have worked so hard against Malta’s membership in the EU? Someone guide me please!”

    Someone, please do.

  14. john says:

    @Harry Purdie
    Come come Harry. Surely you know he gets his plumage from Casa Toupee.
    That’s the joint where you’re groomed to be a Nationalist MEP.

  15. cikki says:

    Louis Grech is not an opportunist.

  16. kev says:

    Marju Debono ghazel ma jdoqqx il-banda ma Daphne, din id-darba. Ghax inzerta jafu, you see. So he wrote an emotional missive on behalf of his idol telling his other idol that she’s not right this time – not as she had been with others, when he too joined in “pure projectile vomiting”. So deep did he go, Daphne twice addressed him as ‘Vince’. But indeed it is Marju, even if one hopes it is not the same Mario De Bono whose comments adorn the Tajmz online vegetable soup beneath the VF piece.

    And by the way, for those who are still hazy on this one: the European Union is our emerging federal state (unless it implodes), its parliament is for all representatives, not just for the glittery-eyed who love the Union. Anyone who fails to grasp this should think twice before scribbling a europhile comment – many of them at De Tajmz Hanut tat-Te, perhaps less here. Huge errors of fact even from those who think they know it all. When will this nation grow? Is it a nation, after all?

  17. kev says:

    “[Daphne – I don’t. I think they’re a joke.” (referring to EP elections).

    I agree with you here, but I’m sure my reasons differ. It would be interesting to know why you think they’re a joke.

    [Daphne – It is not the elections themselves that are a joke. After all, we have to dispatch our representatives to the European Parliament. So no – the farcical nature of this exercise lies in the passion and emotion which surround it, turning the EP elections in Malta into a sort of competitive sport. Will Labour get more seats than the Nationalists? Who will get on the gravy-train and who will slip off it? Nohorgu bi hgarna ha nivvutaw lill-partit! I can’t stand it. It’s like the local council elections on a wider scale, except that I vote in EP elections but not in local council elections, because European parliamentarians can make a bit of a difference.]

  18. kev says:

    Well, at least there’s something we can agree on. The blue-red contest is definitely out of place here. In truth, our optimum would be to have our five MEPs in five different political groups. But that’s too complicated to explain.

  19. H.P. Baxxter says:

    kev: Rubbish. The EU will never be a federal state until I can serve in the Finnish Armed Forces.

  20. kev says:

    Finish your thought process, Baxxter HP, and try to make more sense when you come back.

  21. Ahhhhh – if only I had the vote – I would vote for him – just for fun and to spite you.

    [Daphne – By the way, readers, this is another one of my collection of obsessives, this time all the way from Down Under. A wee little man who comes up to my navel, and one with a major problem. Again, I don’t know what I’ve done to him or, this being a man, didn’t do to him.]

  22. Meerkat :) says:

    Does Vince have the same smug smirk as Gowzef on his face? That’s enough to put me off…

  23. John Schembri says:

    I think Vince is able and genuine. He was asked by Gonzi himself to contest the MEP elections. I read your arguments and Mario’s. Today I heard a live interview with Vince on Radio 101. I think the guy with a toupe loves our country and has more to give.
    He stated that he comes from the Labour camp, but in 1981 he realised that he was on the wrong side of the fence (my words). You don’t like his toupe; I like his way of doing things. There are other valid candidates, of course, in both parties.

  24. H.P. Baxxter says:

    kev: I am making sense. If the EU were moving towards a “federal state”, as you state, then all public service jobs, including the military, would be open to citizens from all EU states. But they’re not. I mentioned Finland as the northernmost EU state. It was just an example. The EU is nowhere near becoming a federal state.

    So you’re wrong, and I’m right. Which is why you’re trying to cover your idiocy with flippant send-offs.

  25. Mario Debono says:

    Again I must ask you to clarify whom you are addressing, since you didn’t get my last post. [Daphne – Oh, I got it all right. I’m addressing both of you.]

