Jason shows off his people skills
It's a brilliant idea to have a television station headed up by a drama queen.
The Times, today
One Productions managing director on long leave
Michael Vella Haber, the managing director of One Productions, is on long leave but the Labour Party has denied the decision was fuelled by a clash with company chairman Jason Micallef.
Describing Dr Vella Haber’s decision to go on long leave as an “internal operational company matter”, a party spokesman denied a report in yesterday’s In-Nazzjon claiming that Dr Vella Haber had clashed with Mr Micallef.
The dentist’s sabbatical from the PL’s media house was not the only spat of turbulence to hit the station of late. Evelyn Zammit La Rosa, the face of mobile telephony arm Red Touch Fone, has also ended her stay at One Productions.
The party spokesman confirmed that Ms Zammit La Rosa resigned from her job and insisted that the “company did not feel it opportune to comment on private individuals” when asked whether her resignation was also linked to Dr Vella Haber’s decision.
Super One can’t ever have been a great environment to work in. But imagine what it’s like now, with Jason Micallef strutting in to run the show, prove that he’s relevant and begin a power struggle with the party leader.
It would have been all right if he had brains – you can respect brains – but the combination of arrogance and lack of intelligence is just too much. That sort of boss is impossible to take, unless you have even less intelligence than he has, which is why Jason remains popular with Charlon Gouder and Kurt Farrugia.
I don’t think I would ever be able to cope with a working life composed of saying ‘yes, boss – great decision’ to somebody with the IQ and personality of peacock. It would be just too, too stressful. No wonder Vella Haber has gone out on extended leave of absence from the workplace.
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The human resources manager at One Productions is Robert Francalanza.
The last two paragraphs are as close to what I, and many others feel, as can be. Prosit.
After all, Muscat did promise an earthquake – he just didn’t calculate the aftershocks.
I’m trying to imagine him assigning ministerial portfolios in three years’ time.
During the ministerial portfolio assignment ceremony, Muscat will have Anglu Farrugia by his side, cracking jokes about St Publius with Toni Abela and discussing elephants with Anthony Zammit. Mario Vella will then snap at them, smugly asking them to shut up.
Marlene will look admiringly at Michelle reciting the rosary, seeing in her a latter-day Madonna, which will irk Marlene Pullicino who wants that claim to fame for herself.
Jason, by then a brand-new MP, will get ready to throw a tantrum when he realises that his name does not appear on the Great Leader’s list of ministerial responsibilities. Herr Flick will nudge him to remind him not to show his disappointment.
Upon hearing his name, the DNA notary’s irises will turn into dollar signs. Doctoralfredsant will avoid George Vella, his competitor for the presidential throne.
From another time zone, JAM will send a congratulatory text message as he cruises into the sunset in another hemisphere.
“That’s all folks!”
For those of you who were lucky enough not to have lived the 1970s and 1980s, I would just say keep on smiling. But if these events were to really happen, then it’s a real tragedy.
Good Jeeesus, sounds too close to the truth for my liking.
Toni Abela or Angelo Farrugia as Minister for Foreign Affairs … scary isn’t it?
Or Sceberras Trigona, perhaps?
I seriously doubt Sceberras Trigona will want to contest the election again. He will probably content himself with an ambassadorship – the same post he occupied under Mintoff, when he was super-emissary-plenipotentiary-representing-Mintoff-personally.
This is a part of Maltese history which has been overlooked so far. Mintoff behaved very much like a medieval prince, who thought he was entitled to enjoy personal sovereignty over the territory of Malta. AST served as the emissary of the prince, rather than ambassador to Malta.
The modern conception of political power is no longer the personal sovereignty of the prince, but the territorial sovereignty of the state.
When we revert to satire to call Joseph Muscat “The Great Leader” we are also referring to this aspect of the Mintoffian legacy. Remember that Muscat’s nanna-given political education orbitted round Mintoff’s rhetoric during mass meetings.
Like him or not, Mintoff was a genius: his knowledge was vast and his application thereof ingenious. But whereas his understanding of things was profound and accurate, his actions were outlandish.
This analysis fits like a glove in the case at hand, if you will forgive such play with words. He understood perfectly well the medieval mindset, but then – and this is outlandish – he went to put it into practise in the modern world.
In foreign policy (after relinquishing it from his own portfolio), Mintoff engaged AST as his PERSONAL emissary, not as ambassador-plenipotentiary of Malta.
