Ustja, Labour's got another purcinell
I'm so pleased with myself
Somebody was in conversation trying to convince somebody else that no, Africans did not start the HIV virus by having sex with monkeys. My response was that if anything is ever born of the union between a human being and a monkey, it should fly to Malta pronto and stand for election to the Labour leadership. The delegates will think it the best candidate, and given the party’s track record – Mintoff, KMB, Sant and Jackass Muscat – that’s the way they’re heading.
Now Muscat, sans advisers who know what they’re doing, has set himself up for another pratfall. First he brought 17,000 people to his door with the promise of something which, he found out later, he can’t deliver. And yesterday, he followed in the grand tradition of Alfred Sant reporting to the man he called a paraventu and of Anglu tal-Iljunfant doing the same with his ‘bought votes’ case file, and asked the police commissioner to investigate “comments made by ministers” at a meeting of the PN parliamentary group two months ago.
So what were these ministerial comments which Muscat reported to John Rizzo? “A particular minister had said that EU funding had become available for the proposed extension of the museum of St John’s Co-Cathedral because there was someone who knew how to play the game.” And more: “Another minister during the same meeting spoke of undue pressure on public officers.”
What a first-class w**ker. I want to lie down and weep, but I must press on valiantly with this blog-post instead. Let’s leave aside the fact that hearsay, heard third, fourth, fifth or 10th hand, is ranked as either Chinese whispers or as gossip in terms of the law. There’s a more important point. It will be only hours now before some aide with brains (are there any in the Labour Party, or have they all had the chicken transplant?) yells in Muscat’s face: “You m***er f**king jerk! Don’t you know that there’s a whole industry out there called consultancy? That there are courses which train people to ‘play the game’ in getting EU funds? That some people make a living out of that? What, you think you can just fill in an application form and toss it in an envelope? Who wrote your frigging doctoral thesis, anyway? @!!!&%!!!”
The Nationalist Party has since issued a statement, suggesting to Muscat that he keep up: the allegations about the parliamentary group meeting were denied some time ago. It is a shame, the party said, that Muscat is trying to drag the Police Commissioner into partisan politics. The statement said, and I agree, that Muscat tried to do this to obfuscate the matter of his being proved wrong about Malta being a net contributor to the EU, and of his being laughed out of town for suggesting that Malta threatens to use its vote to veto EU decisions if it does not get what it wants.
You know, that’s what happens when you promote somebody beyond their ability. They’re just not up to it.
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Daphne, I was rather put off by your lampooning of Muscat when he was first elected to lead the Labour Party even though I thought that Abela was by far the better candidate. I now see that you were right and that he is in fact a major league a-hole.
[Daphne – Yes, well, I’ve been following his karriera since 1992. The only people who didn’t notice that he’s a major league a-hole were the ones who didn’t notice him in the first place.]
That means he’s not a pulcinell. But what’s a purcinell, then?
[Daphne – I prefer it pronounced with an ‘r’. As for your first bit, if you were to make yourself clear I might understand.]
But remember your golden rule, Daphne, it’s not how you prefer to pronounce it, but how it’s written. Purcinell does not exist. I wasn’t being vague.
[Daphne – I hate to disabuse you of the notion, but ‘pulcinell’ doesn’t exist, either. The word is ‘pulcinello’, and I’m not going there.]
You’re right, don’t go there. It’s a dead ender.
Government statement issued earlier this evening through the Department of Information:
Il-Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni Joseph Muscat mhux qed igħid il-verita’ meta jallega li l-għazla tal-proġetti li jibbenifikaw minn fondi tal-Unjoni Ewropeja mhux issir kif jixraq.
L-għażla tal-proġetti hi regolata permezz ta’ liġijiet tal-Unjoni Ewropea, b’sejħa pubblika għall-proġetti u għazla trasparenti u ibbażata fuq kriterji maqbula mal-Unjoni Ewropea. L-approvazzjoni ssir mill-Project Selection Committee u l-proċess kollu huwa miftuħ għall-awditjar mill-Kummissjoni Ewropea, mill-Qorti tal-Awdituri u anke mill-Awditur Ġenerali ta’ Malta.
Lanqas mhu jgħid il-verita meta jallega li xi Ministru qal li saret pressjoni mhux xierqa dwar il-proġett tal-KonKatidral. Il-Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni m’għandux jibqa’ jilgħab logħba politika partġġjana dwar il-fondi li gejjin mill-Unjoni Ewropea. Mill-budget preżenti tal-Unjoni Ewropea Malta qed tibbenefika minn aktar minn biljun ewro. Dawn huma fondi sostanzjali u importanti għall-iżvilupp ta’ pajjiżna u biex il-poplu javvanza ‘l quddiem fosthom fl-edukazzjoni, fit-taħriġ, fl-ambjent u biex jiżdied l-investiment f’pajjiżna u b’hekk jinħoloq aktar xogħol.
Lanqas mhu xieraq li l-Kap ta’ l-Oppożizzjoni jibqa’ jipprova jagħmel ballun politiku mill-KonKatidral ta’ San Gwann. Il-poplu Malti kollu, hu x’inhu l-kulur politiku tiegħu, għandu jiġbed l-istess ħabel fejn jidħol l-interess ta’ pajjiżna. Jekk il-Kap ta’ l-Oppożizzjoni għadu ma jifhimx il-proċess ta’ għazla ta’ proġetti għall-finanzjament mill-Unjoni Ewropea tajjeb jistaqsi għal spjegazzjoni u mhux jiżra’ d-dubji b’allegazzjonijiet infondati.
