Sad how Saviour Balzan has ended up
It’s sad to see how Saviour Balzan has ended up.
The man who used to see himself as a champion of democracy and free speech has wound up having himself filmed for Jihad-type videos calling for me to be silenced, shut up, deprived of the financial support he thinks I get (from whom – John Dalli and Roger de Giorgio?) and boycotted.
And all without mentioning my name, because he just can’t bring himself to do it. Instead, I’m known as Dik Il-Hadra.
That’s smart, coming from the biggest Ahdar of all time, a man who partnered up with another Ahdar and both got down to staffing their newspaper chock full of Hodor, with the exception of poor old outnumbered James Debono.
I’m sure Saviour missed the similarities between him and his video and the videos of those anti-western-Satan freedom fighters holed up in caves in the mountains somewhere near Afghanistan.
Only a few weeks ago he was on John Bundy’s amateurish televison show – the one in which they discussed me for an hour or more without mentioning my name – quoting Voltaire while allowing Super One’s mentally challenged viewers to think that these were his own words of wisdom, saying that however much he disagrees with what is said, he will uphold the right to say it.
Meanwhile, liver-spotted Godfrey Grima advised everyone to grow a thick skin because they’re in public life.
Well, ha ha to that.
That’s right, Saviour – until what is said affects you directly, or the daughter of Karmenu Vella’s driver who you employed to edit your ‘independent’ newspaper. And one of the first things she did for your independent newspaper was a suck-up interview with – that’s right – Karmenu Vella.
I guess we can’t expect any investigations from Malta Today and Illum into what happened the night Ganni Psaila died. That was the sort of thing Saviour went in for before John Dalli lost the leadership race in 2004.
It’s been downhill all the way for Malta Today since then, with its metamorphosis into the Labour Party’s unofficial English-language newspaper.
When far-right thugs set fire to Saviour’s front door and shortly afterwards set fire to my house (not the door), Saviour turned up to sit on my sofa and vowed to go after them through the medium of his newspaper.
He was shocked at the destruction. I was shocked at his reluctance to mention Norman Lowell’s girlfriend of the time, Arlette Baldacchino (daughter of the Crossover MP) because Arlette and his sister Mariella Dimech are good friends.
Like I didn’t know that, when all three of us were in the same class at school until Arlette was kept back due to ignorance and the inability to pass simple examinations.
So the key to staying out of Malta Today is striking up a friendship with a member of Saviour’s family.
Now Saviour has ended up going down the same route as Norman Lowell: producing a video calling me names, seeking to turn me into a figure of hate, and all but inciting violence against me.
I would say that he didn’t really stop short of inciting violence against me – Norman Lowell didn’t actually tell people to go and burn down my house, Mintoff didn’t tell the mob to go and burn down The Times.
But that’s the way it works.
Good luck, Saviour – the way you’re going, you’ll need it. One day you’ll wake up to find that your nice friend and partner Roger de Giorgio has cut you loose.
57 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
One thing that should put your mind at rest Daphne, Mintoff had followers,even Lowell had followers. But does Saviour have followers?
What a sad scumbag he has become. Pontificating a**ehole.
Become?
Saviour said that he will defend his employees to the last, but the only thing you said about Julia Farrugia was that she is the daughter of Karmenu Vella’s ex driver, who was mentioned as the man who shot at the PN club at Tarxien. By the way what happened to today’s ultimatum of Kulhadd?
Re the ultimatum of Kulhadd, this has now expired. There is now a motion in front of the UN Security Council to implement sanctions against the ministers, parliamentary secretaries and backbenchers who did not reply.
We can be sure that they won’t be mown down by shots from a sub-machine gune.
The kind of journalism which was a hallmark of Evarist Bartolo (aka Maria l-Maws) has now been handed over to Malta Today.
Education must be about the formation of character, something that Saver is void of any trace.
Saviour, her name is Daphne. It is not that hard to pronounce or remember. Try saying it for a few times. You may get to like it.
sherpa, don’t you worry. Saviour knows her name very well. It haunts him.
So freedom of expression ends where Saviour Balzan and his people begin.
