Astrid's toy soldiers
Astrid's bodyguards
The Labour Party has elves. Astrid Vella has toy soldiers.
Whenever somebody criticises Astrid in the newspapers, she winds up her toy soldiers and off they totter to their keyboards.
They write letters to the offending newspaper, condemning their field-marshal’s critics in tones that suggest she is and should remain untouchable, because without her single-handed heroism, Malta’s landscape would be devastated.
I know that she actually rings people and badgers them to write letters in her defence.
Can you imagine?
The average person understandably hates to be involved in other people’s battles/can’t take the limelight/can’t write/is annoyed at being imposed upon in this way. So Astrid finds few takers, despite that persistent whining mosquito noise down the telephone receiver and 10 calls a day.
Luckily, she has her own tin-pot army. They’re always the same toy soldiers, too:
George Debono in Sliema
James Tyrell (who lives in Gozo but signs off as living in County Antrim in Northern Ireland)
Lesley Kreupl in Gharb
Dr Anton R Borg in Cirencester, England
They popped out of their box again yesterday, taking up an entire page in The Malta Independent on Sunday to lay into former editor Stephen Calleja, for a column the previous week in which he pointed out that the one person conspicuously absent from the Renzo Piano debate is Astrid Vella tal-FAA.
That’s a huge crime, I must say – most unfair on poor Astrid who fights wars for our children’s rural heritage out of her HQ in a Sliema flat.
Stephen is mild-mannered and careful – totally unlike me. Yet what I found most amusing about those letters from George Debono, James Tyrell, Anton R. Borg (doctor, eh?) and Lesley Kreupl is that they are almost identical to the letters they deployed against me, in the same newspaper, when I first wrote about field-marshal Astrid some months ago.
They called their ‘Daphne’ letters up on their computers, changed a couple of words here and a phrase there, replaced Caruana Galizia with Calleja, and pressed Send.
Somebody should teach these toy soldiers the virtues of not over-stating one’s case. Lesley Kreupl was “shocked” to read Stephen’s “barbaric comments” which were “totally uncalled for” and “not worthy of a journalist of his calibre” because “Ms Vella is doing a marvellous job in trying to make Malta a better place so that future generations of Maltese can enjoy what is left of the Maltese archipelago”.
James Tyrell wrote that Stephen’s “patronising attempts to discredit dissenters closely resemble those of another Independent writer (she doesn’t deserve the moniker ‘journalist’)” and that “it’s sad to see him stoop so low”.
Dr Anton R. Borg condemned Stephen’s “puerile attack” which is “so ridiculous as to be unworthy of serious consideration” while claiming that he has no idea where Astrid Vella lives or why she hasn’t spoken about the Renzo Piano project yet. Meanwhile, he happens to know that she does “sterling work, for no remuneration, in an attempt to prevent further damage to Malta’s environment” and Mr Calleja should support her organisation and not throw bricks at it.
George Debono (sigh, sigh and another sigh) accused Stephen of “ridiculing readers who express an opinion in public”, of “disparaging his own countrymen”, of “bullying others into silence by calling them names”, of “arrogant exaltation”, of feeling “impelled to discredit civic-minded people who work selflessly for the good of their country”, of putting “snide and irrelevant questions”, of “descending to superficial and squalid insinuations”, of “hiding behind words”, of making “crude remarks” and of “failing to mind his own business” and of being “an aggressive columnist” who is “trying to reverse the trend towards a mature democracy”.
Il-vera nies tal-biki.
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You may wish to note that Astrid Vella was very critical of the Piano masterpiece on television, including both the building of parliament near city gate and the open theatre. She wants to send parliament to St Elmo or the Mediterranean Conference Centre. Since we have enough politics why should we have parliament near city gate, she argued?
Obviously, she referred to the empty Valletta palazzi as usual. She was taking part in a television programme presented by Charlo Bonnici and Owen Bonnici. I was surprised to see that both MPs hardly challenged her opinions and that she was allowed to make her speeches uninterrupted, sometimes obviously enjoying her looks on the monitor.
Once we have Astrid Vella who needs a Renzo Piano?
Ok. So is that Astrid Vella’s opinion or the opinion of the FAA? If it’s the opinion of the FAA why hasn’t their deluge of press releases mentioned the project at all? And if it is only the opinion of Astrid-Vella-the-private-person, why feature her and not some other more entertaining opinion-mongers?
And meanwhile funds are coming into the “Let’s defend Astrid” bank account.
Hey D, you forgot to include that super champagne socialist Marie Benoit, who in one of her inane columns actually encouraged her readers to contribute to Astrid’s personal fund. Vera jixirqu l-xulxin.
These people gave up doing something useful with their lives. They waste it sending letters to defend the ego-driven Astrid. The way they operate has become painfully obvious to the point of making them all look ridiculous – toy soldiers indeed! Thank you, Daphne, for highlighting it.
