WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT HAIR ALL ABOUT?
I’m trying to get hold of a Youtube video upload of the press conference Joseph Muscat gave tonight, for those of you who missed it.
This is not because he said anything of great brilliance or eloquence, but because those of you who missed it really have got to see what he did with his hair.
His hair distracted me so badly that I couldn’t focus on what he said. All I could think was, “Oh my God, Alfred Sant issues.”
The hair on the sides of his head was artificially darkened to the point that it looked black and shiny under the lights. The tufts up top were backcombed and fluffed up, which had the adverse effect of making them look sparser.
The camera at some distance and the lights aimed directly at his head only served to heighten the contrast between the near-black sides and the near-bare pate. Muscat looked like one of those weirdos from the streets of my childhood, who rubbed bootpolish into their heads and hoped nobody would notice.
What in heaven’s name is the problem with these people? Somebody walked into the room as I watched the scene on television, took one look distractedly at the screen and blurted out, “What the f….”.
Oh, and I nearly forgot – in my amazement – to remark on the telling detail that he stood on a white podium marked with a single word – ghaqal – and that again there was no sign or symbol of the Labour Party.
The flags behind him were of Malta and the European Union.
Exactly how are they branding Labour? What poor advice.
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The backbencher Franco Debono distracted me during Finance Minister Tonio Fenech’s budget speech.
He kept ‘acting’ as if he was following the speech on the book.
At times he reached for his Blackberry and at other times he spoke to Dr Deguara, not to mention the winking to his party ‘colleagues’ and looking at the TV camera.
Is that where he always sits, John? Or did he ‘strategically’ position himself there, knowing his ‘handsome, arrogant image’ would be televised for over two hours.
Handsome? Then you really do not know what handsome is all about.
he repeated the same rethoric the usual populist call for reductions to water and electricity tariffs, petrol / diesel prices, waiting lists at Mater Dei etc.
For a moment I was really expecting him to state that he was hoping to see a reduction to the price of tonn taz-zejt, corned beef, deserta chocolate.
How times have changed
What? Desserta hasn’t gone down in price?
Another electoral promise broken.
This evening’s was not the first time he was on a podium with the Malta and EU flags behind him and no PL flag.
Illusions of grandeur of the prime-ministerial type if you ask me.
It harks back to the old days when the leader of the opposition was referred to as the “mexxej tan-Nazzjon”.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/…/muscat-budget-ignores-country-s-major-p...
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111114/local/muscat-budget-ignores-country-s-major-problems.393880
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Tat-Times ukoll qabdu miegħu, miskin?
Some days ago, there was a Labour press conference with some four speakers. Each one of them sat behind the word ‘Ghaqal’.
I apologize for not understanding the word ‘Ghaqal’. However, Lady Gaga, instantly sprung to mind.
[Daphne – It’s kind of a mixture of prudence and thrift.]
Ah, thanks, Daphne, just like Lady Gaga!
‘Ghaqal’ can also mean clever , ‘bil-ghaqal’ cleverly.
[Daphne – No, it doesn’t mean clever. Clever is something else altogether. Decisions taken bil-ghaqal are prudent decisions, not clever ones. Clever decisions are not necessarily prudent, and prudent decisions are not necessarily clever.]
So one can say something like I read on timesofmalta.com’s comments board:
“Kemm wahhalulek bil-ghaqal Guz , Gonzi !”
[Daphne – Incorrect use of ‘ghaqal’, but then you don’t go to the timesofmalta.com comments board for proper use of language.]
Harry,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragel_bil-ghaqal
Just skim through the plot, and tell me whether Marku is someone’s fantasy.
Frugality?
[Daphne – That refers only to consumption choices, and not other sorts of decisions.]
OK, I have to wade in here. “Ghaqal” is one of those Maltese political buzzwords which don’t really mean anything, and if they did, it would be in the context of some ghonnella-shrouded hand-wringing matron in some Ninu Cremona drama.
[Daphne – It was quite a popular word when I was growing up. That’s how I know its contextual meaning, and that there’s no precise translation.]
Just like “ta’ pajjizna” (duh. It’s the Maltese budget, you don’t need put it in every sentence) or “il-familji Maltin u Ghawdxin” (so there’s just families, right? What about that PN bullshit about “il-persuna” being at the centre of their ideology? And Maltin u Ghawdxin? Are we to endure this nonsense forever?) or “jincentiva” or “skema”.
It’s a ruddy budget speech, not a sermon. With such rubbish communication skills, you have to wonder how we’ll ever turn into an “international hub” of anything.
Perhaps I was too hasty here. It’s just that my Maltese messy language tolerance levels have been exceeded.
Yes, “ghaqal” is indeed a word. As is “galbu”. They do have a precise meaning, even though they are untranslatable.
