One prima donna exits stage left; another enters stage right

Published: January 23, 2011 at 7:20pm

Madame Butterfly brings out her best black Japanese wig

They say women are prima donnas and subject to life crises. Well, might I point out that all the attention-seeking, emotional, hysterical, mid-life crisis prima donna behaviour we’ve seen over the last few months has come from men.

Too bad I can’t add that other insult usually levelled at women who behave like this, and say they’re premenstrual or that it’s that time of the month.

Marelli, xi dwejjaq ta’ suppost irgiel. One ‘arani, Ma’ after another.

Jean Pierre pops off to leave us in peace and just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water, out pops another man wanting some of the limelight before it’s too late: Alfred Sant.

He’s topping the news this evening with his declaration that he will not be in parliament tomorrow when Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, addresses the house.

He means no disrespect to Buzek, he said, but he’s embarrassed to be an MP, what with all the fuss about salary increases. And by doing that, of course, he’s just showing up his one-time poodle-boy. The honourable Sant is embarrassed and will stay away. The less honourable Muscat will go.

The solution to our parliamentary hysterics is not, I think, to trim down the number of MPs but to stuff the house full of women. Even with a tampon dispensing machine hard at work in the parliament bar lavatory, we won’t have half the amount of temper tantrums, bitching, backbiting, metaphorical hair-pulling, miaowing, jealousy and attempts at securing more attention for yourself from the Big Man In Charge than the next ‘girl’.

Because ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. They all want the prime minister to look at them and make them feel special.

In his rush to be seen as upright and correct, Sant has left out a crucial piece of information: that when he resigned as leader of the Opposition in 2008, he received – and didn’t reject – the golden handshake for which ministers and the leader of the Opposition became eligible under the new salary structure.

Or was he under the impression that the money came from the Tooth Fairy?




33 Comments Comment

  1. TROY says:

    Is that a photo of uncle Fester?

  2. ciccio2011 says:

    Sant continues to make the news for all the wrong reasons. He is not ashamed of all the errors of judgement he made as prime minister and leader of the opposition. He is not ashamed of his anti EU, anti euro stance. As he famously told us, he has no regrets. But he is ashamed because of this.

  3. Matthew M says:

    We are embarrassed that we went so far as to elect him prime minister. What can we boycott to show our embarrassment?

  4. blog says:

    Halluh kwiet lil Fredu……….

  5. Pat says:

    X`disappunt kbir ghal Mr. Buzek, meta ma jarahx hemm.

    Bhal dak li qallu, b’ Dr. Sant u minghajru, mhux xorta. Dak mhux ghan-numru qieghed hemm?

    Kemm hawn min ghandhu opinjoni gholja tieghu innifsu. Imissu qabad u ma marx, u ma qal xejn. Ghax probabbli anqas hadd ma kien jinduna, jew jaghti kaz.

  6. Anonymous Coward says:

    Daphne, you might have hit the nail on the head:

    “And by doing that, of course, he’s just showing up his one-time poodle-boy. The honourable Sant is embarrassed and will stay away. The less honourable Muscat will go.”

    Maybe he’s just trying to make Muscat look bad. One wonders if he’s planning a Mintoff-style coup.

  7. Joseph Micallef says:

    Dan Sant mhux dak il-politiku ezemplari li kien issejah lil prim ministru bhala Guuoooooooooooooooozzzziiiiiiiii?

  8. Pat says:

    U jmur jgharraq gennhu, Dr. Sant, u jhallina kwieti. Ara x`jimpurtana jekk jmur jew ma jmurx ghada.

    Tridtx ma jmur qatt! Jirringrazzja l`Alla li sab ruhu prim ministru, nahseb lanqas hu ma jaf kif u x`fatta, habba skoss niex bla mohh.

    Imisshu ilu li qata` qalbu u hareg mix-xena politika, ghax hlief hsara lil Malta ma ghamilx. Certu nies ma jisthux mil-Bambin li halaqhom.

    • ciccio2011 says:

      Tghid jaqa’ l-Gvern jekk ma jmurx ghada?

    • Suldat ta'l-Azzar guzeppin says:

      Kliem Doctor Sant kollu gejna fih: hares lejn kemm ghalqu fabbriki tal-jeans; hares kif inaghlqet it-Tarzna u kif gabu l-Air Malta gharkubtejja!

      Dak genju u ma hallejtuhx jahdem.

      [Daphne – NB This is an ironic comment.]

      • TROY says:

        Sa fejn naf jien kien is-Salvatur l-iehor taghkhom Dom li ma halliehx jahdem, u kien hu li sfratta lil dan il-genju.

