Il- brakefast tal-Guy
Published:
December 8, 2011 at 12:02am
This is Karmenu Vella’s breakfast. How do I know? Simple.
He took a snap with his Smartphone and uploaded it on his Facebook wall. What is it with these people?
A man in his 60s, one of Mintoff’s and KMB’s and Sant’s ministers, who is set to become Joseph’s minister of finance, who is supposed to be hard at work writing an electoral programme, taking pictures of his breakfast and telling us about it.
Cafe, toast tal-Malti, u bongu lil kullhadd :)
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Ha nibdew jekk Alla jrid, naraw fuq xiex ha nikkritikaw….imqar jekk insibu lil buzbuzbuznannu tat-talli qatel baqra biex tema ghasfur….let’s face it ilbierah Lou Bondi staunch PN supporter qallu “anke’ in-nazzjonalisti jghidu kemm kont Ministru tat-turizmu tajjeb”….dik ghalija l-akbar prova ta’ kemm Vella huwa bniedem kapaci u ta’ hila fejn jidhol il qasam politiku….appart li apprezajtha minn Lou Bondi li minkejja kollox kien kapaci johloq elogju allavolja m’ghamilx enfassi dwarha
[Daphne – That’s NOT what he said. I fear there are some socio-cultural differences here. ]
Le, kont qed nistenna kull tip ta’ risposta imma mhux din. Mela ha nfakkrek….Vella qallu issa jien miniex xi espert tat-turizmu bl-umilta’ kollha u Bondi bis sincerita kollha qallu….anke’ in-nazzjonalisti jghidu kemm kont Ministru tajjeb….u Daphne din ma semmatix…ma waslitx sal-Bidnija nahseb
[Daphne – Oh sorry, I forgot for a minute there that some people are unfamiliar with the coded idiom of formality. An example, which might help: “Oh how lovely! Such a shame that I can’t make it.” Translation: “God, how bloody awful. I’d rather drink ink than see those people for lunch. I’ll have to be washing the dogs that day.”]
Ahhh so Bondi lied just to conform with the code of formality….must have been a loophole…shit I didn’t realise.
[Daphne – If you insist on thinking of it as lying….It’s the equivalent of telling a woman, in response to her protestations that she looks and feels dreadful, “Oh, but you look wonderful.”]
Every time Bondi asked about the Labour Plans, Karmenu replied about what is the PN doing .
But we don’t want to hear what the PN is doing…. we want to know what the Labour Party is and will be doing.
Exactly Orlando, he replied about what is the PN doing and continued with how PL will be doing it differently…you must have been missing the second argument
[Daphne – I missed it, too. Please repeat it for my benefit.]
I prefer to do nothing for your benefit…..on the other hand I am sure you recorded the program or at least watched it with some extra form of intensity more than I did
[Daphne – I’d like you to repeat it, please. Go on. If it was so factual and convincing, you’d find it easy to repeat. But you can’t repeat it, can you.]
Of course I can repeat, but I wouldn’t repeat all the policies he mentioned yesterday of how the Labour will approach situations differently…how would I take such risk of interpreting what he said from what I remember, somewhere down the line I would get it wrong and I would have to face criticism….just a comment which impressed me is that about a committe which exists today but the PN doesn’t bother to let it function and he explained how they would tackle the problem differently….I am not seriosuly being expected to talk about policies which took 1 hour to explain on a blog no??
[Daphne – You haven’t a clue what he said. And I don’t blame you at all, because nor do I. He was rambling on and incoherent. ]
If you don’t have a clue about what he said, how can you be so sure that what I am saying is also clueless….lol never mind I am trying to use a bit of logic but I know this isn’t the right place and time….apart from that maybe you got a clue on the argument of the extra 500 euros per WEEK that Gonzi felt he should give to himself in a period which one must say isn’t the most perfect period to do so, when other PM are appyling austerity measures and demanding bailouts from the EU monetary fund and when the economic world is in such instability and crisis….I loved the moment when Bondi told him…Naqblu,Naqblu, Naqbel mighek mija fil mija…….
If you don’t remember what he said and don’t know whether you can interpret that correctly, how did you reach the conclusion that he’s the brilliant solution to all of Malta’s tourism policy problems?
He said …. ” ahna nsibu l-flus ghall-familji hbieb taghna”. On the other hand other PL members said “Dawk (the PN) mhux parti mill-familja taghna”.
