Ghamlilna bye-bye, il-men
Published:
September 28, 2009 at 11:54pm
Kemm nixtieq nidhol fid-dinja affaxxinanti tat-televizjoni!
Osbricc! Jason spicca minn sekretarju-generali u ha gopp bhala ciermen ta’ Super One Productions. Bhalma jghidu l-Inglizi (jaqq) ‘dey kick him sajdwejz.’
Issa jista joqghod joghxa bil-mejkupp u s-sowp opras. Kulhadd isib postu fil-hajja.
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Veru, kullhadd isib postu fil-hajja, for example Mrs. Marisa Micallef. Do you agree?
I think the expression is “kicked upstairs” not sideways. The archtype example is the British House of Lords.
[Daphne – ‘Kicked upstairs’ means being given a role that is superior on paper but which has little executive power, for example when Guido de Marco was made president. If you believe that the chairmanship of Super One is a superior position, on paper or in reality, to that of party secretary-general, then yes, you can say that Jason – I can’t refer to him as Micallef anymore now that they have two of the same name – has been kicked upstairs. I said that he has been kicked sideways, but after a few minutes of reflection, I realise that actually, he has been kicked downstairs.]
On paper, a president is superior to a secretary, just as, on paper, the president is superior to the PM.
Absolutely right, D. I wonder if the post he’s been kicked to is an ”executive” or purely ceremonial one. If it is the latter, then the poor fellow should really go home to mummy and cry his eyes out. With a full-time managing director around, I think he should just take the hint and wait at home for his monthly pay cheque. Gejs qalbi, use up your free time to water your red roses, although you won’t be needing them for this coming konferenza.
By the way Daphne, big prosit on your latest issue of ‘Town’ (but then I suppose I am prejudiced…….)
Musical Tremor Panic Chairs – a cross between the board game Sheer Panic, based on the concept of a need to do something, the promised elusive earthquake and the evergreen musical chairs.
Ghandek tkun kuntenta b’dak li gara.. jew le?
[Daphne – Le, ghaliex se nimmissja dawk il-jeans bojod inkaxxati ta’ Jason. Min hu bhal Jason?]
U le Daph, tibqa’ tarahom…Do you think he’ll resist the limelight?
Pg 7 The Times today: Kenneth Zammit Tabona commenting on Marisa Micallef’s PL appointment “What the PL represents today is very much the equivalent of what the PN represented in 1987: a lifeline.”
Oh, get a life, Kenneth. He is feeling so progressive these days, just because he decided to come out at age 50.
[Daphne – So many people don’t understand that to be really edgy you have to confound expectations and not conform. Trying to be hip in middle age by supporting ‘progressive’ Labour is now – ironically – the conformist route, which is precisely why the sheep are all heading down that road. I must say that Muscat is a very good judge of character.]
Funny you should say that. The siphoning off of, er, former ‘Nationalists’ by Labour seems to be occurring in the 40-60 cohort. I can’t see it happening with the ‘yoof’ vote. Is this a general trend or am I mistaken?
[Daphne – It is a general trend, and no, you are not mistaken. The PN won last year’s election on the strength of the new votes, of which it secured the vast majority. People my sons’ age are really scathing about Labour and see the party clearly for what it is. The current Labour Party is attractive to precisely the age cohort you mention, 40 to 60, and more precisely those who are disillusioned and unhappy with their personal lives and choices, projecting their private misery and confusion onto the public sphere. Assess the nature and background of the ‘defectors’ and the loudest moaners. They tend to be unhappy people, and their unhappiness has little or nothing to do with the government. It is merely projected onto the government. This same cohort was the agent of ‘change’ in 1996, too.]
I’m not so sure you’re right here, Daphne. Though I do agree that university students are mainly pro-PN I would not project that viewpoint on the entire teens and twenties generation, as you seem to be doing. People in this age group don’t remember the mad, bad Mintoff-KMB days – and they can’t really appreciate what is was like.
I also think they’re more open to liberal ideas like divorce, abortion and same-sex marriages and they tend to identify the PN as being conservative about these matters, which drives them willy nilly into the arms of the PL (even though this is not correct and people like Marlene Pullicino are the real reactionaries).
People in the 40 – 60 age bracket are probably far more settled in their political opinions. I wouldn’t get alarmed about a bitter woman grubbing around the PL for money, or a gay man with a big chip on his shoulder. I don’t think they’re representative of the (our) generation.
I’d like to see an opinion poll on demographic lines though.
