He’s so cool – he doesn’t know how much his car cost
I’m too sexy for my car
On Tuesday morning I was at a business meeting when the subject was raised of the previous evening’s show.
“I know how much my car cost,” said one of the men there, “because I’m the one who paid for it.” There was more there that was unsaid than said.
You may forget how much you spent at Scott’s or Pavi last week, but you just don’t forget the purchase price of your car. It’s one of those things.
The odd thing is that while Joseph can’t remember how much he spent on his Alfa Romeo, Michelle – who has entered the political arena and so can no longer claim immunity – remembers how much she spent in Brussels on her weekly xirja: €70.
To me, that just about says it all – two people who live on €5 a day and then go out and spend €60,000 on cars, ghax l-ikel hela ta’ flus billi n-nies ma jistghux jarawh bhalma jaraw l-balavostri u l-karozza ta’ nhar ta’ Hadd.
89 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Don’t get me started again…..
….squirming repulsively on that seat. ”…b’daqsek! X’fiha?” It’s just disgusting. I would have loved to see the face of some financially struggling Labourite when he heard that. Not that of some diehard, though..probably he would have said the same thing even if he’s eating his own fingernails with hunger.
The only people eating their fingernails to the quick at the moment are the PN pollsters.
[Daphne – Pollsters don’t ‘eat their fingers to the quick’ – you mean ‘bite’ and ‘fingernails’ – because they are disinterested parties, paid to do the job of surveying public opinion. The Nationalist Party does not have in-house ‘pollsters’.]
Than if one costs 10,000 euros the other car cost 50,000 euros (60,000-10,000) Simple mathematics!
Therefore the Alpha which Joe has was worth 50,000 euros
[Daphne – He said Lm10,000, because Lm10,000 x 2.33 is too difficult for him to work out mentally on the spot.]
And 10,000 sounds much less than 23,300.
Flogging a dead horse. You can do better than this.
[Daphne – Dead horse? Hardly. It’s right there at the top of the rankings. People find Joseph and Michelle’s car expenditure interesting – get used to it.]
Oh, I suppose it does have a sort of sick fascination for a certain kind of mentality – rather like a Jerry Springer show.
But politically? A non-starter.
[Daphne – That shows how little you know. Have you missed entirely the ‘MP spending’ scandal in England?]
What “MP spending scandal”? That is all about allowances claimed abusively – a totally different matter.
[Daphne – Actually, no, you’re quite wrong. The scandal is not about abuse because the rules were not broken. It’s about greed and lack of restraint, and about the fact that the rules allowed MPs to take so much. It’s about greed, you see, greed.]
The MP expenditure in the UK was a total different story, as they were (are) claiming expenses over and above their wage.
[Daphne – You’re wrong there. They claimed expenses to which they were entitled. The rules allowed them to. The fuss is about the fact that the rules allowed them to. The fuss is about greed, not corruption.]
Therefore, instead of taking 60000euros out of their hard-earned money to buy a car, they were claiming those 60000euros as ‘expenses’. That is the difference.
[Daphne – If you are entitled to expenses, you are entitled to expenses. The fuss in England, I repeat, is about offensive greed, pure and simple. Those rules on expenses have been there for decades. The objections began now precisely because the country is in economic turmoil and millions are out of work. Otherwise, nobody would have given a damn and before, nobody did. It is exactly the point I am making about Muscat: trying to claw back his tax on cars worth EUR60,000 is in profoundly bad taste when he spends the rest of his time trying to whip up sympathy for those who can’t make ends meet. You refuse to see that he himself understood this very well, which is why he tried to keep the fact hidden and didn’t count on somebody going through the thousands of names on the court documents with a fine-tooth comb and finding his and Michelle’s. If Joseph Muscat understood why it would have been unwise to tell his supporters that he spent EUIR60,000 on cars, then you should be able to understand it too. It’s really not that complicated.]
Some people just splash 60000 on a car, others invest it abroad, the older ones hide it under a tile, and the ones involved with the PN apply to construct a villa on (previously) ‘green’ area, in Wied l-Armla.
[Daphne – Nobody would have said anything had he invested the money or ploughed it into his home. Your word ‘splash’ illustrates why his behaviour is so offensive.]
Obviously, the fact that the British MPs are claiming expenses, which are refunded from taxpayers’ money, as opposed to Joseph Muscat spending his own money, makes absolutely no difference in your very limited world view.
[Daphne – I’ve replied to you already on this. People with a very limited world view vote Labour. Allahares nidhlu fl-Ewropa! And you all rushed out to vote in agreement. Remember that? You loved your little gallinar too much.]
Olympic-class contortions to try and prove a point. There is no relation between the two cases. Give it up.
[Daphne – There is no relation between the two cases because your reasoning is legalistic, not political.]
