Joseph and Michelle spend EUR60,000 on cars
Ahjar ma nghidux kemm infaqna fuq karrozzi waqt li neqirdu dwar il-kontijiet tad-dawl, Mich
And meanwhile, they gripe about the size of their electricity bill and the cost of living. They want subsidies on utilities so that they can rush out and buy the cars they believe befit their new-found station in life.
That was the highlight of BondiPlus tonight – at least the last bit (I was watching Goldplated on BBC Prime before that). Lou Bondi brought up the subject of Labour’s VAT-back-on-car-registration-tax law suit and said: “There are thousands of people on your list here.” The camera frames Muscat’s face, which is brimming with smug satisfaction.
Then Bondi continues: “Yes, and among them there are you and Michelle, with EUR75,000 worth of cars.”
Suddenly Muscat’s face is not so smug anymore. “I don’t think they cost EUR75,000. I can’t remember how much they cost.”
That’s right. Money is of so little concern to you, in these straitened times when you’re beating on about the cost of living, that you can’t even remember how much you spent on two new cars for yourself and your wife. Big shot.
During a break for advertising, the matter of how much Muscat spent on those cars was cleared up. Maybe he rang Michelle and she pulled out the bills. It wasn’t EUR75,000. It was EUR60,000. That’s around Lm26,000 in old money. Not bad for a couple of socialists: it’s as much as most of their supporters earn in five, six or seven years – and that’s gross, not take-home pay.
Well, good luck to them. But here’s some advice: you can spend that much on cars only when you’re not the leader of the socialist party that’s making an electoral meal about the cost of living, electricity bills, nuqqas tax-xoghol and four-day weeks. Otherwise, you’ll just come across as a hypocrite, and a stupid one at that.
Flummoxed and confused, Muscat justified being on that law-suit list with his EUR60,000 worth of his ‘n’ hers karrozzi by saying: ‘Ghala le? Trid nghidlek kemm hemm Nazzjonalisti maghna fuq dik il-lista?”
Ara x’ghandu x’jaqsam.
Of course he should have been a party to that law-suit. It’s called putting your money where your mouth is (or rather, using your mouth to try and get some more money for yourself). But here’s the thing: he should have announced the fact that he and Michelle are party to the suit, when he issued his press release. He should have made a point of it. He should not have waited for a television show host to reveal it on television, while he tried hard not to look like a perplexed piglet.
It’s quite obvious why the Labour Party’s press conferences and press releases about the VAT-back law suit failed to mention Joseph and Michelle’s personal involvement in the case.
Muscat didn’t want the starving populace, eating their electricity bills because they can’t afford food, to know that he and the missus have been on a EUR60,000 car-buying spree. But he and the missus still want a shot at getting some money back, ghax iss hej muhiex fier. La nistghu nisolhu, nisolhu, Mich.
No sh*t, Sherlock.
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Primus inter pares on an Alfa and burden to fund wheeled pleasures and reduction of CO2 emissions on common mortal comrades!
Now that we know that Dr. Muscat spend about Euro17000 on two cars, we should be happy about the electricity bills and pay them with a smile. How can you make such arguments, you of all people. I think you should know better. There are hundreds of families who can’t afford to pay the high electricity bills because of their low income.
[Daphne – EUR60,000, not EUR17,000. And you miss the point. If you’re the leader of the opposition and screaming about the high cost of living every time you make a public appearance, saying that the economy is going to the dogs and people can’t even afford food and electricity, you don’t rush out to spend EUR60,000 on cars for yourself and your wife – and then try to conceal the fact while trying to bum your tax back. The man’s a prize ass-hole.]
Just to put one other fact in the pot: between 2004-2008, Maltese people bought 48,000 new cars, 1000 a month.
[Daphne – U jahasra, kulhadd mejjet bil-guh taht il-gvern ta’ Gonzi.]
Typically for Nationalists, one cannot defend anyone who is suffering under an incompetent government like the PN because he might be better off then some of the population. Why are you surprised he spent that much money on cars, he has all the right to spend as much money as he wishes because he earned it by working hard. It makes him a better person that he is concerned with the well fare of the people and that he wants to make life better of us.
[Daphne – Kemm int mara stupida, u imbaghad toqghod tispera fil-vojt li forsi t-tifel tieghek johrog intelligenti. Jekk vera hareg bil-brains wirethom minghand missieru, ha nghidlek. Ha nispjegalek, forsi issa tifhem. It’s a matter of poor taste and even worse judgment: when your people are suffering – or so you claim – you don’t give them one in the eye by spending EUR60,000 on cars, even if you can afford to. Affording them has nothing to do with it. Splashing cash around on luxuries while whining that Mr and Mrs Mittelkless kent affort to pej der bilS is just rubbing their nose in it. You have to be a real Johnny to do something like that. Evita Peron was from the slums, remember. And Joseph and Michelle knew it – which is why they tried to hide their show-off spending from Di Pipil.]
V Brogan, I do not for one moment believe that “he” is concerned about the welfare of the people. I think he is concerned only with his own welfare and ambitions and, like Labour leaders before him, he’s willing to twist facts, exploit weaker persons and lie about his opponents in order to achieve his aims.
Not being a socialist I do not envy anyone having money, not even Joseph Muscat (or Dom Mintoff) but I must admit to being more than slightly wary of people who become suddenly rich after they enter politics.
And so say all of us! Look at your ministers and smile. They all ended up with double chins.
[Daphne – Yes, Maltese men do have a tendency to put on lots of weight, and it doesn’t help when their natural shape is what it is. But I must say the double chin to beat them all is Glenn Bedingfield’s. And you can tell already that within a few years Joseph Muscat is going to be a most unattractive shape.]
Mary, like it or not, they are YOUR ministers too.
I wish everybody luck and I would be happy if everyone and his uncle can afford to buy a yacht. But when you are leader of the opposition and on an endless campaign of ‘tkeskis’ against the government, you don’t go and buy luxury cars. Also, when you are deputy leader of the Labour Party, you don’t go acting like an elephant on the podium and then go and buy property in Sicily.
Just one more thing. It seems that under PN governments for circa 20 years, people are well off enough to buy luxury cars while they are still setting up home and family. In my days (of course under Mintoff – Professor Scicluna, please note ) we had a hard time buying a very small two-bedroomed apartment and bringing up two young children. Certainly we had no luxury cars – on the contrary we bought a second-hand one and we hadn’t an apartment chock-a-bloc with designer furniture either.
There goes your ‘well fare of the people’, Brogan.
I agree. When I was a child in the 1970s / early 1980s, most familes had only one car, if any at all. It is only in the last twenty years or so that almost all adult members of a family drive a car (and that does not include the often-owned extra car – “karozza ta’ nhar ta Hadd”).
Ha naghmilha ta’ l-avukat tax-xitan. Bhala bankier naf li hafna nies li ghandhom aktar minn karozza wahda, dar lussuza, yacht etc, ikunu mimlijin tilja dejn. Basta jzommu l-istatus quo taghhom gholi. Jigifieri tantx timla rasek li dawk in-nies kollha li ghandhom dawn l-affarjiet can afford them, honey
Maryanne, you don’t seem to get the point or you live on another planet. Go into the streets ask people – the middle class – if they afford to buy a house, flat or whatever and a luxury car. Ask them if they are happy with these bills..because if I remember correctly this issue was one that led to Labour’s downfall in 1996 (together with the Vittoriosa marina issue)….and today our people seem to be paying exaggerated bills while the oil prices have gone down drastically.
Those people with a normal wage like mine can’t afford such things without being immersed in debts, so to say that under PN in the last 20 years people can afford these things easily….you are wrong.
[Daphne – Let me get this straight. You want to buy a house without incurring debt?]
Just go make a survey of married couples and ask them how much is their debts? They have to pay thousands until they retire.
[Daphne – And so it is everywhere else in the world, and Malta is not a magic place. Do you know what triggered the so-called credit crunch? Banks giving home loans to people who couldn’t afford to buy a home, in the USA.]
It is quite obvious that on this site there exists no neutral arguments but only harsh criticism and stupid arguments like this one on Labour leader’s life, when actually it would have been more appropriate to talk or argument on more valid arguments like jobless people, the state of our roads while our licence goes up each year, the harsh bills we are receiving and so on.
I have never found any problem with ministers buying villas, farmhouses or dream cars so I don’t see the problem in Joseph Muscat and his wife spending on a car they have worked for.
[Daphne – The point is, they haven’t really worked for it, have they? I have no problem with ministers buying cars and villas, either, because they have a positive approach to working and earning and don’t encourage people in their belief that bounty falls on your lap by sitting around and doing nothing, or by working 9 to 5 Monday to Friday – unlike the Labour Party and, in particular, Joseph Muscat. He even tried to ‘find a job’ for Joseph Cuschieri when he took his seat – as though a grown man of 41 can’t do that for himself.]
”A prize ass-hole”……………….. and that’s putting it mildly.
He didn’t rush off to buy a car (or 2). they were purchased when he was still an MEP.
[Daphne – Yes, and….? He was still an MEP when he was leader of the Labour Party. He dragged it out so that he could segue from his salary as MEP to his salary as leader of the opposition, ma jmurx imur minn taht. Ha nghidlek, il-vera batuti taht GonziPN, Doctor u Mrs Muscat, jahasra.]
Daphne…it’s Doktorr not Doctor
She’d better spend that money on a good make-over.
[Daphne – She has. Didn’t you notice?]
Envy does not get you anywhere love!
[Daphne – Actually I have a much nicer car that cost as much as Joseph and Michelle’s put together, which is why I could say what I did (without being accused of envy). Not being a chav, I didn’t rub your nose in it – though you are forcing me to do so now.]
I’m sure you have a nice car, I was not referring to that.
[Daphne – To what were you referring, then? And do please stop switching names from Mary to Peppina and back again. You’re confusing yourself.]
Kif ma’ jisthux! This is like the people who love freebies, spend thousands on cars, speedboats, “fletts” in Gozo or “djar f’Sqallija”, and yet complain that the water and electricity bills are astronomical.
So first we had Anglu Farrugia with his “second home” in Modica or wherever the hell it was; now Joseph and Michelle, the yuppy couple (twenty years too late), yapping on and on and on about bills, though seemingly with plenty of cash to spare themselves. U le!
L-ironija hi wkoll li dawn il-flus gew minhabba li Malta dahlet fl-EU u Joseph sar MEP. Msieken il-membri laburisti li jahdmu bla waqfin u b’xejn u jduru bieb bieb biex jigbru xi lira, biex xi darba jkunu fil-gvern u mbaghad jkollhom minn imexxihom lil Joseph li jonfoq EUR 60,000 f’karozzi, lil deputy bi flat fi Sqallija, lil Montalto li money no problem u ohrajn. Kif jistghu jkunu kredibli dawn in-nies. Qatt ma qbilt ma’ KMB u Dr Sant fil-politika jew il-hsieb taghhom imma kont nammira lil umilta li kienu juru. Haga li ta’ min isemmi huwa li l-karozza ta’ Joseph hija Alfa Romeo li m’hijiex xi habiba ta’ l-ambjent. Ara kemm huwa kredibbli meta jsemmi it-tniggis fl-arja li hawn f’Malta kif ghamel nhar il-hadd li ghadda fuq il-power station ta Delimara.
U halluna.
[Daphne – Nahseb li se joqghod idur bir-rota, bhal David Cameron….mur arah, b’dawk is-saqajn ta’ zewg pulzieri li ghandu.]
And this is what you’d get if you cross Jason with Joseph:
http://tweaksthelimbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/poodle-2.jpg
Dr Tonio Borg ihobb idur bir-rota ……..u miskin fekkek idu! Ma jdoqqx trombi .
Tghid nemmnek meta tghid li tammira l-umilta li kellom KMB u Dr.Sant? Naqra iebsa habib mil-mod kif titkellem.Il-verita hi li tridu taqbdu ma xi haga…allura qbadna mal-karozzi u ghax alfa romeo etc…niftakar kontu ghidtu li Alfred Sant sakranazz ukoll umbad irrizulta li kienet invenzjoni.
[Daphne – Ma kienitx invenzjoni xejn. Jien nafu f’daru, mhux bhalek. U kien ovvju li kien xorob hafna meta hareg quddiem l-HQ tal-Labour wara li hareg ir-rizultat tar-referendum, u beda jixxengel u jitkellem b’dak il-mod deliberat tax-xurbana, u jghid kif rebah.]
Il-fatt li JM kien MEP llum hija rrelevanti. Ma jistax il-PL jieqaf sempliciment ghax fil-passat ma xtaqx jidhol membru. Ma jfissirx li kull Laburist xtaq jibqa barra.
Din bhal tal-kunsilli ghal ewwel PL baqa lura ghax ma xtaqx li kunsilli tidhol il-politika…li kulltant iggib il-firda, sfortunatament.
tattooed eyebrows maybe?
u nsejt lil Marlene Pullicino tal-big pool u t-torri tal-Qrendi …
Is this the new car?
http://www.cjars.com/media/ccp0/prodsm/Cavanagh%20Poodle%20Pink%20Car%20Cookie%20Jar.jpg
Or this one?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antique-dog-photos/32648867/
you are down to this and my Prime Minster is begging the hunters to go out and vote so that Arnold does not get the 6th seat. My god, can you get any lower? Is there any dignity left?