I am unhappy that I had to throw away over 5000 recycled bags. The government promised to pay the cost but so far not 1 cent has been paid, but in the meantime I had to purchase new bags for my retail outlet. But still I will not vote Lejber (I love the spelling).
What are your comments about Marisa Micallef’s move?
[Daphne – I’ve made them already beneath an earlier post. To sum up, I find it difficult to criticise the actions of a woman with a daughter to raise, who has her back against the wall financially. In that situation, a woman (and for all I know, even a man) considers options she would never have considered before. Secondly, it is my considered view that anger and bitterness are poor counsellors in one’s private and public life and we should seek to avoid being guided by those negative emotions because there is too much risk of damage to ourselves. Thirdly, I am reinforced in my view that all those who are able to earn their living through entrepreneurship or in the private sector should try to do so, because there are few things more degrading than having to knock on doors for a political job only to wind up in the lap of, and dependent on, a political party you spent years trashing.]
Anybody notice how she signed her fairy tale as “Marisa Micallef” A genuine mistake or does she not want to remind anybody she’s a double barrel?
A case of reverse snobbery?
[Daphne – No. She divorced her second husband (having already divorced a first) and dropped his name, but prefers to be known as a ‘separated woman’ because like all good Maltese liberal progressives she doesn’t want to be known as a divorcee. They want to campaign for divorce but without telling anyone they’re divorced biex ma jghidux dwarhom in-nies. So Maltese.]
Read her letter in the Times
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090929/letters/the-blurred-kingdom
Read how she mentions jobs for the blues….
‘…Jobs were usually there but the best jobs and positions were reserved for the blues….
You are right, spot on, Daphne. Maqrusa sew il-mara.
And what about Marisa Micallef – a woman scorned maybe? She will make a good partner for Jason.
I bet you this has a lot to do with nepotism, like the other guy who walked out on PN, because he wanted to be a board member to have a hobby.
This really reflects the mentality of the Maltese people: the people who bother being members with political parties do so either because they are fanatical nutters or because they want a job for their entire family. Personally I think it’s just sad that they can’t get anything by their own merit.
Joking aside, don’t you think this is a positive thing for Labour though? I mean, it’s bound to make Labour seem more ‘electable’ to most voters…
[Daphne – Labour is electable already by default. Labour almost won the last election, and with that grisly man at the helm.If people were prepared to have Sant as prime minister 18 months ago, it is a dead certainty that Joseph Muscat will be prime minister in four years’ time, whatever he does or doesn’t do. When people are bored they look for trouble. The same emotions that govern our private actions also govern our public ones (people destroy homes and families they have built up over years in search of a little excitement, for example). A government’s greatest enemy is not crises or the opposition, but boredom. The European mind is not predisposed to peaceful contentment, which it interprets as boredom.]
But isn’t change a good thing for democracy ? I mean look at Paraguay.
[Daphne – Illogical! Change is good only when it is change for the better. Change is not good in and of itself. Change was not good in 1996, for example. I can remember clearly all those people whining ‘We need a change!’. Well, they certainly got one, and my, how they rushed to change back.]
At least change the ministers…. Giovanna has been minister of Gozo for more than 20 years. Same goes with John Dalli. And then there’s the famous Austin Gatt. I mean how can you pretend me to vote for such persons? Don’t you think that holding a ministry for more than five years can easily lead to abuses? Or the same persons, families, contractors eating 95% of the pie? 25 years of the same faces is not healthy for any country.
[Daphne – I agree with you, but oddly enough, I seem to have been staring at the same faces on the opposition benches for 25 years. Doesn’t that bother you? Or is it only the same faces on the government side that get to you?]
Hey Daphne, take a look at today’s issue of the The Times. Ms Micallef Leyson has decided to write to the editor.
I read it. U le jahasra! She is already feeling at home with the PL because she is writing in parables. Now who was it who used to tell stories to his followers?
From the nonsense in Marisa’s letter I’d say that Joseph has let go of one crackpot and hired another.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090929/letters/the-blurred-kingdom
The question is – when will the PN bite the bullet and get rid of Paul Borg Olivier who is proving to ber as big a disaster as Jason Micallef?
The more perspicacious among your fans will have noticed the quick change in your attitude towards Labour leader Joseph Muscat. Not long ago you were not so enthusiastic about his intellectual prowess, now you concede he is a good judge of character. Very well. You may before long be discovering even more pluses in his political acumen.