Christian, by “investing abroad” are you referring to those that are buying second homes in Sicily?
Thanks for confirming my view. For your information, I voted YES in the 2003 referendum and PN a month later. In the real world, people are not necessarily PN or PL supporters for life or PN or PL supporters at all for that matter. When someone thinks objectively it stands to reason that, unlike you, they find faults with both parties. You, on the other hand, are a woman of a typical Maltese mould that approaches politics in a black and white fashion. The PN is always right and the PL is always wrong.
[Daphne – L-aqwa l-‘woman’…. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman that I know to assess a man before I assess what he says or does. Women are far less likely than men to take people at face value. What is important to them is the credibility and trustworthiness of the person. To me – and women everywhere will understand what I mean – everything and anything the Labour Party says and does will remain irrelevant as long as the party is led by t***ers like Muscat, Farrugia and Abela, with Jason Micallef as secretary-general. That’s why the average woman will not go out on a date with a man who’s good-looking and rolling in money and says all the right things if something about him rings the alarm bells. The average man, on the other hand, will have no such problem because he’s not looking for things that might ring the alarm, but only for the things that please him.]
As for the British scandal, whereas the rules were followed, it was still a question of abuse, because the system was in place to compensate MPs for having to have a home in London. Some even went as far as to claim a mortgage twice (in the case of a married couple who were both MPs). So yes, the rules were followed but the rules were so lax that they were open to abuse and they were indeed abused, leading to the public’s indignation.
In Joseph Muscat’s case, we’re talking about his money, so he can be as greedy with it as he wants for all I care, whereas I would expect any amount of taxpayers’ money to be spent diligently. Can your brain process that?
[Daphne – My brain can process rather more than that. Joseph Muscat’s salary is paid by the taxpayer, now as when he was an MEP. Read my explanation elsewhere as to why people don’t seem to mind John Attard Montalto splashing it about but they do mind Muscat doing so.]
Just for the record, I am not the ‘christian’ who wrote the previous comment.
As for your reply, it shows how unable you are to address the real issue when you have to reduce it to a question of gender differences. I described you as a woman because that’s what you are (right?).
[Daphne – Gender differences are crucial to perception, which is why surveys of public opinion make the distinction between men and women and don’t lump them all together as ‘people’.]
Even though Muscat’s salary comes from taxpayers’ money, he is still entitled to spend it as he wishes, unless he spends it on illegal products/activities or activities which compromise his integrity.
[Daphne – For the millionth time: ‘the right to spend one’s own money as one pleases’ is not what is being discussed here. As I remarked elsewhere, David Cameron can afford to go to work in a Bentley bought with his own money. But he doesn’t. Why? If you can answer that question, you’ve also understood what the problem is with Muscat’s behaviour.]
His purchase of two expensive cars amounts to neither. The public has a say in the amount of the remuneration an MP gets, not how he chooses to spend it. What’s next? You moaning because he prefers fillet to laham tal-friza?
[Daphne – I would respect that preference, being able to identify with it far more than I can with somebody who has a food budget of EUR10 a day for two adults but then spends EUR60,000 on cars.]
C. Attard – Men are from Mars; women from Venus.
Four years living in Brussels as an MEP and he’s still talking in liri.
But he got used to the smell of Euros.
Frankly I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Alphas and Kias are a dime a dozen nowadays. This country has far more important problems than the price of the opposition leader’s cars!
Besides I’m sure none of the elected “public servants” who daily cross the palace threshold on their way to work drive about in battered Minis or Ford “Escorns” either…
The political significance of this incident can be gauged by the fact that Joseph Muscat – who tells us all about his nappy-changing, his weekly shopping and his Brussels lifestyle – never got round to telling us about his cars and appeared flustered when they were mentioned during Bondiplus. He had thought he was going to surprise Gonzi with his health services report and, instead, was himself stunned by Bondi’s revelation. His panicky reaction that he couldn’t remember how much they cost did not help matters.
Incidentally, even the health services report backfired when it turned out that Prof Scicluna had been saying the same things.
What more important problems? If Alphas and Kias are a dime a dozen, then surely this belies all the talk about “l-gholi tal-hajja”. Remove the socialist-speak about the country being impoverished and the MLP hasn’t a leg to stand upon, much less a political slogan.
[Daphne – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090528/local/most-maltese-afford-car-and-computer ]
I’ve been saying this all along, but it’s so much more gratifying when you have the figures. Thanks.
Get this, so people can’t make ends meet with taxes and not, but Alfas and Kias are a dime a dozen.
I think somebody else is losing control.
A car is the most expensive thing a person would need to buy in his life apart from a house. So if Alfas and Kias are a dime a dozen now, but people can’t make ends meet then it’s evident that many Maltese live beyond their means and then blame the government instead of blaming their overall stupidity.
