The leader of the opposition shirks his duty again
I don't have time to waste on Remembrance Day ceremonies. That kind of thing is for losers with big gaps in their diaries, like the prime minister and the president.
Do you remember last year’s 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, when even US president-elect Barack Obama found the time to mark the day formally, but Malta’s leader of the opposition did not?
He didn’t think it was important, and sent Joe Debono Grech instead.
Now he’s done it again.
He wasn’t at the formal Remembrance Sunday ceremonies today alongside the head of state, the prime minister, and the speaker of the house.
He gave it a miss, and sent Anglu Farrugia and – again – Joe Debono Grech instead.
He finds the time on Sunday mornings to speak to supporters at Labour Party clubs – but then only because it gives him the opportunity to be reported in the media. Then he doesn’t find the time for this.
What a tosser. I mean, really.
Every time he does this kind of thing – sending a Labour Party rep instead of going himself – he demonstrates that he doesn’t know the difference between his constitutional role as leader of the opposition and his role as leader of a political party. It is the leader of the opposition whose presence is required at these ceremonial occasions, and not the leader of the Labour Party. Anglu Farrugia is extraneous to the occasion. His presence is not required, and nor is Joe Debono Grech’s.
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He is so proud and fond of himself that he neglects the fact of the real role of an opposition leader. “I think of myself as an intelligent, sensitive human being with the soul of a clown which always forces me to blow it at the most important moments.” – Jim Morrison
Does this offensive little wanker realise that by not attending such an event he is in effect sticking up two fingers at the victims of the wars? I hope ‘the people’ remember this and do the same to him at the next general election. What a stupid twat.
”A little wanker”………….perfect description. This sorry excuse for a man has no idea, and the sad thing is that his antics, his utter lack of respect and his crass ignorance of protocol all go straight over his supporters’ heads. Bambin illiberana.
I realise that in Lilliput there is nothing more important than Joey and his wannabe-Establishment bandwagon, but the Polish health minister has something important to say, and it does not only concern the health of the Poles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhZesZe33cw
Those who want to know the truth behind the swine flu genocide (yes, it goes beyond being just a scam) please check http://www.theflucase.com (and stop following the corporate media).
Kev, martial law in the Ukraine first and Austria second, eh? Well, come and visit me in Vienna and we can discuss it over a beer, eh? I’ll pay. I could do with a good laugh.
Hi Kev,
Let me guess your favourite film of all time – Conspiracy Theory?
Get a life!
Kev has a life already. But it will soon be extinguished by the Andromeda Strain, ostensibly named The Flu. Even as I write, imperial stormtroopers are breaking down my front door, for I have discovered the tr——-BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP——–
Wow, I’m impressed! While we’re at it, take a look at this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z9ERyHnyw4
It’s just amazing what those American capitalist despots and tyrants get away with.
…and here’s the Polish Health Minister actually doing her job: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhZesZe33cw
As for the laughing zombies – go pull up your sleeves, quick, it’s da flu pandemiX.
The former Chief Medical Officer of Finland goes a step further: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTgyakGAddM
Others here might know better – they would have dug as deep as it-Tajmz, CNN, BBC and the rest of the Western Pavda apparatchiks.
Er.. Kev, seriously. The former CMO of Finland also claims that there’s a UFO cover-up in the West…
Typical. No sense of history. Just a sense of histrionics. He preferred to go and lecture some harridan in some club than do his duty, for the second year running. What an a**hole.
What? And miss a chance for a quick(ie) with berger and frajs?
Such a trivial occasion especially since he never experienced the ravages of war! Such a spoiled brat!
And then he insisted on being invited to the ceremonies of Independence Day! I wonder now: if he was invited, would he go, or send his minions?
@ All: what’s the big deal, Joseph went to the church ceremony, and later talked to his eager crowd at Zabbar .
On the other hand we had the PM attending the wreath laying ceremony while a taped interview was being transmitted to his party followers on Radio 101, the contents of which disappointed many people like me. He prefers to be legalistic and hide behind a magistrate’s sentence, rather than being a PM on the Mistra case.
He also seems to be obsessed with the idea that your medical records can be accessed by your doctor; either he’s naive or I don’t know. Doesn’t he realise that with a little bit of arm-twisting, one’s future employer can easily ask for these records? He did something similar with a foreign country with our personal data.
Who cares about wreath-laying when there are more important issues which are not being handled as expected of him. These are no safe pair of hands for sure. It could be too late when he realises what hit his party. Next week we will have a sterilized PN General Conference, where we will hear how bad Joseph is, while no one dares to show any disagreement with GonziPN.
Our justice system reached a point where a drug pusher is let off on a technical point – what Dr Gonzi prefers – and is considering suing the government because his rights were trampled!
@Gahan,
You’re right to ask ‘Who cares about wreath-laying’. The sad answer to that, in my opinion, is ‘Not enough people’. I am not one fixated with pomp and ceremony. However, a solemn, dignified ceremony indicating your respect for those who have risked and those who have lost their lives for the liberties we enjoy today is a vital part of a nation’s identity. Without such ceremonies, this little island resembles a spoilt, ungrateful child.
Ceremonies give us a clear idea of our identity, they help form the national conscience, and at the very least, they educate us about these events. They’re also a chance for leaders of political parties to show that they do beleive in casting aside political differences for issues of national importance (something that our progressive Joseph Muscat claims as his own invention).
Politicians are busy people (one would expect), but there’s plenty of time for the campaign trail and publicity. It’s one thing to shun ceremonies when you’re 16 and wear ripped jeans. It’s another when you plan on one day leading our nation.
I think your nick really suits you!! Sorry but could not help it!
“Doesn’t he realise that with a little bit of arm-twisting, one’s future employer can easily ask for these records?”