[Daphne – I have always said he is a good judge of character, Mr Sammut, in that way that cunning and self-interested people often are. They assess people’s characters purely to be able to use the information to their advantage. However, unlike you I do not view cunning as an indicator of intellectual prowess. Nor, for that matter, do I deem intelligence to be sufficient in itself for running the country. Alfred Sant should have been proof enough of that. I am unlikely to discover ‘even more pluses’ in Muscat’s ‘political acumen’. Muscat is merely one of those people who know how to target and manipulate others by going for their Achilles’ heel. The only intelligence required for this is in finding out what that Achilles’ heel is, and not much intelligence is called for when individuals put their weaknesses and vulnerabilities on display as did Mrs Micallef Leyson, Kenneth Zammit Tabona, Astrid Vella and others. The day your party leader manages to convince somebody with a stronger and rather more stable character, with no anger, resentment or bitterness – like me, for instance – is the day you can celebrate his political acumen. Converting the weak and vulnerable is easy.]
Only do not be over-zealous in your new-found appreciation of him, you might tempt him to peak earlier than he intends. Joking apart, I am delighted to learn that archaeology graduates like yourself can tackle some psychological matters as well.
[Daphne – It has nothing to do with psychology, Mr Sammut, still less archaeology. One does not go to university to learn how to be sharp. One must be born that way.]
Let me heartily congratulate you on your change of heart and your incipient appreciation of Joseph Muscat which may be in consonant with that of an increasing number of political observers. Your specific case reminds one of Clement Attlee’s neat summary of his career ranging from the earlier days to the height of his success:
Few thought he was even a starter.
There were many who thought themselves smarter.
But he ended PM,
CH and OM,
A peer and a Knight of the Garter.
P.S. And do me and Mr Clews a favour and overcome the temptation to pick on the “garter” bit. If you do I will answer in like fashion and you may not be amused.
[Daphne – I sometimes have trouble understanding what you’re on about. And you clearly have trouble understanding me. Let me assure you that I have no appreciation, incipient or otherwise, of Joseph Muscat’s finer qualities, largely because I have a great deal of difficulty discerning any. I merely said that he knows better than to approach me in the way that he is approaching others, because he is sufficiently astute to see that unlike others I am not vulnerable. No particularly great intelligence is required for this, surely.]
Your dear friend Dr Alfred Sant can now feel safe that those writing in the English local papers are being paid by the …..PL
Ghamlilna bye-bye, il-man u mhux Ghamlilna bye-bye, il-men il- verb singularr mela in-nom avolja bl-ingliz xorta singular
[Daphne – If you can show me at least one person of the sort who says ‘ghamlilna bye-bye il-men’ who pronounces the last word as ‘man’, I’ll let you run this blog.]
Hysterical! Not only incapable of pronouncing but also of comprehending! Shall I go on? No, I should not – too much effort, not enough reward.
Maybe you can explain to him, my darling, intelligent, gutsy, (maybe a little too gutsy) proud, female compatriot who leads an exemplary role in this male dominated society we live in.
“The current Labour Party is attractive to precisely the age cohort you mention, 40 to 60”
I just about fit in that age group, and I find it hard to believe. These are precisely the people who remember (or should) what the Labour party really is and what it stands for. I could imagine 20 somethings going for something they don’t know, but for those older, and wiser, it does surprise me. Perhaps my view of things is skewed since I don’t live there anymore.
[Daphne – Their reasoning is that those sorts of things will not happen again. But imagine having such absolute lack of self-respect and dignity that you are prepared to vote for the very same bunch of people – people, as in individuals, not the party itself – who f***ed up the best years of your life. Imagine being so weak-willed and spineless that you are prepared to actually reward those who worked full out to deny you EU citizenship. It just beggars belief. The only thing that Joseph Muscat is going to get from me is a gob of spit, after his valiant efforts at keeping my sons locked on this rock – which thanks to the efforts of others, myself included, failed. Turning the other cheek is one thing. Turning yourself into the result of a breeding experiment between a doormat and a dishrag is another thing altogether. I will never forgive Joseph Muscat for what he tried to do. It was and remains unforgivable. His pre-2003 hysterical ranting against EU membership is the main reason he can’t pull in the youth vote, but is pulling in only disgruntled middle-aged people. He’s disgusting, and those who have conveniently forgotten how hard he tried to keep them out of the EU – like Kenneth Zammit Tabona and Marisa Micallef Leyson – have no self-respect.]