Lets face it, Maltese want socialism, because they are incapable of taking care of themselves and they need the government to change their nappies every time they go a bit overboard. Sad, really.
A car is a measure of wealth. You don’t find Cikku and Leli in an Alfa, you find them driving a broken down Skoda or a Yugo. Like everybody was in the glorious times of Mintoff when everybody was rich and nobody was poor.
Etienne, some people here are trying to make a big outcry about Joseph’s cars’ to hide their rancore of knowing that they will be beaten by hundreds of votes this coming election. One of their problems was that last time they chose to send the wrong guy for EU i.e.Casa. They should have elected Joanna Drake. Anyway now they have only one fellow that might compete the race – as for the rest, results will tell.
“Mary”: ‘They will be beaten by hundreds of votes this coming election.’
Which MEP candidates are using a pseudonym here? I don’t see any who are using their real name.
And it’s rancour, not rancore.
Corinne
Before you teach people how to spell, check your dictionary.
Rancour and rancor has the same meaning.
[Daphne – Not to be a pedant or anything, but your spelling was ‘rancore’, Mary. Incidentally, ‘rancor’ is American English. You should use it only if you are also using color, favor, and fanny for bottom rather than as synonym for Toni Abela.]
Judging on Joseph Muscat’s generous waistline, I very much doubt, he survived on EUR 5 worth of food a day.
The MP Spending Scandal in the UK is different. The MPs involved were justifying personal expenses as reimbursable ones, and claiming back monies spent directly from the tax payer.
Joseph Muscat is not doing that. He is not claiming money spent on his gorgeous Alfa (poster dream fantasy perhaps) and the insipid Kia Sportgage, from the tax payer. He is merely asking for the refund on the VAT paid on an registration tax.
Now you might add that the refunding of VAT is tax payer’s money after all. The government collected it and if the government has to refund it, then the money needs to be collected from elsewhere – the taxpayer.
I personally have no qualms with that. If the VAT on registration tax is deemed to be illicit (on par with the satellite dish tax, let the healing (refunds) begin, however petty the sum. I am taxed on every penny I make, so yes, I would, on an eventual legal success on the VAT saga, warmly welcome the idea of refunding monies which should never have been collected in the first place!
Thank you Jack my thoughts exactly.
They say that a man’s car is inversely proportional to the size of his *ick. (The car being the ego booster, presumably.)
Daphne
The cars were bought in 2007. Correct me if I’m wrong but JM was not the leader of the opposition at the time, but still an MEP.
Now does that make a difference to your argument? I guess not but I’m curious, nevertheless.
[Daphne – Oh, I could talk about this for hours. Let’s start from the basics: politicians have to be really careful about their image and consider each and every action they take/don’t take, because perception plays an enormous part in this game. Prime ministers Fenech Adami, Sant and now Gonzi all lived and still live very low-key lifestyles and don’t come across as greedy or grabby at all. That worked in their favour, except that Sant took things too far and slipped from admirable thrift into eccentricity. Mintoff came across as extremely avaricious and still does. Worse still, this desperate avarice (he is still suing for money and refusing to pay bills in his 90s) is coupled with a miserliness of legendary proportions. All of this worked against him, creating the (accurate) image of a very greedy but very stingy man. Attitudes towards money say a lot about people, and the Maltese – curiously like the Norwegians – tend to prefer ‘Protestant’ traits in their prime ministers and party leaders when it comes to money and lifestyle (and here I don’t mean the religion, but the ethic).
Consider the differences in reaction to Muscat’s spending as MEP and Attard Montalto’s spending as MEP. Both are on the Labour ticket, and Attard Montalto spends far more lavishly. So why did people pounce when Muscat spent EUR60,000 of his MEP’s salary on cars, when they don’t do the same to Montalto? Attard Montalto has been well-to-do all his life. I happen to know this for a fact because our families lived across the street from each other for more than 40 years. Over and above his inherited wealth, he ran a thriving law practice. He has been accustomed to money all his life and his MEP’s salary was almost by the by. He carried on behaving as he had always done. I must say I find him extremely jolly and amusing, and he can really take a joke. Pull his leg and he’ll laugh with you at himself instead of trying to mow you down. Muscat, on the other hand, thought he had struck gold and when our MEP’s salaries were adjusted to a higher level – they were much lower at the beginning, remember – he promptly went out and spent EUR60,000 on his ‘n’ hers cars. This when – by his own admission and her complaints in interviews – he was never in Malta and only saw his wife when she visited Brussels. So in other words, this was a statement of ostentation (conspicuous consumption): buying an expensive car to leave it in another country sitting in the garage.
