Moviment Gdid Ghal Generazzjoni Gdida – and then they've got a brontosaurus writing their electoral programme

Published: February 7, 2011 at 12:38am

“I realise that by the time we go to the next election, I will have spent almost 40 years in the Party and almost 30 years in Parliament. I don’t regret a single minute. Honestly speaking, I hate to think that I’m one of those MPs who want to permanently remain in Parliament at all costs.

While still giving his full support to the Party, and unlimited assistance to his constituency to whom he readily expresses his gratitude, Mr Vella explains that he wouldn’t mind making way for the younger generation.

Asked whether he would be standing in the next general elections, he replies, “Within the Labour Party we have some very good young people with new ideas and a more dynamic approach. When the time comes, all MPs should be ready to move on and make way.”
– Karmenu Vella, interviewed by Malta Today, 26 August 2001.

He said that almost a decade ago, which means that by now, he’s been in the Labour Party for 50 years and in parliament for 40 years. He’s writing an electoral programme that will run until 2018 – almost 60 years after he joined the Labour Party and almost 50 years after he first got into parliament.

And Joseph Muscat had the front to tell us, when he closed his party’s general conference this morning, that the electoral programme is going to be fresh and new and full of exciting projects and ideas.

A hundred years ago in the Wild West, they’d have tied this lot to a couple of horses, cracked a whip, then retired to the saloon to celebrate never having to see them again.




13 Comments Comment

  1. ciccio2011 says:

    I can’t see how this man, who, from the photos you published here and those published by Malta Today, never changed his hairstyle or the design of his specs, can give Labour anything new.

    To me, even judging him from his looks, he epitomises Labour’s traditional social and political conservatism.

  2. Andy says:

    http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=187384197958896&set=a.187384161292233.42476.162461360451180

    Sheldon Attard seems like a whizz kid. Where did I hear that name before…..oh yes Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory!

    • Bus Driver says:

      Straight out of Spongebob Squarepants cartoon:

      Sheldon J. ‘Plankton’ Plankton Jr.Main article: Plankton (SpongeBob SquarePants)
      Sheldon J. Plankton (Doug Lawrence) is a green copepod. He is Mr. Krabs’ rival. He operates a struggling restaurant called the Chum Bucket across the street from the Krusty Krab. His primary goal in the series is to steal the secret Krabby Patty recipe and drive Mr. Krabs out of business, as a step towards world domination. Mr. Krabs and Plankton were once friends, but a dispute over the Krabby Patty recipe ended their friendship.

  3. Joe Micallef says:

    Hi Daphne, that celebrated coward Reno Calleja has apparently taken you to task in a letter on today’s The Times. I wonder if he wrote it before addressing the PL gathering on Friday.

    [Daphne – Nigi naqa u nqum minn Reno Calleja Il-Colonna u l-partit tac-cajt tieghu..]

  4. Stacey says:

    So on the one hand Joseph Muscat, if I am not mistaken, had apologised for the bad things Labour had done in the past and promised a new Labour and on the other hand yesterday Karmenu Vella said he is still proud to have been the in Labour Government in the 70s and 80s.

    And the same Karmenu Vella is writing the electoral programme.

    Pardon me for not understanding the logic.

  5. Lomax says:

    Am I the only one who thinks that we’re in for a very rough ride from now till 2013 and, horribly, and most probably, even beyond?

    Believe me, I cannot bear the thought for a moment that these thugs will govern us again. I would rather emigrate – and frankly, I also abhor the PL because when I would have been eligible for an Erasmus or other European study-exchange programme, Sant deemed it fit to freeze our application for the EU and hence, it wasn’tavailable to me since I lost it by 18 months.

    I only have Joseph Muscat to thank for this – and whilst he was going around Europe behaving like the prat he is, I was stuck on this rock.

    Thank you very much PL – and believe me, the more I hear Muscat preach, the less I want to see him in power.

    • Joseph A Borg says:

      If you ask me it seems like another drive to sink the ship before it leaves port.

      Labour should have elected George Abela on the platform of change, who would then spend a couple of years grooming a new leadership then resign after coming election. Maybe Muscat would have gained some experience in the meantime.

      I guess Muscat-Balzan are trying to pull a Blair-Murdoch and short circuit the election. Balzan is no Murdoch and … well … Muscat …

  6. Reporter says:

    It’s just occurred to me that Karmenu Vella’s nickname, Il-Guy, might just be the Zurrieq way of pronouncing Il-Gay, and he just wasn’t aware of it along the years. But then again, it’s likely they would have used a more earthy term beginning with P.

  7. red nose says:

    I hope that all those so-called Nationalists who said they will vote Labour have seen the “new” Labour line-up. Pity Fusellu is now dead, because he would have been a very good “colonna” to go with the one that has now crept out of the woodwork.

  8. C Falzon says:

    Coming attraction: Jurassic park IV – The Resurrection

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