What stops the Department of Health from passing on this information to the employer now? Do you have any idea what it means to take an oath to keep your patients’ records confidential? Do you have any idea what the consequences are for any doctor who breaks this oath? He/she risks being struck off the Medical Register. The system has been championed by the WHO and we are in fact late in putting it into practice.
The more time passes, the more I am convinced that my biggest mistake was not to leave this country when I had the chance – with people like Gahan, we are in a really hopeless and helpless situation.
I think we all remember when the opposition did not attend parliament sittings, but of course that was under the leadership of Dr. Fenech Adami. It was OK then. Dear Daphne, can you write something good about Dr. Muscat please?
[Daphne – No. He’s a desk-clerk promoted beyond his abilities. Perhaps you should try your hand at writing ‘something good’ about him, and let’s see how far you get. As for your comparison of Muscat’s failure to attend Rembrance Sunday ceremonies with the crisis of the early 1980s, perhaps you should stick to playing the piano and song-writing.]
Mmmm….lovely adjectives being flouted by today’s Demokristjani.
[Daphne – Laws and convention are flouted, not adjectives.]
Also, asshole, wanker, tosser and twat are not adjectives but nouns.
Carmel, thallatx il hass mal ….. no comparison whatsoever.
I think we all got it wrong, I’m afraid. He sends his ‘deputies’ to these occasions because they know protocol a bit better than he does and he is not man enough that if he screws up, like showing up late, to apologize, or better still, to know what to do and when to do it.
If his deputies screw up, he always has the good excuse, “Heqq ma kontx hemm jien!”
I know why he sent Joe Debono Grech. Because he’s the last surviving Suldat tal-Azzar who fought in the trenches, what. And Anglu Farrugia led the Imperial Elephant Corps in Burma, earning a WC at Imphal.
qeghdin tghidu kontrih ghax nahseb il-pn qed itulkom shun jaqaw intom ma thallsux dawl
Mhux lill-gvern Malti, James.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF1USbvMWJg&feature=related
Maybe Joseph can watch this and see where his duty lay. On Remembrance Sunday, the phrase is: Lest We Forget. This guy not only forgot, but put his finger up.
From bbc.com: ‘Gerrard scored from the spot to make it 2-2 after David Ngog had appeared to dive over a Lee Carsely tackle.’
It’s simply scandalous how Liverpool get gifted so many things at Anfield.
“had appeared to dive” … bbc.com should cut out the lawyery bull http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2721804/Cheat-caught-Red-handed.html
Refereeing standards in the PL have nose-dived.
Tim,
Man. Utd. were playing Chelsea on Sunday and Drogba got a yellow card for being kicked and beleive me the guys were playing at Stamford Bridge……..now that is scandalous.
Sorry, Daphne, I know you don’t like soccer but being a Liverpool fan I had to answer back. Thanks.
This person is thrifty with Malta’s history. This person is thrifty with his own political history. This person is thrifty with the current global financial crisis.
Can anyone seriously expect him not to be thrifty with showing respect to those who have made it possible for him to walk this earth? An irresponsible nitwit.
Shame.
Pardon me but I don’t give a hoot about him shirking his duty of a wreath laying ceremony. It’s not a national day. On the other hand I expected him to do his duty like the PM and exhausted Tonio did, and answer to an unlimited amount of questions from the journalists in the press conferences after the budget.
He posed in front of two flags and some pot plants on a staircase and read what he probably scribbled during the sitting. I expected all the opposition MPs to be on that flight of stairs. It looks like we have another know-it-all as Labour leader.
He could have easily issued a press release and sent it by email to them. But then there would not have been that photo opportunity.
One journalist was overheard on radio saying “I told you that he would not take questions. That’s what he always does”.
I was expecting the first budget discussion/debate on RTK between Dr Gonzi and Dr Muscat. Wonder of wonders Dr Muscat did not turn up because his party communicated to RTK that the Labour leader would not give his reaction to the press before his speech in parliament.
We had a good explanation by Dr Gonzi what this budget is all about. I can understand why he did not turn up.
Probably he will try to imitate Dr Fenech Adami’s “budget irelevanti” speech of 1986 with a panegyric on black dust, corruption and the energy bills which we can assume to be around the same price we had last April.
Yesterday, a journalist exclaimed:”M’ghidtilkomx li hekk ha jaghmel?”. Maybe I will say the same after his doom and gloom speech.
Flout- to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock: to flout the rules of propriety.
[Daphne – Yes, but you can’t flout adjectives. You can flout convention, the law, policy, rules – that kind of thing.]
R2D2- You’re right there – they are nouns, but I guess you excel there, seeing that it takes one to know one.
Don’t forget to go to church folks…All good Demokristjani do….
The opposition leader does not seem to worry about the Maltese (and UK) war veterans like myself who for the second time noted his absence at the war memorial last Sunday. Maybe he is one of those who thought Adolf Hitler was the German national team coach?
[Daphne – No, Major Clews. I think he’s one of those who were raised to believe that Malta was unnecessarily embroiled in Britain’s war, and that it wasn’t ours to fight. People of that mentality appear to believe that if Malta were not a British colony at the time, it would have survived the years 1939 to 1945 literally as a Switzerland in the Mediterranean, skirted by all armed forces, rather than seized within days by the Axis powers. But then I have no doubt that lots of people here would have preferred that last option, while many of the rest would have rushed to collaborate. The tragedy is that so many men and boys died to save those who didn’t deserve to be saved, or who laboured under the delusion that there was nothing to be saved from. But at least the deserving were saved alongside.]
and you think the allies wouldn’t have bombed Malta if we fell in Axis hands daphne? wasn’t adolf hitler a ballet dancer ;p