It might seem unfair to you, but this is not about fairness. It is about perception and the care that politicians must take with their image. Politicians who have had money all their lives or who have acquired it through work that has nothing to do with politics can spend as they please because electors accept it, though obviously within limits. Politicians whose only source of income is the taxpayer cannot spend as they please because electors do not accept it. They do not say: oh, that was his legitimate salary and he is entitled to spend it as he wishes. Instead, they make the link between the conspicuous consumption car sitting unused in Muscat’s garage and the taxes deducted from their pay every month – or from the pay of some poor sod trying to keep his family afloat in France or Germany.
The way political leaders handle their money is very important. Now consider how reviled Tony and Cherie Blair were and still are, and how news of their spending was invariably splashed all over even the more serious London broadsheets. They were reviled for this even in the good-time years when people were not being laid off. Why, when the money was their own? They came across as avaricious and as people who set too much store by status symbols and acquisition. David and Samantha Cameron do not receive similar treatment and it’s not because they are new and popular. They are popular precisely because they are not like that. Though they both come from inherited wealth and privileged backgrounds, they are low-key in their spending and considerate in their approach. David Cameron can afford to go to work in a Bentley paid for out of his own private income, but he won’t. He understands that this kind of ostentation amounts to little more than very bad manners in the current economic scenario, and even in a buoyant economy would be tantamount to political suicide. Perhaps you don’t know that John Prescott’s (erstwhile deputy leader Tony Blair’s party) was Two Jags, and it wasn’t said admiringly. He didn’t help matters when the press discovered that he was ‘seeing’ his personal assistant, whereupon that nickname became Two Shags.
You should ask yourself one question: why did Muscat seek to keep hidden the fact that he and his wife are on that law-suit list with EUR60,000 of cars? Because he understands this game as well as I do. He knows exactly why he couldn’t sit there at the press conference and say: “Michelle and I are so committed to this cause that we have put our names down. On EUR60,000 worth of cars, the government has stolen X euros from us.”
You can rest assured that had his car been a low-key model bought at a low-key price, he would have announced its presence on that list.]
You could talk for days, not just hours, but you will never succeed in making a connection between someone who buys a car from his legitimate earnings and someone who claims an allowance to pay for a duck-island for his pond.
And, as someone said, you are the only one trying to breathe life into this non-issue. Everywhere else it has died the death. Even Maltaright now – Maltarightnow, for crissakes – did not carry it.
[Daphne – If it were a non-issue, you wouldn’t still be here along with thousands of others.]
Don’t let yourself be deluded by the reception here, cos we all know that this blog is populated by people who wait for you to tell them what they think and then rush to be the first to say that it was what they had been thinking all along.
[Daphne – Not at all. From what I can see here, there is an unseasonable number of Joseph fanatics reading and commenting.]
Ettore, most people follow this blog because they enjoy Daphne’s writing whether they agree with her or not. It’s one of the few Maltese blogs which are not tiresome to read and have not been overrun by illiterate racists.
Now that the you elves have found your way here, it is even more fun.
“The way political leaders handle their money is very important. Now consider how reviled Tony and Cherie Blair were and still are, and how news of their spending was invariably splashed all over even the more serious London broadsheets”
Joseph and Michelle have more than that in common with the Blairs. In his first Sunday newspaper interview as Leader of the Opposition, posing Pampers in hand at his office at Mile End, Muscat said that one day he’ll show his daughters where they were conceived. Cherie Blair told the world that her youngest son was conceived at Balmoral because she had forgotten to pack the relevant ‘equipment’.
[Daphne – These people who know exactly where and when their children were conceived never fail to interest me. Do they have sex once a month, or what?]
“he’ll show his daughters where they were conceived”
Dan mhux behsibu jamlulhom xi reenactment?
And in 2007, we were still using the Maltese Lira.
[Daphne – He wasn’t, because he had been living in Belgium for three years by then. Please don’t tell me that we have a future prime minister who needs a calculator to multiply Lm10,000 by 2.33.]
Actually Daphne the UK MP expenses issue is not just greed. The expenses rule is there to claim for expenses relating to their work. Some have stretched it to a point that beggars belief. Such as claiming for a “Duck Island” in their country home, clean up the moat in their elaborate mansion, or paying for dry rot repair to a house they do not reside in, 100 milesd away from theiir constituency. Then you have the ones which are being classified under fraud, and police will start looking into this as well. These would be such things as claiming for mortgage payments on mortgages that have already been paid, or claiming for second homes which in fact aren’t really second homes. The list goes on and on. There are quite a number of MPs who are now, falling on their sword and stating that they will not stand again for re-election, while others, I’m sure, will be pushed out…and all this before the inland revenue has taken a look at what would be considered as taxable “benefits in kind” paid to the various MP. There are going to be a lot of new faces in the next parliament.