[Daphne – I left it in the boot of my EUR60,000 car.]
Can you make up your mind? EUR60000 on one car or on two? Or have I also left my glasses in the boot of this 8-wheel drive?!!
[Daphne – Two cars.]
The point the PM was making is that if you intend to “protest” by not voting you are likely to end up with people representing you in the European Parliament that may not reflect your beliefs and views. This is exactly what will happen to hunters who could end up with an anti-hunting MEP, and to Nationalists who will end up with Joseph Cuschieri and Glenn Beddngfield representing us. By not voting you are not really “protesting” at all, you are just giving up the democratic right to representation. If you wan t to protest write a letter or organise a march or pressure group, not voting is simply the least effective way (but possibly the easiest) to get your message across. Where’s the loss of dignity I ask?
So what you are implying here, Edward is that if you can’t shoot at birds, you prefer shooting yourself in the foot by voting AD or AN.
I’ll repeat it to you: is there any dignity left?
Edward! Certainly yes you can get lower! Vote greens and especially Arnold who opportunistically joined the most ludicrously assembled coalition in the history of politics with not a hint of moral standing.
I may start to grasp the idea of spending EUR60,000 on cars. But that he has the audacity to put his wife’s and his name on that list, and then try to hide it….that’s just disgusting!
He never tried to hide it. He has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. Get your facts right.
[Daphne – If he wasn’t trying to hide it, he would have announced it, instead of waiting for journalists to find out and announce it themselves.]
Anyone cares to list the cars which EFA, GDM, Austin Gatt (no not his present Jaguar) et al ran around in, chauffeured, during the times when they put up billboards picturing an “empty refrigerator during MLP government?”
[Daphne – None of those people are or were socialists. And knowing what sort of people Fenech Adami and Gatt are, I can tell you that they wouldn’t have spent or spend now EUR60,000 on cars. De Marco is another matter. His mentality, and that of at least one other member of his family (but just one), fit perfectly with that of the up-and-coming members of ‘new’ Labour. I have always felt he belonged more there than with his own party. Nobody is begrudging the Muscats their cars. What we are talking about here is the hypocrisy of calling yourself a socialist, screaming about people earning less under Gonzi (!) and then splashing out like that on something totally unnecessary, which is an indication either than your priorities are totally skewed – if indeed it is true that you are worried about money – or that you are not worried about money at all. It is also extremely bad manners: when you are the leader of people who are suffering, you don’t rub their noses in your own luck and comfort. But then we all know by now that Joseph and Michelle are two chavs who haven’t a clue. And they don’t think people are suffering. They just say it.]
Daphne, why such animosity towards Guido de Marco and his daughter? I doubt any sane mind would disagree to the fact many of Malta’s achievements are attributed to Guido de Marco’s efforts.
[Daphne – I’m one of them, and believe me, I’m sane. There are some things I know which you don’t. If we owe de Marco anything at all, it’s his contribution – if we are to believe it – towards persuading Mintoff against Sant.]
May I remind your readers that Guido de Marco was a self-made man, starting off his career as a shoe sales man and made it all the way to being Malta’s most respected and successful criminal lawyer and brilliant politician, second only to Eddie Fenech Adami.
[Daphne – That he was a successful criminal lawyer is not in doubt. That he was so successful because he was persuasive to juries who were far less well-educated then, and that he wouldn’t be as successful now, is open to debate. That he was a brilliant politician – no. He was brilliant at machinations, but that’s not enough to make a brilliant politician. And please don’t put him in the same ‘keffa’ as Fenech Adami, who would be the first to object. There was and still isn’t any love lost there, and it’s not because Fenech Adami is competitive (that was the problem with the other one) but because he’s a good judge of character and situations.]
I do understand the origins of your animosity. Let’s face it, the shoe salesman made it all the way up to the top levels of society, and rightly so paved the way for his daughter, who happened to seize the opportunity and eventually became Malta’s most high profile female criminal lawyer with a heck of a record in court.
[Daphne – A record that is failing now that juries tend to be less gullible and easily persuaded, in case you hadn’t noticed. As for your other assertion, I champion meritocracy and have a strong admiration for high-achievers, especially those who started from nothing. So your view is unfounded. However, I also respect people who are straight up, and just cannot bear the Sicilian way. I am very fond of his son, who I like and respect; we are contemporaries. How do you explain that? You will have to get to know him first, and then you will understand the difference.]
Unfortunately, women tend to be effected by jealousy big time. GCC happens to be pretty, smart, rich, successful, and it’s understandable the combination might attract a fair share of jealousy.
[Daphne – Here’s another one with the mentality of a chav, who can understand only chav behaviour and no other. Let me spell it out for you. Guido de Marco’s eldest daughter has nothing that I don’t have. On the other hand, I have a great deal that she doesn’t have and never will, has lost, or has failed to acquire. However, because I am far from being nouveau riche and have no wish to enter a discussion about catastrophic personal failures or the inability of certain persons to get into university without having the rules bent, these things are not obvious to chavs who think that those who ‘have’ must always prove it. And as flashily as possible. To each his own. I don’t have a mentalita ta’ cacu, sorry.]
At least till the early 1990s Fenech Adami’s personal car was a Hillman Hunter, Morris Marina or similar.
Fenech Adami had a Morris Marina.
Make-over or no make-over, Mich should do something about that inane, gormless and oh-so-artificial grin.
Admittedly, I am ‘slightly’ prejudiced but did anyone watch Mrs Gonzi being interviewed last Sunday? That’s what I call a real genuine classy lady…… and no €60,000 car will give you that.
I agree. Jekk taghlaq halqha taqta figura ahjar..f’kull sens
Danny, I take it you were referring to Michelle Muscat
Who else, Mandy?
Wasn’t it just a week or two ago that JM’s wife was complaining that EUR60 in a Brussels supermarket could buy a lot more than it could in Malta?
Talking about money, I found it interesting that a number of MEPs from both parties told timesofmalta.com that they currently earn much more money than what they would as MEPs.
Alex Perici Calascione and Sharon Ellul Bonici are the ones I remember for sure, but I’m sure there were others. Makes me feel a bit shitty about my salary!
Regarding the show – I just watched it on di-ve.com and I must say, I was impressed with Joseph Muscat. He seems to have matured from the last debate on Xarabank. He was extremely well-prepared, sharp and confident – and did not come across as a precocious school-boy like last time.
In fact, Dr Gonzi seemed very uneasy at times – he was not his usual relaxed self, I felt.
I thought it was clever when Joseph said that Gonzi wanted a “fan club” not an opposition, it’s kind of true. And when he got angry about the PN advert which portrays issues like abortion and illegal immigration very unfairly – that was very good.
I wouldn’t say that Joseph won the debate. I think it was a good fight. It was definitely very refreshing from the debates with Alfred Sant – although I must say, I do miss the laughs.
All I can say is that today Joseph Muscat managed to portray himself as a promising candidate for future Prime Minister – not perfect, but promising. I hope he continues to grow and mature, and to beware of falling into certain traps like he did recently with the immigration issue where he said “il-gvern ceda” and other irresponsible things.
All in all, a healthy debate. Well done to Arnold and Josie too for the last bit.
Daphne, maybe you can tell us your overall opinion of the debate rather than stopping at the fact that JM and his wife drive cars averaging Lm12,000. I get your political argument, but I don’t think it’s such a major issue. To be fair, if JM drove around in a cheap Hyundai Accent or something like that, I don’t think he would be taken very seriously as leader of the Opposition, don’t you agree?
[Daphne – No, I don’t agree. And the Leader of the Opposition has a car paid for by the state. Alfred Sant certainly did: a white Mazda. He insisted on keeping it when he became prime minister – remember? – and driving himself around. We thought, wow, he’s saving on the chauffeur’s salary; what a true socialist. Then we found out that his protege Robert Francalanza was receiving that chauffeur’s salary even though he wasn’t his chauffeur. Tal-ghageb. The prime minister didn’t look uneasy. He looked sick with exhaustion. That’s because he actually works. I didn’t watch the debate except for the last bit – read the first couple of lines of my post.]
@Daphne – it’s just as well you missed the start of the debate. You were spared his crass opening wisecrack: ‘wahda mara wahhlet fija ghax isawwatha r-ragel. Ha ha hi hi!’
(That was Joseph Muscat speaking of course.)
I had no doubt that it was Muscat.
That was not a wisecrack – crass or otherwise. It was an actual court report. Did you miss it?
I’ll try and find a link and post it.
@’Ettore Bono’ – No, I did not miss it, so spare yourself the bother. On the other hand you miss the point: it was in poor taste of Muscat to laugh at the expense of a battered woman, regardless of what she said.
Uff!
Now I have to stay up all night and watch the streaming of Bondiplus.
Why do I check your site before I go to bed?
Why?
So much for looking out for the interests of the people. He used the people so he could get some money back, not to uphold the law and protect the people from an illegal tax. It was so he could get some money back.
Next he’d have a Xerxes-style line-up of men being used as stairs to go up on the mass meeting platform. One empty head at a time.
Qoghodu hemm, tiggieldu ghal min jkun l-ewwel wiehed biex ihalli Joseph jafas wiccu ma l-art .
I wonder if he got all the financial benefits/advantages given to MEPs when they purchase vehicles. Even if this was done “between” jobs!
So going by the same reasoning, Bill Gates and Angelina Jolie are hypocrites to do all that charity work. I mean, look at the lifestyles they have.
[Daphne – You Labour supporters just can’t think, can you? Angelina Jolie and Bill Gates are not socialist politicians or leaders of workers’ parties. The one is an actress trying to smooth her road to heaven, and the other is a capitalist and the world’s second richest man, who is following in the grand tradition of American capitalists by giving much of his money away (like Andrew Carnegie – the richest man ever in the history of the world).]
Sometimes I think you get a bit too excited in your drive to criticise anything Muscat does – you forget to think things through.
[Daphne – On the contrary, sweetheart, my particular gift, if nothing else, is the ability to see things clearly and think them through – fast.]
I wonder what cars Eddie and his cronies were driving in 1996-1998 when it was them whining about the electricity bills.
[Daphne – Read my reply to your friend who asked me the same thing.]
It seems your definition of socialism needs some updating – Socialism does not mean that everyone is supposed to have the same income or enjoy the same lifestyle. That would be communism. The kind of socialism I believe in is that which holds that if you work hard, even if you’re a manual worker, you should be guranteed a decent standard of living, even if that means redistributing wealth. It certainly does not mean that those of us who have achieved a lot in life should forgo the fruits of their labour.
[Daphne – That’s not socialism.]
As for Eddie and co., they might not be socialists when in government, but they certainly come across as socialists when they’re in opposition, when it suits them that is… (remember il-“boxxla soċjali”??)
[Daphne – That’s not socialism, either.]
Socialism is basically corporate government and the attempt to create a utopia where classes disappear and no poverty exists
But the 1980s showed us that it leads to this:
“. . . a socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom. Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the object worship of the state. It will prescribe for every one where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go and what they may say. Socialism is an attack on the right to breathe freely. No socialist system can be established without a political police. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance” – Winston Churchil 1945
Bill Gates is not a socialist.
Dawn jissejhu ic-champagne socialists… jew ahjar kif qed isejhu lilhom infushom issa… “Progressivi”!
Dik hi… Progressiv tfisser second home go Sqallija u karozzi li jahlu galluni ta’ petrol (addio l-ambjent)! U li ovjament jiswew il-belli liri.
Imbgha jahasra, quddiem il-kamera jithassru lill fqar….Progressivi? Ghal karozzi lussuzi u villegjaturi go Sqallija?
Five years ago I gave my first preference vote to Arnold (I swear I didn’t know he was Italian then) and my fourth or fifth to….er…Joseph Muscat.
It certainly won’t happen this time.
To err once is human, Timmy. To err twice is folly! Don’t do it again! Or else!
I’m just concerned that too many people will replicate Timmy’s mistake come 2013….at our expense!
Please DO NOT call me Timmy.
Don’t worry. I have seen the light, largely thanks to this blog in JM’s case.
Thanks Daphne for opening my eyes, I was wondering how come my children were so clever when I am not. It’s such a pleasure to get compliments from a lovely lady like you. Maybe as you said, I should hope that my daughter turns out like you. But you know Daphne that Joseph was still an MEP when he bought the cars, and that was my whole point.
[Daphne – It was my point, too.]
Kretina!! Why don’t you add that Joseph made mincemeat out of Lorrie, making him stutter for more than once. What a goofy!!! No wonder Alan Deidun said what he said about Lorrie, that in about five years time you will be polling for Simon Busuttil.
Isma Daphne what are 27000 Euros for two cars nowadays?
[Daphne – Nahseb li int il-kretina, qalbi. Lm26,000 mhux EUR27,000. Hemm differenza. If you don’t think that’s a big bill for a single household – and on cars, not on an investment or furnishing your entire home – then you illustrate my point that you people don’t know how good you’ve had it over the last few years. People my age – just a mere nine years older than Joseph and Michelle – would never dream of spending that much on cars when we’re newly married and about to start a family – even if we had a bit of money to spare, we’d spend it on something more worthwhile, or put it aside for school fees or whatever. Joseph and Michelle’s behaviour is either spectacularly irresponsible and chav-like or they’ve got future sources of large income planned that we know nothing about. As far as we can make out today, she doesn’t work and he’s got a Labour Party salary. On that kind of income, I can assure you that you can’t even pay the insurance premium on cars worth EUR60,000, let alone the maintenance, repairs, servicing, and other running costs, the main one being petrol. You’re looking at EUR280 a month on petrol alone, and that’s a conservative estimate.]