The modern notion of the state’s territorial sovereignty was therefore wiped out in favour of the medieval notion of the prince’s personal sovereignty on his subjects.
Muscat’s Great Leader persona is a rehash of Mintoff’s prince persona.
Needless to say, when Anglu Farrugia reads all this he won’t be able to make head or tail of it. He probably doesn’t even know why policemen are called “bobbies” or “peelers”.
I also doubt whether he knows who Inspector Gadget is. Perhaps a picture would help him.
Peacocks are attractive. I’d say Jason is more of a peahen.
Peacock? Make that a cock with a pea for a brain.
Better than a brain with a pea for a cock.
Baxxter! You naughty boy!
The only cock he knows about is in the barnyard…
Joseph seems to have underestimated Jason. He is slowly turning into a thorn in his side. You were so right Daphne when you commented about how One TV is running the party and not the other way round, and this is now being proven over and over again.
Jason Micallef wants to get even with his boss for kicking him out of the job he held and letting in Marisa – quite humiliating. I think that in time he’ll find ways and means to do that.
Daphne, I know one should not judge a book by its cover, but are you sure this guy is not a vampire?
Vampire? Come on. He’s a dead ringer for a ventriloquist’s dummy.
http://www.worstpreviews.com/media.php?id=606&image=16&place=photos&place2=shots
Yes, quite alike though the dummy is not as scary as Jason.
Just read of President George Abela’s accident on timesofmalta.com.
Is it only me who feels like throwing up when I read some of the comments made by the citizens of this small isle?
Sample Comments:
ivan borg(15 minutes ago)
the great Maltese President of all time …… get well soon !
R.BALZAN(17 minutes ago)
GET WELL SOON AS MALTA NEEDS YOU!!!!
The President of Malta seems to be for many fawning Maltese people like the best thing since the invention of sliced bread!
Richard Galea (1 hour, 33 minutes ago)
We can never understand the invisible Divine hand of God…….Maybe eventually something good may come out of this unfortunate accident our President had to experience. Richard Galea.
Tried this line with a Liverpool supporter still sore after yesterday’s elimination from the Europa Cup and got a very rude response. Some people never change.
Dear Daphne
Sometimes, some of us think that it is the media that portrays a certain image on public people, however, in Jason’s case, I had the “opportunity” of meeting him in an activity and someone introduced me to him and this person explained my relation to him.
You know what he said to him? Are you happy in having him in your family?
You have to bear in mind that I’ve never met this guy before and the only way he knows about me is through internet participating in Labour-leaning blogs where I was always very critical of Labour, but not with the intention of causing harm to the party, but to give them feedback from a person that due to his life experiences, knows what the hell is wrong with Labour.
I never attacked Jason Micallef on his style of clothes, his way of smiling, but for his lack of knowledge during the general election and for his extremely negative attitude.
The problem with Labour is that a substantial number of die-hard supporters enjoy having this type of character around because they see him as a “fighter” who stands up to the Nationalists. My opinion is that to stand up to the Nationalists you have to be better than they are in policies and ideas.
I do acknowledge the progress made under the Nationalist governments despite all their arrogance, their shortcomings and what-not, but generally speaking they do manage to obtain results for Malta. However, there are many areas where we need to improve our standards (environment, accountability, mentality etc).
The problem is that the thinking voters are still not convinced that Labour is now ready to be a better government than the current one and that is saying something, when considering that this government is “old”.
And yes, this is from a moderate and thinking Labour voter who voted in the last three general elections and the MEP elections but not the local council elections. I’m honestly fed up and tired of waiting for Labour to become a decent alternative to the PN.
I’m sure that many Labour insiders read your blog and that’s why I’m writing here, so that maybe they might bloody listen once and for all.
And finally, on the EU issue, I’m deeply sorry that I voted against EU membership and supported Labour on that. I was not against membership, but had concerns about certain negative aspects of the EU which the Nationalists were not honest about – and at that time I was not in a very good position financially and I tended to believe that those in my position would be the most negatively affected.
Although I always voted Nationaist I feel that I would like to be able to vote differently but at the moment I see no alternative.
I was sorely tempted to vote Labour in 1971, because Mintoff’s continuous harangue about corruption in the Nationalist government was very strong. However my grandfather used to say “never trust Mintoff”. He was right. When Labour were voted in, corruption was embedded in the running of the country.
