L-aqwa li teqred u tmeri: is Astrid lying or does she have short-term memory loss?
Here’s Astrid Vella, interviewed by the highly fascinating Saviour Balzan in a rare moment of escape from the one-thousand-and-one enamoured women who are chasing him. If you don’t have time to waste, scroll straight to 8.40 minutes and hear this gem drop from Astrid’s lips (you can forgive me the capital letters):
“WE WANT A THEATRE AND A PARLIAMENT HOUSE NEAR CITY GATE. RENZO PIANO HAS SAID THAT THERE IS SPACE FOR BOTH, SO WE SHOULD HAVE BOTH.”
That was Astrid speaking officially as Chief Megaphone Bearer of Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar. Was she lying, or has she just forgotten what her official position on the matter was just over four months ago? Because now that she has got what she said she wanted then – both a parliament and a theatre – it’s clearly time to whine again. Here’s Astrid a day or so ago, thinking we wouldn’t notice this ‘cunning’ comment posted beneath an innocuous letter on timesofmalta.com:
Astrid Vella
Dear Mr Giglio, if you re-read your letter you will see that you yourself have answered the question of what’s wrong with Parliament at City Gate. For a start, having not just Parliament but even a museum of political history dominating the entrance to our capital simply perpetuates the notion that politics should dominate our lives, a peculiarly Maltese obsession which exists in no other country but which our politicians seek to encourage.The other point is that, as you point out, all Valletta’s important monuments are concentrated between City Gate and the Palace. There is virtually nothing lower than that, and all of lower Valletta has been abandoned for the last century. A parliament in one of our under-used palaces like the Conference Centre or Auberge de Baviere, would at the same time save on millions in taxpayer money and use one of our few available resources, available empty palaces, as well as serving to regenerate a whole half a city and its residents. It would tie in with a new hotel at Evans Labs and the regeneration of St Elmo. Now that would be vision!
So what is it, then – mashed potato for brains, a wilfully contrary nature, short-term memory loss syndrome, the tendency to lie and manipulate to get one’s way, or a woman’s fabled right to change her mind?
The worst part is that, with no one tracking these niceties in her behaviour, she would get away with it.
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There’s more. Remember this exchange?
http://stocks.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090224/local/faa
Astrid Vella (on 24/2/09)
Thank you Gerald. I am confident that this time the Authorities will take public opinion into account – with the Malta Today poll showing that 83% of the population is against the project to build a parliament house on the Opera House site, there is no doubting the wishes of the majority of the electorate. I am sure that an FAA campaign will not be necessary especially in the light of the fact that Renzo Piano has already indicated that two sites are to be built, both the Opera theatre ruins, and Freedom Square, which of course gives the possibility to accommodate both buildings. As with most projects, with a bit of goodwill, a solution can be found.
Joseph Galea (on 24/2/09)
“I look forward to a campaign on the City Gate/Opera House project to bring everyone to their senses again. You might just pull it off!” Talk about pre-judging an issue! No project proposals have yet been published and already Mr. Fenech is ‘looking forward to a campaign!” It is so sad to see public projects become simply political footballs with crusades being launched to see if one can “pull it off.” Our country deserves better!
P Agius (on 24/2/09) @Gerald Fenech
“I look forward to a campaign on the City Gate/Opera House project to bring everyone to their senses again. You might just pull it off!”. Pray explain what the problem with the City Gate/opera House project is? Do you have access to information the rest of the country does not? How can you judge the project if it has not been proposed other than some ideas? This is precisely what the problem with this country is. As the Chairman of the FAA wrote in a letter to this newspaper “We cannot rely on well-meaning but non-professional people anymore.”
Gerald Fenech (on 24/2/09)
All I can say at this stage is keep it going Astrid and FAA! Don’t let the politically motivated and character assassinating hate mongering mob deflect you from your noble task. I look forward to a campaign on the City Gate/Opera House project to bring everyone to their senses again. You might just pull it off!
Daphne, you certainly don’t need my prosit but I will say it nonetheless…prosit!
According to some of today’s UK papers she should drink a lot of coffee, which is supposed to boost her memory. A double expresso for Astrid, please, Mr Waiter!
She should take lessons in proper Maltese pronunciation. The espresso can be added later.
Nothing to do with the above. Is it not only the government who can organise ‘national’ conferences? The way the leader of the opposition is going on one would think he is the prime minister.