These are the norm one has to pay for a decent car. Maybe they have bought them through a loan, or slowly by installments. What’s so ohhhhh about it? There are eighteen year olds still at university going around with posh cars that are more than that.
[Daphne – Yes, but they have wealthy parents…wealthy parents who work all hours in the private sector. I’m glad you can see, though, that the islands are far from going under with all these cars running around the streets.]
Most of the students ask the bank for car loans and spend their stipends on gas – only a small percentage have wealthy parents that can buy their children cars. Some people (tal-pepe ta) go as far as getting a loan to travel – imbasta they keep up appearances.
[Daphne – Your point being what, exactly? That Joseph and Michelle have the financial skills and chav attitudes of people who need to keep up appearances?]
In British English, it’s called petrol.
My car cost me lm1600 and I paid for it through summer jobs. I never took a loan in my life and I can only thank Dr.Gonzi for that, because Dr. Sant wanted to replace them with loans and put us in debt, just because we weren’t in the korpi tax-xoghol.
What a far cry from EUR60,000, and if you’ve ever been to the university campus you’d realize that only one out of 10 cars in between the blue lines (student parking) are expensive and the others are either new cheap imports or cheap 1-litre 1990-1999 hatchbacks.
Not to mention there are 10,000 students and only 1,000 parking spaces. so one in 10 students has a car. and 1 in 10 of those students have rich parents.
So you tell us we’re keeping up appearances, because 100 of us come from rich parents?
U morru ixxejru ja qatta champagne socialists li inthom.
At least we don’t dream all day; we’re capitalists. When I see a nice car I don’t get green with jealousy and go crying to Joseph (while he buys EUR60,000 worth of cars behind my back).
Anzi I do my best to aspire to that level, but some people have no self-confidence so they just aim to screw everybody over.
Champagne socialists are the new craze in modern hypocrisy – you know, fight for an equal spread of money, bang on to the government for spending too much money, and then behind everybody’s back buy Sicilian farm houses and EUR60 000 worth of cars.
To me that’s the biggest insult a socialist can make: show how he’s supposedly more equal than others.
H P Baxxter – Maybe they’re full of hot air.
Mary, Lorrie wiehed kien hawn, li l-bicca l-kbira tan-nies ghandhom issemmu sal-llum, u mhux f’sens pregjattiv; il-Prim Ministru taghna nafuh bhala “Lawrence Gonzi”, jew, almenu, bhala “Gonzi”.
Lorry Sant?
You forget something. This paladin of the proletariat built his house in 1998. To show off his status, and to set an example to the many who gripe and groan about water bills, this horsehair wearing socialist also built a nice pool. I’m sure its not a duckpond. What a lifestyle. An Alfa Romeo, a Kia Sportage worth a total of 25,758 of our old liri……God knows what else he has to keep up with the Joneses. If his heart beats so strongly for those who cannot pay their bills, maybe he should have sold his cars at least, the money would have employed three to four working families alone. Or maybe he bought them on HP? He can’t say that he didn’t enjoy the EU gravy.
There is something called integrity. The PM has it in spades, and it’s apparent that the leader of the Labour Party doesn’t even know the word exists, let alone its meaning.
Shallow doesn’t even begin to describe him
Charlie, I don’t think Joseph Muscat made such a “promising” showing as you claim: he was his usual self-righteous and indignantly wide-eyed self. On occasion, both Bondi and the PM sounded like parents trying to talk some sense into a recalcitrant teenager who kept repeating himself defiantly (e.g. the Perici Calascione case, EU funds, the health system, Edward Scicluna’s statement, the alternative energy report and even his own voting record in the EP).
In short, I don’t think he managed to convince anyone who wasn’t already a staunch Labour supporter.
In five years Joseph Muscat earned about EUR420,000.
One also must take into consideration that he had free accommodation paid by us Europeans. Therefore he only had to pay for his food and the taxes.
That’s why he could buy such an expensive car. If he had stayed on and was elected again in five years time he will have become a millionaire.
That’s why many want to be elected and that’s why they are doing all they can such as Sharon tal-Vapur who if elected will earn money given to her by the Eu which she loves dearly.
Watching Joseph’s performance on Bondiplus convinced me even further how unprepared he is for the role of leader of the opposition. Just the thought that this man can be our next PM in 4 years time send shivers down my spine. Just add Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela to the mix and….well, I’d better stop!
How socialist is the Labour Party really? I’m genuinely curious. I voted for social democrats in Sweden for quite a few years (at least until I left), but the socialist tendencies of that party are, for lack of a better phrase, not very hardcore. It stands for distribution of wealth, but allows for quite a high degree of capitalism, something which is very obvious in latter years. It was never the same after Olof Palme (whose death I, regrettably, remember most due to the cancellation of my Saturday morning cartoon on the day he was shot).
Personally, I don’t have a problem with a leader, socialist or not, living a comfortable life. EUR60,000 for two cars is really not a big deal (and believe me, I say this despite not being remotely close to affording that myself). Most western leaders tend to travel by private jets, having their own chauffeurs and spending the time with their jet-setting European counterparts most of the time nowadays. I prefer a socialist leader getting a taste for capitalism… Perhaps it can corrupt him enough to actually change him for the better.
What a breath of fresh air! It has to take a non national to show a modicum of common sense. We are such a tribal nation.
Pat, I don’t know about Swedish socialists but those in Malta have always practised state capitalism so it is not as if they need to develop a taste for it. Moreover, although there are some notable exceptions, most socialist politicians traditionally become quite rich, not through hard work, as someone here suggested, but because of their political connections.
Presumably, Swedish socialists do not make a career out of ranting about the working class and inciting against those who are better-off than average (it is probably more a communist thing). Ours do just that and their image suffers when they are outed as being themselves nouveau riche and splashing out on luxuries like children who have just received their pocket money and find themselves in the sweet-shop.
“Presumably, Swedish socialists do not make a career out of ranting about the working class and inciting against those who are better-off than average”
Actually yes, they do. Wealth is something kept quite discreetly in Sweden (with some obvious exceptions). It’s not something you would hear from a politician though. I definitely have some quite strong socialist tendencies myself, levelled classes through taxation, strong welfare systems, free eduction, free healthcare, good social nets etc but in Sweden those have come about through a combination of socialist values and capitalist thinking. Some smart guys a long time ago figured out that if all those social services should be free someone still has to foot the bill and I think most communist regimes have shown that the accumulation of strong finances is not one of their abilities.
@Antoine
I’m definitely not a staunch Labour supporter. And I’m prettty sure that I am going to vote PN in this election. But he did manage to convince me.
You have to take things into perspective. He was live on national tv with a very sharp Prime Minister and a very tough openly-Nationalist ‘journalist’. I mean, Bondi had clearly gone out of his way to find things that would look bad on Joseph (such as the Edward Scicluna clip) – but Joseph did not complain about the programme being biased (not once). And the only time he got angry, was when he said that it was not fair that the PN implied that he was in favour of abortion.
And WHATEVER Gonzi said, Joseph had a quick rebuttal. He even managed to snake himself out of the awkward Perici Calascione incident and the Edward Scicluna clip, without looking too worried.
I am not judging who is the better politician here. I’m simply saying that Joseph has presented himself as a formidable leader of the Opposition. And PN needs to get their act together now, rather than going on about how immature and invalid he is.
@Daphne – thanks for refreshing my memory re: Alfred Sant. I concede this argument. But I do urge you to watch Bondi+ online and tell me whether you agree with me about Joseph having improved his debating skills to a very decent level.
[Daphne – To be honest, Charlie, what I thought when watching the bit I did was not how much his skills have improved, but that he was behaving in EXACTLY the same way as he used to do when he was a Super One reporter interviewing the prime minister – Fenech Adami at the time – before the referendum. He hasn’t improved his skills. He has stopped trying to be a statesmanlike politician and gone back to being a Super One hack, down to heckling the prime minister and talking over him. Basically, he’s just found his own level, that’s all, and is doing what he’s best at. Yesterday’s performance – again, the bit I saw – was of a Super One reporter, not a potential prime minister. And I really didn’t like the way the prime minister looked sick with exhaustion. It’s very worrying, and I have to say it must be really depressing for him to have to deal with a counterpart like that, rather than with his equal, after a long day of terrible problems – especially when you know that your opposite number is having a relaxing time doing almost nothing.]
I’m sorry but this article is sheer bile and a whole barrage of stereotypes – this coming from a fiercely non-Labour supporter.
Some of those much maligned “champagne socialists”, as Joseph Muscat, earn good money (good luck to them). If they want to flash them around, let them do it – why not?
[Daphne – Here’s another one who doesn’t get it. So I’m going to spell it out again: a politician’s message, especially in a village like Malta, has to be consonant with his way of life. A politician who says that life in Malta is hard cannot spend EUR60,000 on cars and go around with a deputy leader who has a second home in Sicily. Muscat understands this very well, so I am surprised that you don’t. The reason he kept his car-spending hidden was precisely because he understood why, when he called a press conference to announce the VAT-back law suit, he couldn’t announce that he and Mrs Muscat were a party to it with expenditure of EUR60,000. He understands this for the same reason I do: we are both politically attuned, but differently, and we both come from media backgrounds. If you picture this scenario, you will have your explanation: Muscat calls a press conference; he announces that thousands of people are filing a law suit organised by the Labour Party, to get back the VAT that they paid on car registration tax. “I believe in this so much,” he says, “that my wife and I are a party to it. We, too, want to get our VAT back. We spent EUR60,000 on cars.” There is silence, as reporters digest this. That evening, Muscat’s spending goes out as the headline news on all media except Super One and Maltastar.com. His spending eclipses even the news of the law suit.]
MTL 26,000 is the equivalent of 5,6 or 7 year pay for a lot of people (not just most Labour supporters as you say), unless you wish to go with the 60s-time warped stereotype that Labour supporters are exploited proletariats crushed under the capitalist boot… please ….. I know several Nationalist supporters who fall squarely in that income bracket and yet won’t touch the Labour party with a stick.
[Daphne – I mentioned Labour supporters not because only Labour supporters are in that salary bracket. I mentioned Labour supporters because he’s the Labour leader. Nationalist supporters already think he’s a jerk.]
When you personally, as you publicly claim were struggling to make a livelihood for yourself and for your family in the 1980s, I don’t think for a second that you saw Labour membership as the only viable option and the nasty Nationalists flashing their money around as the devils incarnate? Quite the contrary…
[Daphne – In the 1980s, the only people flashing their money around were those who were in with the corrupt Labour government. Get your history straight. There wasn’t much they could flash anyway, because the country had had its back broken. Also, I come from an entrepreneurial background, and not from a family of people on wages and salaries. Hence, in my family the link between hard work, initiative and income is very strong. To me it comes naturally to work hard and earn little at the beginning, knowing that it’s not always going to be like that. I could never be on a salary. I like to have potential. It is precisely that mentality or the absence of it, and not money as such, that makes for the difference between people who gravitate towards Labour and those who gravitate towards the Nationalist Party. Those who gravitate towards Labour tend to believe that they are owed something by someone. And however high their aspirations may be, they are psychologically incapable of entrepreneurship. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but they prove the rule. Look at Muscat, with all his management training (or so he tells us). Can you see him building a business? No. I don’t think he can even survive in the private sector on a salary. He has actively sought out positions that will give him a comfortable life with none of those attendant problems, though of course, he’s not going to know what has hit him when he becomes prime minister.
There’s another point I wish to raise. Expensive cars are not one-off expenditure, but have huge running costs. Forget Muscat’s MEP salary. That’s gone. How much is he earning now? His wife is earning nothing. They have two babies. Every year, he has to find at least EUR7,000 to keep those two cars on the road, fully insured, road tax paid, tank filled, and serviced just once. Repairs are not included. Where is he getting the money? We should be told, especially by a party that makes a big thing of bribes, corruption and hand-outs.]
So should all low-income individuals automatically qualify as Labour supporters? Of course not. It’s the ideology and policies which rake the supporters and not your payslip.
Should these “champagne socialists” impugn their affiliation to the Labour party and/or keep a low profile just because they were successful? Do you automatically switch party allegiance when you get your Visa Gold or Platinium card (or when you are no longer eligible for one)? Socialists should drive what … trabants, yugos or ladas (skoda is a respectable brand these days)?
[Daphne – Look, stop beating about the bush and pretending you don’t understand. Spending EUR60,000 on cars is a very big deal in Malta. This is not London. It is especially a big deal when you are in your 30s, have a wife and two babies to support and are living on one fixed salary. It is an even bigger deal when every day you hit the newspapers with fresh whining about the cost of living. That kind of spending, when you are in that position, is not good for your image but bad for it. Now that Muscat has a free car as leader of the Opposition, he should sell his Alfa and make a gesture of donating the money to a fund for stricken workers, or pay a couple of electricity bills. Chance would be a fine thing.]
If you can afford “comfort creatures” (like cars – are they comfort creatures), can’t you empathize/feel solidarity with persons who are struggling to pay their utility bills, let alone comfort creatures? Can’t you try to apply politic pressures for and on behalf of individuals who are genuinely struggling to make ends meet?