But I’m not sure they’re appropriate in a budget speech, especially when repeated fifty times.
I suppose what they actually wanted to say is that the government takes decisions in a professional manner, after having studied the facts and the outcomes.
[Daphne – No, they were talking about taking prudent and sensible decisions, for which there are no precise words in Maltese, ‘prudenza’ and ‘sensibbli’ meaning something else altogether. The word ‘ghaqal’ comes closest, but as you seem to sense, the context seems inappropriate because it belongs to that class of words, like ‘galb’ and ‘biezel’, which are generally used to describe the positive qualities of a spouse, child or employee. But that’s Maltese for you: it’s very difficult to get it to rise to the occasion.]
Why not “effective government”? Or “a government that can think strategically”? Or something about “with due consideration”?
[Daphne – Because there are no Maltese words to say all that without sounding like a bad translation of somebody’s MBA paper. Try it, as I just did, and you’ll see.]
All this “caution/prudence” business is sending the wrong signal, viz. that immobility is a heroic Maltese quality. If it were, we wouldn’t have joined the EU, we wouldn’t have VAT, we wouldn’t be using the internet and there would be no interconnector cable project.
[Daphne – Right on that score, but ‘issa naraw’ is a Maltese quality – not heroic.]
When I was young it was an important word. “Kemm int bil-ghaqal” was usually followed by spending money.
‘Ghaqal’ is uniquely Maltese.
To Daphne’s definition I may add ‘a degree of wisdom’.
More than “Ghaqal,” the philosophy behind Labour’s budgets was normally one of “Faith, Hope and Charity.”
In Dom’s times we had belt-based budgets.
On PBS now, what is Karmenu Vella referring to exactly……”.cuts” or “kazz” or “katz”?
He was talking about the “Tusk kazz.” That’s tax cuts.
“tuks katz” nahseb.
According to Anglu it is “kazt”.
Vella was trying to pick the pieces.
He was visibly embarrassed at the inadequacy of his party’s blackmail directed at the electorate.
Their posturing on energy is now the sole obstacle to a long term strategy.
Labour is failing the country as we speak.
No Test de Katz
http://www.azzopardinicky.com/2011/11/buts-and-asses.html
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111114/local/muscat-budget-ignores-country-s-major-problems.393880
Nice hairdo Joey
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111114/local/muscat-budget-ignores-country-s-major-problems.393880
Why youtube, when there’s http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111114/local/muscat-budget-ignores-country-s-major-problems.393880 ?
He’s done a Berlusconi-boot-polish job on his pate, and it’s oh-so-bl**dy-obvious when he looks down at his notes.
Did I understand correctly that Labour finally admitted that their cunning plan to ‘kutz’ the water and electricity bills is just a figment of their imagination?
Did I hear Karmenu Vella admit to Tonio Fenech that they cannot come up with the numbers because the latest accounts for Enemalta date back to 2008 and they therefore have no recent information to work on?
X’misthija! Talk about a whole lot of hot air.
20Q, Labour’s position about those “cazz” in the water and electricity rates is getting worse by the minute.
To “Loubondi,” Anglu Farrugia said that Labour’s plan is rooted in John Dalli’s plan which had been presented to the PM.
Yesterday, also to “Loubondi,” the PM said that John Dalli only provided the contacts of a commercial concern which has developed a new typle of energy-generating plant.
If Labour is voted into power in 2013, the people will really get big “cazz” in the water and electricity rates – but only in the Italian sense of the word.
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Watson, they’re obviously talking about plasma gasification, also known as plasma pyrolysis. It is a net generator of electricity, once the whole thing is fed enough electricity (from the grid, obviously). On the scientific and technical side, there are no serious obstacles. On the economic side, it depends on the cost of the building the plant, supplying it, running it, maintaining it, and whatnot.
Labour has learned the precise definition of Ghaqal. It was Ghaqal when Malta joined the EU. It is Ghaqal when Labour is kept out of the leadership of the country.
As for the branding of Labour, I believe that this blog has done more than the PL itself to expose the true brand values of Labour.
When did Dr Muscat become an economist?
Well then, it’s an improvement, considering that not many moons ago you had written that his thinning hair reminded you of a deathrow serial killer in some US prison.
Now you’ve “downgraded” the look to a “weirdo from the streets of your childhood, who rubbed bootpolish into their heads and hoped nobody would notice”.
Dunno, but you give me the impression that you’re running out of fuel DCG and cannot find anything meaningful to say. Must be the cost of fuel I guess. Hahaha!
It is meaningful that the current leader of the opposition has the same ageing issues as his predecessor, but at a much younger age.
He looks uncomfortable; his body language says it all.
It’s the Burmarrad image, you know.