I read Daphne’s comments and I think I found the real reason behind the 40-60 reverse osmosis mechanism. And yes, again, it’s the EU. The 40-60 age group are the ones who had nothing to lose from staying out. Anyone below that age was starting out into the world, or starting out into a bigger world (Europe), and we remember every nail-biting moment of it. So for the older ones, it’s still a choice between political parties doing domestic politics, not an emotional “from my cold dead hands they shall get a vote”.
Frans Sammut, by any chance are you the one who has written that thwarted fiction about Alfred Sant titled “Alfred Sant: Il-viżjoni għall-bidla…”?
Pardon me, madam, I can assure you I have no trouble understanding you. As for your being ‘vulnerable’ or not, I can understand that too, for the present time. Pray do not forget I was NOT the one to use the epithet ‘vulnerable’ but you. If you use words carrying various overtones and connotations you should not blame others for the trouble you meet trying to understand them.
[Daphne – The only people who don’t understand what I write are those who have trouble with English as a second (foreign) language. In English as a first language, madams run brothels. Otherwise, it’s ma’am.]
Micallef in Micallef out…..
timesofmalta.com
reacting to the article about JMuscat’s interview relating to subject …. “well done and well said ,we are behind you a 100% and our thrust is in you…god bless”
Sorry Frans Sammut how did I come into the argument?
Read Ms Leyson’ s parable on today’s Times. Pathetic – she actually crossed sides because the government would not accede to her expectation to give her a “a job for the boys”.
“Few thought he was even a starter. There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended up as PM.”
KMB and Alfred Sant fit this description easily.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090929/local/zrinzo-azzopardi-becomes-interim-pl-general-secretary
Still waiting for the diatribe against Marisa Micallef. Mysterious silence in these pages.
[Daphne – Here’s another sad loser who gets off on women’s mud-wrestling.]
Meanwhile, the European Socilaists are suffering.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/europe/29socialism.html
Malta, as usual, defies European trends.
Dear Daphne,
You said that the main reasons that people will change government is that they are in search of excitement because they are bored.
Well let me give you some valid reasons that many people have to complain about with the current government.
The overall mediocrity in the running of the country’s affairs.
The extremely arrogant attitude of many of the PN official and unofficial representatives.
The cost of living
The state of the environment – the huge neglect in many places.
The state of many of the roads – not all but many
The fact that they always promise that privatization will reduce prices due to increased competition when in actual fact the prices increase.
The paternalistic way that the PN talk down to people such as “gibnilkhom ix-xoghol, jmisskhom tirringrazzjawna and all this non-sense”.
The level of taxation those of us who declare everything are taxed directly or indirectly from every way possible without seeing any significant improvements.
The list is endless …………………….
Are these not valid reasons for people to at least try and look forward for what the opposition will be offering in order to address at least some of these problems?
[Daphne – Perhaps unlike you, I was around in 1996 and heard the exact same litany of whining. And we all know by now what happened next. Rather than looking forward to what the opposition will be offering, I think you should demand that it offers something now, because it hasn’t yet. Offers are made in advance of purchase. One doesn’t pay (with money or the vote) for a surprise.]
When you read through your opinions there is only one conclusion, that if it was for you the people shall never even try to think to change government.
[Daphne – Exactly who are The People? The last time I looked, I was a person. Some people can go around changing governments as much as they please. I think you’ll find that most other people are stable in their choices. I actually have more respect for those who are consistent in their views – even if those views are diametrically opposed to mine – that for those who never seem able to make up their minds. I guess it’s no coincidence that those who change their minds about their spouses or ‘partners’ are the very ones flocking to change their minds about their political party. It’s all much of a muchness.]
On the contrary more and more people are moving away from this kind of reasoning and they are ready to at least listen about new ideas and alternatives.
[Daphne – You must be very young or very naive if you think that what is being said over at Mile End is ‘new ideas and alternatives.’ What I see when I look in Labour’s direction is a jumped-up ginger prick who only five years ago was busy haranguing me to vote No in the referendum on EU membership. If that’s your conception of new ideas and alternative thinking, it sure as blazes isn’t mine.]
How come it is so difficult for you to understand that there are very valid reasons for many to be upset with the government?
[Daphne – I do understand, but grown-ups don’t run off when they get upset. They stick around and solve things. That’s why I think it’s no coincidence that those who dump spouses think nothing of switching political allegiance.]
I do agree that there are those who are not happy simply because they did not get what they want or for other matters which are not valid, however, to simply state that people will change for excitement or out of boredom is in my opinion very stupid.