[Daphne – In my experience, no, you can’t. Generally, the people most able to understand and to empathise with hardship are those who have endured it themselves at some point in their lives. Those who have never gone through financial hardship can never even begin to imagine what it means, and that is why people who have been wealthy and worry-free all their lives have a completely different mindset. They might give to charity, they might ‘help’, but they can’t feel the despair. Is there anything more ridiculous and pointless than a fundraising ball, for example? Why don’t those people just give their ticket-money straight to the cause, along with the cost of their dress, hairstyle, make-up and jewellery? I hate those things – they really rub me up the wrong way. And they’re creature comforts, not comfort creatures. A comfort creature would be, say, Joseph Muscat.]
Your comments would have been spot on had Joseph Muscat personally complained that he PERSONALLY cannot make ends meet because of his utility bills. Joseph Muscat can preach doom and gloom all day and the asinities of his arguments (several) exposed through logic, debate and statistics, certainly not through “but you’re well off, you bought new cars, so you can’t preach about utility bills of my behalf” – Huh?!
[Daphne – Huh, nothing, sir. Politicians need to operate by a different code of behaviour to anyone else, especially when they are socialists. Yes, I can sit here in my nice house and drive my nice car and stand up for the downtrodden and say that there should be more and better social services. That is because I am answerable to no one and to nothing except my editor. But you can rest assured that should I ever become leader of the socialist party, I would live a life as close to that of my constituents as possible. That’s what Eddie Fenech Adami did, and that’s what Lawrence Gonzi does, and that’s why they are respected. Eddie Fenech Adami was the man who built modern Malta. Can you imagine him spending money on flashy cars – except those imposed on him by the state – or upgrading to a swish villa with a pool and tennis courts and behaving like a chav who’s suddenly found himself in the money? No. And there you have your explanation. The trouble with Joseph and Michelle is that they’re chavs, pure and simple. Generally, I love chavs. I watch all the chav shows on television, including my current favourite, Goldplated on BBC, which is set among the newly rich in Manchester. It’s fabulous – and SO Joseph-Michelle-Jason.]
Furthermore, the application of VAT on cars is yes – illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory. Just because I may afford paying VAT on a car, does not mean I shall simply surrender payment thereof without a struggle. If my restaurant bill is overpriced, damn right, I shall contest it, however petty that overcharge may be.
[Daphne – That’s the difference between you and me. Our assessment of the important things in life is not the same. There is no way on earth I would spend money, time and energy in the vain hope that someday, after years of struggle in court, I might get EUR500. I would rather spend that money, time and energy on earning a fresh lot of EUR500.]
Heh, heh! Comfort creatures –> creature comforts –> comfort creature! Glad you picked that up Daphne, you saved me the bother!
Were they really cheap enough to put themselves on the party list, rather than paying for their own court case – making that the test case for everyone else’s?
Socialism and capitalism are two sides of the same coin. Some of the world’s richest people were ‘socialist’. Like John Lennon, for example. He used to call himself an “instinctive socialist”. After his death, they found 2 million sterling stashed in his accounts.
[Daphne – £2m is nothing. It would have been a hell of a lot more than that.]
Yes he looked ill….at ease.
[Daphne – No, Mary/Peppina, he looked ill with tiredness and worry. And the last thing he must have needed that evening was an argument with a jerk who’s never achieved anything in his life, except for himself, and yet tries to tell everyone else how to do their job.]
Dr Gonzi should have abstainted from attending then. He was not quick in his answers stuttered through most of them and i am sure he did not convince anyone new except his old faithful sheep. U should thank Lou Bondi for making a mountain out of a molehill about Joseph and Michelle cars to give you the opportunity for a topic to babble about.
[Daphne – Actually, within the space of a few hours, it’s shot almost to the top of the list of most active posts, which should tell you something, shouldn’t it? As for the prime minister not fulfilling his obligations just because he didn’t feel like it – that shows where you’re coming from, if you actually think it’s an option: the land where leaders of the opposition fail to turn up at state occasions like the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day or the presidential farewell dinner, just because they don’t feel like it and not because they’ve been run over by a car. Il-vera chavs. We all know that Queen Elizabeth is one of the world’s richest women, but even she is toning things down out of respect for those who are out of work. That’s because she’s not a chav.]
But he would not have abstained because he did not feel like it but because he was exhausted or wasn’t he?
[Daphne – People who are well brought up and well behaved make a point of fulfilling their obligations even when they are exhausted.]
Charlie, sorri ta hi, wata yu talken about. I beg to differ!
In confrontational exchange quick rebuttal is considered as originating from a sense of panic when the flight or fight mechanism kicks in. One thing was evident yesterday! If a nick name is to be found for Dr Muscat it should be Tangenziale. His answers to Bondi’s questions where mostly at a tangent to the subject!….as always
Daphne, check out Alan Deidun’s conservative comments on his Times Blog today. Are you still convinced that the PN is not a conservative party? Il-partit ta’ l-Azzjoni Kattolika sirtu.
[Daphne – It is not a conservative party. The trouble with narrow-minded people like you is that you use sex as a reference point for everything. Political philosophy is much wider than sex, and so are the policies that grow out of it. The Labour Party will not be made less conservative by something as ridiculous as a free vote on divorce, for example, because the vast bulk of its ‘policies’ and attitudes are intrinsically conservative and are driven by fear of change, most notably its attitude towards EU membership.]
I’m a complete amateur when it comes to Maltese politics, something which I’m sure you are very well aware of. But how can you claim that the nationalist’s are not conservative? Apart from allowing (I’m so tempted to say blessing) us to join the EU, which I admit would be proof to the contrary, how are their values not conservative? The liberalisation process that they have gone through with Sea Malta, parts of Enemalta, Central Bank etc doesn’t seem to have come about by their sheer good will, but by simply adhering slowly to the times. Their inability to distinguish themselves from catholicism, their constant fighting against opening up the borders…
My goodness, I got that far and I think I’m wrong. Damnit. I still think their social view (marriage, children, education etc) is quite desperately conservative, but bloody hell they are actually moving away from typical conservative values in many regards. The struggle to open up the borders (this is a very soar point for me, as I’m sure you can understand) is probably from pressure from the opposition to not do so. And they are privatising more and more organisations.
Maltese politics are insanely hard to get a grasp on I’ve realised. Where it’s documented – and this is rarely – it is mainly biased. Whoever you ask will give you a different opinion (I can find as many people finding Mintoff a godsend as people who would tear his eyes out). No wonder a humble Swede gets confused sometimes.
Pat, the PN is a Christian Democratic party, possibly the oldest one in Europe. It favours economic freedom and, concurrently, a welfare state; it supports laws to restrict personal freedom where this is seen to conflict with traditional moral (Catholic) values.
[Daphne – Mention one such law, apart from the clause in legislation on marriage, which states that if a couple marry by the Catholic rite, they cannot proceed to the law courts for a civil annulment if one party objects to this. Otherwise, the only examples I can think of are not laws but the absence of laws, and there are only two such such: divorce and civil partnerships for homosexual couples. It is becomingly increasingly obvious that the problem is not necessarily politicians of whatever stripe, but the people who vote for them. If you are in any doubt that there is more intolerance among electors than among their representatives, just look at the comments-boards on timesofmalta.com when it comes to stories on immigration and Muslims.]
You mean to say that yesterday the Prime Minister knew what he was saying. What about his promisess to everyone before the last General Elections.What about the increase in deficit and the high cost of living. Can you say that all is well like our Dear Gonzi. This is Malta Today, going to the rocks under the Nationalist Government.
[Daphne – This morning I interviewed a non-Maltese person who has lived here for 30 years, running a business. This is off the record, he said, and then proceeded to explain how he found the Maltese to be the most amazingly insular (well, of course – the word comes from the Latin for island), self-absorbed and self-centred people he has ever come across. ‘Here are these 400,000 people living on a rock the size of a 10 pence piece, and their sense of importance is just unbelievable,’ he said. I had to agree. Nobody looks outside and beyond. If you did that, you would see that we are in clover compared to what’s happening in neighbouring countries and not-so-neighbouring ones. Count yourself lucky. You could have been living in your car or in a tent in your parents’ garden.]
Sing to the tune of Innu tal Lejber (preferably in Michelle’s voice)
Jien u joe
Xtrajna karozza
Izda l – poplu m’ghadnielux
Jekk jindunaw
kemm infaqna
Nibzaw li ma jivvutawlux
Daphne, I’m astonished how easily you get scandalized when it comes to matters concerning Dr. Muscats’ personal life as opposed to matters dealt with by Dr. Gonzi (Prime Minister) which concern the Maltese population.
N.B. Bondi Plus was a 1 hour 30 minute program and not just 10 minutes.
[Daphne – Leaders of political parties don’t have personal lives. Giving up your personal life goes with the territory. Every single decision you make is – or should be, unless you keep it hidden like this business about the cars – open to public scrutiny. It is not his spending on cars that ‘scandalised’ me – nothing scandalises me – but his unbelievable stupidity in (1) going on that law suit list not because he wanted to lead by example but because he wanted his money back, and saying so on prime-time television, and (2) understanding that revealing how much he spent on cars would be a political embarrassment, and trying to keep it hidden, instead of staying off the list altogether, because somebody was bound to read it and somebody did. The devil is in the detail, they say, and it is these things which reveal whether a person has political skills or not. A consummate politician would have stayed off the list, unless he had a normal car bought at a normal price to put on it. It’s the behavioural element which interests me.]
Mur oqghod b’ilsienek li kieku Joseph Muscat kellu c-cans jidhol fil-kawza li qed imexxi l-Partit tieghu u ma kienx jidhol. Kemm kont thambaq li l-anqas hu stess m’hu qed jemmen fil-kawza li qed jaghmel. U ghalfejn dan l-istaghgib kollu ghax huwa u l-mara xtraw zewg karozzi, meta fuq kollox kien ghadu mhux mexxej tal-PL. Li kien jaf li kien se jsir mexxej l-anqas kien jixtriha tieghu ghax kien ikollu l-karozza ta’ Kap tal-Oppozizzjoni!! U fuq il-karozzi lussuzi, staqsi ftit li siehbek tal-Jaguar li ghandu mit-taxxi tieghek u tieghi!
[Daphne – Habib, bhala mexxej tal-oppozizzjoni, Muscat ghandu karozza minn fuq darek ukoll. U xorta wahda baqa jzomm il-karozza Alfa li kien xtara, ghax daqshekk ghandu flus biex jarmi bhala mexxej tal-oppozizzjoni fuq salarju fiss.]
I am sorry to admit it, but Gonzi looked jaded and sad, and even his body language wasn’t the same as we have come to know him. I think Muscat sensed this and this galvanised him and gave him the confidence to avoid any poisoned arrows. Pity that Bondi did not have the clip about Perici Calascione which belies Muscat’s opinion; as it is, he had the last word and turned it to his advantage. The question of spending on cars is not a big issue; there is no more capitalist than a well-off socialist. GonziPN might have worked for the last General Election, but it is clear that Gonzi needs much more seasoned people around him than his current team.
Agreed Daphne, our man is working too hard. The A-hole was lacking in the one quality he’ll never nurture i.e dignity.
As you so rightly wrote, he has regressed and went back to his roots, a pompous condescending Super One reporter, and a bad one at that.
He should have emulated the Queen to show that he is in tune with his people.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5205429/Queen-orders-low-key-birthday-party-due-to-recession.html
Yep, she even gets her specs from the NHS
To me the failure of Joseph Muscat to accept that the PL had edited Perici Calascione’s words to make them mean the opposite is enough proof that he is not politically honest.
What a bunch of idiots…..you seem to think that only nationalists have the right to have decent cars (an alpha and a kia are certainly not considered luxury cars!!). Being a socialist is not like being a franciscan priest, there is no vow of poverty. Warren Buffett, George Soros and Bill Gates though filthy rich are still philatropist and talk a great deal about ending world poverty. Being well-off and still worrying about the less fortunate is commendable.
I’m reading for a PhD….but am still disgusted at the high rates of illiteracy in Malta.
[Daphne – Hilarious. ‘I’m reading for a PhD’ – you people are such damned walking, talking cliches.]
I send my children to a private school, but I’m still appalled by the state of our government schools.
I haven’t felt the slightest pinch in my finances with the new electricity tariffs….but I can still feel sorry about a cleaner at work who is not managing to make ends meet!
Daphne, you speak against racial prejudice, but then the hatred you show against anyone who is a labourite is AS disgusting.
Imagine what you would say if someone said “rajt iswed isuq BMW x’arukaza!”. But as long as it is Joseph Muscat…..then it’s “missu jisthi”.
Grow up Daphne….get a life!!!
[Daphne – You don’t sound much like somebody reading for a PhD to me. Or is that racial prejudice, too? So amusing. Kemm toqomsu minhabba l-karozzi ta’ Joseph u Michelle. Mamma mia.]
Permanent Head Damage
Jason Callus – Tinsiex tavzana meta tilhaq; l-anqas iggib “boxed advert” fit-‘Times of Malta’ fejn jikkongratulawk il-familja kolla, inkluz il-kunjata u l-kelb.
Emmy is reading for a PhD, he said it I believe on TimesofMalta.
