Dom Mintoff’s other daughter does it again
Yana (real name, Joan) Mintoff and her sister Anne McKenna are campaigning for Labour with a vengeance now that Alfred Sant is out of the picture.
Once more, Anne McKenna has written to The Times to tell us that we need a Labour government – without telling us that she is Dom Mintoff’s daughter, for all the world as though this salient fact has no bearing on her views.
I think it is irresponsible of the editor not to add the required editorial note, as would be done if this were a comment piece. One wouldn’t add an editorial note about the writer’s parentage in ordinary circumstances, as this would not be relevant and because we are all individuals’.
But in this particular case, relevant it is. Let’s face it, Mark and Carol Thatcher’s names were never in the newspaper without mention of the fact that their mother was the prime minister.
Her sister Yana (real name, Joan) Mintoff doesn’t bother with the cunning disguises.
The Times, Letters to the Editor
Monday, February 13, 2012, by Anne McKenna, Ta’ l-Ibraġ
IMF warnings
A change of Administration has to be for the better. After all, matters could not be much worse: the quality of our lives is in steep decline. What with the government priorities askew, a trickle of inward direct investment, suicidal traffic congestion, an archaic educational system, lengthy queues for hospital treatment – to name but a few.
The Nationalist Party talks about its “beef” but where is its heart? So busy are its protagonists congratulating themselves that they conveniently overlook those issues that seriously impact the quality of our lives. In their complacency and arrogance, they blame the demise of the EU recession for our woes. But take a look at the concluding paragraph, point 13 of the recent IMF report on Malta (dated January 23
“The immediate challenges underscore the need to raise productivity growth and further improve competitiveness. Reforms to secure these objectives include continuing to diversify the economy into high value-added activities, reducing the economy’s dependence on energy imports and strengthening female labour force participation and labour force skills. These steps should be supported by a cautious settlement of wage negotiations to ensure better alignment of wage and productivity developments.”
Surely, these serious shortcomings are indicative of a weak Administration and not the outcome of the external depressed economic climate. Each prescribed reform points blatantly at inadequate government action.
For how long have we known about the need to diversify our economy into higher value added activities? That this is still a priority requirement implies gross administrative negligence.
What also is being done to reduce our economy’s dependence on energy imports besides a few measly subsidies for solar water heating installations? Implicit in this is the dire need to reduce traffic congestion but not with preposterously extravagant solutions such as flyovers and bridges.
Significantly fewer vehicles on our roads would decrease petrol consumption (and, thereby, energy imports), increase productivity (by lessening output forgone due to traffic jams), radically improve air quality and drastically upgrade our lifestyles. But would our established political class have the beef to tackle this issue? My bet is that they would not dare to ruffle up their supporter barons, the car dealers, with progressive taxation on each additional car owned per household. Nor would they risk losing the votes of the upper middle classes who can afford the luxury of multiple car ownership.
Have we not also heard for donkey’s years about the pressing need to increase female participation and improve labour force skills? At the root of these deficiencies is an antiquated educational system based on rote learning with tenuous links to the needs of the labour market. For nigh on a quarter of a century our government has not had the beef to do more than apply cheap make-up to patch over this aged problem.
So why re-elect an Administration that has made minimal effort to address these issues? Indeed, it can only be with a Labour Administration and its strong support from the unions that we can count on an improved alignment of wage and productivity settlements.
Yes, a change is sorely needed to meet these challenges and the Labour Party has both the heart and the beef to put our country back on the right track.
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Why Yana? To be known as Mintoff Yana?
[Daphne – Not really, no. In the Anglo Saxon world in which she operates, surnames never precede first names. They shouldn’t even precede first names in Maltese culture; it’s just a habit left over from the school roll-call. I assume she changed her name because Joan was considered fuddy-duddy in the years when she was busy being a 1970s rebel.]
“Her sister Yana (real name, Joan) Mintoff doesn’t bother with the cunning disguises.”
They wouldn’t work anyway, spitting image of her dad.
Thanks for this Daphne. I had missed it in yesterday’s The Times. Good read. Brava Anne.
If I’m not mistaking there is a garden in Paola named Joanne’s Garden after Mintoff’s daughters, Joan and Anne. As Daphne said, Yana’s real name is Joan.
At last – a concrete proposal:
‘taxation on each additional car ‘.
IVVOTA LABOUR – IVVOTA GHAT-TAXXI.
“So why re-elect an Administration that has made minimal effort to address these issues? Indeed, it can only be with a Labour Administration and its strong support from the unions that we can count on an improved alignment of wage and productivity settlements.”
The devil is in the detail. She is already sure that Tony Zarb is going to be a good boy during a future Labour administration.
I really don’t like the way she asserts her opinion and presents it as fact. She is truly her father’s daughter..
We should also ask Joseph Muscat if he will be taking her advice on how to lessen traffic on our roads. If elected is he going to ” dare to ruffle up their supporter barons, the car dealers, with progressive taxation on each additional car owned per household.” and “would they risk losing the votes of the upper middle classes who can afford the luxury of multiple car ownership.” Yes, it’s only the upper middle classes who can afford multiple car ownership.