That makes him some guru of democracy. Saviour, read my lips. If you think that what Daphne writes is all lies, you have the freedom and tools to prove her wrong; if you think that what she writes is slander, you have the freedom and tools to sue.
If you think otherwise, it’s about time you thicken your skin and accept the fact that you are a public personality and definitely not untouchable.
If you have hidden agendas, that makes you a crass coward; so declare yourself.
I don’t agree with everything Daphne writes, but I do admire the frankness of her mighty pen. Remember that journalism is about facts and well-argued opinions and surely not about what Saviour Balzan wants us to read.
Daphne must be muzzled because Saviour does not like what she says and how she says it.
But he can go for Alan Camilleri’s jugular and mock his private life and that is fine.
I am afraid there was a time when I read what he wrote attentively. But now it seems that this man needs to grow up and stop stamping his feet like a toddler just because he did not get what he wanted.
By the way – where is John Bundy?
Bundy kien fuq il-programm tieghu Affari Taghna fuq l-istazzjon tas-sena: il-ONE TV.
Gharukaza kif hadd minn tal-Knisja ma mar fuq il-pennil tal-programm tieghu.
Kemm hu ta’ l-affari tieghu ir-‘ragel’ ta’ Marlene Pullicino Orlando – veru jhobb il-festi.
Il-bierah l-anqas biss ghamlu Xarabank. Kien hemm kocc riklami u fin-nofs kocc nisa hoxnin jippruvaw ikantaw. Bhal Mary Spiteri m’hawnx. Kemm niehu pjacir nismahha tkanta ta’ GENSNA l-aqwa rock opera bil-Malti!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q10kJC_HtJQ
Int xi wiehed minn tax-Xirka Rock, Guzeppin?
B’daqshekk?
Imma dik definition tal-hajja Malta kollha kemm hi: kocc riklami, u fin-nofs kocc nies hoxnin jippruvaw jibnu sentenza. Minghajr ma jirnexxilhom.
Issa rebbahna ‘l Glenn Vella il-Eurovision, u wara tigi it-telfa taghkom.
Ghada narawk fuq il-ONE Glenn, tbus lil Joseph taghna.
Suldat Guzeppin, almenu fil-Eurosong qed naraw xi haga tal-Generazzjoni Gdida. Imma fil-Labour…
Daphne, it is good you highlighted the difference between Saviour’s video blog about you and his performance during Affari Taghna.
I see two different Saviours, and that is now making too many of them on this little island.
But I would say that this last video blog should be wrapped up in a copy of his rag and posted to international freedom agencies for their examination.
Moreover, you can bet that the name Raymond Caruana will not be mentioned by the Media Today papers again.
Can one see these kinds of people with a fraction of a prime minister’s power?
Just look at what these places had or have in common: Malta in the Golden Years, Gaddafi’s Libya, Mussolini’s Italy, Mubarak’s Egypt, Ben Ali’s Tunisia, Putin’s Russia, Ceaucescu’s Romania.
“Daphne – Li fil-fatt m’ghandix ghax m’hemmx spejjez biex immexxih, mhux bhall-gazzetta ta’ Saviour Balzan, mimli spejjez u bla flus hlief meta iroxxu flus minn gewwa s-sidien.”
Allura it-tfal tieghi meta jmorru Gianpula jkunu qed jiffinanzjaw il-Malta Today u l-Illum.
Allura x’suppost ghandi naghmel jien skond Saviour, inwaqqaf il-pocket money tat-tfal jekk imorru Gianpula?
Nista’ wkoll, skond Saviour, ma nixtrix minghand Tenderfresh Butcher, jew ma mmurx Eurodisney ma’ Hamilton Travel , jew ma mmurx l-Art Imqaddsa ma’ Hamilton Travel, jew it-twieqi ta’ l-aluminium ma naghmilomx ghand KarGo ta’ l-Imriehel, jew nixtri sufan minghand xi hadd iehor minbarra Fino, jew inkella ma nixtrix software minghand Shireburn, jew il-weights ma nixtrihomx minghand it-Tip Top qabel ma dan iwaqqaf ir-reklami tieghu minn fuq il-Malta Today.