I WILL INTERRUPT MY READING OF PHD TO BRING TO YOU MY VERY IMPORTANT OPINION COS IM READING FOR A PHD . CHAMALEON HUES OF DELIGHT BLA BLA BLA *sniffs farts*
Kemm ma nistax ghalik Daphne haha. You are so painfully predictable.
[Daphne – That’s all right. I am not in the business of being liked. I can’t stand being bothered by other people, still less trying to please them. Wasn’t it Sartre who said that hell is other people? I agree, and have always done.]
Lm26,000, that’s Lm13,000 each for the couple. Not extravagant when you consider there are teenagers in University with more expensive cars.
[Daphne – Well, that’s proof of how much life has changed, isn’t it, when people like you come along and say that for a couple in their 30s, with one income and two babies, to spend Lm26,000 on cars is “not extravagant”. You should be asking whether it is even possible – buying them, yes, with his MEP’s salary. But running them, at a cost of EUR7,000 at least every year? On one fixed salary as leader of the opposition? I don’t think so, honey. You’d better start looking at where that money is coming from, unless he’s one of those Sunday driver types who keeps his karozza fil-GERIGG. Hallina.]
I think he proved his disinterest [Daphne – You mean lack of interest. Disinterested and uninterested mean two different things altogether] towards li ‘jerda’ l-flus when he resigned from the lucrative MEP seat to serve as party leader. He didn’t have to buy a second hand Fiat Uno to show his commitment.
[Daphne – Ma, kemm ma tifimhx l-isikologija tan-nies! Joseph and Michelle Muscat chose between the high salary but low prestige and lack of power and significance of being an MEP, and the low salary but high prestige, high power and high significance of being prime minister of an EU member state. They chose the latter – obviously. And he made a point of telling us it was they – ‘Iddecidejna’ – Hilary and Bill. He didn’t give up his European Parliament seat to become party leader. He gave it up to become prime minister. He said so himself, not that I needed telling.]
The ‘wicc tost’ is the government that was okay with hiking up electricity/water prices while buying brand new Beamers and Jaguars for its ministers.
Imma obviously common sense is lost on you Daphne. Cue the aggressive response:
[Daphne – Aggression is actually what you and your ilk are displaying towards me on my own blog. I, on the other hand, am curt and impatient and notoriously so. I have never suffered fools gladly, and am not about to start now.]
Yes you are right….I don’t sound…or look like someone reading for a PhD…..but I am….Unversities these days accept even people like me.
Mind you, I don’t think a PhD makes you any special……but I can still be a bit mad at PN for (after 20 years in government) still ending up with a bunch of illiterates at school leaving age!
And you should be fuming too Daphne…….
p.s. Int l-ewwel wahda li qmost Daphne…..fuq zewg karozzi tal-qamel Daphne!!! You probably wouldn’t be seen dead in a Kia!! But I like Alfas…imma isaddu malajr skond missieri.
Those illiterates probably make fun of you behind your back.
Who do you think is the Maltese EU hopeful?
http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/lagom/2009/05/26/a-brush-with-maltese-politics/
[Daphne – If you scroll down, you’ll find your answer on the comment-board: “That is Ms. Mary Gauci from Libertas EU you met with. Their motto is: “”Libertas stands for democracy, transparency and accountability at the heart of the European Union. Libertas is an effective new way of doing European politics.”]
I am really curious to know what PhD Jason Callus is reading…..maybe in Reverse Logic!
Explain the reverse logic in my argument please.
@ Daphne
So your reasoning is that if you preach doom and gloom, you should be driving a rusty Trabant.
[Daphne – There are degrees of difference between an Alfa Romeo and a rusty Trabant. It’s not either one or the other.]
If you have a slightly better ride, you are being inconsistent.
[Daphne – No, I am entirely consistent. I am not the leader of the opposition, I am not on a fixed salary, I am not a socialist, and I do not preach gloom and doom but, on the contrary, keep reminding people that they should thank their lucky stars they’re not living in Britain. I also keep reminding them that they should thank their lucky stars they’re not living in Malta circa 1985.]
Nothing but an ascetic existence, deprived of even the mildest pleasures of life will do, if you are a political figure and a Labour leader at that.
[Daphne – Oh not at all. But do remember that Blair was mocked and reviled, and continues to be, for his dependence on the trappings of luxury – precisely because he was leader of the Labour Party. David Cameron is probably even wealthier and has even more trappings, but he doesn’t come across as hungry for the good things in life, and he goes to work on a bike to back up his words about traffic congestion and pollution. It’s all to do with deprivation, unfortunately. When people are deprived of the good things in life in their early years, they become extra-hungry for them and it shows. Blair wasn’t deprived, but his wife was, and that’s where the trouble lay. David and Samantha Cameron, on the other hand, both come from very privileged backgrounds, and it shows, too. The trouble with Joseph and Michelle is that they are both very hungry, and it is becoming increasingly obvious.]
You need to dress drably as if you were an escapee from East Germany and your greatest perk is a “Dezerta” Chocolate (or a burger meal in Sicily) which you munch away secretly on your birthday.
[Daphne – It is possible to dress well for relatively little money, as Michelle Obama repeatedly proves. It is also possible to dress very badly for lots of money, as Michelle Muscat repeatedly proves.]
Hardly. I find this view very superficial. Do you need any reminding of politicians, who whilst professing a life of restraint and erecting a facade of asceticism, squirrelled money out of the country (a few spring to mind) and bled it dry?
[Daphne – Dom Mintoff was another hungry and deprived man, but he did not belong to the yuppie age. Hence his hunger manifested itself in Scrooge-like miserliness and the avaricious hoarding of cash. That, too, was undesirable. The best way is the way our current prime minister and his immediate predecessor handle it: no obsessive scrimping and making stupid points, like Sant, no flashy spending like Muscat, and no Scrooge-like behaviour like Mintoff. Just normal, well-balanced thrift and good management.]
I also don’t think that Joseph Muscat is flashing his money about. If that is your perception of automobile luxury is an Alfa and a KIA, you need a rethink.
[Daphne – It is not the car-models which are a luxury, but the fact that a couple in their early 30s, only one of them in work, and with infant twins, can spend EUR60,000 without thinking about it, or even without thinking about how they are going to find the EUR7,000 a year to run them. As I said earlier, if we have reached the point where young families can spend almost Lm30,000 on cars and not blink, and then people like you come out of the woodwork to say that it’s not exceptional or worth remarking on, then this country really has it good, whatever Muscat might say.]
My perception of Mr. Joseph Muscat is unchanged. I dismiss him for other reasons, (certainly not based on something so superficial as his decision to drive an Alfa… )
Now, let us scroll back to 1998. PN is in the opposition and this time it is the PN who are baying about the draconian and oppressive utility bills which are stifling the nation’s livelihood. I can’t remember anyone pointing fingers at Eddie Fenech Adami and calling him callous, detached and inconsistent, simply because in the wake of that alleged economic turmoil, he had a holiday flat in Bugibba! Ergo, should the same “logic” apply to Joseph Muscat because he drives an Alfa? – hardly.
[Daphne – It is precisely because he had a holiday hole, not flat, in Bugibba that nobody criticised him. His behaviour was always exemplary and, I repeat, he never came across as hungry and avaricious. The Muscats come across as The Hoovers: sucking up everything that comes their way, and wanting more.]
I find the belief that you can only be a true Labour supporter if you are a broke, miserable “miskin” troubling and sickening.
[Daphne – Who is saying that? No one is. Mine is an argument for good manners and sensitivity in a political leader. Leaders should be leaders, and that includes setting an example and showing respect for the feelings of those they lead. If your people are starving in the streets, don’t ride past in your horse-drawn carriage eating caviar – even if you can afford it – for the sake of keeping your head rather than leaving it beneath the guillotine, if nothing else.]
Sure, Labour supporters in the past and to a lesser degree today, relished and nurtured this “miskin” – Oliver-twist-forlorn-stray-image so jealously that factions of the middle-class simply felt unwelcome and others were too ashamed to be associated with Labour – little room for that today.
Likewise, however, I find it equally troubling and disturbing that the moment a Labour supporter ventures into an alleged “luxury territory” and is seen as flashing his money, he is accused of inconsistancy and hypocrisy. Bad taste, lack of tact perhaps, but inconsistancy?
[Daphne – It is not only Labour politicians who face those accusations, sir. Nationalist politicians do, too. If they didn’t, the Labour Party would have a hard time filling its newspapers.]
What about past/present Nationalist MPs who owned / own private cars (more expensive than Alfas) presumably, you would classify the latter as “entrepreneurial”, I suppose…
[Daphne – No, I think that what they do is up to them if they earned the money from the private sector – legally, that is. We are talking about party leaders here. John Attard Montalto drives a Mercedes sport car with a JAM plate, for example, and neither I nor anyone else has ever thought it worthy of mentioning. Remember – leaders lead.]
“John Attard Montalto drives a Mercedes sport car with a JAM plate, for example, and neither I nor anyone else has ever thought it worthy of mentioning.”
John Attard Montalto sinjur minn daru, sa’ fejn naf jiena. I also think that he owned the Mercedes way before we even joined the EU.
What is hilarious, however, is the fact that wife number 1 also had (and presumably still has) a personalised plate, which was something like DAM777.
Blair the chav:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-315020/Blair-really-chav.html
Daphne, a few years ago the Labour Party made a big hullabaloo about your income. Never mind that you’re a private person and work for a living, your supposed earnings were all over the Labour media. I can’t remember what was the reason and whether Joseph Muscat was involved but, as I recall, they even calculated how much you earned per minute!
It is so ironic that those who pretended to be scandalised about your income should now be unquestioningly defending Joseph Muscat’s right to be wealthy.
[Daphne – The worst of it was that it was false. They took my hourly rate for a fixed-term project and extrapolated from that for every minute of every working day for a whole year. It was, incidentally, the communications campaign in the run-up to the EU referendum, and it was a bargain at the price because most of my work was done pro bono given that I was prepared to pack up the family and leave the country if the No vote won.]
OK, so the brains at Dar Centrali have let out their first “colpo di scena”. The socialist leader (who is presumably expected to run around wearing a sack, sandals and a big walking stick, Moses style, ride a donkey and live in a cave) has spent EUR60,000 on cars! But wait a second? Did he steal this money? Is this money not his? Aren’t the earnings of MEPs public knowledge? Don’t we know how much ALL MEPs earn? As far as I know MEPs (and MPs) have to give a public account of their wealth regularly. In any case, we know that MEPs have quite a hefty salary, much much more in fact than the sum mentioned. What is exactly Joseph Muscat’s sin here? Do you mean that he should rather have kept the money in a bank? Or spent them on curtains? Or what?
[Daphne – His ‘sin’, if you wish to put it that way, is allowing his hunger and greed to overwhelm his better judgement. Unless, of course, he was stupid to start with.]
The whole argument can be in fact reversed. So this Muscat who can afford EUR60,000 worth of cars (probably per year) decides to give up his seat and certain re-election and the gravy-train in Brussels and instead take on the “lowly” task of Leader of the Opposition. This in itself is a clear indication that this guy means business.
[Daphne – Read my reply to somebody else who said just that. Michelle and Joseph were faced with a choice: a seat in the European Parliament at a high salary, but with low prestige, no power and hardly any significance. Or prime minister of an EU member state at a lowish salary, but with high prestige, all the power he wants, and plenty of significance. The money didn’t even begin to come into it. Why be the lowly MEP of an EU member state when you can be its prime minister?]
I have not been a fan of JM in the first months, and I still believe he has to prove himself as he still needs to face some fire – but this guy is growing.
[Daphne – Albert, you’re a frigging Labour die-hard for heaven’s sake.]
And of course BondiPlus gave another proof of itself as being part and parcel of PN strategy. In fact it’s now become so obvious and predictable, no one bothers even to claim otherwise. In the light of this, full marks go to JM for his ability in playing away.
[Daphne – What, is this blog part of the PN strategy too? Say that, and you’ll find yourself in court. People have political opinions, Albert, and they’re free to express them.]
Albert Farrugia finds it hard to accept that people are unafraid to express their opinion openly without any ulterior motive.
Are you the Albert Farrugia of the Xirka Gustizzja Socjali fame when you were at University?
So what did you people think of the bit where Muscat led Gonzi into a categorical denial that he was going to introduce payment for health services and then whipped out a gov/cabinet report showing that Gonzi was lying?
I thought it was priceless.
[Daphne – Been there, done that in the general election campaign last year. Sant did the same thing. A consultant’s report that recommends payment for health services is not the same thing as government policy to introduce payment for health services. But Muscat is like every other Labour leader before him: he manipulates the ignorant and the gullible. What’s priceless is that you believe his crap and can’t tell the difference between a recommendation and policy. if somebody recommends that I change all the furniture at home, it doesn’t follow that I’m going to do so.]
Adrian Borg, wjhat you said is completely untrue. The Perici Calascione quote was not edited in any way whatsoever.
Listen to the whole thing on the PN site itself and you will see.
So are you saying that by playing part of what Perici Calascione said and not the full clip the PL did not change around the meaning of what he was saying?
For me one thing really hurts about Labour nagging about poverty and so on. I come from the south of Malta and we literally fought in the eighties to have democracy and all the choices of today, being university, E.U and so on.
Joseph Muscat and the likes are enjoying the fruit of our sacrifices; God forbid if Labour came to power in 1987 as we were all marked at that time.