    On VAT, history unfortunately proves you wrong. In 1993, the GRTU and Vince Farrugia [Daphne – Oh, are they two separate entities, then?] were asked to write a paper on the introduction of VAT in stages that would have had the least impact on businesses, their stocks, and their profitability. VAT was, and still is, a sea-change in businesses, and it required tact and sensitivity in its implementation. Shall we say that VAT did away with creative accounting in businesses? That was the way of the world at the time. The 65% tax on companies’ profit was unfair, and many people tried their best to hide as much profit as they could. In itself, that meant that these hidden profits were then ploughed back into the economy. VAT would have changed that drastically. Hence the recommendation, between 1993 until its introduction, that VAT would be implemented in stages. That’s how other countries did it.

    But no. The Government did not want that. It wanted a Big Bang introduction, complete with investigations, where each and every businessman would have been forced to over-declare, or not declare, stockholdings in the hope of avoiding the Gestapo style investigations and the kangaroo courts of the VAT department. The finance minister at the time, led no doubt by the bleeding hearts of the advisors of the civil service, wanted a “kristallnacht” style of implementation, lest someone should escape the clutches of revenue. [Daphne – Dear God, how melodramatic. And what a disgusting comparison, Mario.]

    Faced with such obtuse hard-headedness, because yes, after a huge victory in 1992 everyone thought the PN was invincible, the GRTU was faced with a choice. Its members wanted to fight this. Its membership was, may I remind you, made up of many PN sympathisers, the same guys who helped the party in its darkest years. They suddenly found that the kitten they nursed had become a tiger snapping at their heels, and they couldn’t understand it. They packed the halls of the trade fair in their thousands for GRTU meetings. And they didn’t want VAT. Not the way it was going to hit them. The GRTU acted using this consensus. I didn’t vote for Sant, neither did you, but he was elected with deep blue Nationalist votes, and not a few ones at that. [Daphne – I know; the very same ones who rushed to vote him out again 22 months later. They should be SO proud.]

    Sant was not elected because of the GRTU, or VAT. [Daphne – You’re contradicting yourself here.] The real fault lies elsewhere. It lies in incredible arrogance and in taking the electorate for granted. I don’t think any politician will make the same mistake again. It’s the same mistake that Fredu Sant did. That is the real reason that nearly lost us EU membership. [Daphne – Sorry, but I don’t agree with you. What you are saying here is that GRTU members are incapable of keeping their eyes on the ball and are vulnerable to short-term thinking. Vote Labour to avoid VAT, and screw EU membership. And then acting like toddlers and saying ‘but Eddie made me do it! The arrogance of his ministers!’ Come off it, Mario.]

    The GRTU and Vince were always in favour of joining, but not on someone else’s terms, and not without exploring alternatives that we knew were ultimately unpalatable. [Daphne – Yeah, right. Like Switzerland in the Mediterranean.] We did, and we found them not suited for Malta, and GRTU worked hard for joining the EU. You must know, as I am sure you do, that Vince Farrugia and GRTU’s support for membership was crucial. You must have been at Luxol at that fateful meeting, and you must have heard Eddie talking about GRTU. [Daphne – Be realistic, Mario. The government had to haul Vince on board to make sure he didn’t do another dog-in-the-manger and sabotage the whole thing.]

    For all your bluster when replying to my piece on your blog, you have to admit that the PN is lucky to have won over such a capable, and honest, if scarred, warrior. [Daphne – No, I don’t. In the circles in which I move, the news of his candidacy has been greeted with scathing remarks along the lines of: what, is the party desperate? What, that old opportunist whose career is behind him?]

    The staunchest of diehards in the PN club at St Paul’s bay were convinced. [Daphne – Ar’hemm hej. The staunchest of diehards are the easiest to convince. It’s the ones like me who pose a serious problem.] And there were quite a few, who came out of curiosity, and hostility. Vince will make the PN search its soul and become an even better party to lead Malta. That in itself is already a victory. [Daphne – Well, one thing’s for sure. Nobody will be able to get a word in edgewise.] It’s time you got off your high horse and saw it. You can’t move ahead otherwise. The PN of 1996 is dead. Vince is a symptom that Gonzi is succeeding in instilling new blood and new viewpoints into the party. It can only become better. [Daphne – Using Vince Farrugia to revive the PN is like using Anglu Farrugia to revive Labour. A damned farce.]