How ridiculous can they get – they fail to see how manipulative Astrid Vella is. My personal choice for the most ridiculous is George Debono.
It is interesting to learn that Astrid actually pesters people to send in letters in her defence. The most dangerous persons are those driven by their ego.
To all these pathetic losers – get a life!
Most probably we’ll have another letter in The Times in a day or two. Astrid Vella was in a shop in Gzira and I heard her myself phoning someone and telling him to write a letter to The Times.
I think the FAA was a bad idea to start off with and it’s been getting worse since then.
(My friend) Astrid, I think, started off with good, if misguided intentions but has since been sliding down a slippery slope into perdition.
But at least she’s not afraid or ashamed to use her own name, unlike several of you heroes here.
[Daphne – Tim, I believe using her own name and getting attention is a big part of what it’s all about. Yes, one always wishes people would use their own name.]
Yes, it’s best and highly recommended to give full name and surname when one writes in a blog. However, one may not wish to involve, directly or indirectly, institutions s/he works for by what s/he states in the blog. It’s not a simple question of hiding behind a ‘nome de plume’ at all.
Kenneth Zammit Tabona defends George Debono and Astrid Vella in his article in today’s The Times. He defends the same George Debono who, under the instigation of Astrid Vella, uses no less than 12 disparaging adjectives and remarks against Stephen Calleja.
[Daphne – George Debono is Kenneth’s uncle, his mother’s brother. I wish to heaven they would make the relationship clear to what George Debono calls Readers and Kenneth calls The People, once and for all.]
In a comment under the “A piece worth reading, from another blog” post, he calls on people not to resort to insults and insinuations. He should tell that to the same people he tries to defend; George Debono, the toy soldier, and Astrid Vella, the instigator.
I can assure you that the only person who winds me up is you. Oh and by the way this particular toy soldier has managed to survive over 30 years of troubles in N. Ireland a good part of that time as a police officer. What have you ever did in your useless life apart from attack other people through your silly little blog and you twice weekly jealously rant in the Independent.
At some point in time you are going to open your big mouth once too often and someone is finally going to have the guts to take you to court. I personally live for that day. Oh and I don’t live in Gozo I live in N. Ireland. Some idiot actually posted copies of one of my letters to me here asking if I was the one writing to the papers. Probably one of your brainless little supporters as they didn’t even have the sense to include contact details so that I could answer them.
I don’t even know Astrid Vella, which shows just how stupid you are. I write letters of support for Ms. Vella, the FAA and various other NGO’s and organisations for the simple reason that what they do makes a difference to the country. I write letters attacking you because nothing you do or say matters to anyone. You are just a sad old hag who yearns for the respect that people like Ms. Vella have so rightly earned. Get a life.
[Daphne – “I live in Northern Ireland”, “I don’t even know Astrid Vella”. You really are something else, aren’t you? Now why would a complete stranger who has nothing whatsoever to do with Malta become so very rabidly involved in the niceties of daily life here? And why would his email address be ‘gozoman1954’? Hmmmm. Unfortunately for you, Tyrrell, I have rather a good memory – good enough to remember that during the referendum campaign on EU membership, I worked for the Yes vote while you campaigned for the No vote, writing your horrid little letters from ‘Northern Ireland’ telling the ‘good people of Malta’ to stay out of the EU. You just can’t come to terms with the fact that you lost that one, can you? There you are, in your Northern Irish foxhole across the Gozo channel, still firing off letters against the political party which went against your wishes and got Malta into the European Union. What a sorry little jerk. Bugger off, do. Whatever your vested interest in Malta or Gozo may be, I’d really rather not know about it. I might have to wash my hands afterward. And incidentally, lots of people have taken me to court. It hasn’t made a blind bit of difference to anything. Oh, and I didn’t ask other people to pay my court fees either, like a certain scrounger I could mention. What a loser – literally.]
What with all those N. Ireland troubles and all, a policeman’s got to do what a policeman’s got to do…
….write a letter to the Times of Malta about a supermarket in Safi:
The Times, Wednesday, 9th April 2008
Too Lidl too late
James A. Tyrrell, Larne, Northern Ireland
With regard to the Lidl franchise being extended to Malta, can I ask David Gatt, country manager for Lidl Malta, what steps they are taking to ensure that no stores are built on land outside development zone as is the case with the proposed supermarket in Safi? Mr Gatt has stated in the press that Lidl aims to be a community supermarket. In reply to that statement can I just say that getting the community’s back up by supporting building irregularities is not a very good start to a good community relationship.
When quizzed about the controversy over the permit, Mr Gatt insisted that Lidl Malta is “in no way involved in the application process”. Not good enough Mr Gatt. Construction magnate Charles Polidano made the application on your behalf. Once Lidl realised that irregularities had arisen in the application process, irregularities which we have to remember caused the resignation of a DCC board, they should have called a halt to the construction work and withdrawn their contract with Mr Polidano.