[Daphne – It’s actually accurate. Malta is relatively problem-free compared to other economies in the European Union. And did you take note of how many tens of millions came sloshing out of private coffers to snap up three lots of bonds – and all three were oversubscribed – in the last few weeks alone?]
It seems that your spinning is not working anymore and maybe it will not continue to work because you are out of touch big time.
[Daphne – My gift has always been the opposite: being completely in touch with every nuanced change in the political wind. The difference between me and certain others is that I don’t believe that just because I notice a change in people’s opinion then I have to change with it. I said that Alfred Sant was crap from day one, remember? People threw bottles at me because they were speaking about him then the way they are speaking about Muscat now. But they were the ones who had to change their minds. And I don’t spin. I speak my mind. I am free to do this because the only organisation that pays me to write is the newspaper for which I work. It is the Labour Party who pays somebody to write articles in its favour and against the government: Marisa Micallef Leyson, the very one who wrote reams of praise for the Nationalist Party while she was chairman of the Housing Authority, something that nobody in that position should ever have been permitted to do.]
You mentioned dump spouses and divorce many times. Are you in favour of divorce or not ? You make it sound like it’s something awful.
[Daphne – I am not ‘in favour of divorce’. I am in favour of divorce legislation. There’s a great difference. I don’t think anybody sensible can be in favour of divorce; it’s always an unpleasant thing, even if the marriage was awful. I merely pointed out that disloyalty is a character trait that manifests itself across our private AND public lives.]
Are you trying to make fun/ridicule people who were unfortunate enough to see their marriage fail?
[Daphne – No. And please bear in mind that marriages don’t necessarily fail because people are unfortunate. They usually fail because that’s what one of the spouses wants. That makes the other person unfortunate.]
You took the same approach with gays. First you say you have nothing against gays and then you ridicule some personalities for being gays.
[Daphne – I don’t ridicule ‘some personalities for being gay’ – who do you mean, anyway? I prefer not to live under the jackboot of political correctness. The funniest stand-up comedy, incidentally, is often by gay men poking fun at themselves.]
You misquoted me here. I never said that marriages “fail because people are unfortunate”. I said “people who were unfortunate enough to see their marriage fail.” It’s not the same thing. As you well said “it’s always an unpleasant thing” even for the person who wants the divorce.
“They usually fail because that’s what one of the spouses wants. That makes the other person unfortunate.” OK you seem like an expert in family matters. If it were that easy…..
“I merely pointed out that disloyalty is a character trait that manifests itself across our private AND public lives.” Do you really think that couples divorce just because one of the partners was disloyal? I mean… COME ON!
[Daphne – Disloyalty doesn’t encompass only unfaithfulness. Don’t be simplistic.]
What about married couples that live together just for the public eye, hand in hand and smiling just in front of cameras? COWARDS? I prefer a divorced couple than a fake couple. And believe me I met many fake couples.
[Daphne – A word of advice: never presume to know the secrets of another person’s marriage. There is no such thing as a fake marriage. There is only marriage. The marriage law doesn’t give a damn whether a couple smiles for the camera and then fights at home. They are still married. You make the mistake of confusing the words ‘marriage’ and ‘relationship’. Besides, what to you might be fake might to the incumbents of that marriage be perfectly normal. There are those to whom the very thought of too much togetherness is abhorrent. You’re a little foolish if you think there is a single recipe for marriage.]
Two comments in KZT’s article puzzle me:
“the credit crunch gave the PN all the excuses in the world not to fulfil its pie in the sky electoral promises”
“the total absence of any tangible result from joining the EU apart from controversies like spring hunting”
Is he serious?
The worst global economic crisis since the great depression is just an excuse for the government not to keep its electoral promises as if Malta was not affected by the recession!
If we needed any proof of tangible benefits from joining the EU is the fact that people like him are now comfortable to vote Labour despite their experience of having lived through the “best years” of Labour! Thankfully I was too young to remember that clearly.
[Daphne – The tangible benefits of EU membership are all around us; we live them on a daily basis. It’s just that people like Kenneth, who are not in touch with the world of work and who have no children, think that the benefits of EU membership are divorce and same-sex marriage, full stop – with perhaps a concert hall thrown in. Perhaps he should ask my sons about the benefits of EU membership: all three of them are at leading European universities, something we could never have afforded to pay for pre-EU accession, and have opportunities ahead of them that they could never have dreamed of had Kenneth’s inane hero got his way. Like them, there are legions of people in their late teens and 20s whose lives have changed immeasurably for the better. If the benefits haven’t been quite as great for the middle-aged who are busy complaining, then tough. We got the short end of the stick, born at the wrong time, too late to make the most of EU opportunities and with no opportunities in our younger years because of the political party that Joseph Muscat and his harridan Mintoffjana nanna championed and voted for.]