La Redoute, where did I say that I don’t remember what he said? At most I don’t remember the details, and where did I say he is teh brilliant solution….and which problems, did I mention any tourism problems??? hawwadtni mann….
I see you’re of a literal mindset so let’s take this slowly, shall we?
1. You’re rallying to Vella’s support as the best thing for Malta’s tourism. That means you think he’s good for tourism.
2. A minister’s job is to solve problems.
3. “how would I take such risk of interpreting what he said from what I remember, somewhere down the line I would get it wrong and I would have to face criticism” = you don’t remember some of what he said and are not sure you can interpret things correctly.
1. NO the Nationalist are saying he was a good minister for tourism not me…I don’t know what he was, I didn’t live that period
[Daphne – Take it from me, BC. Lou was just being polite – you know, like congratulating Adolf on his water-colour skills.]
2. A minister’s job is to avoid that problems occur- prevention is better than cure
3. Time and time again I don’t remember the details, and just for the record I mentioned 2 policies already
La Redoute you didn’t even interpret myself properly where you have everything typed and all you have to do is read, ahseb u ara kif timmagina li jien nghidlek bl-ezatt x qal Karmenu waqt li kont qed narah fuq it-TV.
Excellent. So Karmenu Vella does not want to tell us what we have been repeatedly begging him to tell us about Labour’s policies, but then he gives us unsolicited information about what he is consuming for breakfast. As if we care.
You should have watched Bondi+ yeasterday Bottom, Vella responded Bondi everytime he asked him the HOW
[Daphne – I watched it. His performance was terrible. It’s not people like you he needs to impress – the ones who are going to vote Labour anyway. It’s people like me and Bottom.]
…question….it is really ironic how Labour officials are answering the questions and you are still asking as if you are searching for some sort of formula which Gonzi could just put into the equation and get results…let’s get realistic
[Daphne – A word of advice: questions are marked by the use of the interrogative form and by the presence of an interrogation (question) mark at the end of the sentence, and not by the presence of the word ‘question’ before the start of the sentence.]
I thought you used logic Daphne sorry…the second arguemnt continues with the first….I pressed some button by mistake and it was posted before I intended to…you msut be tired and I can excuse you it’s 1 in the morning
[Daphne – I’m not at all tired. I didn’t grow up in a household where people go to bed at sunset and rise at 4am to feed the cows.]
Then in that aspect he performed well, because one Nationalist friend, today told me “Fl-ahhar rajt ghal-ewwel darba membru parlamentari minn naha taghkom li ghogobni…qed timpruvjaw”
[Daphne – Oh my, and you didn’t detect the sarcasm?]
Sarcasm is the lowest form of ignorance…..I wouldn’t expect it to come from a 3rd year doctor to be.
[Daphne – Wit.]
…and if you allow me Daphne, it’s people like me as well…I’ve never voted Labour and last Tuesday I confirmed why I’m not voting Labour this time round.
I impose on myself the onerous task, really onerous if you come from my background, to examine the two parties against my vision for the country.
My vision for the country is simple really: good economics and peace of mind. I do not want much more. I could not care less about paying more or less for, say, water and electricity. I work and if stuff costs X euro, I cannot expect to pay a cent less and it’s not because I’m rich because I’m not (I’m only 34 and with a house loan and starting a family, how can one be rich?).
But I want my children to live in a society where one can have peace of mind, where one does not need to fear every day that one will be picked on because he’s Labour or Nationalist.
Since 1987, we’ve had peace of mind. Yes, we’ve had episodes of corruption, inflation, illegal planning permits but, frankly, who gives a damn? What I care about is my peace of mind and that of my loved ones, of having a job, of being promoted not because I’m red or blue but because I deserve it.
Indeed, we are not living in a nirvana, but we’ve got a lot to be thankful for and I do not fear a Labour government but I fear the loss of the life I’ve grown to love in these years.
And no Karmenu Vella, didn’t convince me, a young, ambitious, hard-working professional, who believes in a future in this country for her and her family, that Labour won’t take away from me the life I’ve grown to love and the life for which I’ve studied and worked hard.
On the other hand, Karmenu Vella came across to me (an educated, young professional whose profession dictates the examination of body language and mode of articulation of words, apart from the words themselves) as a slimy eel who has found himself in the unenviable position of having to build a policy where there is none, where he has to discuss proposals which are devoid of any content (and which certainly cannot be called “proposals”).