Rather than do that, Mr Gatt has declared that Lidl Malta will still be opening its supermarket in Safi. To me he is saying that yes the law was broken, yes irregularities occurred, but we’ve cleverly got away with it by passing the blame onto the constructor and Mepa. It would appear that Mr Gatt and Lidl have realised at a very early stage how things work in Malta
Politics don’t interest me in the least you stupid woman.
[Daphne – Beat up your wife from time to time, do you? That is, if you could find one in the first place and if she hasn’t long since left you. They do say policemen can be the worst.]
If you had lived all your life in Northern Ireland you would understand that. I don’t even vote anymore for the simple reason that I don’t want to be part of a system that after suffering thirty years of bombing and shooting with thousands dead sees no problem with voting the murdering scum into Government. So with regard to Maltese politics I couldn’t care less who is in power so long as they do right by the people and the country.
[Daphne – Hmmm. Do you also get involved in Haitian politics? Icelandic politics? Life in Cyprus and Pantelleria? Or did you put on a blindfold, spin a globe, and put down a pin at random, hitting Malta?]
You ask why would a complete stranger who has nothing whatsoever to do with Malta become so very rabidly involved in the niceties of daily life here? The answer to that is very simple. First off my primary interest is Gozo not Malta. Malta has already been overdeveloped to the point where it looks like some third world slum in places, but that’s okay I suppose as long as the developers keep making money at the expense of the people! From the point of view of Gozo there is still a chance that it can be saved from the money-grabbing criminals.
[Daphne – Oh, I thought you said you live in Northern Ireland! I wish you’d make your mind up.]
As for the subject of EU membership I was giving an opinion from the point of view of someone living in a country which has been a member of the EU since 1973 so I think I know more about the pitfalls of EU membership than you do.
[Daphne – Clever boy. It’s always such a big thrill for a woman to be told what to do by a bossy man.]
Too many people look at the EU, as some big money box, which they can raid at, will. The reality is that the money travels both ways and for the privilege of raiding the moneybox you lose a great deal of your countries ground level decision-making powers. So I didn’t lose that one as you say, in the long term the Maltese people did.
[Daphne – The only loss I can see is that it has given men who begin with W, like you, freedom of movement here. Apart from that, it’s quite brilliant. What do you know? I can go and live in Country Antrim and write nasty letters to the Country Antrim Gazette, claiming to be a disinterested observer from Malta, who has the quality of life of the Northern Irish at heart.]
The EU is now looking to enlarge again by bringing in Croatia and Macedonia obviously because they are seen as up and coming economies who can add to the moneybox. Further expansion could well lead to mass immigration, and increased organised crime.
[Daphne – Organised crime, eh? That’s rich, coming from the land of the Irish Republican Army.]
The age old problem of workers from poorer countries take jobs from richer ones, and companies relocating to countries with lower labour costs and worse social protection will continue. The richer member states cannot continue to afford to pay huge subsidies to the poorer states. And the EU will eventually grind to a halt, because with so many members it will never be able to agree on anything. But I guess to some shortsighted idiots that’s a good thing.
[Daphne – You can talk about poor countries, or don’t the words ‘Irish Potato Famine’ ring any bells? Almost two million dead of starvation, another million or so shipped off to Ellis Island? Before Ireland joined the European Union, the Irish were the poor of free Europe, even poorer than the Maltese and the Portuguese. But lucky for you that you live in Northern Ireland, and were able to get there ahead thanks to Britain.]
Now with regard to my vested interests in Malta and Gozo and your lack of interest in them I can well understand that and I will try hard not to let it keep me awake at night. I will continue to support those people and issues, which are important to the long-term survival of a little island I have grown to love. You can continue to chase after Astrid Vella and anyone else who obviously has the support that you will never have. The crazy thing is that for someone who sees herself as educated you can’t see the fact that the whole country looks at you as some crazy jealous bitch, but that’s a good thing as it just goes to further weaken any argument you put forward for your masters.
[Daphne – ‘The whole country looks at you as some crazy jealous bitch’. I thought you knew nothing about Malta? That’s right, you don’t. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly clear that you have the instincts of a wife-beater, Mr Misogynist.]
With regard to the paying of court fees you seem to be misinformed there as usual but I can bring you up to speed on that one as I do manage to read the papers from my foxhole. Neither Ms. Vella nor the FAA at any point called for help in the payment of court fees. What actually happened, as you well know was that the Maltese people outraged at the thought of Ms. Vella being taken to court by some idiot architect called on the FAA to set up a fighting fund, which they could contribute to. This is an example of the esteem in which the lady is held. I wonder how many people would want to set up a fund to support you?
