Oh look, a worthwhile project instead of a home for the tapestries

Published: February 24, 2009 at 3:17pm

From a newspaper report today:

“Float-builders seek €1.5m in government aid for Carnival village … They said that the collapse of the proposed extension of the St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum, which would have absorbed €16 million in EU funds, provided an opportunity for some of these funds to be directed to their project.”

Thanks to Astrid Vella’s systematic misinformation, these people fail to realise that the money is NOT there for the taking, and that all that remains now is to spread it around a little. They have not yet grasped the fact that they must research, design and present a project proposal, then get it approved by the relevant non-Maltese-government authority. I’d like the see the carnival village get that done.




15 Comments Comment

  1. Al Buhagiar says:

    And why the hell not?

    [Daphne – The museum project would have been an investment that generated a return. This, on the other hand, is called a waste of money.]

  2. Corinne Vella says:

    That’s interesting. They’ve swallowed the line that the money’s in hand and all we need to do is spread it around.

    [Daphne – Yes, thanks to Astrid’s systematic misinformation, they don’t realise that they must first research and present a project proposal and get it approved by the relevant non-Maltese-government authority.]

  3. Amanda Mallia says:

    Al Buhagiar – Such a project would only be considered worthwhile by people with a certain level of education.

    They are also asking the government for land – somewhere between Valletta and Marsa. I’m sure that the likes of Denis Catania could come up with a solution for that one.

  4. David Buttigieg says:

    And thank God it is a “non-Maltese-government authority” otherwise we would have plenty of carnival villages!

  5. mat555 says:

    @ David Buttigieg

    We already have.

  6. Chris II says:

    @ David

    Just for fairness sake – though these people (the selection committee) might be a pain in the a… they are Maltese and doing a good job. Together with this group one must not forget the applicant entities concerned, where the project leaders and organisation go through great lengths in researching and to prepare a good writeup that would gain the highest mark – and all this for no extra remuneration and at the same being financially and legally responsible for the project.

    Incidentally, the EU is known to reclaim money back if its very tedious bureaucratic process is not adhered to or if an external (foreign) auditor does not agree with your method of purchasing or of keeping the files.

    [Daphne – Yes, a man I know of had just that experience, after he used EU funds to pay school fees and buy a car.]

  7. ASP says:

    I don’t see anything wrong having a carnival village. Thanks to carnival Gozo had 40,000+ visitors in one weekend plus it’s FUN for the kids.

    [Daphne – Which just goes to show that you don’t need money to pull in 40,000 people, because the people of Gozo famously don’t spend any. The Nadur carnival is an ultra-budget carnival, and its attraction is its vulgarity and insanity. It has more in common with Roman Saturnalia than with Roman Catholic carnival. And the vast majority of those 40,000 visitors would have been from Malta – so no foreign earnings there. Popping over to Gozo from Malta isn’t tourism.]

  8. Andrea Sammut says:

    and here come Christ’s police.
    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/viewmedia/72061

  9. Tony Pace says:

    Now that the truth is out perhaps Astrid should have a poll (an INDEPENDENT one) conducted, to find out how many of those phantom 1500 actually support her, how many have deserted her and finally how many are willing to be fully paid up members of her auspicious club. I think she’ll be very surprised.

    Oh, and by the way, don’t bother to sort their political allegiances. Everyone can guess. They’ll be diehard Labour, AD, a few disgruntled Nationalists, and a lot of those with an axe to grind…………..u dawk tal-karnival. Ajma qalbi !

  10. Jon Mallia says:

    The comments left under that article by the self-proclaimed Maltese intelligentsia together with the xenophobic intelligentsia under the ‘Jewish bones’ article makes me regret sharing a nationality with these people.

    These are the same quasi 50% of the Maltese who voted against EU accession and the same quasi 50% which almost gave us a Labour government. Luckily, commonsense prevailed. Just barely.

    Why don’t they demand the opera house site? Perhaps Piano could design their 27 hangars, so they can have their dogs and their chickens and their drug shacks in them.

    Give us a break! Give us a theatre! Give us a museum of modern art!

    Let them threaten to call off carnival and let them live up to their words. Maybe that way these people will be stopped from bullying everyone just because no one dares stand in their way.

  11. Manuel says:

    [Daphne – ………. The Nadur carnival is an ultra-budget carnival, and its attraction is its vulgarity and insanity. It has more in common with Roman Saturnalia than with Roman Catholic carnival……]

    What is a Roman Catholic carnival?

    [Daphne – The one that precedes Lent, and marks the last few days of food before fasting. The one that you see in Valletta every year, in Rio, in Venice, in Bavaria….Protestants don’t fast, and so they have no reason to have a carnival. No religious reason, that is.]

  12. Amanda Mallia says:

    Talking of which – Remember when Mintoff changed the carnival month to May? We had to be different, didn’t we?

  13. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Viva l-Unjoni Ewropea illi tatna din l-idea. Flok progett ghall-katidral nibnu villagg ghall-karnival.
    L-Ewropa morna bis-sassla f’idejna u bil-fondi ahna tpaxxejna.

    Karru trionfali Sezzjoni B

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