Charles Crawford, and how the Labour Party has taken leave of its senses
I have to rush off to lunch now (not at Tarragon, with Consuelo, Robert, Jose and Jeffrey), so there’s no time to post on the fascinatingly stupid developments regarding our beloved and brainless Labour Party, the former British Ambassador to Poland – Charles Crawford, the government and this blog.
Biut I’m telling you now that it’s official: the Labour Party has taken leave of its senses.
That’s what happens when you make a coconut director of party communications. Coconuts have coconut milk for brains.
And over and above that, they pay somebody with no public affairs training or experience – Marisa Micallef – to deal with what is a highly specialised field of communication, known in simple English as ‘how not to f**k up’.
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While you’re at lunch, your readers can amuse themselves by reading through these links.
http://charlescrawford.biz/blog/democracy-in-malta
http://charlescrawford.biz/blog/fame-in-malta#idc-container
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article757273.ece
http://charlescrawford.biz/blog/help-my-first-daphnelanche
http://charlescrawford.biz/blog/the-limits-of-swearblogging
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=7663
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=7667
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100314/local/ministry-denies-that-former-uk-diplomat-advised-pm-on-appointments
‘The descent to the infernal regions is easy enough, but to retrace one’s steps, and reach the air above, there’s the rub.’ – Virgil
Like Mater Dei today, Tal-Qroqq University – inaugurated in the late 1960s – was a first class project on a par with similar projects in more developed countries. The free-fall from Norman & Dawburn to the chaos inflicted upon us by Mintoff and Lorry happened in the blink of an eye. The hungry don’t dream of caviar. In a few years we lost our soul. It will take till forever to win it back.
Just imagine if the Prime Minister today had to announce that the government intends to roof over the palace courtyard. All hell would break loose, and rightly so. Yet only a few decades ago that’s exactly what happened to the Knights Hall and no one batted an eyelid because by that time we were numbed beyond caring. We were too busy dreaming of telephone lines, toothpaste and Dezerta tal-Banana.
Mintoff might have been driven by noble intentions in the same way that the Malta Labour Party today desires the best for our country. But you will not get very far if you’re travelling on a donkey fed on a cocktail of crack and cocaine. Paranoia, envy, complexes and obsessions do not ideal fuel make.
Listen to Manuel Cuschieri and Wenzu Mintoff today and it’s still all vitriol. The song remained the same. Will we ever learn that you will not help the lunatic by putting him in charge of the asylum?
In the early 1980s I was a member of the Student’s Representative Council at the New Lyceum and H.E. Agatha Barbara graced us with her presence. The official visit happened during the church school saga. At one point a student expressed his opinion against the 20-point system.
‘Qullecc, q…., if you don’t want the 20 points, tehodhomx’ she said turning towards a fellow member on the council ‘int x’ismek? Tridhom l-ghoxrin punt? Tridhom?…’
The 17 year old’s reply was a gem, ‘I don’t normally eat stale bread off the floor but if I’m starving and there isn’t anything else to eat then…’.
More expletives, and, to her secretary ‘…hudilhom isimhom, ara min, minn dawn irid l-ghoxrin punt…qallecc’
That is what we had been reduced to. Will the Malta Labour Party today re-introduce a similar system? Definitely not, I would say. But the madness behind that measure is still what fuels the Malta Labour Party today.
Prosit Paul, u grazzi ta l-istampa cara li tajtna ta l-arroganza tal-poter tas-snin tmenin.
To put things into perspective for the benefit of those who were still in nappies or not yet born at the time, I think it would be a good idea to point out that Agatha Barbara was, at the time, President of Malta.
..and who, when Minister of Education, is also said to have lectured a mass gathering of primary school children that they should be like her and should work, work, work, going on to say that so busy was she that it was sometimes many days before she even found time to change her knickers.
Again, thank you ;)
While you were at lunch, maltastar.com has gone on a spinning spree.
“English consultant”. MORONS, IMBECILES, IDIOTS AND CRETINS.
You should read the report on Joseph Muscat’s speech at the Convention for Maltese Expatriates. (on maltastar.com) Tal-biki.
“The Opposition leader critisised the university’s decision to now allow students write in Maltese in their examinations, …” (they meant to say ‘not’).