[Daphne – I never asked for one, and when people sent me cheques of their own volition when I was fined for challenging the court system of dragging witnesses in trials there for days on end, I donated the money to charity and informed those people accordingly. There is no dignity in begging when you are able to afford your own fees. It is, in fact, quite disgusting for somebody as extremely comfortably off as Mrs Vella to go out with her alms-bowl.]
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090717/local/bahrija-farmhouse-permit-null
For someone who’s uninterested in politics, you have an awful lot to say about the goings on in a place you don’t live in.
James Tyrell: “Neither Ms. Vella nor the FAA at any point called for help in the payment of court fees. ”
So what’s that on the FAA website, then, in prime position above all other matters the FAA supposedly prioritises? Or maybe you really believe that the FAA = “the Maltese people”, hence their outrage.
I don’t know how these things work in County Antrim, but over here on the island you have grown to love and on the larger island to which it belongs, no one has the legal right to slander anyone, much less to libel them – a foolish action if ever there was one, given that timesofmalta.com is popular even out in the sticks of northern Ireland. Why FAA members believe that the law does not apply to them is beyond me. Perhaps, as the wise old man of County Antrim, you could provide an explanation?
So this is James Tyrell’s agenda: he’s decided to move to Gozo ‘when I retire’ and is pissed off that the pasturi are not maintaining the presepju he saw in the shop window.
http://gozonews.com/featured/offer-someone-a-finger-and-they-take-the-whole-hand/
John Edwards said:
James A. Tyrrell,
A simple Google search, reveals numerous pages of comments you have made in the past, regarding Malta and Gozo.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22James+A.+Tyrrell%22+larne&btnG=Search&meta=
However, I cannot find one comment you have made in your local newspaper about your hometown of Larne http://www.larnetimes.co.uk/
Why do you persist week in week out, writing to Malta newspapers and Gozonews picking holes in everything?
Carmel said:
I suspect that Mr Tyrells concern about Gozo has some hidden agenda. If I were him my deepest concern should be about my country and not on others. I fear that his main interest is that progress in Gozo is freezed. If Mr Tyrell is truly concerned about Gozo he should make his best to find investment to eradicate the poor unemployment in our island. I hope to hear from you soon about this last topic.
James A. Tyrrell said:
@John Edwards and Carmel. You are quite right John. I used to write on a regular basis for the Larne Times but I no longer bother for the simple reason that I couldn’t care less if the town slid into the sea tomorrow. I lived through the troubles in N. Ireland and for part of that time I was a serving police officer. I should point out that I’m referring to the real police force, which was the RUC, not the useless bunch who are in the job now. We lost over 600 members to Republican terrorists and then our illustrious British Government negotiated a peace deal otherwise known as a surrender to murdering scum. The afore mentioned murdering scum were then put into Government at which point I lost interest in anything which happens in this country.
Leading on from that yes Carmel I do have a hidden agenda. When I retire I want to come and live in Gozo. In order to do that it would be nice if there was some of the island left to enjoy. Perhaps you would prefer the continuous destruction of what little land there is left for the benefit of those amongst you who are rich enough not to care and will probably abandon Gozo once they have milked every penny they can from it.
Perhaps now that I have explained this you and John can explain exactly what your hidden agendas are?
John Proffitt-White said:
Got to hand it to you James I feel the same, I to have an interest in Gozo and have already invested onto the island with my intention of settling their once I retire, but the way things are going Gozo will just be another Island with a concrete jungle sat on top of it, but then we could all move to Comino!!!!!(that was a joke) John and Carmel, without outside interest regarding Gozo how could you ever get the support you need with certain ongoing topics. I am sure 100% population of Gozo did not vote for the Azure Window to be one of Natures Top Wonders of the world, or are you going to prove me wrong, did you vote??? I did. back to you both
# 7 July 2009 at 8:48 am
• John Edwards said:
So what you are saying, is that unless you keep commenting on you’re clapped out keyboards 1500 miles away, Gozo is finished?
Typical condescending British know alls.
You take Gozitans to be fools and unable to run their own affairs in their own way.
Dear Mr. Tyrell, Since you are so convinced that Gozo will become yet another concrete jungle may I suggest that you choose to retire somewhere else? Somewhere outside the EU seems to be best for you. Malta already has more than its fair share of know-it-alls and of patronising gits.
When you come to sell your property in Gozo tell them who you are. The Gozitans are so fed up of you that they would be willing to give you a good price – anything to be rid of you.
Your home town of Larne is already rid of you, if not in body at least in spirit, because you no longer write to the local newspaper.
Your wide-ranging knowledge is wasted on the Maltese – and you think we are imbeciles. I am sure that there is some little corner in this world where people are willing to put up with you.
One last thought: you were against Malta joining the EU, and still Malta joined the EU. You supported AD, and AD were washed out in both the general and the European Parliament elections. There seems to be a pattern here.