Ara, ha naghmlu hekk, Salv – jekk fil-video blog li jmiss ma’ taghmilx apologija lis-Sinjura Daphne jien u hafna bhali nafu minn min ghandna ma nixtrux.
Ghal grazzja tal-Partit Nazzjonalista ghandna hwienet minn fejn naghzlu u discos fejn it-tfal taghna jmorru, ghal wiehed mija.
Ir-riklami fuq tal-Malta Today u l-Illum se jservu biex il-fans ta’ Daphne jkunu jafu minghand min mhux se jixtru.
Ghal laham nippreferi Tyson Butcher taz-Zejtun, dak itik ic-chips b’xejn. U irikklamatu Daphne ….b’xejn.
X’boomerang dik, Salv. La bzaqtha trid tilaghaqha.
These people are full of hate. They think that they should have a part of the ‘riches’ of the country, as that was the way under Mintoff (ask Il-Guy about that).
They expect Maltese politics to follow the ways of Ben Ali or Mubarak. The Saviours of Egypt at the moment are all backing the John Dallis of the land while they stack their gold in the back rooms until the heat dies down.
Few things change in the world. The only truth is that governments will come and go, with the good and the bad.
In Malta the public personalities are too protected for the simple reason that journalists are too afraid to express themselves.
Where I live, things are totally different. I am sure that if some of them were living abroad they wouldn’t dream of being public figures for this reason.
They enjoy this kind of protection but when the “xewka f’sormom” called Daphne opens her mouth they go nuts.
Repent Saviour, the end is nigh!
http://maltatoday.com.mt/blogs/saviour-balzan/videoblog-in-defence-of-julia-farrugia
Videoblog | In defence of Julia Farrugia or an attack on DCG?
I cannot believe this video. Saviour is hysterical; does he want to be taken seriously?
So The Times and The Malta Independent are run by the ‘state’?
Well, thank God we have him to save us from the ‘hodor’.
He says that what was said about Julia was all ‘lies’ and ‘defamation’. Really? What was said about Julia is that she is Il-Botom’s daughter. Is she his daughter or not?
Who is the ‘most discredited man’ that Balzan talks about… I got lost at that point?
The best part of his speech is ‘we shall remove them from our lives’… now how shall we do that? What a coward.
“we shall remove them from our lives” .
Now, how was our experience during the Christmas holidays without our Daphne?
My answer “I was like a headless chicken, trying to find some solace on some other sensible blog.”
Saviour ended up defending the indefensible.
That’s not really news. He even thought this was newsworthy
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/02/06/n12.html
Saviour Balzan, what a pompous twat. All that spitting and spluttering like an irritated old cat just to beg us to, wait for it, boycott Daphne – at least I think it’s Daphne because he hasn’t exactly told us.
You would have thought he’s having a laugh but for all the gesticulating and bouncing off his chair. I think it is a case of severe envy at the thousands of hits on Daphne’s blog which costs her nothing to run when he has to spend a fortune to keep his site going.
And then it’s only to tell him he’s a sad old git for trying to shut up the only journalist worth reading on the island.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XCEx9iGPA4
Saviour Balzan is a “useful idiot” for the Mintoffians.
They are all nuts and becoming obsessive. It is funny to see a bunch of old bats behaving so irrationally. I can’t understand why, but they feel intimidated by this blog.
He should ask his pal Stagno Navarra to send it to AL Jazeera for transmisison
Do you mean that with a video like that, containing threats to stop Daphne, he would have been mistaken for Bin Laden?
Maybe that is why he shaved his beard then…or maybe it’s because he’s joined the Labour Party and got shaved by Kurt Farrugia (any relation to Il-Botom?) and Marisa Micallef along with Anglu and Joseph.
Is Arlette Baldacchino known as Letty Baldacchino?
[Daphne – Yes, nowadays.]
I think she’s also known as Etoile Noir in some places.
‘ That was the sort of thing Saviour went in for before John Dalli lost the leadership race in 2004’.