… and then there was the British Home Secretary who “inadvertently” claimed her husband’s adult video rentals as part of her expenses:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/30/jacqui-smith-expenses-tv-pornography
It takes all sorts.
The problems actually start with the ‘price of the opposition leader’s car’. It is all about credibility and paradigm.
You can’t preach water and drink wine…or champagne.
Clearly Joseph and Michelle suffer from illusions of grandeur and it shows from their fake smiles and postures, possibly a fake lifestyle and their attempts to twist public opinion mainly through their image, all of this taking place with one clear objective to become a 39 year old prime minister and his consort.
[Daphne – I find the dynamic between them especially interesting. She has made him her career and the vehicle for her ambition, while he treats her as a functionary. There is a telling interview with them on YouTube in which she describes how, before the babies were born, he never visited his home in Malta. To see him, she would have to go to Brussels. Then she said how lovely it was when he became party leader because now he’s living at home and she gets to see him every day. The interviewer turned to him and asked him what the best bit about being home is, and he said: “Seeing my babies every morning.” No mention of his wife at all. I actually felt her hurt, and that’s saying something. First she was his mother/sister and now she’s his baby-mama.]
In fact, Joseph Muscat’s Alfa 159 is quite a common type of car. It’s definitely not a luxury car. Where I work, the company cars which they give to managers are far more expensive than Joseph’s Alfa Romeo.
[Daphne – He should have bought a top-of-the-range BMW then. What can I say?]
He should have got a Jaguar and paid for it with the taxpayers’ money!
[Daphne – Haven’t you been reading this blog, Grace? He’s getting a car off your back as leader of the opposition. And hadn’t he been exposed to a rubbishing because of his car expenditure, then yes, he probably would have gone for a Jaguar. He’s just the type. Well, actually, no – because it wouldn’t be consonant with the cool, hip and young image he’s at pains to cultivate. So he would have chosen some other model at the same price.]
What scares me most about people like Grace is how they simply can’t reason, even if faced with facts, and even if it’s spelt out to them in plain and simple language.
Grace, meta ha’ tifhem li s-salarji tal-MEPs – huma min huma – jigu mit-taxxi taghna? Meta ha’ tifhem li s-salarju tal-Leader tal-Opposizzjoin jigi wkoll mit-taxxi taghna? Jew forsi inti wahda minn dawk li taparsi ma’ jistghux jahdmu, jircevu l-beneficcji (minn fuq it-taxxi ta’ haddiehor, ovvjament), u ma’ jafux x’jigifieri tahdem ghal-flus?
With his mentality, Daph, he’d probably have gone for a Ford Cosworth or something similar. You know – the ones jazzed up like an aeroplane, with an engine sound – and speed – almost to match?
[Daphne – Lanqas xejn. He works too hard at being mittelkless, hence the Alfa and the mummy-tank for the wife.]
Clearly the poodle didn’t learn anything from Dr Sant and his Mazda. Dr Sant could have had a much better car than that, but being a socialist he did his best to minimise costs to the taxpayer.
Actually I have been too busy to read this blog, I only do it when I have nothing better to do. I disagree with the government giving the leader of the opposition a car. After all, according to the leader of the opposition there is a recession. And, since according to the government we don’t have money to waste on health and education, why should we waste it on a car for the leader of the opposition?
Daphne, give up on these people. They don’t even ”listen” to the news, never mind read it. UK MPs from both sides of the house, but predominantly Labour of course, abused the system. Imagine claiming for a non-existent mortgage, or putting your sister in your second house and then selling it without paying capital gains. Or claiming for a duck house (which incidentally the ducks themselves didn’t like). All this is tantamount to fraud, pure and simple. There were thieves in the ‘House’ …..and they got caught.
Now Christian, shall we discuss in a similar vein MEPs’ salaries and expenses and everything else that they’re scrounging for on the gravy train?
I don’t know why JM was uncomfortable revealing the purchase price of his cars. I wonder what went through his mind while in front of the television camera. With very few exceptions, after a home, cars are the second most expensive purchases one makes in a lifetime. People remember the purchase price of their homes and the price of their cars.
Where did you get the notion he was uncomfortable?
[Daphne – It’s called body language. Some people can read it. Others, sadly, can’t. Cue the man who thinks a woman fancies him because she’s nice to him.]
It can also be called self-delusion – “seeing what you want to see”.
Watch out for it.
[Daphne – My track record shows otherwise.]
Funny how Astrid FAA said nothing about it yet……
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090526/local/ngos-appeal-to-pm-mepa-to-stop-mistra-party
Or maybe she is invited to the party and what the hell
Are you invited, Daph?
[Daphne – Everyone is invited. There were thousands of flyers distributed and at least six of them in our letterbox. Astrid Vella will not criticise this party because she is a political player. She needed Jeffrey in the St John’s drama and she might need him again. That’s the way it goes.]