At any rate, BC, yes, to the educated, to the thinking population, Karmenu Vella’s performance on Bondi;s programme (sorry can’t find the “plus” sign on my netbook) was terrible, abysmal and downright awful. I would never ever vote for somebody like that and if he’s the cream of the crop of the Labour Party, I shudder at the thought of what his colleagues are – well, we already know, Silvio Parnis, Anglu Farrugia, Jose’ Herrera…need I continue?
Lomax with all due respect, the sense of conservatism clearly evident in your arguemnt outplays all other arguments…..I condemn any acts of violence which happened in the past irrelevant whether they came from the PN or PL, irrelevant whether they consisted in smashing party clubs or activating bombs in houses of MPs, however we can’t remain stuck to the past….how can we keep on having that blurred idea that once the Labour is in government violence will again be taking a major role, just because politicians like Karmenu are still in Parliament, as if they applauded any of that violence.
I try to observe tactics in politics and this technique seems to be the primary strategy that the PN is playing come 2013 election….ONCE LABOUR IS IN GOVT, vIOLENCE WILL EMERGE, and that is wrong because since then treaties have been signed, mobiles have been invented, human rights have a major stand and loads other stuff which changed the world….I didn’t live those periods so I don’t have that sour taste of violence but I am sure that just as much the Maltese mentality have changed that nowadays we are not just speaking about divorce but we have divorce, the same mentality has changed and must be changed (from the part of PN) that with Labour, violence will remerge.
Lomax didn’t mention violence, BC. It’s telling that you do.
People are not afraid of a violent PL government. They’re afraid of an incompetent one.
Of course he didn’t. it’s just a point which I wanted to make and have been begging for it to crop up…..But La Redoute it is obvious that voting for Labour would involve some form of risk that that govt may be incompetent as much as the PN is, it is obvious one can never know what he will be voting 100% for sure….we never knew that the main issue that the Govt was proposing (Smart City just in case you didn’t realise) would not materialize or at least not in time for sure, we never knew that the income tax reduced to 25% which was also another main issue wouldn’t happen…ovvja due to international crisis but spare me….in 2008 the crisis was already clearly evident, how can you suppose that one of the major Banks bankruptcy (it was clear it would fail before election) wouldn’t affect Malta….so how can PN be so careless to propose issues which he knew would never be able to provide….dahk fil-wicc bil malti….we never knew that the PN would be that incompetent no, so there is always that form of risk when voting
[Daphne – Which bank, and how was its failure ‘clear’ several months ahead?]
Lehman Brothers obviously, by the end of 2007 they had already reported huge losses apart from firing a good number of employees….this was the same bank which BOV, HSBC and various other banks around all Europe had invetments in….it was pretty much predictable, news weren’t that good….Gonzi couldn’t have acted so irresponsibly, the same kind of irresponsibility right now, giving an extra remuneration to his own wage in times of instability
[Daphne – Predictable with hindsight, like the fact that the Yes vote won in the EU referendum.]
Believe me professional economists, and I am not talking about Joseph and neither Karmenu, (to say the least they are politicians) would predict not just the bankruptcy of one of the major banks 3 months before but even years before….that’s their job at least…and that had to be Gonzi’s job in appointing some economists before spelling out his proposals in a manifesto
[Daphne – You fascinate me. What happens to banks if their bankruptcy is predicted as happening several months down the line, BC? Go on, tell me. P.S. I know the answer to this terribly difficult question.]
Government is not ‘he’, BC. Do try and use correct grammar. It would make you so much easier to read and afford you some sort of credibility.
The hole in your argument is that, whereas the unpredictability of future circumstances is a common factor, the PL’s incompetence is a firmly established fact. The party can’t even handle being in opposition. So how are we to expect it to form a competent government?
heh ok…investors will loose all confidence in that bank, withdraw all their investments from that bank, leaving the bank’s woes of bankruptcy further extended, and bankruptcy actually happens, leaving the reason why such predictions are not open to public scrutiny and why some economists are fought for in today’s world…..Lehman brothers identified the problem but didn’t adopt the right solution. PS I never studied economics, just common sense which might be way wrong in expressing itself
[Daphne – Who hides the predictions, BC? The predictions police? The CIA? The FBI? Think harder.]