    And stop this nonsense about toupees will you. It doesn’t become you. [Daphne – Actually, Mario, it’s his toupee that doesn’t become him. He looks ridiculous. A man in a bad wig? Forget it. It’s not as though I can’t remember the days BEFORE the wig, when he used to ‘sellef’, by combing strands across his head. If a man can’t face the fact that he’s lost his hair, what else can’t he handle? Give him some advice: tell him to whip it off.]

  26. kev says:

    They’re not, Baxxter, because the EU is not yet a centralised state and it has no single defence policy because that area does not fall under Union competence. When an EU federal state is in place there will be the EU armed forces to join, not some Finnish army. So, you see, you make no sense.

    As for the aim of the so-called “European Project” being a federal state, it is not I who am saying it, but EU leaders and europhile thinkers. If you don’t know that the aim is a United States of Europe it is most probably because you are a starry-eyed Maltese tosser who calls people like me “idiots”.

  27. Mario Debono says:

    And as regards most GRTU members thinkings straight ……they do. And they don’t want Vince to leave. But they, and others whom we meet, also see the value in what he is doing. But GRTU has no vacancy for a director-general.

    [Daphne – Give it a rest, Mario. I just don’t like him or trust him – OK? You’re welcome to him.]

  28. Mario Debono says:

    Oh….you are finished? Well, allow me to retort. If we can convince the diehards, the maduma-waving Nazzjonalist sa ruh ommhom, I’ll warrant we can convince quite a few of your social circle, madam. You’d be surprised how many people called, and who called him. [Daphne – Oh, I wouldn’t read too much into that. This country is full of arse-lickers and back-stabbers. They probably called all the others, too: “You have my vote.”]

    One more thing. Vince always stood by GRTU members and non-members, especially businesses. Most people remember his good deeds. I’m not out to convince you. [Daphne – That’s right. I wouldn’t bother either.] I know this blog is popular. I just want to put the record straight.

    And please, do not go on about toupees, or assorted other bodily features. [Daphne – The point is that a toupee is NOT a ‘bodily feature’. I would never criticise somebody’s gammy leg, but the decision to wear a toupee is a choice, and any choice made by a politician is up for criticism and mockery.]

  29. John Schembri says:

    @ Mario “The PN of 1996 is dead.” Careful – the then arrogant PN secretary-general is now a minister who behaves like a bull in a china shop. Mind you, couldn’t The Times find a better picture of Mr Farrugia? He looks grotesque. Didn’t he hire a campaign manager?

  30. H.P. Baxxter says:

    @ Kev: I make sense, and you’re still wrong. You just did not get my example. Let me spell it out for you: the day I can opt to join a unit of the future EU army based in Finland, then you will be right. Until then, you’re wrong. If defence policy does not fall under EU competence, and if we have no EU armed forces, then just about the only thing which comes close to being federalised is the common currency. That’s miles away from a federal state. And anyway, why are you against increased federalisation?

  31. kev says:

    No, baxxter, do not try to fix your error. I spoke about an emerging federal state and you put your foot in your mouth with your Finnish example. Now you’re trying to prop it up – sorry boy, not good enough. I suggest you pick up the rejected EU constitution and the rejected Lisbon treaty to find out what road is being paved. You cannot imagine how ridiculous you sound when you claim that the European Project is not towards a ‘United States of Europe’. federation comes out as a euphemism, in fact, but the word was struck off from the draft Constitution because it sounds bad in the UK (while it sounds devolutionist in the Federal Republic of Germany). Check what some federalists were saying back in 2004 – they were saying that the proposed EU constitutition creates a unitary state not a federation. You still lurk in the 2003 referendum days, Baxxter, and there is where you will remain. In my eyes you are no better than the idiots you laugh at.

  32. Amanda Mallia says:

    Mario Debono – “And please, do not go on about toupees”

    (I’m butting in, whether you like it or not.) The least he could do, once bothering to wear one, is to have it “age” with him, rather than wearing one that colour, which he probably thinks is youthful, while there are white bits sticking out beneath.