With Labour in government we are back to square one with class hatred. We had stopped talking about society in ‘class’ terms but old socialist ideology is back with a vengeance.
I wonder if Labour will be offering a free bag of chips with that beef.
Her proposal to increase taxation on automobiles is in direct conflict with Joseph’s class action.
She also doesn’t seem to be aware of Joseph’s intention to reverse parking restrictions, the prime instrument to reduce traffic, or his proposals for car parks. Why does she think he visited a car park only two weeks ago?
If she expects to make her argument ignoring the public transport reform, I’m not surprised she won’t say who she is.
Hilarious.
I shall not comment on the greater part of the letter by Anne McKenna, but I would like to comment on the third paragraph where nebulous sweeping statements are being made.
“The immediate challenges underscore the need to raise productivity growth and further improve competitiveness.”
If productivity was not raised over the last 25 years (excluding the 18 month stint starting in 1996 which incidentally was under a socialist (sic) government) how could yoy explain that the economy boomed and employment rose to unprecedented levels (including increased female participation?
“Reforms to secure these objectives include continuing to diversify the economy into high value-added activities,…”
What would one describe the departure from the (in)famous manufacturing industries like the chocolate factory, the lowest skill hand tools production factories, the ‘industrja tal-kappar’, the Dirgħajn il-Maltin, Iżra u Rabbi u other Korpi tax-Xogħol, etc towards service industries like the financial sector, back-office work companies, e-gambling, IT companies, etc.
“…, reducing the economy’s dependence on energy imports”
As an economist worth her salt, Mrs McKenna should well be aware that consumption of energy is a function of standard of living and that only after having reached a certain level does the individual turn to looking towards other factors that constitute better standard of living by taking care of his/her environment. Not withstanding all this, alternative energy generation is only a recent development which up to a few years ago (if not still is) was in a purely experimental stage.
Does Mrs McKenna believe that a small nation like Malta could risk vital funds to embark on purely experimental, not yet fully proven projects? Still she might not be aware of the schemes that have been put up to encourage uptake in favour of alternative energy sources. Or is it possible that whoever is informing her decided not to because it would be understandable that this is a possibility because she came back to Malta only recently (poor girl!)
“… and strengthening female labour force participation …”
An economist ( or even more so a politician) without any sense of the social makeup within which he or she is operating is totally worthless. May I suggest that Mrs McKenna reads and inform herself of the social evolution that has been occurring on these islands over the last 25 years while she was away from the island?
I suggest to her as well that she looks up at the initiatives taken and being taken over that last years to entice a higher female participation on the labour market. Can she enlighten us, poor mortals, about the policies and initiatives she is (or the PL she is so much eager to see in government) proposing? Would she suggest the re-introduction of the infamous law introduced by her father which gave a discriminatory advantage to males over females when applying for a job?
As far as I can gather there was no other law or incentive that concerned the female participation ever launched during the Labour Administration years.
“… and strengthening … labour force skills.”
Hasn’t she heard about the MCAST and University success story? All I can say is that when I graduated, way back in January 1981, we were only a group of mere 130 graduands Today we speak of thousands.
“… These steps should be supported by a cautious settlement of wage negotiations to ensure better alignment of wage and productivity developments.”
“ … cautious settlement of wage negotiations …”? Do you solve it like Dom Mintoff by imposing a wage freeze?
Has not she heard about the MCESD and how social dialogue is guaranteed whereby wage negotiations at a national level occur and that at Company levels collective bargaining beyond what is granted at a national level has always been based against a backdrop of productivity.
If this mechanism has not been successful how would she explain the industrial peace that has prevailed over the last years? How else would she explain the continuous investment by industry reflecting itself in a record level of gainfully of almost 150,000?
This strengthens by impression that she has been misled. Or, on second thoughts, is this a case of deliberate omissions? In this respect the Latins were a bit more sophisticated than modern man for they made a distinction between “non scientia” (meaning no knowledge; i.e. never had the opportunity to know) and “ignorans” ( meaning ignorant because one had the opportunity to know but wants to ignore it). I really wonder which case applies!.
She must be talking about the UK, I certainly cannot recognise Malta by her comments. Is this the one who threw dung during a debate in the House of Commons?
Daphne, verament nixtieqek taqra In-Nazzjon taghna ta’ nhar il-Gimgha 10 ta’ Frar fil-kollona ta’ Mario Galea biex tkun taf min hi Yana Mintoff u kemm hi giddieba u bla kuxjenza.
[Daphne – Please post a link to the article on this site. Thank you.]
McKenna’s piece shows that she was away from Malta during the lean years of her father and the Nationalists’ years of plenty.
She is suggesting curtailing our right to own a car as well as indicating that a future Labour government would clip unions’ negotiating rights in the name of productivity “to put our country back on the right track”.
Also, does she not remember that during her father’s time, a woman had to resign from her job with the civil service upon getting married?