Pero’ bir-rispett kollu Daphne, kif tista tistenna li niehduk bis serjeta, meta int sens ta’ serjeta m ghandekx. Ma nistax nifhem fejn qed tipprova tasal b dan is sarkazmu….jahasra tghid li ghandek ir risposta ghal kollox u hlief isaqsi l-mistoqsijiet ma tghamilx. Ghandek lil min tixbah.
B min tahseb li qed titnejjek, imbilli tipprova taghti l-impressjoni ta “I am the one who knows it all”…nixtieq nisma l-interpretazzjoni tieghek fuq suggett bhal ma qed niprova niddiskuti imma int s’hemmhek ma tasalx…int tik tmaqdar xi kelma bl-Ingliz, tik tikkumenta fuq xi kelma u s sostanzjal titfghu fil-genb. Skuzani li kellhi nghidlek hekk pero’ il vera nies li jippruvaw iwaqqaw kollox ghac-cajt jitilfuli l-pacenzja.
[Daphne – I knew it wouldn’t be long before you cracked. You’re too accustomed to talking rot on Facebook walls, and the minute somebody tries to pin you down to the specifics, you go bananas – just like those politicians you admire, when they perform on Bondi+. I’m not after your vote, BC. I’m not a politician and I don’t have to suffer fools gladly. I’m certainly not going to have a discussion about Lehmann Bros with somebody who can’t punctuate a simple sentence.]
La Redoute, Gonzi is a man and he is to be referred as he. Ok sa issa? Mela since Gonzi back in 2008 referred to his party as Gonzipn, then I take it as an automatic effect that the PN and hence the govt is Gonziiii so yes in our case we can refer to the PN/government as HE. Fhimt?? pero pls tini argumenti li fihom x tiddiskuti…ekk politics and stuff taf kif…btw didn’t realise there was a HOLE in my argument….I must give it to you, you made my day
I cracked??? it was a word of advice to say the least….punctuation issa, ma sibtx xi kelma li ktibt hazin, you should name your blog Daphne Caruana Galizia English lessons—No Labour allowed- Hopeless cases. Goodnight
This is all happening because they have taken it for granted that they will win the next election….u ija ha nieu ritratt tal-breakfast; mhux xorta.
Int jaqaw tghamel xi gurnata tissendika fuq facebook??!?!?! U x’fiha billi ghamel hekk? I think it shows that despite his status he’s a grounded, down-to-earth person …. unlike some people I know *hint hint* ….
He’s grounded all right. Lost his sea legs our guy.
I hope Karmenu Vella remains “grounded” for a long, long time – it might take him off our TV screens for a while.
Forgive me sir/madam, but isn’t that exactly what the remit of a journalist is…, to observe and report what public figures are up to. That does not translate into “tissendika”.
At least, in little Malta, they do not resort to tapping people’s phones and hacking email and short messages. Perhaps even getting themselves installed into places of interest like radio stations so that they can influence the swing/spin of the daily news. That might translate into “tissendika”.
Maybe they are not hi-tec enough.
If there is something in which Karmenu Vella is an expert , it’s tourism.
And yes he was praised by the Nationalists up to the point that Francis Zammit Dimech wanted him to be his consultant on tourism, Sant’s Labour Party objected.
He will be a good Minister of tourism just like Scicluna might be a ‘good’ minister for the economy.
The problem is that we will have Anglu Farrugia as Minister for Police and Jose’ Herrera minister of justice and worse,we will have Ciccio Bello Joseph as our inept prime minister.
One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
Un solo rondine non fa primavera
Let me put on de rekort that I am offended by the following part of your comment:
“…we will have Ciccio Bello Joseph as our inept prime minister.”
You’re Ciccio 2011.
Joseph has a lot of “ciccia’ which means ‘fat’ in the shape of love handles and a double chin, is short and fair.
The Italians from Emilia would surely call him that. An Italian friend of mine who is chubby, nearly threw his compatriot out of the hotel window when the latter called him Cicciobello.
[Daphne – I believe Cicciobello was a large and popular baby doll when I was a child.]
http://www.giocattoleria.it/wp-content/uploads/cicciobello-winnie-pooh.jpg
Facebook: some friends tell me that it has its advantages because one may meet up with friends who one has not seen for ages.