“Dr Muscat agreed with the establishment of a structure that looks towards the interests of Maltese expatriates.” (from the Maltese “tħares l-interessi”)
Maltastar’s article has so many funny howlers, it could serve as a stand-up comedy script.
A convention of Maltese expatriates would probably have been attended by the likes of the kind of people who emigrated to Australia or Canada fifty or sixty years ago, and who still feel the need to meet up at some “Maltese” club discussing festi and marci while eating pastizzi. And then we grumble because the “foreigners” here stick to their traditions and don’t try to integrate.
Let’s run a coconut competition for the funniest statement by or about the Labour Party and its media and fans.
I nominate the following.
1 “the English Conservative Party” (Maltastar exhibiting intimate knowlege of Britain’s political spectrum).
2. “a stance of of anti-euro-scepticism” (Maltastar, which has never heard of a pro-EU position, or of proofreading).
3. “Charles Crawford has in fact become so involved in the Nationalist Party’s internal organisation that he has, on various occasions, quoted blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia in his own blog” (Maltastar’s latest conspiracy theory).
4. “Crawford says that he does not know many Maltese persons and also mentions Daphne Caruana Galizia, an opinionist who is very close to the Prime Minister’s coterie. He praises her blogs.” (Maltastar – who else?).
5. “Malta! Here are the facts. NB No-one in Malta including the Malta Star has been in touch with me to ask about them.” (Charles Crawford responding on his blog to Maltastar’s conspiracy stories)
This one deserves the Golden Coconut award:
“There are a lot of wiser persons than Caruana Galizia in Malta. As a consultant you should know better and not rely on a biased person. Why don’t you meet a Maltese farmer, a Maltese fisherman or a common village family. There you can get a good and realistic feedback!” (somebody commenting under the name of Carlo Magno, inviting Charles Crawford to broaden his mind).
“coterie”
Naf ezatt minn fejn gabuha dil-kelma.
Carlo Magno Fail
Anything to obfuscate the PR disaster at GRTU headquarters last week. This is understandable. Flashbacks to the eighties rocks “new” PL to the foundations. The hysterical reactions come back naturally. A sure sign of political naivety.
Kolossali!
Wow! Charles Crawford may be reading this line!
Wow. I did!
Just for the record, we aren’t all illiterate half wits.
Good on you, Charles. By now all Malta knows about you, thanks to this blog, and not Maltastar.
What’s Maradona doing there?
Maybe explaining how Labour needs a “Hand of God” to make it electable.
Dan il-blog iffakkarni f’meta konna tfal nilaghbu fl-ghelieqi u naraw xi bejta taz-zunzan u xi hadd jitfa gebla ghal fuq il-bejta u z-zunzan kollu jibda jtir minn gol-bejta.
Prosit Paul Portelli. Spot On. Lest it will ever happen again. “Arbeit macht frei”.
From award-winning, Pulitzer-studded website Maltastar:
“On the said blog, Crawford says that he does not know many Maltese persons and also mentions Daphne Caruana Galizia, a columnits who is very close to the Prime Minister’s inner circle. He praises her blogs. ”
Daphne, you’re a columnits.
[Daphne – Crack open the Malathion, then. Oh god, I said ‘crack’. She’s going to call the police again. Good thing they’re outside already.]
….started up by the trail blazing Joseph Muscat, now leader of the Labour Party.
That’s a change from “gossip columnist” (8 March 2010).
An important change from the Labour Front.
[Daphne – Yes, but entirely in tune with their penchant for painting themselves into public-affairs corners. On the one hand they belittle me as a trivial and insignificant gossip columnist, and on the other hand, they build me up as the power behind the throne. Then a light-bulb goes off in their heads, possibly because they’ve accidentally plugged themselves into a socket, and it occurs to them that the two are mutually exclusive. After that, they sit down for a brainstorming session and decide what it’s going to be this week. Is Daphne a gossip columnist? Or is she part of the inner circle and pulling the prime minister’s strings? The truth is too boring: that I’m just somebody who writes stuff that they don’t like.]
“for a brainstorming session…” I understand that is a midnight lapsus? I take it you meant “for a coconut milk storming session…”