In 1996, I was around, however, I did not really care about politics as I was busy enjoying my life as most teenagers do.
I do demand that it offers solutions and ideas now, however, the election is due in 2013 and hopefully we will have a better idea of what they will be offering.
[Daphne – Hopefully? What do you mean, hopefully?]
I am young not very young but I am not naive and I do expect better from the opposition – however, I do understand that they had many problems which are being dealt with which is a good sign.
[Daphne – Bully for them. While they’re fixing the plumbing at HQ, they can’t write policy.]
Regarding grown ups running off when they are upset, I guess you are referring to Marisa Micallef etc, If I were in her same position, I would have simply moved on and simply switch sides silently.
[Daphne – At least we agree on that.]
I did not say that Malta is full of problems especially when compared with other countries; however, I am convinced that even we could be better than we are.
Regarding the bonds which were all oversubscribed, I think that people investing in these bonds are mostly rich people and businessmen not ordinary citizens.
[Daphne – That’s where you’re wrong. Subscriptions come in from right across the social spectrum.]
I fully agree that because people’s opinions are changing you do not have to change with it. In my books that is a show of character. But the current dissatisfaction with this government did not come about overnight; it is a build up of dissatisfaction all over the years.
You say that you speak your mind, but it is impossible that with all its shortcomings and mistakes Labour never did anything good for this country. They did do good things in their ways which sometimes were not very desirable, however, it is undeniable.
[Daphne – No, Labour did nothing good for this country. Anything fractionally positive that it might have done was wiped out by the magnitude of the evil that it brought about. Labour carried on with its attempts at ruining Malta even from the opposition benches, with its deadlocked opposition to EU membership. As far as I’m concerned, the Labour Party can f**k off. Strong language is essential to express how I feel about this matter.]
On your last point, I also agree that nobody in that position as a chairman of a public entity should be writing in a very partisan way – yet for most of the people that are in similar positions appointed by the PN that is standard practice.
[Daphne – Mention another one.]
Yet that is another reason why many people are fed up with this government amongst other reasons.
Anyway …this was a good discussion.
Jake
Just give me one, even if the most mediocre of them all, innovative idea or solution that is being proposed by Joe Muscat. Even with a fraction of one I’ll be content!
But of all your wrangling, this must top the pops….
“They (MLP) did do good things in their ways” IN THIER WAYS you may say that a thousand times maybe you will eventually understand that it is exactly because they did things “in their ways” that they have ruined their own future and in the process slowed down Malta’s development. I’ll just ask you to consider one little huge fact – Tell me where Malta would be today on the IT scenario had Mintoff not resisted IT in his ways.
I suppose YOU have trouble with English as a foreign language. Check your “brothel” jargon at your leisure and you’ll get more insight into the language you presume to possess so remarkably. If you were the Queen of England I would address you as “Ma’am”, but not being at least the mayor of Bidnija I will address as I deem fit.
[Daphne – Touchy, aren’t we? And you’re wrong: like all those who don’t speak idiomatic English, you rush to your books instead of listening and picking things up.]
After all you have no qualms about using brothel lingo, quote: “As far as I’m concerned, the Labour Party can f**k off.” Does that kind of language qualify you as a respectable person to be addressed as “ma’am”? Ha!
[Daphne – Again, you don’t know much if you think the absence of swearing is an indicator of high birth or respectability. In Britain, swearing is at its worst at the opposite ends of the social scale. You mention Queen Elizabeth: try her husband, for starters.]
For your information I graduated at higher levels than yourself and the dissertations I presented were all in the English language.
[Daphne – Not to rub it in, Mr Sammut, but I don’t come from the sort of background that leaves me open to being impressed by how many degrees a person has. Your need to talk about it all the time is a little worrying, given that you are no longer in your 20s.]
Not only was their academic level not put in doubt, rather it was found laudable to the extent that it helped in the exposition and elucidation of the the subjects under review. But apart from that and your habitual attempts at riding a high horse, language was not the subject at hand.
I had congratulated you on your incipient appreciation of Dr Joseph Muscat and you could not bear the biting sarcasm.
[Daphne – Biting sarcasm? Oh, so that was what it was! My God, I hadn’t realised!]