How did he expect John Dalli to win the leadership when he was surrounded with people like Saviour Balzan.
Now he is also defending Pupa and obviously il-Botom. That’s a real shame, Saviour.
You already ARE a “figure of hate” – in the sense that you continously promote hatred and hatred is your only stock in trade.
Haven’t you noticed yet?
[Daphne – That is not what figure of hate means, chavs. And I do not promote hate. I merely list the Labout Party’s major shortcomings in a truthful and factual manner. If that upsets you and people like you, tough. I am not here to write fairytales or kiss ass.]
So please explain to me how the short stature of a party employee is a “major shortcoming” that needs to be highlighted again and again.
[Daphne – I think you’d be wiser to ask the poison dwarf in question, Kurt Farrugia, why he thought it an excellent idea to harass my 19-year-old son, a private citizen, at the university and then put the film on a roll on Super One in the middle of a harsh general election campaign, exposing him to violence from malevolent supporters of the Labour Party. You vote Labour and need the answer to that question. I know the answer and that’s why I never voted for that lot and never will. I find it interesting that laughing at Kurt Farrugia is the best you can come up with in terms of illustrating my ‘hatemongering’.]
It is literally a shortcoming and could explain his behaviour. Try Googling ‘short man syndrome’.
What a bunch of insufferable prima donnas. Grow up, will you?
I know banks are on a call-in spree!
I was really impressed by his refreshing view of democracy!
I failed to see the line of defence, as promised by the video title.
Saviour Balzan is simply moving with the times. He’s preparing for the return of Mintoffjanizmu.
“When far-right thugs set fire to Saviour’s front door and shortly afterwards set fire to my house”
Any proof of that?
Could be paranoia.
[Daphne – Yes, I imagined it all. And so did the police, the forensics experts, the inquiring magistrate, the insurance company, and the people who helped us clear up the mess. I’m sure the insurers will be most thrilled with any proof you might have that all of us were delusional.]
Where better to find proof than in INDEPENDENT Malta Today? It is, after all, Malta’s daily fiction tabloid.
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/05/14/top_story.html
They all proved it was right wing thugs?
[Daphne – Do you know anyone else who has an interest in setting fire to the property, in a short-span campaign, of people thought to be ‘in favour of’ illegal immigration? Well, we know it wasn’t Saviour Balzan because he was a victim too. So it must have been the Nationalists wot did it.]
When one opines differently he may be a thinker. When one negates facts or tries to change them, he’s thick.
Chavrus, can you please give one factual example where Daphne promoted hate.
Saviour Balzan has lost it. Pity. I used to admire him, once.
Can somebody please tell me why Ray Spiteri is always declaring himself ex-PN.? The way he writes clearly shows that he shouldn’t have been PN in the first place.
He probably never was PN, nor Ray Spiteri.
I’m sure Saviour Balzan does not appreciate the irony: he starts by lamenting that “they” want to shut him up and ends by exhorting “all those who see this blog” to do something to shut Daphne up.
He also states that The Times and The Malta Independent are in the hands of the state. (a row of exclamation marks would be called for, here, but I’m not an elve).
Actually, the video is disturbing. It contains a thinly-veiled tone of violence that is then taken up and elaborated anonymously in a comment:
“As a result . . . she ensures . . . the safety of her sniper’s hideaway. What will happen to her when GonziPN lose the elections? That’s a ponderable. Maybe she won’t be around to receive her “visitors”. Maybe she will have already left the Island . . .”
This is not Bin Laden. It’s Don Vito.
Actually, I think it’s Jo Said.
My, my, he’s changed his tune, hasn’t he?
Saviour Balzan on the glory days of Labour
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2002/11/10/sav.html
“While Joe Grima is abrasive, Karmenu Vella comes across as Mr Nice Guy, but then his political history as a minister in the days of Old Labour is not something you would want in your CV.
The same applies to Notary Charles Mangion, an affable soft spoken fellow by all means, but someone who is best remembered for his notarial activities for some of the late Lorry Sant’s henchmen.”
‘Ahdar’ is an understatement. ‘Qrusa’ is a better definition.