Anglu, Joseph and Toni – our rays of hope
Joseph Muscat told the moaning masses in Valletta tonight that there is a ray of hope: Labour.
Unbelievable. So, so self-satisfied.
Unfortunately, as he said this he was flanked by Toni Abela and Anglu Farrugia. If that’s our ray of hope, then boy, we must be really desperate.
Ray of Hope 3
I never thought I would live to see the day that an ex Super One hack, Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela would be described – albeit self-described – as Malta’s sole ray of hope. If I walk down the corridor and turn into the kitchen, I just might meet Alice and the White Rabbit.
Ray of Hope 2
As for those people protesting in Valletta, they are totally cut off from reality while saying that everyone else is. Maghluqin go bozz wahda nobis.
Ray of Hope 1
Exactly what do they think will happen when Joseph Muscat leads them into the Promised Land of Milk and Honey? Do they even think, because I doubt it.
I imagine they expect him to hold their employers at gun-point and force them to raise pay so that a household of five or six can live off one labourer’s wage and il-mara tista toqghod id-dar bhalma trid. Or perhaps he’ll start selling fuel from Castille at half the price at which he buys it.
Or make water and electricity almost free again.
Who knows what they think. I certainly don’t. And I’m actually grateful for it, because something tells me that if I could see into those kinds of minds, then it would keep me up at night at the thought that they get to decide who runs the country.
Bhal tal-CET u l-VAT gejja din, issa taraw.
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Joseph Muscat has promised to invest in alternative energy, cut prices, increase competitiveness (as opposed to competition), and assist all families.
What he hasn’t done is explain how he’s going to manage all that on a shrinking tax pool (didn’t he say that everything’s going down the drain?) and without raising tax rates.
Ha jaghmlu hafna magiks, mid-dehra. It would almost be fun to watch if it weren’t so tragic.
Jekk se jaghmlu l-megiks, iridu jqabbdu lil Deffni konsulent. Ghax dik ghandha megiks broomsticks. Nepotizmu! Korruzzjoni! Hbieb tal-hbieb!
Just got home and turned on TV on Xarabank. Why did I ever think that Gavin Gulia was a beacon amongst morons!
Just heard him challenge the Prime Minister if he is going TO EMPLOY the sons of a lady with a private company. Old habits die hard!
All this amongst veiled insults and pathetic innuendos, including the Living Wage.
[Daphne – Well, I always say the same thing: when you think a Labour politician is nice, decent, intelligent, etc etc, you just have to remind yourself that nobody nice, decent and intelligent (or self-respecting) would ever want to stand in representation of a party like that. It’s the problem I had with George Abela, for instance. Much as I like and admire what I know of him, I can’t square this with the fact that he was part of Labour. To me, that’s a reflection on his judgement.]
The most telling part of your blog post is the VAT/CET comment.
This is simply another cash registers/VAT scam and the chickens will come home to roost.
The sad thing from a humanist point of view is that those worst off will be worse off and those of us who are doing OK will survive without a change to our lifestyle. The thing is we have to live with the idea of waking every morning and cringing at the thought of Joseph and his motley crew running the country and representing us internationally.
Malta will have EU presidency when he is PM – can you imagine what that will do for us in the diplomatic corps stakes?
[Daphne – Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. They’re well armed with jokes about Germans, Italians, the French and Jews, with which to break the ice at cocktail parties.]
Hard to imagine there are still thousands of cwiec who are so naive as to swallow everything which comes out of the mouths of Joseph and his henchmen.
Are these the same people who cannot afford a few extra euro on their electricity bill but have the money and time to travel to Valletta, buy a pastizz or two and a coffee, just to listen to the perpetual nonsense Labour dishes out?
Veru partit tac-cwiec.
We have known that they are a “partit tac-cwiec”, the problem is that there are a good number of persons who should know better who seem to be falling for these tricks.
BTW – Daphne – Happy New Year.
Our journalists are not worthy of the name. I would have asked those protesting yesterday if they had been on a holiday in 2010. I would also have asked what their major expenses consist of last year.
Only then would we have had a clear picture of how many people are starving. I am saying this because I happened to recognise some people who participated in that rally – and yes, they are starving.
On Xarabank tonight there was that lady with a family of six. She was complaining that her husband is the only breadwinner,and she can’t make end meets, and asking the prime minister how she can possibly manage. If my eyesight is good, the woman keeps her appearance very well. She colours her hair, perms it, her eyebrows are tattooed, her nails are done nicely, and that’s quite a bit of money.
The eldest is 22 years old and he works. I can’t stand people who whine all the time. If they are really in need they should go out and work like I do.
[Daphne – I don’t think it’s fair to talk about her appearance, because she might have made a special effort for her television appearance only. What is fair, on the other hand, is to point out that we are responsible for our decisions, including the decision to have six children when we don’t have the money to support them.]
Someone should have stood up and told her to (1) find a job herself, (2) send her children above the age of 18 to work, and (3) she should have learnt something about contraception.
I can’t agree with you there, Daphne. The cost of hair colour + perm + nails + eyebrow tattoo (????) would have put quite a few nutritious meals on the table. Common sense dictates that you don’t trade sustenance for vanity – but I don’t expect, in this case, there was much common sense present to dictate anything.
I think the points why Labour is inadequate have been done to death on this website, and I tend to agree with them. Alas, the PN is completely clueless when it comes to the people, perhaps they are the ones “maghluqin go bozz wahda nobis”.