Those years were the worst in my life. I remember feeling envious of the Polish because they had Solidarnosc fighting to give their country the liberty it deserved. But then the joy when the Nationalist Party was returned to government was indescribable. No, Jake, with all this government’s mistakes and faults I will vote for it again in the present circumstances.
That’s a man with some sense.
Taf xi tghid, Jake! Tlifna lil Gorg Abela tort ta’ dan t’hawn fuq! Jekk ghadek tittama li l-Labour jirrangaw, ipprova insa. L-unika tama li hemm hi li Gonzi ma’ tikbirlux rasu.
The PL can’t even spell fone correctly.
Daphne, unlike many people on this blog, i dare ask you to post a link or whatever that shows when JM & MM said that they went for IVF to conceive their children. as is probably the case, you know that the trash bags have posted the names of all the doctors and professors of the Gynae ward and it is not fair on them to end up being discussed simply because you failed to prove a point.
[Daphne – I’m not the one who has to prove a point, and therefore I am not going to waste time doing it. They are the ones who have a great deal to prove: that I’m the sort to go scrabbling around in other people’s medical records, and that respectable consultants in the obstetrics and gynaecology department at the state hospital are the sort to break every rule in the book and leak patient information. That constitutes criminal libel against me and every doctor on that list. That’s why they are anonymous: so that they can libel others without being prosecuted.
Besides, with their usual insane stupidity, they are only confirming that Joseph and Michelle Muscat did indeed conceive their twins through IVF. They are not accusing me of lying. They are accusing me of obtaining information which is not in the public domain, which is completely untrue. The information is in the public domain. It was merely overlooked and ignored, precisely because conception through IVF is extremely common now that couples only begin trying to have children in their 30s, when it is already quite late. So no news there, and certainly no shock-horror value.
And again, they reveal that they think like 19th-century peasants – just as they do with their attitude towards homosexuals, transsexuals and what constitutes a source of shame. In their book, not being able to conceive a child naturally constitutes the ultimate in shame, so my discussing it in public is an attempt at disgusting vilification. I don’t think IVF is a source of shame. I think that being ashamed of it is shameful, as though it is something dirty to be embarrassed of. I suppose in their primitive world, men have to be priapic and prove their lusty fertility and using IVF is an admission of ‘macho’ defeat. Pathetic.]
Secondly, I think you ought to clear up exactly what the magistrate’s defamation case against you is about. Ghax din bhal tar-referendum gejja: she will probably get her own way re character assassination etc, but I don’t think that your argument is about that. I seem to remember you saying that her position is untenable, and on this matter, based on what you have revealed so far, I agree with you.
[Daphne – Jason, Charlon, Ronnie Pellegrini and the rest of the seedy, sordid Labour crowd have tied their flags to Consuelo’s mast, so they’re going to have to follow through. Let them. It’s not at all like the EU referendum. The only person whose future is at stake here is Consuelo Herrera. And she knows it. That’s why she got a police officer with whom she slept to hide some crucial evidence ahead of the case. But more about that in court. Joseph Muscat knows me enough by now – as bridesmaid to Alfred Sant he had to read every word I wrote – to know that I don’t talk bollocks. And that’s why – unlike that cretin Jason – he’s refused to be drawn on the matter and says that he will wait until the outcome of the case. ]
Thanks for answering, Daphne.
I heard from a very reliable source that the police officer who slept with the magistrate is in a state of panic, walking around like a zombie was the exact quote.
Dan il-bniedem imma ghandu l-aqwa haga li hi l-istint li jghix. Meta hafna hasbu li kien wasal iz-zmien li jwarrab, il-kontra sar izjed b’sahhtu.
Bhal-iSpartans ghandu l-armata tieghu li ghalkemm żghira ghanda is-sahha fi hdan il-moviment tal-progressivi li lanqas l-armata tal-kap mhi kapaci twaqqafha.
Min johrog ghan-nofs ma jibqalhux triq ohra hlief iwarrab.
Tinsiex Samantha li lis-Spartans tilfu kollox fl-ahhar.
I heard that Anglu is furious that Jason will be contesting the next general election on the same districts.
Of course! Remember when, during the race for deputy leader, Anglu was interviewed by Saviour Balzan, and the first thing he said was: Jason has to leave the post of secretary general?
The rift between the two must be much deeper than we think. There’s more to it than meets the eye.