  33. Mario Debono says:

    Well, on the subject of toupees, I did hear an interesting remark today, triggered off by your interest in the subject. It seems that a certain social circle think you have one, Daphne. When someone said he is sure you don’t, some catty woman said you look as if you have one. Maybe a change of hairdresser would perhaps be opportune here?

    [Daphne – That’s because people find it hard to believe I have no grey hair at 44, and think that my ‘choice’ of hair colour is far too dark for my age. They can’t believe that dark mahogany is my real hair colour. But it is. I’m not about to start dying it some horrible auburn or having ‘streaks’ put in to keep them happy. Also, I’m one of the few Maltese who has naturally dead-straight hair, so it tends to look ‘fake’ because everybody else has frizzy, wavy, curly or blow-dried hair. And let’s face it, if I’m going to wear a wig, I would have chosen one with lots of volume, not my naturally fine hair. I rarely go to the hairdresser. Women with straight hair don’t need blow-dries, and women with no grey don’t need dye-jobs.]

  34. Amanda Mallia says:

    Mario Debono – Careful, Mario, because you’re coming across a little bit too bitchy for a man, imbaghad biex tiddefendi l-Vince Farrugia, minn tant nies. Jaqaw ridt tehodlu postu? (I’m just pulling your leg, Mario, but that’s how you’re coming across.)

    As for Daphne’s hair, yep, she’s being extremely honest about it. (I’m the same, and have all of two grey hairs at 41.) Our mother’s hair only starting greying after she turned 60, and it was jet black until then.

    It’s in our genes, honey. Now quit the bitchiness, and get back to work …

  35. Amanda Mallia says:

    Mario Debono – Any comments about this one?

    “The statement was issued after a newspaper today reported that retailers had found a way around the eco-tax by giving consumers bags without handles.” ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090303/local/markets-reaction-to-eco-tax-on-plastic-bags-being-followed )

  36. Amanda Mallia says:

    “Vince Farrugia, Nationalist MEP candidate and director general of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, will retain his position at the chamber but will stop commenting about “controversial” and “non-technical” matters on its behalf until June’s European Parliament elections.” http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090303/local/grtus-vince-farrugia-to-refrain-from-public-comment )

  37. Harry Purdie says:

    Daphne,

    Loved your last comment on this thread. Had a thought about ‘blow-dries’ and ‘dye-jobs’, but won’t go there. Bet you won’t post this.

    [Daphne – I just did.]

  38. Mario Debono says:

    Mandy……two things. I wouldn’t have Vince’s job, not even if it came with a salary that is double what I earn. You need the energy and stamina of a bull. Vince has that. I don’t. Regarding the bags issue, we have done our unpopular best (with our members that is) to get rid of plastic bags once and for all. Vince piloted that, along with George Pullicino and Chris Ciantar. The environment demands it of us, because we tend to use plastic bags when we don’t really need to, and it’s becoming a huge problem in Malta. But if you think that that flimsy handle-less diaphanous plastic bags are going to hold your weekly shopping, you had better think again. Some people are using them to get around the tax, but I don’t see it catching on.

  39. Corinne Vella says:

    “The GRTU national council had endorsed the candidacy of Vince Farrugia for the European Parliament elections.”

    Would the GRTU ever ignore or condemn Vince Farrugia’s candidacy, especially while he still holds the top job there? The best thing about this is that Vince Farrugia has to keep his mouth shut till June.

  40. MikeC says:

    Mario, I won’t be voting for Vince Farrugia, and the fact that he comes from a Labour background or that he helped almost scuttle our chances of EU membership has nothing to do with it. It is precisely the fact that he is the director-general of the GRTU which disqualifies him in my eyes. Every time I hear him whinge about how his members are being oppressed and downtrodden I just want to puke.

    I don’t buy anything in Malta anymore if I can avoid it. Most things can be bought elsewhere for as little as 40% of the cost here. It’s not a few bad apples; it’s the vast majority of retail outlets. Today I called for a quote for a fridge. I was offered a special discount from EUR2015 to EUR1880. The same model sells in Sicily for EUR1118.

    I don’t think you realise the extent of the unpopularity of the GRTU. I’m more likely to vote Labour than vote for Vince Farrugia and you know how likely that is. (Cold day in hell etc)

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