Joseph Muscat may be inadequate, but he knows where it hurts and he’s poking his finger in it. Right now businesses aren’t doing fantastically, and people are feeling the crunch.
With internet and travelling abroad people now know that in this country we pay more and get less, when our spending power is significantly less than that of our Northern and Central European counterparts (West European countries that is).
[Daphne – On the contrary, DS. I travel a fair amount and what I notice is that we pay less and get much more. We buy our own homes fairly early on in life. We run one, two, three cars per household. Going out is not a special treat. The price of consumer durables and disposables has fallen so much that people furnish their homes well and change their wardrobes with the seasons. Almost everyone is connected to the internet and to cable television. We are not besieged by council tax, central heating costs, travel costs to and from work (horrendous, in cities). Food is a bit more expensive here – but only in the sense that the big European supermarkets have offers and slash prices just before expiry dates set in, so it is possible to eat cheaply and well – but then what price cheap food when a third of your income goes on rent, another chunk goes on central heating, and yet another on your travel pass for trains and buses (and forget running a car).]
Liberal minded people feel that PN is becoming more and more conservative, more keen on enforcing censorship laws, still procrastinating on what should be an obvious decision about divorce … and as regards gay rights, let’s just not go there. PN isn’t a bad government at all, economy-wise. But it’s set in its ways, insensitive to people, inflexible and patronizing. Their attitude stinks, and the people hate it.
[Daphne – Well, I tend to agree with you there. The sad thing is that when you vote for (or against) people because of their attitude, you just end up cutting off your nose to spite your face. I don’t really care about attitudes (maybe because I am older and have a more balanced perspective?) but I care about ability and results. This is even in my work: I can deal with a bad attitude and excellent results, but not with an excellent attitude and poor results. That gets us nowhere. Of course, the best would be an excellent attitude and excellent results, but there you go. I actually think that the prime minister’s attitude is pretty good except where divorce is concerned, where he seems to be scared of taking a decision either way – though we have now been promised a decision by the end of the year. I think he’s very good in debates, really well prepared, calm and logical. Unfortunately, some of the people on his backbenches are really hysterical and erratic.]
Daphne, your comments regarding the cost of living are spot on. I have lived in the UK for nearly 20 years and I get quite annoyed when I hear remarks from my countrymen how expensive Malta has become.
My tax and national insurance contributions are at par, percentagewise, with the Maltese rates. I then have to pay approximately EUR200 per month to my local council as a direct tax. Granted that our roads, pavements and gardens are way beyond Maltese standards but we pay for them through the nose.
All the other costs are exactly what you pointed out – heating, transport, extra clothing for cold weather- much higher than Malta and all have to be paid for after paying tax. I might add road licence, TV licence, any insurance.
The cost of housing and rent, like for like, is double what you pay in Malta. So all the whining that goes on is ridiculous to say the least. I go into many people’s houses in my job and I can tell you that my Maltese countrymen have nothing to be ashamed of, and mostly a lot to be proud of. This is not to mention that my son will come out of university with EUR40,000 worth of debt while his Maltese counterpart has a monthly stipend credited to his account every month.
It’s about time my Maltese brethren grow up to the real world.
The elves are hard at work !
Mairio Cachia(10 hours, 7 minutes ago)
All those PN that were at the protest should be considered as traitors. Pn is the party for life, and if prices are up it is because of a good cause. So what, learn to eat bread instead of chicken. Gonzi knows what he is doing, and he is leading the country as no other leader before him did, as every PN leader had done before him, always the best for the Maltese. I had a promotion only thanks to this government, and not MLP
LOL how pathetic.
Anglu, a ray of hope! Mela vera tlaqna issa.
Alice, sorry for doubting that the white rabbit exists.- to Wonderland, one way please.
For once I was amused at the question for televoting on Xarabank. At the beginning of the programme the ‘IVA’ vote (for whether the PM should reduce the bills) was something about 80%, but till the time when the PM left, it was something about 48%.
I guess that is the ray of hope that Labour brought with the rally it did in Valletta… by showing the difference between the PN and LP. I must congratulate the PM for the way he tackled his opponents’ comments, and I have a feeling that the figure of 600EUR for that hospital apparatus was a carrot for Gavin Gulia – who dutifully swallowed it whole so that the PM could throw it back at him at the way he did.
Few consider the cost of cable television, internet, mobile phones (two, three, four or more per household, including children), fixed lines in comparison with the cost of water and electricity.
I was very surprised when I worked it out myself, even though I’m very careful with the use of my mobile.
And nobody seems to protest against the high cost of cable television, internet, mobile phones and fixed lines. The cost of fuel is negatively impacting the economies of the whole world. And we have to pay international prices. Which other country must depend on the heavy use of fuel to produce fresh, drinking water like we do?
The funny thing is that two of the major actions Joseph is proposing to do when in power are investing in alternative energy and switching the power station from heavy fuel oil to gas, which are both very commendable “green” initiatives. But did the protesters yesterday realise that both initiatives would increase their water and electricty bills? I think not. Will they go back to the streets then? I think not. Sadly it will be too late then. Sad indeed.
By mentioning hope, Muscat tries to imitate Fenech Adami who indeed represented hope in the dark days of the MLP regime when, incidentally, a certain Burmarrad granny was busy brainwashing her grandson.
It’s amazing how obviously – and shamelessly – Muscat models his image on that of other politicians. He mimics Mintoff (e.g. interrupting his speeches with frequent long pauses), compares himself to Obama and Cameron and copies Fenech Adami’s catchwords and phrases. It is, however, all show and no substance.