Instead of wasting her time and ours, writing rubbish, shouldn’t Mintoff’s daughter be at her father’s bedside at the Nationalist government hospital called Mater Dei?
Instead, it appears that her dad’s welfare has taken a back seat to the recently inspired daughter’s desire to regale us with her father’s passé ideals long rejected by at least half the nation, though certainly not forgotten and less so, forgiven.
And, if Mr.Salvatur recovers enough that he will be released from Mater Dei, should Yana not be trying to book him the same especially reserved room at SVDP, at taxpayers’ expense?
Yes, the Times should inform its readers the identity of the writer since she is already using her married name which after all, is disguising purposely, her inherited father’s name.
Read what member of parliament Mario Galea wrote about Yana Mintoff in In-Nazzjon.
‘the quality of our lives are in steep decline’
[Daphne – So Anne McKenna makes basic grammatical errors, eh? Smart.]
It’s interesting how she bundles up her life with ours, considering she’s only been recently back in Malta, and furthermore, lived most of her life abroad.
I also find intriguing her hints on how a Labour government would solve traffic, economy, increase female workforce and even wages. Seeing how we’ve all been kept in the dark for the past 4 years on Labour plans, she certainly seems to have some inside information on how Labour aims to achieve these admirable goals.
On the other hand it may be usual Labour strategy; ivvinta minn zniedek, fejn jolqot, jolqot.
Where has she been living? I find this letter patronising, like when some emigrant returns from Down Under and starts telling us how to solve our problems.
Where were they when their father and his merry band of henchmen were running the country?
Do these two Mintoff’s daughters intend to take us back to their father’s type of administration?
I believe so. Meanwhile, the intention is to fill The Times with letters from the Labour camp.
Think Beppe Fenech Adami and Mario de Marco. These two went way beyond the Mintoff sisters.
[Daphne – Such a ridiculous comparison.]
” back on the right track” are her last five words.
How ominous.
I assume she means back on the track of the MLP in government as we, certainly not her, know it.
She was away from Malta for the greater part of that sixteen-year-long nightmare.
Lucky woman.
Anne McKenna Mintoff, we don’t need your advice as to who to vote for. You are hardly in a position to speak. No doubt, when your father was in power you thought he did a great job and would have advised us to vote for him again.
Vote for Muscat if you want to. The rest of us will do as we see fit.
‘Labour Party has both the heart and the beef to put our country back on the right track’
These words are really nice to read. However, no one from the Labour Party, including the new leader himself, ever told us how this will happen, or at least what are the plans and policies they will adopt if God forbid they are in office.
After reading this letter I thought Ms McKenna was going to mention some plans and policies, but she failed as well because everybody knows that these plans do not exist within the Labour Party.
To add insult to injury, they want an early election – with no plans or policies.
She also mentioned education but she did not tell us that the Labour Party only recently made another U-Turn in parliament regarding this vote.
I do agree with her that the education system is a disaster. If it weren’t so, how would you explain that all the good-for-nothings at One have rushed to get their LL.D degree and they are all ‘dottore’ now. Not to mention Anglu Farrugia.
For our younger readers: “the right track” means state control of all banks, trade and broadcasting. “Higher added value activities” mean labour corps under military discipline, and “education” under Mintoffian socialism meant a ludicrous “student-worker” scheme that gave you a degree only recognised in Malta. You are free to believe Ms McKenna . . . at your peril.
“Our lives”. Gosh, I’m a member of the aristocracy. You too, ciccio.
That’s right, Baxxter. We’re now honorary members of the “aristocracy of the workers.” Do we get the privilege to speak at Labour’s next conference?
Oh, and I missed the best bit:
Or do we get the right to burn down the Curia, The Times and the Courts?
I was rather thinking of this sort of aristocracy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwXJsWHupg
The other sort is definitely not how Yana Mintoff thinks of herself.
Someone must remind The Times that it was burned down by Labour. The way it now supports Labour, whether overtly or covertly is nothing less than sickening.
Education was a disaster before that… think of Agatha Barbara’s falza stikka. Think of how Philip Muscat then wanted to create elitist junior lyceums and how, once more, there was a great divide between the competent diligent student and the lower-ability student.
Think also that Anglu Farrugia is a product of the MLP system, hardly ever thought using his own brains.
And all these LL.Ds given out like pastizzi? Well well well.
In Malta the mentality prevails (especially amongst the working class members) that to be of any considerable value you have to be either “saċerdot, tabib jew avukat”. Other professions don’t hold the same consideration. Little wonder why there are so many “dutturi” now.
‘Education was a disaster before that… think of Agatha Barbara’s falza stikka. Think of how Philip Muscat then wanted to create elitist junior lyceums and how, once more, there was a great divide between the competent diligent student and the lower-ability student.’
Prosit Izzie, and Agatha Barbara was later appointed President of Malta and we had our paper money with her photo as well. Dik kienet serjeta’. But yes it had to be Agatha Barbara cause she was jailed for a political criminal act.That was how the country was run during Labour Golden Years.