Issa anke Gordon Pisani iddahhal fil-kredu ta’ Franco
You might have missed the significance of this tragic exchange on Bondi+ last night, or missed the exchange altogether.
Gordon Pisani (pictured here) is head of communications at the Office of the Prime Minister. He was in the same class at school as Franco Debono and Joseph Muscat – but he’s normal.
LB: Ghax inzerta anke Gordon Pisani kien fil-klassi mieghek.
FD: Iva, anke Gordon Pisani ma kienx igib rizultati tajbin daqs tieghi, u xorta qed jattendi il-cabinet.
If there are people around who hear him say these things and still insist on not registering their implications because ‘he has a point’ in other matters (you know, like Norman Lowell has a point), then it places a great strain on my faith in democracy.
Like Franco Debono, I have a strong desire to pack up and leave, though not for the reasons he mentions.
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Well, Franco did get full marks in communications.
Move over Gordon.
Jahasra.
I so much agree with you here.
It’s the same sort of feeling I get when I hear Tonio Fenech arguing against the introduction of divorce because the Madonna is sad.
True, Tonio is doing a reasonably good job running the economy, but once you utter such stupidity the rest of the arguments and actions you make will be seen in the light of that colossal stupidity which you’ve uttered.
[Daphne – It’s not at all the same thing, Ronnie. Religious faith is a case apart, most particularly in situations where people are raised in it. And I rush to add that I don’t only mean Catholicism, but any religious faith. I am not the sort of person to have that level of faith, but all the same I can recognise it in others and accept that otherwise rational people will have deep confidence that such things are true. The ‘stupidity’ is not in believing something like that, but in saying it. Most people know to disguise sentiments which they realise must seem child-like to others. He was wrong to say it – spectacularly wrong – but we can’t say he was wrong to believe it because religion takes people over in different ways.]
I somewhat agree. I had commented in a post on your blog that I found the fact that he thought it was ok to say it more disturbing than the fact that he believed it.
I find open expressions of religious fundamentalism disturbing in the same way I find open expressions of racist sentiments disturbing and offensive.
However one has to also put into context that what was said, was said in a debate about the implementation or otherwise of legislation, i.e. government action was going to be justified by scripture. It would have been perfectly ok to air such views if the discussion were limited to a debate about whether one personally agrees with divorce or not.
Anyway that is water under the bridge now and thankfully reason prevailed.
Was he Franco’s class captain?
This is further proof that Franco Debono never grew up mentally.
What places a great strain on demoracy is David Aguis saying that a government should be given at least a majority of three seats, even if a party has less than 2000 votes more than the other. What places a strain on democracy is a Prime Minister who insists he wants to stay in power even though he lost his majority.
[Daphne – Majority of what, Jacky? Seats? The last time I looked, Franco Debono was still a Nationalist MP and trying his damnedest to become a Nationalist minister.]
I think David Agius had an excellent idea. The only snag is that it may be that three extra seats are not enough.
Naturally LP supporters would object, they have exceedingly short memories (Mintoff anyone?). Mind you if I was Muscat, I would take a good hard look at the oddballs currently being considered for standing on the LP ticket, and ask for a minimum of ten more seats.
Conversely, taking it as given that the PL will win the next election, Gonzi should drag his feet about this proposal, In turn he can enjoy the ruckus the wannabe minister of the south (to mention one potential trouble maker) will raise, should his ministry not be forthcoming.
If you were around in 1981, which I doubt, Jacky, you’d know what a strain on democracy is – the Labour Party raping democracy and ‘winning’ a 2 party election with 49% of the votes as opposed to 51% for the ‘losers’.
What’s more, the electoral districts, as defined by Labour (and never corrected due to Labour intransigency), provided the MLP with 34 seats as opposed to the PN’s 31, despite the PN getting more votes. That’s Labour democracy for you.
*In the 2008 election
I missed half of B+ yesterday, dammit, but the half I did watch offered no surprises.
Go on di-ve.com and watch it in the media on demand section
Should you wish to watch it all:
mms://wms.di-ve.com/tvm/bondi/120110.wmv
Truly unbelievable. No wonder he still lives with his parents.
Watch the movie ‘To Die For’ and examine Nicole Kidman’s on screen character in that movie.
NPD
On yesterday’s Bondi+, it was assumed that Franco Debono showed his school report to Tonio Borg, Chris Said and Eddie Fenech Adami.
And the PM?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120108/interview/-I-feel-that-Debono-has-betrayed-me-.401386
‘Franco Debono showed his Form 2 school report on television. Did he ever show it to you?
He did show it to me. But what I found bizarre is that at this point in time, with the issues we have in our lap, the issue is not what school report he had when he was still a teenager. The issue is his responsibility as an MP towards the country, towards those who voted for him and towards the thousands of jobs that are at stake…’
Who cares if Gordon Pisani got worse grades than Franco Debono. One is a gentleman, the other a twat.
Pity school reports don’t mention such traits: far more important than marks obtained in tests which have no bearing whatsoever on the rest of your life, or in this case, the future of a nation.
Intelligence is like underwear, just because you have it, doesn’t mean you have to show it off, Franco.
Please don’t tempt him. The last thing we need to see is Franco’s whale tail.
Ironically, the only office clerk I ever sacked for incompetence was one with a B.Comm. degree. Those who had no more than O-lvels always proved to be more hardworking and capable.
And what was a B.Comm graduate doing, performing clerical duties? Coming to work must have been a nightmare for this person.
You should never employ people who are over-qualified for the job they should be doing. I think that you were the incompetent one in this matter, rather than your “office clerk”.
[Daphne – Why do you assume that a BComm graduate is over-qualified for clerical duties? Or that s/he automatically deserves some more important position mere by dint of that degree? I was a clerk for four years before I had my first child, and I never felt over-qualified for the job or that work was a nightmare.]
What do you understand by clerical duties?
To me, clerical duties would consist of:
“typing” emails and letters
general filing
making coffee
answering the phone
All you have to be is literate and have good phone manners. In your day one would have been thankful to have been employed at all.
[Daphne – You don’t know much about offices, do you. Phones are answered by receptionists. Coffee is made by the cleaner in big companies, by the boss’s secretary for guests and meetings (and the boss), or by everyone else for themselves. Not much filing goes on nowadays. Emails are typed by those who send them. Letters are virtually a thing of the past. Clerks’ duties are actually quite onerous and depend on the business: sales clerk, store clerk, insurance clerk, shipping clerk. The work generally involves numbers, forms, spreadsheets, logs, records, invoicing, and the like. It is in fact the perfect work for a BComm graduate.]
Another thing, one shouldn’t equate “education” with “importance of post of employment”. I can’t stomach such reasoning, viz. that one should educate onself to improve one’s employability.
If that were the case, a bachelor of arts degree would be the epitome of uselessness. It obviously isn’t, because “the arts” (I know I am using the term very loosely here) are one aspect that differentiate us from our closest relatives (phylogenetically speaking, of course).
A B.Comm graduate can be better utilised than filing and answering the phone.
[Daphne – Not necessarily, no.]