It’s not because he was in Cospicua
Joseph Muscat speaking in Cospicua
Joseph Muscat went to speak in Cospicua last Sunday morning and some people were upset because I said he shouldn’t have gone in a suit and tie, nor stood on a podium on a stage with the Maltese and EU flags behind him.
It was inappropriate for him to wear a suit not because he was in Cospicua, but because it was Sunday morning. Nobody wears a suit on Sunday morning unless they’re not heading off to a wedding or Christening or formal lunch.
Nor is Sunday morning the appropriate time for public speeches delivered from stages with a formal set-up including the national and EU flags.
The context is all wrong, and again, not because this is Cospicua but because it was supposed to be a simple constituency meeting on a Sunday morning. It would have been just as inappropriate in Sliema, which is chokka with mittilkless chavs now, anyway, and has become one giant Lazy Corner but with expensive clothes and cars.
On a Sunday morning, the idea is that the party leader goes along in his usual Sunday clothes. This doesn’t mean a track-suit and T-shirt, even if they are what Joseph Muscat wears at home, but an open-necked shirt, sports jacket and trousers. He sits down at the same visual level as his audience, because after all it’s not a crowd, and he has a nice talk with them instead of delivering a sermon.
I know that Kurt Farrugia thinks li trid tkun slick ghal-kemmerass tat-television (see him interviewed by Saviour Balzan in a previous post) and that even Sunday morning meetings have to be conceived with a view to how they look on television, but what does he know about it?
Look at his track record.
He’s right that television has to be factored into the equation, but here’s the thing: television should show Joseph Muscat in his Sunday morning dress-down outfit mixing with constituents at their own level, not talking down to them from a stage with three flags behind him.
But novices like Kurt clearly don’t understand this. And when I say novices I don’t mean political novices but social novices. Kurt is clearly of the opinion that Big Cheeses Always Wear Suits to Look Important, whatever the circumstances.
At least Muscat’s cuffs show – for small mercies, let us be grateful.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/dec/01/corruption-index-2011-transparency-international
This is not an Eurostat statistic but is issued by Transparency International.
It seems our near neighbours to the North are in a worse position so let’s count our blessings; Italy is in 69th place while Malta is in 39th.
It seems that anything that goes wrong in Malta is the fault of the EU, Arriva or Franco Debono (could be right in this case).
U mela ma jaqlalekx il-glekk minn fuqu!
Imhatra li nhar il-hadd narawh liebes “his usual Sunday clothes”. Mhux bic-cajt Daphne, imnalla tkun int ghalihom. Keep it up.
kif? bil qalziet ta taht?
We might actually see him in Anglu’s taskedo.
“Ha, hu din, mhux l-aqwa li tidher qisek bil-Ghaqal?”
Dying to see what he will be wearing next Sunday…
Mhux li tordnalu l-mara!
Anglu has solved the Formal vs Casual dilemma by wearing a suit and a builder’s vest. And showing both.
Baxxter, Labour is rebranding everything from scratch. They want to create the Ghaqal look. Now that’s Onslow’s sleeveless vest and a bow tie.
Desighaqual?
Like. LOL.
People from Bormla are seriously considering inviting you for drinks when the promenade project is officially inaugurated.
At present it would not be right to invite you for “Il-Festa” because the place is like a war zone they tell me.
This explanation was a breath of fresh air for them.
[Daphne – Good, I’m glad.]
“But he got something else very wrong (kemm hi antipatika dik is-Sahhara): when you go off to speak to your constituents on a Sunday, Joseph, especially when those constituents are C2DE and in Cospicua, don’t wear a bloody suit, double cuffs and an ingravata. And above all, don’t stand on a podium with three flags behind you.”
What does C2DE stand for, exactly? And why is it important to say that these C2DE constituents are from Cospicua?
I nearly believed your spin until I came across that.
[Daphne – You know what it means. And yes, it is especially RUDE to turn up dressed like that when your constituents are C2DE, like Mr Darcy walking into the public ball (would that he were Mr Darcy). To turn up in a suit and tie for a Sunday morning meeting is stupid and inappropriate wherever the meeting is (unless it’s the party annual general conference or similar). But to do so in a certain context is also rude because it is an attempt at setting yourself apart. The only politician who visited Bidnija, where I live – something the Offended of Bormla forget – was Alfred Sant. He looked farcical, traipsing through the fields led by the only Labour farmer in the area, quite obvious concerned about his shoes and hems. As for spin, forget it. I write the facts.]