You presume you can use that literary device at will, but cannot take it when someone gives you some of your own medicine back. Being a bad loser you up the aggro. What will you do when you peruse a particular short story penned by Alfred Sant and which is expected to be published shortly?
[Daphne – Thrills in store. I’ll clear my desk. I don’t read books or even short stories by Alfred Sant. Life is too short to waste on inadequate literature.]
I will leave you with that for now as I’m off to Paris. Enjoy my absence.
[Daphne – So glamorous. And you have no idea that they have internet in Paris, too, which is how I happen to be writing this from a hotel room.]
Well,
Enjoy the flight, safe in the knowledge that anybody dumb enough to try boarding a plane with a hand gun will be stopped. Then again nobody could be THAT thick, or could they?
[Daphne – Good one. It didn’t occur to me to ask our Frans to check his hand luggage for any random pistols before going through security.]
Maybe he just wanted people to think he was happy to see them.
Frans Sammut, will you please remove yourself from this interesting debate? There is nothing interesting in what you are trying to say. Your contribution is just to pick up an argument. Why did you have to introduce Mr Clews into this debate without his approval?
Whenever you ask someone why they are going to vote Labour next election, you always get the same three or four answers. The cost of living, roads, bla bla bla. Does anybody seriously think that living anywhere else in Europe is any cheaper or better? OK, the roads maybe better, but is that really such a priority?
Does anybody seriously think Labour can solve those problems? I personally don’t think there is much ideologically different between PL and PN. But there’s just something about the people that tend to gravitate towards the PL that puts me off. It’s the type of people who are so lazy, they think the government should solve all their woes. Get off your lazy asses and help yourself is all I say.
[Daphne – I’m with you on that one. I always seem able to tell how a person votes just by assessing their attitude.]
Many people don’t seem to realise (or conveniently pretend not to realise) that Joseph Muscat is not a new person in politics. He never seems to mention his past and the part he played pre-referendum.
Marika ooooh haven’t you tuned in to his new jingle …..he’s a progressive in the sense that what he messed up yesterday is not important….the future holds more interesting mess pastures.
He lives in the metaphysical world surrounded by the movement – not the last of the Beethoven’s 9th symphony because that reminds him of one big mess-up.
I can qualify myself as one of Daphne’s ‘perspikeyshis’ readers: all I can say is that Sammut’s English is more like Indian English. I wasn’t impressed.
I am keenly watching how Joseph (I became one of his perspicacious observers) will kick the bad guys of his party from the limelight.
I used to read Leyson’s articles. She once wrote that her family were all Labour supporters.
[Daphne – What, you mean like her uncle who writes Roamer’s column? I don’t think so. But if you mean her first cousin, that dreadful charlatan Mark Micallef, who did in 1996 exactly what she is doing now, but who was paid with an ambassadorship to Washington instead of a party pay-cheque – and therefore with tax revenue instead of party donations – then yes.]
She knows what the people need. I don’t mean to say ‘social housing’ with sea views like those near the Radisson Bay Hotel in St Julian’s. Let’s hope Labour heeds her advice.
Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi is a good choice for a general secretary of the LP. All they have to do now is ask for President Abela to replace Joseph. After ten years in opposition the LP will win the 2013 elections hands down with these people.
[Daphne – Labour will win in 2013 even if it is led by a lopsided Martian. Face it, they almost won last year with the ‘unelectable’ Sant at the helm. You have to be realistic here.]
[Daphne – I agree with you, but oddly enough, I seem to have been staring at the same faces on the opposition benches for 25 years. Doesn’t that bother you? Or is it only the same faces on the government side that get to you?]
I agree with you 100%. It bothers me too, anzi jqabbduni il-hakk. But that’s another argument. MPs in opposition are not managing taxpayers’ money and have not being doing so for the last 21 years. Ministers in power for 21 years like Giovanna built entire empires around them. Gonzi has all the chance and power to change them but he does not. He has valid alternatives too. For 21 years I had to suffer the same old faces like Giovanna. The way she dresses – ommi ma. But the worst thing is their arrogance and nepotism in managing funds and contracts.
p.s. I hope you enjoyed China. Now be sincere. Throughout your visit did the words “kemm ghadna lura” ever cross your mind?
[Daphne – Far from it. What I actually said was there but for the grace of God goes Malta and all who live there. We’d read China Daily every morning, and while my sons were aghast at the news items, the tone of the coverage and the complete disregard for personal liberty and human rights, I found it quite easy to understand the mindset and attitudes from having grown up in Malta in the 1970s and 1980s. The main difference is that it would have been impossible to lock up thousands of young people with families for 10 months in a secure camp and make them practise marching for 12 hours a day in all weathers – all to rehearse for today’s 60th anniversary of communism parade.]