Do you consider a LM10,000 car as an expensive one?
[Daphne – Yes, for a young family, though it would have passed by unremarked upon because it is not unusual. Lm26,000 in a single purchase from a single salary is, however, definitely a remarkable expense. If you think it is not, then people in this country are even better off than I thought.]
Is that’s all you have to criticise Joseph with? If so, in four years time he’ll walk into Castille over your head. Surely you can do better than that…
[Daphne – Not over my head because I’m much taller than he is, though if I put on a pair of heels and stand with my legs apart he might be able to walk through (I’ll wear trousers). He’s going to become prime minister whatever the case, but we’re all going to have a lot of fun in the interim.]
He will walk up to Castille, but hopefully he will be a bit mature. Fed-upism and our short memory will get him there. “Let’s try him” would be the buzz word.
That is so hilarious!
There is no problem finding shoes with high heels this summer. Save a pair for the next general election, Daphne.
Where were all these people living all their lives? (The ones who are all out defending the Muscats). Just ask any candidate/MP what they have to endure and how careful they have to be even with their private lives. If people can find nothing to criticise they will invent something. I must say that Labour supporters have always been specially clever in this kind of game. Imma ara tmissilhom lil Joseph.
Maryanne, it’s ironic that your comment was posted in reply to Edward Fenech’s, when he himself was a candidate (for AD) at some point. To add insult to injury, he was anti-EU yet stood on the AD ticket, and yet – ironically, again – has been living in the UK for for a little while now.
You know what the problem is, Edward? That in the ratrace, the rats always win. (That should sound pretty familiar to you.)
As we have seen for the last 22 years (or almost).
@Daphne
In your answer to Pierre Farrugia you asked “So why did people pounce when Muscat spent EUR60,000 of his MEP’s salary on cars”.
But, really, who pounced, apart from you? I assure you that many people who can think with their own heads and not with that which is screwed on their shoulders at Tal-Pieta, have seen this hullabaloo for what it is. But what worked in Alfred Sant’s case might not necessarily work in JM’s case, though no harm in trying, right? Al buon intenditor, bastan poche parol’.
[Daphne – Albert, had I not struck a chord, this post wouldn’t have whipped straight to the top of the rankings on my blog, as the most active post since the immediate aftermath of the general election. I’m not good at much, but trust me on this one, please: Muscat f**ked up, big time.]
Well Muscat is going to keep on screwing up if he doesn’t do something about his political aides (not aids), unless he intentionally did this sort of “ha nixtri karozza u ngib il-vat extra min fuq kawza li halsu n-nies”.
I think the guy was brought up with everyone at his beck and call. I understand the position in which “Din” is.
Please note that HE is the breadwinner so he gets the expensive car.
Joseph tad-daqqiet ta’ harta!
Hear, hear! I can’t watch TV when he’s on, because he simply makes my blood boil. It’s even worse when I turn the sound off, because then his “wicc tad-daqqiet ta’ harta” – with mannerisms to match – are emphasised all the more.
I can say the same about some newscasters on PBS. I will not mention any names though.
Daphne I’m short and there’s really not much I can do about it. My waistline …. I can and I do. This is a non-issue.
While Joseph was spending Eur60,000 on his cars and his apologists here are saying that because it’s his money he can do whatever he likes, Queen Elizabeth is celebrating her birthday in ‘low-key’ mode so as not to appear to be out of touch with what is going on in the world.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5205429/Queen-orders-low-key-birthday-party-due-to-recession.html
MALTA:- A MIDJUNAIRE
Private spending is a boost to the economy. Well done Joseph get another if feel you need another one.
Public Money spending is another business and unless it is wisely spend, it is a burden to the economy.
Mintoff made Malta a Millionionaire. The Nationalist Government turned Malta into a MIDJUNAiRE. This phenomenon created a fresh word for the ANGLO -MALTESE LANGUAGE.
“Mintoff made Malta a Millionionaire” – while we were denied colour television, jobs, decent cars, chocolate, toothpaste and good quality clothes. We had to live with less courses in university, a hospital full of foreign doctors, no roads to speak of, half-lit streets, a comedy telephone system, power cuts, water cuts, an airport terminal that was a health hazard, and worse of all the international image of a TPLC (Tin Pot Little Country).
Yes, it sure felt like we were millionaires!
Vince Borg: Enough of the Mintoff eulogising. A country that is a millionaire is no boast. Do some private spending of your own and invest in the following.
http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Economics-For-Dummies.productCd-0764557262.html
And there is no such thing as the ANGLO-MALTESE LANGUAGE. Perhaps you should invest in a dictionary too, preferably one without a dysfunctional caps lock.