      • Suldat ta'l-Azzar guzeppin says:

        Hallik minn ironic – dawn argumenti sodi. Anke Manuel Micallef jghid bhali. Intom lil Alfred Sant qatt ma’ nizziltuh.

        Per ezempju, id-divaluwazzjoni tal-Lira kienet tkun tajba ghalina qabel ma dhalna fl-Ewro. Harsu lejn ic-Cina u l-Amerka kif inhuma mexjin.

      • ciccio2011 says:

        Galoppin, lil Sant nizzilnih darba – fl-1998. U ma regghax tela’.

  9. rigu says:

    We should be embarrassed about the meagre sums we pay our MPs.

  10. rigu says:

    Funny how he’s embarrassed about salary increases when he isn’t embarrassed to walk about with that thing on his head.

  11. Rover says:

    The hypocrisy of these people is unbelievable. He took the money due to him under the new salary scale and yet he is prancing about and feeling embarrassed, he tells us, because the Speaker told him “Thank you, but no thank you”.

    We have a Dear Leader who turns up late for meetings with our special guests and an ex-leader who doesn’t turn up at all. Why? Because if I don’t get my way, I won’t play.

    I can understand the Labour and Nationalist MPs getting all upset because they did not get their raise at the same time as the ministers, but dear Alfred got his redundancy money before everyone else. What is he on?

  12. Hot Mama says:

    When I read the headline on timesofmalta I thought at last he sees the light!

  13. Grezz says:

    Maybe he’ll turn up in disguise – sans cheveux.

  14. Albert Farrugia says:

    …or else one can also mention another prima donna hopeful, House Speaker Michael Frendo who has just declared that the way the question of the raise in honoraria was “anomalous”. Of course he could not declare that it was in contempt of the House, because that plea was raised by Alfred Sant, but never mind. Dr Frendo’s admission of an anomaly is proof enough. He declared that the executive branch should inform the legislative what it’s up to. In other words, yes, the executive acted by stealth as it gave no offcial pronouncements regarding the pay rise. Now if in this littlest world of Don Camillo in which we live, someone got wind of what’s going on through the grape-vine, this does not mean that the government informed anyone about the increases. The government informs officially by way of official pronouncements. These were not given.

  15. That’s rich. Alfred Sant is embarrassed to be an MP in 2011. But he wasn’t too embarrassed to be president of the Labour Party during its worst excesses in 1985, when it governed without a popular mandate.

  16. H.P. Baxxter says:

    If he’s embarrassed to be an MP, he could always resign. That’s what ex party leaders do in every normal country.

  17. rigu says:

    @HP Baxter
    Well he did resign once and then un-resigned within a few days “because the people wanted him back”. For someone so far removed from reality it’s amazing what a keen sense of affinity he showed that time.

  18. Anthony Farrugia says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110123/local/alfred-sant-embarrassed-to-be-an-mp

    Jane Busuttil (55 minutes ago)
    M Pisani IVA PISANI, IL-LABURISTI U L-MALTIN TA’ VERU KIENU, GHADHOM U JIBQGHU KONTRA L-UE U L-KOLONJALIZMU TAGHHA LI L-PARTIT NAZZJONALISTA SAHTA TA’ MALTA KIF KIEN JGHIDILKOM LORD STRICKLAND DAHHALNA FIHA U NIBQGHU SAKEMM NOHORGU JGHIDU X’JGHIDU L-LAGHAQA TA’ KULL PARTIT..

    The Caps Lock brigade is alive and kicking on timesofmalta.com.

    • Suldat ta'l-Azzar guzeppin says:

      Ahna bhalissa mhux qed nuru li ghadna kontra l-EU imma kif nitilghu fil-gvern mhu se nilaqu lil ebda barrani.

      Joseph minn dejjem kien kontra l-Ewropa. Ghalissa qieghed kwiet u mhux se jikxef il-pjanijiet tieghu li hadem id f’id ma Fredu.

      Kif jitla’ fil-gvern Joseph jerga jiftah in-negozjati ma’ l-Ewropa u jgib dak li jixraqilna, bhal meta Mintoff innegozja il-ftehim tat-tluq tal-barrani ma’ Lord Carrington.

      • Anthony Farrugia says:

        Is this the official MLP/PL policy? Ghadkom kif dejjem kontu: il-barrani tielgha u il-barrani niezel. Ghidilna xi jixirqilna mill mishuta EU ? Il -paga id-dar ?

  19. Ganni says:

    If he is so embarrassed, he should resign. We’ve had enough of him.

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