Joseph Micallef,
Please let me know the proposals of the PN when they were in opposition. I know that they used to be very negative indeed and nasty too.
When I said ‘in their ways’, I was referring to the way they worked as most extreme leftist parties used to act, like in Russia, China and other countries which were under Socialism or Communism.
I am not justifying anything of what they did, but as far as I know every country on earth had to pass through difficult periods; a bit of history or sociology would surely enlighten you on this one. I am sure you are not that stupid as not to understand the evolution of societies all over the world. I personally do not consider myself to be socialist.
Steven,
I am not sure if you were referring to my comments about the cost of living, the roads etc. You know that I did not mention those issues only.
I have friends and family who support both political parties, but all of them complain about cost of living in Malta in general, and I think that you know too that Malta is quite expensive and there are many reasons for this. Of course this is an issue, if you have a bit of economics knowledge you would know that if the rate of increase in prices is higher than your rate of increase in your income you are worse off.
And please do not associate me with lazy people. I work in the private sector and also have a part-time business, so if you are referring to me you are mistaken.
I do not expect the government to solve all my woes, but I expect that my direct and indirect taxes are well spent and I do expect to see better roads, a better environment, a good traffic system if these are not important to you.
And make no mistake about this, I speak this way even to Labour die-hards. I think that die-hards are a great liability to Malta.
I don’t think that Labour has or will have the solution for every problem, but to be credibl, Steven, you have to ask what the PN did to solve these problems in the last 20 years or so. It’s not that they did not have any chance to implement their policies, it’s that they were busy brainwashing people like you into accepting all their shortcomings by frightening you from god forbid a Labour government.
I am a very moderate person and I do criticise Labour when there is need, and ye, I do expect better from them also especially after 20 years of sleeping in opposition. My only loyalty is to myself, my family and my true friends and not to a politician or a political party.
OK, Jake, let’s see if I understand something about history and sociology.
PN proposals when in opposition before 1987 were summarised in three words – Xoghol, Gustizzja u Liberta – and they addressed dire needs of our society at that moment in history. On all three counts this country has made historical and sociological leaps. You can argue that more or different things could have been done. Well, yes, but the reality is that the PN has done something about all that despite the MLP. More specific proposals from that time: joining the EU, market liberalisation, employment, IT, infrastructure, stable and normal foreign policy.
The evolution of societies does not happen organically, but is shaped by the action (or inaction) of its leaders, and the PN has outperformed the MLP outright. Rather than tactics I judge governments by strategies, which in Malta’s case over the last few decades can be independence, infrastructure, free (not in the monetary sense) education, liberty, VAT, local councils and EU membership to name a few – and the MLP was not only always on the wrong side but worked actively against.
I really admire the way you write and express yourself, Daphne. Just wanted to ask you a question – don’t know if you have expressed yourself already on the matter – do you agree with George Abela’s appointment as President of Malta?
[Daphne – I have no objections. I had plenty to Fenech Adami’s appointment.]
Well done on your comments about Muscat’s childish behaviour on Independence Day. Pretending to be included in the same ceremony as the Prime Minister and the President is hilarious for an opposition leader who, as you correctly said, represents nobody in the state.
Well done and keep it up.
Just read the letter to the editor (Times 2.10.09) “Who is good enough replace Jason Micallef” – Simply hilarous
The PL will never get my vote for trying to keep us out of the EU. Besides, it has become a magnet for losers and inconsistent characters, starting from the leader himself all the way to others who have switched loyalties because it suits them. A party run by such people cannot be trusted simply because such people have put their personal interests first, and they will do it again.
Daphne, fuq min jonqos tippunta subajk? Hallihom in-nies bi kwiethom jew ghandek grudges kontra l-umanita’ kollha? Dejjaqt anki lil ALLA l-missier etern ahseb u ara lilna f’din id-dinja. Puh ghalik kemm inti hadra. Trid titnejjek b’kulhadd. Lil min bzaqt? X’misthijja kieku kont nigi minnek. ‘Assa la’ (kien jghid missieri meta kien jara xi kelb salvagg ihuf ma saqajh) Jien nibza li ghad issib kappell jigik daqs kemm inti antipatka. Ikkoregi triqtek qabel ma jkun tard wisq. Jaqq.