I cringe when i go into Facebook walls of people i know and read what they write.
Posting what one has for breakfast is expected from a teenager but certainly not from a person preparing the policies that are supposed to shape our country in 18 months’ time.
daphne inti lanqas jekk jinzel il Mulej ghax ukoll tiprova Issiblu d-difetti ahseb u ara bnie3dem bhalek jew ahjar minnek, inti jaqaw tahse3b li m’hawnjx bhalek ? kemmn sejra zball kemm hawn individwi hafna ahjar minnek l-ewweol wiehed Karmenu Vella l-aqwa miniastru tat-turizmu li qatt kellha Malta u int tant int supperva li lanqas jekk jghiduha nazzjonalisti ippatentjati bhalek u tammettix meta se titghallem??????
Lulu – if you wish to persuade someone to see your point of view, do so in a manner that is convincing. It helps to write properly and here you do not.
Ara, il-brejkfast tal-Guy. Dan mhux bhal ta’ JPO. M’ghandux bajda w zewg zalzettiet.
I am not inspired by that breakfast picture, but then the times are hard, bicca hobz niexfa u mag kafe iswed bla zokkor ghal penitenza.
Was that crockery imported via maritime channels?
Where can i see a recording? I want to find out PL’s proposals since I might consider voting for them next year. I’m sure i have a right to know what choice I am being given.
L-aqwa il-kafe fit-tazza bhal tal-kazin tal-banda biex juri li mhux tal-pepe’ .
U t-tazza fuq il-platt flok it-‘teacup’!.
I suppose the subconscious motivation for presenting photos of one’s breakfast to the entire world is the thought that ‘this is what I am having for breakfast and guess what, I will be defecating in 3 to 6 hours time.
I think there is something anal (in the Freudian sense) in all of this, reflecting sensuous self-gratification through food and its digestion.
It is disturbing that a mature and seasoned politician should manifest such infatile traits.
All he did was promise more goodies (now isn’t that just convenient when you are in the Opposition?) without being able to give figures on what these goodies will cost.
Even the extended paternity leave argument was so botched up that he didn’t finish his point.
And to claim that raising tax on cement and cigarettes will affect badly the cost of living ……!
Is this another self-made economist, like Muscat?
Edward Scicluna must be having fits listening to such garbage from his bed-fellows.
It’s a pity that Lou did not take the anniversary of Raymond Caruana’s brutal political killing as a valid reason to ask Vella about the connection his ministerial car had in the mob rule of the time.
Very valid points, e-ros.
Imma isn’t that what political parties do before election…I mean promise to deliver more goodies…then it is their duty to provide them if they are in govt and if not they will be criticized for it..all you have to do is just list them down and then if Labour is in govt check whether they are done or not and the election after you could voice your concern.
That sort of tactic works with the naive, the ignorant and the uninitiated.
The intelligent approach to promises of ‘goodies’ is to ask how much they’re going to cost, who is going to pay for them, and what could be done instead. They’re not difficult questions, but the PL finds them terribly difficult to answer even where its own promises are concerned.
They are not difficult questions…..La Redoute then you must never in your whole life vote PN, heh tell me about a project which the PN estimated it will cost X and in fact it cost us X? They are difficult ejj…PL feels better to stay silent rather than give some random number and then it actually costs way more….heh at least it delivers its promises
Daphne, can you please eliminate and never include comments in Maltese ? It’s already bad enough on the times, but it comes as no surprise, seeing its standards always getting lower and lower. For goodness’ sake, this is an English blog, written in English.
Hear, Hear, motion seconded. On the other hand, we will be missing half the fun.
Biex gej dalghodu Spir?
Start by changing your name to Spiro or Spiridione.
Bilingual is OK: the two formal languages in Malta, one to express your eloquent arguments and the other for swear words.
Yes but swear words are confined to their place you know. Everything has its place in life – and English has its place here just as Maltese has its place on Il Mument or l-Orizoont and pidgin English on Malta Star
Can’t we have both, Spir?
Your reasoning is like the way people think in Zurrieq .
If you are in Nigret you must be supporting Tal-Karmnu and if you hale from Xarolla you should be supporting Santa Katerina.
And when one says that he likes the Tal-Karmnu feast, people automatically conclude that one doesn’t like the feast of Santa Katerina and vice versa.
Sorry l-Orizzont – better than taks, I guess.