Fl-eighties kont tixtri EUR60,000 karozzi! Lanqas biex tahsel sninek ma kien hawn, avolja bla cikkulata ma tantx kont thammieghom.
Hey David you remember the eighties then? Being from the south do you remember any power stations being built next to your doorstep, or incinerators or recycling plants or camp zones at Hal Far full of illegal immigrants or fish farms in Marsaxlokk and Marsascala leaving us nowhere to swim?? Do you know that people from, the south suffer more of asthma than others living elsewhere because of these environmental hazards? This is all the fruit of our present administration who imposed all this on us – without any choice whatsever. Where is the choice and Is this true democracy??
Mary, what is the point of your whinge? You have all those things in the south and you also have the PM living there, near the incinerators, fish farms, recycling plant etc (I refuse to list the immigrants as one of the inconveniences). His family lives like all the other families in the southern part of Malta and shares their space so it is malicious to imply that he has imposed all this on you.
Antoine who cares if the prime minister lives in the area. , if he decides he is happy iliving next to this horrible environment, it does not mean that the rest of the south has to be happy too.
Mary, it’s a free country and you can be unhappy if you prefer it that way but your favourite mood has no political relevance.
Mela mhux bhali ghax aktar ma naqra l-artikli tieghek iktar insir nammirak.
Kemm nixtieq li tidhol b`mod dirett fil partit Nazzjonalista .
Il-Bambin mieghek u mal familja kollha.
Keep it up
I usually enjoy your articles but I think this one is nonsense. I don’t think it’s anyone’s business how Joseph Muscat and his wife spend their money or whether they spend it wisely even though they are public figures. It’s their money after all, it’s not from taxes.
[Daphne – Sigh. The Leader of the Opposition can’t do whatever he pleases, with his own money or not. That money comes from the taxpayer. If Muscat and Michelle think it is wise to say ‘Here, we took your taxes and spent them lavishly on ourselves while those who paid the taxes can’t pay their bills,’ then they are even more stupid than I thought. Where do you think MEPs’ salaries come from? The Leader of the Opposition’s salary? A giant pot in the North Sea, which brews up money?]
Why should anyone discuss whether he can afford running costs! Maybe he should have declared his intention to be a party to the lawsuit that would have saved him some embarrassment.
[Daphne – Are you serious? ‘Why should anyone discuss whether he can afford running costs!’ Because the man is on the public pay-roll. It is a matter of public interest if he is seen to be running two cars at an annual cost of at least EUR7,000 – without repairs – when his salary is only X. I’ll find out exactly how much he earns when offices open tomorrow, and then work out for yourself whether he can afford those cars. Affording a car doesn’t mean only buying it. It mainly means running it.]
People with his mentality often aspire to “possess” life’s little luxuries, expecting to maintain them with freebies, naqa’ discount l’hawn u naqa’ discount l’hemm. They fail to acknowledge that affording something means affording not only the initial outlay, but also the running costs – For example, with a boat, expenses would include insurance, mooring costs, fuel, etc at the very least..
For this MEP election the Labour Party is choosing to hit at Gonzi for one sole reason: its performance in the Euro-parliament is abysmal.
It’s immaterial if Joseph buys a fuel-guzzler and Gonzi asks us to pay through our nose. We will see about these things in four years’ time.
I want to know what input Labour MEPs gave in the resolutions regarding, for example, illegal immigration. It is useless if Joseph barks here about the 20 points on immigration, and the Labour MEPs do not lobby about them in the Socialist group; the two PN MEPs propose and vote on obliged burden-sharing, and the Labour MEPs wonder what hit them.
How did the PES group vote on this issue?
Can you please tell me who as an Maltesec MEP lodged a complaint in the EU and reduced the satellite tax, the departure tax from Malta, the St Luke’s incinerator and the roaming charges of your mobiles?????
[Daphne – It wasn’t JAM, Louis Grech and Joseph Muscat, that’s for sure!!!!!!!????????????!!!!!!!! Don’t believe the hype.]
Mary, like in maths you have to prove it. Like many Maltese voters I have been observing our MEPs a lot in these last five years. Louis Grech was the one who did some real work, while Joseph was studying a language (French?) and reading for his doctorate at Bristol University while riding the gravy train with globe-trotter John Attard Montalto.
http://jonathanbrink.com/2009/05/20/a-must-watch-3/
Switched on, like most retired and serving members of the armed forces.
The dumb blonde, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, is ABC’s own Daphne. ‘The View’ is New York’s answer to Gloria Mizzi. Their ‘controversial’ guest, Jesse Ventura, is a former governor of Minnesota and he’s one of those ‘kooks’ who don’t believe all that the US government says.
Speaking of opportunists jumping on the EU gravy train, here’s kev who doesn’t believe anything Washington says unless he hears it from Pyongyang.
Brilliant… I have seen the view a couple of times before and it never fails to irritate me. Whoopi Goldberg used to be a regular (still is?) and she was always a lightyear ahead of the other three sandbags. Unbelievably stupid show. Remember that this is the show where one of the hosts in all honesty didn’t know if the world was flat or round because she simply never thought about it.
Christopher Hitchens being waterboarded:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808
What if the court case filed by the Labour Party regarding vat on cars is lined up for hearing by Marlene Mizzi’s husband?
[Daphne – He should abstain.]
Ok Daphne, you said consummate politician….. I guess you consider Dr. Ninu Zammit as such a politician…..he did though apply for compensation (and what compensation) when the government requisitioned his property!
My father though, being a simple taxpayer didn’t even get 1% of the value of his property when it was requisitioned. I guess you call that ethical fairness.
[Daphne – That’s a separate issue. Don’t mix apples with oranges.]
And what about Dr. Louis Galea the part-time farmer who applies for state aid.
[Daphne – He didn’t apply for state aid. He applied for permission to build – still wrong, but again, apples and oranges.]
The list is endless and it could include Dr. Muscat as well but at least do mention persons or instances related to persons from the other end of the spectrum.
[Daphne – No. I am discussing party leaders here, not MPs or ministers. If I wanted to discuss the wealth of ministers and ex ministers, I wouldn’t know where to begin. But I’m not interested, because it’s irrelevant, even though the wealthiest ones are in the Labour Party, including the shadow finance minister.]
I.M. Dingli, was your father’s house requisitioned to be turned into an MLP club, perhaps?
Kia Sportage… pretty bad taste in cars if you ask me.
I am not a supporter of Joseph Muscat but somebody HAS to talk about the high cost of living and high electricity bills. Most of the things here cost as much as in Britain, Germany etc.
In fact, some cost more. We have the worst roads and highest priced cars. The government is all hype and spin…touch and there is nothing! While things in this recession go down in price in other countries here they are going up…..are there cartels….has the government checked?
Alfa the poodle
http://www.redroom.com/blog/robert-sward/alfa-the-dog-–-a-work-progress-–-chapbook-animal-poems
The best things in life are free
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gzr1jhlcNc
“So what did you people think of the bit where Muscat led Gonzi into a categorical denial that he was going to introduce payment for health services and then whipped out a gov/cabinet report showing that Gonzi was lying? I thought it was priceless”
No, Ettore Bono, it was not ‘priceless’. It just showed how ‘worthless’ Joseph Muscat is in fulfilling his role as Leader of the Opposition, and it highlighted the serious consequences to Malta and its people that would result were he ever to be prime minister.
Were you as worried about Labour getting re-elected for a 4th time in 1987?
Gonzi is a first class debater, but yesterday was the first debate he lost in five years. He used to walk over Alfred Sant, Miriam Dalli and Joseph Muscat (the journalist); yesterday was a different matter. He was so bad that you had to pick on the a trivial matter like this. I am not fan of either, as you well know – but yesterday Poodle won – hands down.
[Daphne – Yes, Edward, now go back to bed.]
Ed, life in England must be pretty dull for you to still be so … ahem … interested in the nitty-gritty of local politics.
Nahseb Michelle faddlet il-flus meta kienet Brussel ghax skont hi, zewg carriers mis-supermarket kien jiswewa 70 euros !!!
quote :
” Joseph and myself lived for four and a half years in Brussels,” she said yesterday. “With just €70 we used to do our weekly shop – two loaded carriers. Here in Malta it is different. Maybe €70 would suffice for two or three days’ needs.” – maltatoday 13.05.09
veru foloz, veru ma jafux il-valur tal-flus x’inhu…il-bierah qal li ma jiftakarx kemm nefaq f’karozzi is-sena l-ohra… dan ifisser li dan ma hasshomx … viva l-labour !!!
“our weekly shop”
Oh Christ
[Daphne – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYZ3P3uBh80&feature=PlayList&p=BB57A8B0ADA4D115&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4 ]
I wonder what Alfie did with all those chillie peppers.
Kemm ghandna habta naghmlu l-politika b’mod vulgari. Apparti l-kontenut, hemm dik il-vulgarità, dak id-diskors tal-bottegin bid-dettalji tieghu elevat ghal diskors nazzjonali. Il-PN ibaghti minn dan il-vizzju wkoll, biex inkun car.
Don’t get so prissy, Baxxter.
Daphne,
I have to disagree with you on one point. Joseph (and Michelle) did not take our money. We pay taxes, and Joseph receives(d) his salary and perks like all other MEPs. I believe they all drive nice cars. There is nothing illegal or illicit there. Perhaps he chose to invest his earnings unwisely in two moderately expensive cars while others invested their earnings in property or other forms of investments. So be it and good luck to them.
[Daphne – This is so exhausting. People paid out of public funds are answerable to the public who pays them. That includes – especially – people in leadership positions. Besides being accountable, political leaders have to behave with sensitivity. Hence, when times are bad, they should dampen down their greed. The fact that something may be legal does not mean it is advisable for a party leader. Some things which are legal and which fall into that category: running around with other women; getting drunk; gambling; having criminals as friends; throwing money around…I’m sure you can add to it.]
This contribution appears to have turned many heads,with many new faces posting comments and reactions here.
You do have to admit though that your responses are not all that objective.
[Daphne – They are extremely objective. My assessment of the Labour Party and its leaders is based on objective analysis, not prejudice, which is why it turns out to be ahead of public perception. The fact that I don’t like Muscat does not make me less objective, just as the fact that I like Lawrence Gonzi does not make me less objective about him. I am perfectly able to assess where each is going wrong or right.]
And predictably, I can see one of the next PN posters/billboards, probably the last one prior to the vote involving an Alfa and a KIA with a picture of Michelle and Joseph with large words displayed stating something like this
Muscat xtara dawn bi flusek, imissu jisthi…
[Daphne – It won’t, because four years are a long time in politics and there will be other issues by then.]
Be careful in your recommendations. The campaign this time round appears to be sending all the wrong messages and it might just backfire.
[Daphne – I don’t make recommendations, except to the Labour Party, via this blog and my column.]
I was referring to the vote in two week’s time. Allahares in four year’s time inkunu ghadna qed niddiskutu l-alfa u l-KIA. They would cost less than €30k by then anyway. Besides to me this is a petty and pretty much a non issue. The rising unemployment is a real key issue. But this is your blog and you chose the topics and rightly so you prefer the more entertaining ones.
[Daphne – Not just the most entertaining, but also the most telling.]
Indeed you have a point there.
and he kept the nicer and more expensive car of the two for himself…
[Daphne – Prosit, hanini, my first thought exactly, but I didn’t want to point it out lest the anti-feminists jump down my throat again. Typical paternalism: the big car for the ragel and the lesser car for the mara, even though the mara has to cart the kids around and the shopping too. Dak ghax flusu avolja shab indaqs, u ghaliex hawn Malta r-ragel izjed importanti mill-mara. Jaqq.]
Stacey mhux isem “chav” ukoll?
[Daphne – Issa xi Tracy jonqos. Jew xi Tiffany jew Chardonnay.]
Daphne, the Kia Sportage is less expensive but bigger than the Alfa in question, so it’s the most suitable of the two for carting kids around and carrying shopping bags.
[Daphne – You can carry four kids and enough shopping for a fortnight in Muscat’s car, don’t be so ridiculous. There is no law that dictates ‘mummies’ have to drive tanks. I should know, given that I had one child more than the Muscats, and for many years they were a lot larger than infant girls. This is just the stereotype: mummy is desexed by a tank full of shopping and baby paraphernalia (and most of the time daddy is aware he’s doing it), while daddy is sexed up with an Alfa (and he’s aware he’s doing it).]
You are right, Daphne – thanks for reminding me. That’s at least twice that Gonzi was led into making categorical statements amd then faced with a report that showed he was lying.
Sad, isn’t it?
[Daphne – You have the mind of a chicken. Neither of those was a policy document – and I believe they were actually the same report. In my work as a communications consultant, I have written very many recommendation reports. They were my own views and they did not necessarily translate into action by the client. Let’s say one of my clients is faced with a Super One reporter waving a consultation report I have written, and shouting: ‘It says here you’re going to do X.’ And the company boss says: ‘No, we’re not going to do X. Daphne thinks we should and we don’t agree with her.’ End of story. The buck stops with the prime minister. If he says there is to be no payment for health services, there is to be no payment for health services. Yes, it’s sad that there are people around who have been to school and still think as you do.]
When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: ‘Whose?’
