Honestly, when I see Saviour defending Arrigo, Bondi defending Scerri, and now even priests speaking out in courts, my goodness, since when? U ajma kulhadd li jaqbel lilu u miskin hu dak li ma ghandu ‘l hadd. The older I get the more I can see through people and the more I lose faith in people who speak out as it seems that they are OK with some but beware if you touch their agenda.

Daphne, we are not to blame for his rage. He came to our school already wound up really tight and although we might have helped in making him even more angry we cannot be blamed. Mr Balzan as we then called him was OK and we had our fair share of fun with him too (especially because the subject he thought was a bit of an “easy” subject) but he quickly went from Mr Nice Guy to Mr Angry. I remember when one of my friends managed to get hold of a newspaper cutting of Mr Balzan shackled to the railings at Castille. He stuck it up on the notice board and when Mr Balzan saw it he snatched it off the board and went into a rage. I can still remember the convict jokes.. oh zmien helu fejn hallejtni.

Thanks for your comments.

I know that this has nothing to do with this commentary but I’d like to see what you think.

I recently read an article on The Economist under the section of Books and arts. It’s about Ayn Rand a Russian Jew, I found it very interesting and to be tell you the truth, while reading it, I drew some similarities of this lady’s views on the role of government and your views.

Do you know about this lady? What do you think about her and your views, am I wrong?

Thanks
Jake

[Daphne – Ayn Rand’s views are spelled out in her book Atlas Shrugged. No, I don’t agree with her at all. The ‘survival of the fittest’, ‘every man for himself’ approach to economic theory is a recipe for disaster. It won’t even work from the human perspective, because human beings are social animals, form social groups and live in a state of mutual dependency to a greater or lesser extent. Ayn Rand applied her personal approach to her private life to the wider world – she was completely egocentric. It didn’t work in her private life, either. I’m a liberal (the British, not American, definition of the term), but I draw the line at a certain point. The consequences of the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century, for example, were exacerbated by liberal political decisions which sought to have the market right itself, while millions died and millions of others were shipped out to Ellis Island in New York. That kind of extremism horrifies me.]

The police in Malta are in dire need of reform, this won’t be done unless there is more pressure from the public.

Il-proverbju jghid: “Kull min jgholli jdejh ghandu xi jxomm” u perswaz li hekk ghandu Saviour Balzan. Il-kitba tieghu fil-Malta Today hija biss biex isawwat lil min jahsel jigi f’mohhu. Dnub li ma tghallem xejn mill-esperjenza li ghadda minnha.

Will we see Saviour Balzan on Bondi + one day? (with you and Daphne preparing the questions?)

I don’t think Tonio Fenech is a miskin. The finance minister has no business going on personal trips with very prominent businessmen even as he claims he paid his own expenses. What many people don’t like is the selectiveness of the attacks. Why Tonio and not the others too?

[Daphne – That’s exactly what I meant, Ronnie. Valid stories are rendered less valid if people perceive an agenda behind them. If Malta Today maintains absolute silence on the matter of Bastjan Dalli running off to Libya when he is wanted for questioning by the police on the little matter of a soap-smuggling expedition, then goes gunning for Tonio Fenech, people don’t just perceive an agenda in the silence over Bastjan Dalli, but also an agenda – most likely for the same reason – in the stories about Tonio Fenech.]