Politics has and will always be a gravy train. Pre-EU the village lawyer/doctor would network their way into sitting on a board using the steady flow of income to maintain themselves in poorly paying medical/legal practices or boosting said practices.
Post-EU the stakes are higher. JM is no more opportunistic or money driven than the other candidates or the lawyer linguistis who faced with a non-existant career path go for the Brussels money. As a frequent visitor to drab Brussels in a previous life, Brussels’ only lure is the money for desperation to escape the stifling Maltese mind set promoted by endless political spin on both sides, has led to nothing but the creation of Little Maltas and comfort zones with a hint of foreign flavour.
So we’ve now gone full circle from one violently oppressive regime to another run by a self-serving Diva network. The streets of London may not be paved with gold but I’ll stick with recession ridden and free thinking England any day
Ironically the British MPs caught in the “expenses” scandal are justifying their actions using practically the same reasoning as you are, i.e. that they are “poorly paid” as MPs.
Indeed greed and networking (for that matter) are universal but…whereas here I’m invited to vote by proxy, in Malta, the party machinery will harass and brainwash you until you vote for candidates and parties you have no faith in, because the staple diet of religion and politics is constantly rammed down your throat and leading a life devoid of partisan politics is simply unthinkable.
I see your point – religious and political paranoia are one of the woes of living in a small island. Where I disagree with you is when you tar all politicians with the same brush; there are decent people on both sides. Here’s the dilemma, say you are a decent person, with solid principles, genuinely wanting to be of service to your country by involving yourself in politics. The sad reality is that if you want to be in a position to make a change, you need real power and for that you need votes. So inevitably you have to make compromises, otherwise you stand no chance of being successful. You must play the game that everybody else plays, otherwise you might just as well stay out of it. This is one of the disadvantages of a democracy, and it does not just happen in Malta. As a voter you have to support those politicians who are genuinely committed to improving the country and not just their own lifestyle. They do exist, otherwise this would be a terrible place.
Adrian, I’m sure some if not all start out with good intentions and undoubtedly end up compromising personal beliefs either in favour of the perks of office or simply as a matter of survival in the political arena.
If we want our representatives to do the right thing, then we have to ensure that their pay packages and perks are not disproportionate to the effort they put in serving the people and this can only be achieved through transparency rather than awarding posts e.g. in the judiciary or other state boards as a reward for political activity/inclinations. But I’m afraid Malta is a long way from becoming a meritocracy because the prevailing mentility is that of soliciting and any polician who challenges this mind set will, as you point out fail to be elected.
What Malta lacks is a culture of fairness and reasonableness as opposed to selfishness and neither political party is encouraging people in this direction with their playground tactics and bickering. Trust is something we all have to earn and manipulation and spin on both sides are certainly not fostering trust.
I’m afraid I don’t have the solution to Malta’s woes. I just jumped ship as soon as I could and Malta’s woes are its expats woes for given a level playing field to grow and prosper in a mature society, many of us I’m sure would
like to return and enthusiastically share our knowledge and experience but most of us know unless we have the right political/social networking pedigree the only contribution we can ever make to improving Maltese society is by pointing out the obvious and ranting ad nauseam.
Dr Gonzi may have looked tired after a long day (at Bondi+)
but he sure looks fine to me now:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090529/local/gonzi-vs-muscat-online
Go Gonzi go!
I have to say that making an issue out of the cost of Joseph Muscat’s two new cars is rather pathetic. What do you expect the Leader of the Opposition to drive around in? An old banger? At least it’s simply an Alfa 156 not some BMW X3 or VW Touran (or any other SUV) which cost over Lm50,000 (that’s around EUR 120,000) which the true blue supporters and new rich seem to drive around with every day. Get a life!
[Daphne – They’re not accountable to the public.]
Does “Get a life!” even make sense as used above?
[Daphne – ‘Get a life’ is like ‘smell the coffee’, ‘tell it to the marines’ and ‘put your money where your mouth is’. The internet warriors have just discovered them, some 40 years too late.]
*Joseph Muscat’s* two new cars? I thought one of them belonged to his wife.
[Daphne – Imma hawn Malta l-karozzi huma tar-ragel, mhux tal-mara, ghax hallas ghalihom hu, allavolja bil-komunita tal-akkwisti.]
Do Joey or Michelle have a personalised number plate?
[Daphne – I haven’t a clue, but I do.]
I’ve found out on another one of your posts that he does have a personalised number plate and it is EMS 221. The letters stand for the names of the three women in his life – two daughters + wife.
In any case every time he drives somewhere, a percentage of people who see him will think “there goes another tosser”, and it will not be because they wished they had personalised plates; it’s because that’s the last thing in the world they would want.
And some of them will be more successful and wealthy than him.