*** BREAKING NEWS (though 3 months old) ***
“M’ilux iddeċidejt li nitla’ Sqallija bil-karozza.Tal-lukanda staqsieni kemm konna se nkunu u jiena weġibtu: “Jiena, il-mara u l-karozza.” Biċ-ċajt ridt ngħidlu li llum biex iżżomm karozza qisu għandek membru ieħor tal-familja. Daqshekk jiġuk l-ispejjeż biex “tmantni” lill-karozza. L-ispejjeż huma enormi.”
http://toniabela.blogspot.com/2009/02/jien-il-mara-u-l-karozza.html
You are just parotting Gonzi’s face-saving excuse. It did not work for him and it isn’t working for you.
(PS: They are not the same report. The one we saw last Monday was commissioned after the elections)
Good night.
[Daphne – I’m not a Labour voter, sweetheart. I don’t parrot excuses. What can I say? From what he said on that clip, it looks like Edward Scicluna wrote the report. And Muscat nearly blew up when questioned about it. ‘That’s Edward Scicluna’s opinion, not the opinion of the Labour Party.’ Same difference.]
You seem to be totally confused, darling. The reference to Edward Scicluna was in a totally different context.
[Daphne – It wasn’t. I happened to be watching at the time. Edward Scicluna was explaining how, in his view, the state health service is untenable and cannot possibly remain free for all right across the board. In other words, Joseph Muscat’s consultant is of exactly the same view as Lawrence Gonzi’s consultant. And Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Gonzi reacted with indignation at the suggestion that this was their view also.]
Change of name, Amanda? Is it to match a new haircut, or what?
[Daphne – Nobody has ever called her Amanda except her teachers, at school. She uses her real name, unlike some people I know who hide behind the name of the poor sod who was persuaded to testify in court that he saw Lord Strickland flying across the room with other Freemasons.]
Who was the poor sod?
Darren: Ettore Bono aka Terinu.
Since I do not know her personally, I have no idea what you – or her teachers – called her.
But I do know that, since I have been following the blogs (about two months before the elections) she has been posting under the name of “Amanda”
Just wondered why the change ….
[Daphne – It’s not a change. One is her official name, the other the name used by most people. Another of my sisters has an official name and a familiar name, too. The only point that should concern you is that they use their real names, as I do, and unlike you – ‘Terinu’.]
Ettore Bono did not testify that he saw Lord Strickland flying across the room. He said that he saw Lord Strickland wearing the “apron” at a meeting of masons.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that he was probably telling the truth. It was (and still is) quite common for a British nobleman to join the masons (I believe Prince Charles is one – openly).
Of course, in the 1920/30s ultra-Catholic Malta, it would have been the political kiss-of-death.
“it would have been the political kiss-of-death” Right, in the 1920s. What’s your excuse in 2009?
As Daphne said, Amanda Mallia is my official name, and is the one I use when filling out forms, etc, which is why I started using the name on this blog.
On recently tidying up my PC (and hence deleting my browsing history, etc), I had to fill in my name again from scratch. When I next posted a comment; “Mandy” was what I typed without thinking this time round – not that I owe you any explanation, though.
Daphne: “And you can tell already that within a few years Joseph Muscat is going to be a most unattractive shape.”
I guess I’m not the only one who noticed that Joseph Muscat is putting on weight by the second.
[Daphne – I’ve just heard from one of his former classmates that his nickname at school was Il-Hanzir Roza, shortened to Il-Knorr (after that stylised pig on the Knorr packets).]
Gonzi on the other hand looked rather thin yesterday.
[Daphne – Yes, he looked terrible: all that spoiled and sulking whining on his side of the house, and then that pain-in-the-ass across the way.]
By the way – I love the reactions this article got – definitely one of the more interesting threads this blog has seen.
Daphne, there’s one thing you have to admit here. Even some of your loyal poodle-hating readers saw that JM had the edge over Gonzi in yesterday’s debate.
[Daphne – Been there, done that, seen it all. It’s just a repeat of the Sant scenario. Deja-vu.]
All I can say is that it seems we’re going to have a pretty interesting and toughly fought general election come 2013. Can’t wait to see what we’ll be discussing then!
[Daphne – Muscat will win and immediately fall flat on his face. It’s going to be a re-run of 1996, except that we’ll have no EU zero-sum-game and no Mintoff to rid us of him after 22 months.]
I just had to watch the whole clip yesterday night. Usual stuff plus Maltese bling advertising in Gaza-accented English. But I don’t think Gonzi looked terrible. He looked lean and serious and never once did his “Gonzi chuckle”. Excellent.
Talking about “all that spoiled and sulking whining on his side of the house” – what the hell is going on at Dar Centrali?? Everyone’s saying it’s in a state at the moment. Is Paul Borg Olivier that bad? Do you think he’ll be ousted after this election or? Would love a quick prediction from you the way you just gave re 2013 election.
[Daphne – Sorry, but you’re not going to get one.]
X’jiktbu tal-progressivi! Din tas-60,000 elf ewro donnha harqithom ftit imsieken.
Heqq, nimmagina li la huma ‘progressivi’ wkoll, anke huma ghandhom karozzi ta-60,000 ewro u vileggjatura go Sqallija! (Dak li nsiru nafu bih b’kumbinazzjoni, ghax il-Bambin BISS jaf x’ghandhom dawn il-progressivi).
Keep it up, Daphne.
Daphne,
Ara ftit din l-intervista mal-kanditat on the waiting list mal-PL. Specjalment meta tkellem rigward il-hlas tas-sahha! Morru fit-8:50 minuta u isimghuh lil dan il-kanditat tal-‘Progressivi’….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4y9wlOwjnc&feature=channel_page
Semmahielu l’Charlie l-progressiv’!
Charlie, what is so strange in the fact that a topic about a debate where the Prime Minister was shown to be lying generated a lot of interest?
[Daphne – The prime minister was not shown to be lying. Joseph Muscat was shown to be lying. Get your facts straight. And what’s generated a vast amount of interest is the fact that Joseph and Michelle thought nothing of spending Lm26,000 on cars, which means they either have so much money sloshing around they’re not counting it, or that their priorities as a one-income, two-baby family are right up their backside. It’s one of the hottest posts on this blog since the general election last year, and that should tell you something: that whether you like it or not, people instinctively understand that there’s something wrong here, however much they try to stick up for them. Lm26,000 as a down-payment on your flat – fine; it’s a necessity and an investment. Lm26,000 on new cars – not fine at that stage in life, because it indicates that you have either more money than you know what to do with (and questions will be asked about where you’re getting it), or you’re profligate.]
PS: Is there any way one can suggest topics for this blog? For example, I’m sure that some of the posters would just LOVE to discuss JPO, Mistra and his pre-election party.
[Daphne – Here’s my view on Mistra and Jeffrey’s party for Alex Perici Calascione. It’s his field and he can do what he likes with it. He’s not a minister; he’s not a party leader. If he wants to throw a party for a candidate at his house, he can. if he wants to throw a party for a candidate in his field, he can. The only reason he needs a permit is because it is advertised as a public event. If he wanted to throw the same party for 500 invited guests, he wouldn’t need a permit, no more than you or I need a permit to throw parties in our homes.]
Two weights and two measures.
If JPO (who may not be a minister or a party leader, but still an MP and, thus, subject to to much the same constraints) can do what he likes with “his field”, than Muscat can do what he likes with his money.
Apart from the fact, of course, that it’s not just any field. Being disingenuous will not work here.
[Daphne – A bit thick, aren’t you? I have spelled out already that we are discussing party leaders here. I am no more interested in Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s field than I am in John Attard Montalto’s cars, houses and cruises- except when he takes them while he’s supposed to be in the European Parliament, voting. I may be rather too practical for your liking, but the fact remains that, since there isn’t and won’t be – apparently – any permit for the development of that field, it is now just any old field, whether you like it or not. I, too, would have thrown a party there to stick two fingers up in the face of people like you. However, I would not have invited the prime minister. He has enough problems without being exposed to more of your sort of spite.]
If what you are saying is that MEPs – all MEPs – are grossly overpaid, you will find me in your corner, clapping and cheering.
If you want to imply, which is what you are doing basically, that Muscat, is doing something wrong in accepting the remuneration (which he did not fix) for a post to which he was elected in a free election, you are on your own.
[Daphne – Where have I said that he was wrong to be paid? I’m saying that (1) he’s politically stupid to find himself in a position where it was revealed that he spent that much on cars when claiming that people cannot cope with the cost of living, and (2) that the Muscats can’t for the running costs – at least EUR7,000 a year – on a single income as leader of the opposition, so questions have to be raised here. I have no problem with people being overpaid. I’m a capitalist. But I also know a bit about politics and public perception, and Muscat’s mistakes on this score are what interest me.]
And the fact that this particular topic generated a large number of replies reflects solely on the mentality of some of the posters.
[Daphne – No, it shows you that while I may not know much about car-engines, I know rather a lot about politics and public perception. I said that Joseph Muscat kept his car expenditure ‘hidden’ because he knew it would not play well with the electorate, and I was right – as was he. Of course, he couldn’t overcome his greed in trying to get his tax back, and that’s what did for him. I would have advised him to buy a very ordinary car and include that on the list, sell his Alfa and stick to the Leader of the Opposition’s freebie car, and just leave his wife’s mummy-car out of the equation. You see? I don’t just criticise the Labour Party. I also give them constructive advice, because they’re clearly not getting it elsewhere.]
Public hangings and floggings used to be very popular, too.
[Daphne – Yes, and I would have been the first to go down.]
“Kept the expenditure hidden”? You mean a politician (or anyone else in the public eye) should announce any major expenditure?
[Daphne – No, I mean that when the leader of a political party announces that his party is suing the government for tax back on car registration, and his and his wife’s names are on the list of thousands of plaintiffs, he should make a point of saying so. If he does not, he is hoping that no one will read the list – but at the same time he wants his name on the list not because he is leading by example (in which case he would have announced that he is on the list) but because he wants the money (which is what he said on television).]
“In a press release issued today from the Stamperija/Dar tal-Ħġieġ*, the PN/PL* anounced that it’s Leader had seen fit to purchase a new microwave/fridge/air conditioner/car*.
[Daphne – Grow up. You know nothing about political communication, and yet resist all attempts at having the basics explained to you.]
The unit was delivered this morning and unveiled during a press conference where Joseph Muscat/Lawrence Gonzi* welcomed it and, whilst thanking the old unit for its sterling service, said that he appreciated it was not its fault it had become a bucket of rust”
* delete as necessary.
Get real – do.
[Daphne – It’s because I ‘am real’ that my assessment of political situations is accurate. An assessment of a situation is different from a moral judgment of a situation. Regardless of whether you think Muscat was wrong or right to spend that much on cars, the fact remains that it was a serious error of political judgement to (1) include them on his money-back list and (2) not mention it.]
Michelle “The Hoover”. She even accepted to visit Brussels with MEP Louis Grech, to show her “around the EU institutions” – an MEP’s wife for four years, and she still accepted the invitation!
maybe she showed people around….
Jason
Logic is about correct reasoning
Many in Malta reason that a Kia Sportage and an Alfa are the next things closest to luxury. You reason that they are not and then go on to imply that the majority in Malta are struggling financially. It’s either one or the other.
In essence, theoretic socialism and the Franciscan order are based on the common value of shared ownership. The only difference being that most Franciscans do it to glorify God whilst political socialist do it to glorify themselves and their pockets. MLP MEP is a blatant case in point. Logic is totally out of control here.
You reason that because Warren Buffet, George Soros and Bill Gates are filthy rich it doesn’t mean that they cannot talk about ending poverty. Who said they cannot? The question is not about talking but about doing. You arrive at an illogical conclusion to justify your end.
And this is only in your first paragraph.
By the way good luck for your PhD. I happen to know what it means to study while you have a family.
Looking at the photo above, doesn’t anybody notice the
look-mummy-how-close-to-the-candy-jar-I-am smirk on the faces?
@Daphne
It seems that the PN disagrees with you on this one though. According to my sources in-Nazzjon refused to advertise the party. Possibly for the obvious reason that it’s not very good PR to remind people of the whole Mistra controversy before an election. I’m surprised Alex Perici Calascione agreed to this party. Quite frankly (although I think I agree with you that he has every ‘right’ to organise it), I can’t see how it makes political sense – unless he’s going by the old adage that no publicity is bad publicity.
[Daphne – Well, they disagreed with me on the matter of whether he should resign his seat last year, and it turns out I was right after all. Women are used to taking the long view before they lock horns.]
Also – I can’t understand the argument of the NGOs here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090526/local/ngos-appeal-to-pm-mepa-to-stop-mistra-party
Apparently the noise and light pollution will cause irreversible damage to this site which is “close to the Natura 2000 site”.
Since when does being “close to” a Natura 2000 site mean that it needs to be protected as much?
Is this man serious?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/mepelections/blogs/alan-deidun
http://www.timesofmalta.com/mepelections/blogs/alan-deidun/20090527/video-interview-alan-deidun
How can he write a blog entry like that a day before the timesofmalta.com video is uploaded where he says the exact opposite!!??
Apparently, this self-proclaimed “conservative traditionalist” with “Christian values, such as those of marriage, which is indissoluble” and the person who says “values do not change with the times” apparently changed his values overnight because he now thinks there should be divorce and civil partnerships for “genuine cases”.
In his blog he says that many politicians are “pandering to the masses and stating that one should not ignore the new social realities mushrooming around us” – and in the video he says EXACTLY the same thing.