My own reckoning is that, in his endeavours at ingratiating himself with Doctoralfredsant, Jason undermined on a continuous basis Anglu Farrugia. Needless to say, he had another, more self-serving, aim in mind: weakening Anglu to pave the way for the conquest of the Mosta district, which once belonged to his uncle Freddie.
Anglu might play the George Vella card.
Many years ago, when Zejtun mayor Joe Attard intimated his intention to contest the Zejtun district, George Vella had threatened Doctoralfredsant that if the party were to accept Attard’s Zejtun candidature, he, Vella, would resign with immediate effect as deputy leader.
Despite the old “comradeship” between Attard and Doctoralfredsant – after all, Attard had been the factotum of the Iljieli Mediterranji in the 1990s, another brainchild of Doctoralfredsant’s Dipartiment tat-Taghrif – Doctoralfredsant gave in to George Vella’s demands and Attard was sacrificed on the altar of intrigue. Attard went on to become a highly-successful and very efficient mayor of Zejtun.
Farrugia must certainly know of this part of the party’s lore, and will surely use this strategy.
It will be a tough day for Muscat, as he will find himself in a sort of Catch-22 situation.
On the one hand, if he gives in to Farrugia, and drops Jason to retain Anglu as deputy leader, he will not get rid of the Drama Queen but will invite further trouble down the line, sowing the seed of rebellion – and we know that Jason, as the typical prima donna, will turn into the Great Avenger.
On the other hand, if Jason uses some ploy which we are still not aware of, as leverage on Muscat, and Muscat decides to drop the Farrugia ballast in favour of the Micallef hot air to see his balloon lift and fly higher in the skies, then Muscat will create an embittered Farrugia and a more airy-fairy, self-inflated Jason who will wreak even more havoc on the party. Farrugia’s lack of intelligence could mean that that embitterment will not translate into real action, but the PR fallout will be identical to when George Abela left the triumvirate in 1998.
There is yet a third scenario. Jason and Anglu join forces and weed out the weakling but decent Agius Decelis, thereby splitting the Mosta district among themselves.
This would be the best solution for Muscat, and he would probably be ready to sacrifice Agius Decelis to attain stability. But it would be a myopic solution. Whereas Decelis is a decent chap whose ego is in check, the other two nincompoops have real trouble in riding their egos, and rodeo-like, once they fall from their ego’s back, the animal will run around laying waste to whatever happens to come within its range of vision.
So many headaches for the Great Leader, born of idiocy and mediocrity. Compounded with the headaches of real politics, an unlimited supply of aspirin must be his only lifeline.
Jason was reelected secretary after messing up the last general elections. More than half the delegates voted for him and let us not forget that the 900 or so delegates are the people that count in a party. So Jason knows that he has a strong base and he will be using it in the future.
No wonder Angolino is furious.
Who is Evelyn Zammit La Rosa? Are you referring to Evelyn Saliba La Rosa?
Is this where they got the idea from?
http://www.redtouch.com/
Or from this?
http://senorgif.com/2010/03/30/funny-animated-gifs-red-touch/
I really pity people like Jake, genuine believers who have always been taken for a ride by their leaders. And nonetheless he keeps hoping that the Labour Party is now ready to govern.
Jake, unless the Labour Party changes its ideology it will never be ready to govern. Not now, nor ever. It can change its leaders and its hierarchy but the more it changes them the more it remains the same.
You say that the Nationalist government is old. You can use any other adjective – I would say perhaps arrogant – but definitely not old.
You come across as a rational being. For this reason may I humbly just give you some advice; if you do have children or even for egoistic reasons such as your future, do not tempt fate.
You yourself admitted that the country progressed ONLY when the PN was in government. Do not play Russian roulette with the future and use your vote wisely.
I have nothing personally against Joseph Muscat, Toni Abela, Anglu Farrugia and the lot of them. When you meet them socially they can actually be quite affable. But politically, unfortunately, they are a total disaster. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Take care and seriously consider voting PN next election, not only for the common good but also for your own and your dear ones.
@ camillo
Thank you for your comments although I do not totally agree with your judgement on the political parties’ contributions or the lack of them.
As things stand now, my choice is either not voting or voting for the PN for the first time. We will see when the election is due. For the time being let’s hope that the opposition gives a serious challenge to the government so that we all benefit from improved performance.
Thank you for the advice – to be honest, I feel like punishing Labour for their lack of service given to the country by not being able to give us a decent alternative.
Take care, Camillo.