Not that it matters much, but I’d like to point out that the Kia Sportage is the cheapest SUV on the market, and the Alfa 159 is the cheapest luxury sedan car – cheaper than the BMW, cheaper than the Merc, and cheaper than the Audi.
[Daphne – Cheap is relative. Added together, they still come to 60,000 euros. You can’t fight the numbers. They’re there. One car for 60,000 euros or two cars for the same amount of money, that money is still coming out of the same pocket and for the same purpose.]
But my point is what car do you expect him and his wife to drive? Some shitty small car with a 1 litre engine? There aren’t too many decent cars that cost less than 25k (new and from Malta).
[Daphne – People should drive what they can afford to run. Muscat would have been able to afford the running of those cars as an MEP – though why he should need a car in Malta when he was in Brussels is beyond me, though not my business. He cannot afford to run them on his salary as leader of the opposition. What car do I expect him to drive? The one provided to the leader of the opposition by the state.]
I get more pissed off when I see Gonzi being driven around in that massive and ridiculously expensive BMW with a monstrous engine (with nobody else in the car), especially when the common folk is forced to buy small and ugly pieces of crap with low co2 emissions.
[Daphne – He’s the prime minister. I agree that it’s time to make a statement by getting a small, stylish car – though not to ward off the lanzit of people like you, but to make an environmental statement.]
I would expect him to drive a new hybrid car for the same price or else KMB’s VW Beetle.
….. and by the way I forgot to congratulate you on being tall. Well done ,you totally deserve to have inherited those genes.
ps any tips ghal dawk inqas ixxurtjati minnek? naqa stretching ? A letter to the producers of Arani Issa on the lines of “dejjem xtaqt inkun twil” and breaking down when I talk about the bullying at school u the impossibility of finding a three-quarter coat “ghax dejjem jasal sal-gharkbua.” U l-flus li nfaqt l-alterations ommi ma ….
Now I’m curious as to what drives people to pay for personalised number plates. Daphne, didn’t you study anthropology? Maybe you can give us some insight into this perplexing phenomenon.
[Daphne – I have one. It cost Lm30 and I thought I might as well. In fact, when I eventually sell my car – something I am loath to do because it seems so ridiculous to separate my waste carefully and then ditch a whole car – I will keep the plate. The ones I can’t understand are the Lm500 ones: IXL, Chantelle, that sort of thing.]
Actually I do understand the Lm500 ones that spell out the name of a company or product. It is pure marketing.
What I don’t understand is people paying Lm30 or Lm500 (the amount does not matter really – one is just giving money to the government for nothing) for having one’s initials or some other inane symbol. (e.g. JOE 069).
[Daphne – That’s what I’ve got, though not the 69. It’s the chav in me.]
I think it says something about the psychology of the person who is ready to pay to have what is nothing more than a modern day version of graffiti on one’s own car.
You and the leader of the opposition must share some common psychological trait. I find it odd that people go (as you put it) “I might as well” and donate money to the licensing department.
[Daphne – Lm30?]
For a non-personalised set of plates you still have to pay Lm20 so actually you are only paying Lm10 extra to get them personalised with three letters and three numbers.
Chav seems to be a favourite ‘word’ of yours and you speak of the chav in you. This is how urban dictionary.com defines it:
Chav – Sub species of human
Commonly thought to be of inferior intellect, the Chavette surprises us with its cunning plan to avoid taking up a professional career and provide itself with free accommodation supplied by tax payers by spawning multi coloured mini chavs at a early stage in life, usually mid teens.
Clearly recognisable by their distinctive tribal Burberry they congregate in town centres and on street corners. Chavs have a reputation of being creative with public property and motor vehicles, building themselves Chaviots out of mechano sets and strip lighting, and providing us with humorous banter written on toilet walls like âShitâ and âTasha woz ereâ in an attempt to relieve our boredom while urinating.
Their language is a basic form of English thus avoiding any words they cannot spell or pronounce, even to the extent of creating new words only they know the meaning of.
Hunting in large groups Chavs will single out the weakest, smallest prey and attack it without mercy avoiding any personal injury and insuring victory.
Chavs unfortunately don’t yet fall into the category of rodent and in effect cannot be bludgeoned to death under the guise of pest control. Darn!-
I think I speak for everyone when I say thank you Chavs for the great contribution youâve made to this country, youâve made it what it what it is today â a shit hole.
Come on, keep it up. Lanqas taf kemm xtrajt il-karozza, ahseb u ara kemm jinterresak minn nies li qed ibaghtu.
So what?!…..ghala dan l-interess kollu fuq il-karozzi li xtara minn BUTU kap ta’ partit? ….none of our business….ahjar milli xtara jaguar minn fuq darna….x’tahseb Daphne?
Ma tnatx ghandna fuq xiex niktbu hux dan l-ahhar?…tajjeb tajjeb, sinjal tajjeb ;)