This election gets weirder by the day.
Being ‘high class’ has nothing to do with buying, or being able to buy, luxury cars or designer clothes – a barmaid who wins the pools can do that too.
I suppose what you mean to say is that you can never buy yourself a background. Perfectly true, though try explaining that to the chavs.
Sandrina
Being a socialist is about making everyone feel so miserable that you get them to believe that you are their only relief. Obviously you get paid in the process “slightly” more than your comrades.
Deja vu from the days socialism began with the French Revolution. People were made to believe that disposing of aristocrats, nobles and clergy would mean everyone could share the common good. So they went around beheading people. When all possible threats where dead and buried those who had convinced people immediately set themselves above the rest and became the new bastards.
Sandrina, what’s an out stated fact? Since I’m asking questions to make out what you’re trying to say I might as well ask about something being “admirable in face”. In face of what?
“I’m a private school educated socialist”
You attended a private school but I don’t know about having been educated there. Your spoken English is undoubtedly excellent Sandrina but it’s a pity you never learnt to write properly.
The Maltese language never fails to have a suitable saying for any occasion. And for Joseph and Michelle + cars, the saying goes “Il-flus ma jaghmlukx nies”.
jekk titwieled tond ma tmutx kwadru.
jew
hanzir taqtalu denbu hanzir jieqba/
jew
dak mintoffjan min guf ommu …………ajma hej
Anna, Oh Anna, what have you done?
Don’t you know that the mother (or father?) of all Maltese proverbs is “Il-qaħba milli jkollha ttik.” ???
Ettore, jien jew Michelle?? hahaha, you are amusing.
Looks like a lot of people read this blog without saying anything.
Hadn’t the prime minister in waiting promised to refund VAT on car registration to all claimants? That promise looked reckless and irresponsible. It now looks devious and self-serving.
Why, if he’s the man of principle he believes he is, didn’t he dig into his own pocket and pay for his own legal fees, making his a test case, rather than scrounging off the cash-strapped Labour Party that he leads?
Another qawl bil-malta
‘is-skiet risposta”
“Mary”, what’s your point exactly? That by speaking up, you’re saying absolutely nothing at all?
Mary, what I would dearly love to see would be the reaction of these 8000 or so people should the court case drag on and on (as they tend to) – until at least 2013.
By then Muscat will probably be at the helm, and – should the case be won – would have to see where to fork out the 50,000,000 Euros in refunds. There’s no doubt that taxes would have to be increased to compensate for the expenditure.
[Daphne – Ah, and there’s another point: as prime minister one of those hand-outs will be to himself and another will be to his wife. I can’t see him donating them to charity.]
Can’t you see that the people who could afford to buy those cars would have done so anyway, tax or no tax (and they did so)? As it is, “il-popolin” (biex tifhem ahjar, forsi) will have to fork out extra tax – whether or not they can afford it – to enable the refunds to be made to those 8,000 people.
Mandy
Bull’s eye! That is what is happening to the government right now. Never thought that he would win the elections and is drowning is his own shithole.
“Poorer” people usually do not drive cars on which the value of a potential VAT refund outweighs the expense and nuisance value of clawing it back. Poor people – the real poor, not those on a tight budget, or those with a high envy quotient buoyed up by a sense of entitlement – can’t afford to buy a car at all.
Incidentally, high class is not synonymous with money. The opposite is usually the case.
I’ll bet this lot won’t be clamouring for a VAT refund on their vehicle. This is what real poverty looks like, Sandrina Degabriele.
http://nextgr8twriter.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/poverty.jpg
Mela Muscat haseb li se tixxarrabblu l-linfa…jew il-paqqa?
http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=53758
Kollha qeghdin sew dawn!
The point not many people seem to have picked up in the whole VAT refund on car issue is that it is an anti-socialist action if ever there was on.
So anyone who imported a Hummer for €100,000 (including VAT) will get his VAT refund back. That is €15,254.
Joseph Muscat, on his €60K cars (including VAT), will get a refund of €9.2K.
Min jaqla l-izjed, u jonfoq l-izjed, ghalkemm jiflah, Joseph Muscat ha jtih izjed lura…
Those who never bought a car will have to sit back and look at the government distribute millions of their taxes, when it is obvious that these could be used for more socially worthwhile reasons.
What do you mean Sufless or is your name Souless??
Mela int qed tghid li jekk jien xtrajt karozza li suppost hallast it-taxxa biss fuqha, imma l-gvern ghogbu li fuqha nhallas il-VAT, ghandi noqghod rasi l-isfel avolja naf li dan seraqni u ma nitkellimx. Ara! kollox tghidu biex tiehdu r-ragun. Hajjina u fejn taf fejn qed imorru l-flus tal-VAT imbilli qed tghid they will be used for more socially worthwhile reasons. Fit-toroq zdingati li ghandna, imbasta niftahru li l-EU taghtna millions of Euros ghalihom? Fejn, x’huma dawn il-worthwhile reasons?. Of course I want my dues back, if i have been robbed. That money belongs to me and my family.
“Mary”: ‘That money belongs to me and my family.’
All Eur50 million? I’m impressed. What is it that you the socialist do for a living?
My point exactly – Imma mur fehmhom ic-cwiec bhal “Mary”!
Cuc int skuzi u min jaqbel mighek!!!!
Sufless, you’re wrong – that is exactly a socialist action: make people believe they need you and reap the benefits!
Sufless, just for accuracy’s sake, nobody will “get his VAT back” What they will get is the VAT on VAT – which is illegal under EU legislation.
So, in the case you quoted the refund would not be €15,254 but 15% of €15,254 – arounf €2,288.
On a €60K car it would come to around €1,300, if my maths is correct.
[Daphne – Then Joseph and Michelle really are cheap.]
Another thing, Sufless. It is incorrect to say “Those who never bought a car will have to sit back and look at the government distribute millions of their taxes,”
The Gov would not distributing their tax money, but money it had collected from the car buyers illegally.
Ettore Bono – You must be liviing in Never-Neverland if you think that the government has got 50 million euros locked away in some little box somewhere, just in case the court case is won. Should the court case be won, the government would simply have to raise taxes to compensate, in much the same way as, for example, an insurance company would have to raise premiums to compensate for an increase in claims.
Ms Mallia, may I ask you a question? Does the above mean you think it is ok for the gov – any gov – to take money illegally from the citizens as long as it is used for the common good?
Yes or no?
[Daphne – I love the way you have decided already that it’s illegal. I was under the impression that it’s the law court’s job to do that, which is why the Labour Party has petitioned it – though I will admit that the Labour Party has a long and indecent history of taking the law into its own hands.]
No-one is questioning the fact that EU regulations prohibit the charging of VAT on VAT, which is what happened.
[Daphne – It’s not VAT on VAT. It’s VAT on registration tax. You don’t know what you’re talking about and yet you have preempted the courts in deciding that it is illegal.]
What the Maltese have been asked to do is to order the Gov to conform to these regulations.
[Daphne – Ah, the people….let them decide….]
Incidentally, even if the case were to go against Labour, the courts will not say that the Gov cannot pay back the money – it can only say that it does not have to.
[Daphne – You know, the more people like you come out to defend the Labour Party, the more I realise why the Labour Party survives no matter how abysmal it is. So what you are saying here is that whatever the court decides, prime minister Muscat will graciously make an ex gratia distribution of EUR50 million of our taxes, like some demented Eva Peron. I remember him saying that, actually, and thinking how stupid he was to do it. That gesture favours X thousand people but goes against the interests of XXX thousand because it’s their money he’ll be handing out and they’re not going to be too pleased about it.]
So there will always be room for a perfectly legal political decision.
[Daphne – Political decisions don’t just have to be legal. They have to just, moral, sustainable and sensible. It’s perfectly legal to cheat on your wife, but just try doing it.]
(PS: Can I use italic and bold formatting here? If so, how?)
[Daphne – Give me one good reason why I should tell you.]
Fl-ahhar skoprejt x’inhu t-terremot li weghdna d-dottore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw3rLrGtx_I&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etgcom%2Emediaset%2Eit%2Fmondo%2Fvideodallarete%2Fvideo830%2Eshtml&feature=player_embedded
Ettore
“The Gov would not distributing their tax money, but money it had collected from the car buyers illegally.”
Int bis-serjeta tahseb hekk?
Yes of course – it is a simple fact.
ara kif ghamel wiccu joseph muscat meta lou zvela li hu u michelle kienu fil-lista ta dawk li fethu kawza l-gvern
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNFfXXSgs8
Yes, he had an amused look (trying not to laugh, to save Bondi’s face) – so?
[Daphne – I hope you don’t spend your time trying to chat up girls in bars, because you really need a course in how to read facial expressions. Most people do this semi-instinctively, but I’ll be the first to admit that some men just haven’t got a clue, which is why they think that every girl who stretches her lips in their direction fancies them.]
No, I haven’t done that for more years than I care to remember, but when I did, I had my fair share of success.
Thank you for reminding me.
Ettore,
“trying not to laugh to save Bondi’s face”
I think he was trying to laugh to save his own face. He failed.
What if the government has paid the leader of the oppositon for the Alfa instead of buying him another car? That way he could keep his preferred car, the government pays for it and maybe he would also get a vat refund on it for when he had bought it himself.
Ok Ettore some explanation is warranted.
Example:
The government of a 20-people nation needs to collect €100 tax each year of which €10 are collected from car VAT on registration tax. Let us say 10 people buy a car and contribute €1 each.
The government loses the court case and must refund the money, which it does. Now it needs to replace those €10 so that it can continue supplying free bananas.
So it increases tax rates on those 20 people to get €0.50 from all – unless it finds something similar to tax like mobiles, computers etc.
Mur gib kieku xtraw Jaguar kull wiehed din il-koppja!
Oh my, at least he didn’t get a Jaguar out of taxpayers’ money (Austin Gatt style).
60k minn butu, il mahbub taghkom austin gatt gieb jaguar mill flus tal gvern – filwaqt illi kien jghidilna illi il-poplu ghandu bzonn jibda juza karozzi izghar li huma fuel efficient
[Daphne – Kemm intkom iffissati f’ Austin Gatt, f’gieh kemm hemm. Almenu jahdem, u jahdem hafna. Trid tkun il-vera bniedum vojt u b’mohh ta’ baby biex tahseb li l-uzu ta’ Jaguar huwa kumpens ghal dak l-istress u inkwiet. Turu kemm ma tafux x’inhu x-xoghol u r-responsablita.]
Eh tajjeb allura austin gatt haqqu jaguar mill FLUS TAL-POPLU ghax jahdem.
[Daphne – Tizvelax il-mentalita tieghek. Ghal persuna bhal Austin Gatt, li ma giex minn xejn, Jaguar mislufa mihiex il-qofol tal-aspirazjoni. Imma persuni bhalek u bhal Joseph Muscat ma jistawx jifmhu xi haga bhal din. Il-ministri dejjem ikollhom karozza, u meta jitla Muscat fl-2013, dik il-Jaguar ta’ Gatt tmur ghand Anglu Farrugia, Ministru tal-Gustizzja, jew ghand ‘Tie Me Up’ Zammit, Ministru tas-Sahha (u bilhaqq, sabu xi haga l-pulizija?). Mihiex tieghu, mhux bhall- karozza ta’ Joseph Muscat, li ahna inhallsu ghaliha u tibqa tieghu.]
Joseph Muscat mhux jahdem?
[Daphne – Le. Dak it-tip li lanqas biss jaf x’inhu x-xoghol u r-responsabilta. Bl-Ingliz nghidulu ‘spoiled’ u ‘mummy’s boy.’ Tip bhalu jikkrolla meta jkollu xeba problemi – jew jahrab, bhalma ghamel Sant fl-1998.]
Allura Joseph Muscat illi jahdem ukoll ma jistax jixtri 60,000E f karozzi MINN FLUSU?
[Daphne – Dazgur li jista. Imma imbaghad ma jithallasx EUR7,000 fis-sena ghad-depreciation taghha, ghaliex allura giet li ahna qed inhallsu ghaliha imma se tibqa ‘asset’ tieghu – meta s-soltu il-karozzi li juzaw dawn in-nies jibqghu tal-istat.]
Daphne veru li Austin jahdem u jgib ir-rizultati imma l-anqas id-“D” ta’ diplomazija ma’ ghandu.Il-kelma li toqghodlu hija: “Zorr”. Naf li jaf ikun cajtier, imma miskin hu minn jersaqlu fin-nofs, ghax ikaxkru u jaghmel vittma minnu!
In other words: “A bull in a china shop”.
[Daphne – Jien nippreferi nies hekk minn dawk li jkunu helwin f’wiccek u mbaghad idahhlulek stalett go darek.]
I thought a minister gets a wage (actually two wages) for the work he does, the use of the car together with driver and petrol are extras. I wonder does a doctor working at a polyclinic get any allowance for petrol when he makes house calls.
[Daphne – Ministers receive a salary, not a wage. Labourers receive wages. Wages are paid every Friday. Salaries are paid on the last Friday of every month.]
Ghaziza DCG, tista tghidilna ftit kemm nefaq dear Austin, MINN FLUSNA, fuq il-Jaguar pls.
[Daphne – Ghadek sejra? Dik il-karozza li nxtrat bi flusek ghadha tieghek, ghaliex hija l-propjeta tal-istat.]