Hokkli dahri u nhokk tieghek
Do you remember when Manuel Cuschieri’s brother committed parliamentary hara kiri to make way for Joseph Muscat – the unelected party leader with no parliamentary seat?
Of course you do. Then we wondered what the pay-back would be. Joseph Cuschieri gave an interview designed to elicit our admiration for his heroic gesture. He had been left without a job or income. “Joseph” the party leader was kind enough to ring around company bosses trying to twist their arms into finding space for him on the pay-roll. But there were no takers. Why am I not surprised?
Now Cuschieri has been selected to stand on the Labour ticket for the EP elections. And the Labour machine is going to back him. “Of course the Labour machine is going to back him,” I hear you say. “He’s on the Labour ticket.” Ah, but you know what I mean. If the Labour machine decides that the best man should lose, then the best man will lose. And if the Labour machine decides that a jackass will win, then the jackass will win.
The word is about to go out that this Joseph is to be rewarded in return for saving that other Joseph’s backside. Except that they’re not going to spell it out in those terms because Muscat, you understand, doesn’t like us to be reminded that he doesn’t have a single vote to his name and had to beg his seat off somebody else. It kind of undermines his authority and his legitimacy. He’s in the House of Representatives but he represents no one. Nobody elected him. He got in through the window and he has no constituents.
Joseph Cuschieri’s campaign slogan is “The worker’s voice in Europe”. You have to hand it to these people, they really score for originality. He announced this evening that he was privileged and honoured to serve “the party, the people and the country” by sacrificing his seat, and that his decision to contest the EP elections “followed naturally”. You can see where that kind of talk is leading.
Now listen to this, because it really takes that proverbial biscuit. Cuschieri ranted on and on about Muscat’s achievements as one of several hundred members of the European Parliament – you know, the kind of attitude you get when a boy from the rahal becomes a doctor and he’s the first doctor the rahal can claim as its own. Then he said: “If the Nationalist Party are capable of doing so, let them try to get from the EU what Doctor Muscat succeeded in getting.”
What the hell?
Somebody quickly run and tell this other jackass that what the Nationalist Party succeeded in getting from the European Union was European Union membership itself. And while they were busy doing that, Jackass Joseph was running a television show on Super One, called Made in Brussel, designed to scare us all into voting No. First he agreed with his boss that Switzerland in the Mediterranean was where it was at. Then he agreed with his boss that partnership was what we should go for.
You have to laugh.
But Joseph Cuschieri has the memory of a gadfly, and for all I know, the IQ of one as well. “I fully believe that we are more European than our adversaries,” he told the press. Do these people know how to reinvent themselves? I should say so.
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I am quite sure that half of the MLP candidates would not have accepted to be included as candidates (unless they were desperate), had they known that they will be backstabbed in this way.
First he agreed with his boss that Switzerland in the Mediterranean was where it was at. Then he agreed with his boss that partnership was what we should go for.
….than he told us that il-partnership rebah.
[Daphne – Ah, but after thinking about if for six years, he’s come to the conclusion that PERHAPS the Yes vote won the referendum. And people vest this man with credibility. Unbelievable. Like I always say, our standards and level of expectations are much, much higher for the Nationalists than they are for Labour. Imagine if Muscat were leader of the Nationalist Party. But then that would never happen, would it?]
He told The Times that his decision to contest the EP elections followed naturally”. Presumably “naturally” was used in the sense that he naturally expected that his favour to Joseph Muscat should be returned with interest.
“…ranted on and on about Muscat’s achievements as one of several hundred members of the European Parliament…”
His PhD – so that he may be irritating and smug?
[Daphne – Yes. The lower you are on the social ladder, the keener you are on achieving ‘certificates’. This does not include, of course, those who are genuinely motivated by academic curiosity and the drive to research, or by the desire to have more to contribute in the world of work. I think that everybody who is capable of getting a first degree should do so, if only because it is very useful training for the mind, and good discipline. But when it is taken to the level of a competitive sport, or ‘if he’s got a PhD then I’m going to get one too’ then it’s a whole other kettle of fish. You have to ask yourself what the point of the exercise could possibly be. For example, Marlene Mizzi, in her campaign literature, tells us that she is reading for a doctorate. I find her very admirable in a variety of ways, and I love her gumption, but I must ask: when you are in your 50s, and have a whole career behind you, what in God’s name for? There are more profitable and rewarding ways to spend one’s time. At that stage in life, working towards a doctorate is a hobby and not a career move. Labour’s up-and-coming people are all competing with each for ‘dikris’. Also, I have my own private opinion as to who researched and wrote that doctoral thesis, which I am keeping to myself. All the evidence shows that while Muscat is street-smart, he is not intellectually competent.]
have you heard the latest ? Louis Grech has taken Michelle Muscat and Anglu Farrugia’s wife on a trip to Brussels “to show them the institutions “. Oooooooooooh my God . Now hokkli dahri u nhokk tieghek, may have a literal sense here. And perhaps Michelle may explain to us how come her dear Joseph never showed her the institutions himself .
I am rather baffled by your comments in response to Brian*14”s post.
My first reaction is that Brian*14’s remark is out of context. Nevertheless, Daphne, your response is enlightening.
It indicates that you have a puerile knowledge of the reasons for which an individual reads for a doctorate. In addition, describing reading for a Ph.D by someone who is 50+ as a hobby is an insult to any reader. [Daphne – If it’s not a hobby, what is it then? A career move? At 53? Oh, please.]
Now for the fun part, reading between the lines, I would almost conjecture that your response is an indication of a subconscious inferiority complex. [Daphne – On the contrary, the ones with an inferiority complex are those who are trying so damn hard to prove themselves. In a toss-up between Joseph Muscat and me, as to who is the more intelligent, I have no doubt who would win. The difference between Muscat and me is that I don’t feel the need to prove myself.]
If you have evidence that someone did not do his own reseach or write his doctoral thesis, I suggest you contact the University that awarded the degree and inform them accordingly. What you are insinuating, is a very serious breach of research degree regulations and is not considered lightly in the academic world. In such circumstances, you either keep your own private opinion to yourself and not write about it at all, or else take action and report it. [Daphne – Oh, I am keeping it to myself.]
@ Malcolm Buttigieg
I think the PhD in question “is” one of his greatest achievements during his time as an MP and, therefore, well within context. As for your inference that Daphne’s response (umm..spot on) is indicative of any inferiority complex, wow, that is…baffling, and would rather say you’re not keeping up with the times. And let’s not go for the toss-up, please?
Reading for a Ph.D. is meant to be the beginning of the road towards an academic career whatever the age. Unfortunately in Malta it is usually taken as the end of one’s academic success.
The real test of a Ph.D. is how many peer-reviewed papers one would have published from his/her Ph.D. and the number of papers published in the following years. Otherwise, being awarded a Ph.D.is just a matter of a “hobby”.
[Daphne – I agree with you 100%. The way it’s being done now is ‘let me tick that box off my list.’]