Sadanittant, il-Gvern jibqa’ iffukat fil-ħidma tiegħu biex jiġbed lejn pajjiżna investiment li jkompli joħloq postijiet tax-xogħol ġodda. Il-Gvern jibqa’ iffukat fuq it-tisħiħ tal-industrija lokali speċjalment dik tal-manifattura, tas-settur tas-servizzi, b’mod partikolari dik tat-turizmu u fuq l-proġetti kapitali l-aktar dawk li jsaħħu l-infrastruttura ta’ pajjizna. Għajb li f’dan il-mument meta pajjiżna għandu jkompli jingħqad fl-isforzi tiegħi, l-Kap tal-Oppożizzjoni jibqa’ jħaddan politika li taljena l-poplu tagħna minn dak li hu kruċjali għaż-żgħażagħ u għall-ħaddiema tagħna.
“L-għażla tal-proġetti hi regolata permezz ta’ liġijiet tal-Unjoni Ewropea, b’sejħa pubblika għall-proġetti u għazla trasparenti u ibbażata fuq kriterji maqbula mal-Unjoni Ewropea.”
Do people still believe in this bull?
[Daphne – Obviously, you wouldn’t.]
I’m really at a loss here (its late and I’m working on an assignment), but did Joseph Muscat ask the police commissioner to investigate consultancy? Isn’t that legal? It doesn’t make him an a-hole (maybe I’m not understanding the gravity of his statements).
Anyways Verheugen said it right, that it would be irresponsible of Malta to veto EU decisions and that’s just what the PL are, irresponsible and their supporters are to blame for enabling them by being disgustingly loyal.
[Daphne – Muscat asked the police commissioner to investigate what lawyers call ‘detto del detto’ or hearsay, and worse, it was something that the PN parliamentary group had denied already.]
Thank god I am not in Malta. Been away on various projects for two weeks now. I really don’t miss Malta at all…..the place is far too stressful. And then dealing with this wimp Joseph Muscat’s utterings!
He is Sonny Boy. The guy on the Carnation Milk tin. And just as relevant and serious. His karriera is nothing but a lurch from one opportunity to another, aided and abetted by his one-time mentor Fredu. All gel and no substance.
Stay where you are, Mario DeBono. You might get some action in the summer of discontent – or wait until autumn to witness the real thing and experience some reality for once. If you do return, you’d have to watch Gensna all over again and drink Carnation milk from tin cans.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised if somebody DID grumble that undue pressure was made on public officials. I did. Daphne did, Lots of other people did. I certainly think it was…… by the FAA. But what does the police commissioner have to do with it? Is Joe Muscat suggesting the police drag his allies away, as his hero Mintoff would have done? Is he looking for a martyr? Or is it just that he’s an idiot? I wonder if he was the kind of pupil who was always running of to the Jesuits when someone hid his copybook?
[Daphne – I’d say he was someone who kept on the right side of both the Jesuits and his class-mates. He’s that kind of person.]
I’d better go into hiding – I might just be arrested by the Commissioner as “one who knows how to play the EU game”!
Is there not one photo of him that does not make him look so “tad-daqqiet ta’ harta”?
Daphne,
Kev prefers “pulċinell”, please keep it in mind next time you are looking for a word to describe him. I know I will.
I’ll say this for Joseph Muscat. He’s got good, solid family values, and that’s something.
[Daphne – If only you knew.]
Steven Calascione – Lick, lick, lick
Is that his only selling-point, given his three predecessors’ family (or non-family) set-ups?
I wouldn’t like to think that you’d leave Malta’s fate in his hands solely on the basis of his supposed family values.
I think Steven Calascione was being sarcastic.
No, not being sarcastic.
I thought I read somewhere that Joseph Muscat decided to take his family on a trip to Sicily, instead of attending a public engagement and risking his marriage.
Daphne, it’s your blog and you can do with it as you will, but perhaps you could leave out the comments of cowards.
A bit of balance would go a long way.
[Daphne – Steven, Antoine is using his real name. I do leave out the comments of cowards and half-wits. I have half of Labour elfdom trying to crowd in here with sub-literate (and anonymous) insults. “Joseph Muscat decided to take his family on a trip to Sicily, instead of attending a public engagement and risking his marriage.” Sicily is 60 miles away and it is entirely possible to return for the day. He didn’t take his family; he went with Anglu Farrugia and their wives. That ‘public engagement’ was a formal dinner hosted by the prime minister to bid farewell to the president, whom Muscat spent the last 17 years insulting. As somebody who has been married for 24 years I can tell you that marriages are not risked by postponing a trip to Sicily so as to accept an invitation from the prime minister, an invitation which includes one’s spouse rather than leaving one’s spouse behind. God knows where this country would have been if the president he attempted to snub had behaved the same way in the 1970s and 1980s when his family was being attacked and beaten up because he was leader of the opposition. I don’t know how much you know about marriage, but it is usual, when somebody enters public life, for that person to ask for the support and cooperation of his or her spouse before the big step is made. Then, and only then, is the big step taken. If Mrs Muscat said she would back him, then she should back him – and that means no trips to Sicily when the presence of both of them is requested at the prime minister’s table. He doesn’t have family values – he wouldn’t have spent half his time in Brussels bars with his wife at home in Malta if he had. He’s just ill-bred, and unfortunately, he married an ill-bred woman, however ‘charming’ she might be. They just don’t cut it, sorry.]
It’s in everyone’s interest that discussion is balanced. I don’t think this is asking too much. Demonising Joseph Muscat will only elicit a similar response from the opposition, given half the chance.
[Daphne – I’m sorry, but I think it’s your reading and viewing that isn’t quite balanced. Please spend some time reading, viewing and listening to The Other Side. This is my blog, not the PBS news. It doesn’t have to be balanced, because it’s all about what I think and I think that Joseph Muscat is complete pants.]
There are things that we all agree on, mind. Like family values. And that Sander chap, who hasn’t the foggiest. You gave him an earful, and you were right to.