Exactly what does Botox Jeff do for the Malta Council of Science and Technology?
You know, I was thinking just this afternoon how since the day the prime minister sought to appease Botox Jeff by making him chairman of the Malta Council of Science and Technology, a post for which, as a dentist and member of parliament, he is unfit for purpose, Nicholas Sammut has disappeared.
Do you remember Nicholas Sammut? That’s right, you’re probably asking yourself ‘Nicholas who?’
But three years ago, he was really big news: the 27-year-old who worked on the Large Hadron Collider and was made executive chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
So that Botox Jeff could be made chairman, Sammut was divested of his executive chairmanship and made CEO instead. Now you never hear anything about him in the press, even though, as the real scientist and CEO in this operation, and the one with the contacts and network, he’s the one making things happen.
But it’s Botox Jeff who’s all over the media and Facebook talking about what he’s done for the Malta Council of Science and Technology, “with the support of my team”.
When does he do all this – in between long days at his dental/botox clinic, evenings in parliament and nights and weekends on Facebook? He’s the chairman, a figurehead, representational role, and not the full-time executive officer.
In Nicholas Sammut’s position, others would be simmering with fury, frustration and resentment at the way a useless, attention-seeking bastard has been foisted on them, at the way their soundness and decency are taken for granted and treated with scant respect so that a badly behaved individual may be appeased in a pattern that rewards bad behaviour and punishes loyalty.
And let me make it clear at this point that I have not spoken to Nicholas Sammut since I interviewed him for a magazine in November 2008.
I just find it extremely disturbing that a 27-year-old true scientist who had been appointed to the executive chairmanship of the Malta Council of Science and Technology has been scuffed aside and replaced with a 50-year-old village dentist and part-time botoxer who is also a member of parliament, and who couldn’t tell the Large Hadron Collider from Carmen’s spaghetti rizzi.
Jeffrey should never have been appointed to that post in the first place. He’s a bloody dentist who breaks out in Scotch-fuelled rages which I have observed with my own eyes, and one of which got him evicted by security personnel from the VIP area at a concert, after he became involved in a fight with another man over a woman.
Like Franco Debono, if you give Jeffrey something, he’ll despise you further and want even more. The prime minister made a great error of judgement when he appointed him chairman, rewarding his appalling behaviour. Probably he thought that the means justified the end of securing Jeffrey’s loyalty.
Now that it hasn’t worked and that Jeffrey’s behaviour brings the Malta Council for Science and Technology into disrepute, the prime minister should remove him from the post. Jeffrey is using the chairmanship of the Council to give himself desperately-needed credibility, but in so doing, he hacks away at the credibility of the Council.
In this news update issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, Nicholas Sammut is standing right there with Jeffrey but isn't even mentioned, ma jmurx jiehu ghalih Botox Jeff.
Who is more likely to have had the contacts and info for the Space Cooperation Agreement: the Haz-Zebbug dentist or his CEO who worked at CERN?
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From now on I confer Jeffrey with an OBE .
No it’s not ‘Order of the British Empire’ it’s ‘Other Bastards Efforts’.
Unfortunately this one-seat majority in this legislature has been so openly abused by the three prima donnas. Some people will blame Dr Gonzi for his appeasement methods – but it was a very difficult situation for him.
Of course we must not forget the “father figure” pulling strings from his exile in Brussels.
And please don’t compare the current situation with the one-seat majority in the 1987 legislature. Then, the PN was in government after 16 horrible years in opposition.
Dr Fenech Adami never faced any bickering from backbenchers, as the whole PN parliamentary group was in it for the country, and not for personal interest.
He looks bloated in the last photo.
Yellow Pages advertisement for Jeffrey’s clinic:
THE SMILE CENTRE
General & Cosmetic Dentistry
Hyaluronic Acid Fillers (UVEDERM)
And Botox Injections
Sounds like space technology to me.
Who need a Large Hadron Collider when one can have Hyaluronic Acid Fillers instead?
Being 27 and very gifted I would imagine Nicholas Sammut quietly gets on with his job.
Being a scientist I would imagine he keeps his head down and lets Jeff get on with his bs.
The people who count know what really goes on. That said, Jeff needs to be kicked out as soon as the next election is announced.
There is a very suitable Maltese saying that fits the bill beautifully;
”Iboss b’sorm haddiehor.”
I have always questioned Gonzi’s decision to appoint JPO to this position while JPO was busy criticising him and the government and playing the idiot on Facebook.
There is, and never was, any place for Pullicino Orlando on the MCST and the Prime Minister should start pulling in his appeasement tools which didn’t work.
Enough is enough.
We all have had enough of JPO, Mugliette, Franco Debono and Arrigo who have not managed to shrug off the mega-chips which they carry about so openly.
Nicholas Sammut has been 27 ever since he hit the headlines 3 to 4 years ago. It’s true that he’s working with stuff that moves at the speed of light or close to it, but that doesn’t mean that his time stops.
He must be pushing 33 if he’s a day.
[Daphne – 30 or 31. He was 27 under four years ago.]
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Hermann-Schiavone-launches-PN-candidature-20120428
Julia Farrugia is trying to make Franco angry against a (too) loyal activist, so that on the 9th May Franco will vote against a money bill in parliament.
How desperate are they? Would anyone in his right senses believe that anyone would launch his candidacy in a Band Club where politics are a NO-NO?
Is this what Saviour calls investigative journalism?
Julia Farrugia should do us all a favour and look into her Daddy’s cupboard; perhaps she’ll find a skeleton two from his dark past.
Someone should probably state the obvious fact that both Nicholas Sammut and JPO’s positions were politically motivated. I’m not denigrating Dr. Sammut’s work or his work ethic, MCAST could be much better than it is today, but he probably has a very limited budget and a very unmotivated workforce. But let’s be honest: When a 27 year old electrical engineer with a PhD who is really only starting his research career suddenly gets rocketed up to become the CEO of an institution the size of MCAST you know that something stinks.
At 27 he would be unproven both as an academic (at 27 most of us would be in a postdoc position, looking towards a full-time academic position or perhaps industry) and as an administrator. This is in sharp contrast with, say, Juanito Camilleri who was both an accomplished academic and a veteran administrator.
Of course, the point of your article is to criticise JPO’s role and I can’t really comment on that, since it’s not clear who does what in the MCAST administration.
[Daphne – It’s not MCAST; that’s the college. This is the MCST. I can’t see why you categorise Juanito Camilleri’s appointment differently.]
Sammut worked – perhaps he still does – at CERN, for crying out loud. It’s the hippest (in “hard science” circles) thing to work on at the moment. Anyone who didn’t give him a “high visibility” job would have been out of his tiny mind.
Oops, you’re right, he’s the CEO of MCST. Actually, this confirms my objection even further. Scientific and technological research in Malta has not improved at all. They have hardly touched the plethora of EU research grants (which ironically is probably what funds most Maltese researchers working in European institutions). Apart from a few photo ops with ESA and the occasional exchange student visiting CERN very little has been achieved.
I think Juanito’s appointment was not as political considering the drive at the time to push the I.T sector forward. Juanito had a PhD in computer science from a good university but he had also been a successful CEO for several years so he was no novice to administration. He made sense as a candidate for rector and he has delivered.
On the other hand, it is not clear why Nicholas Sammut was the best candidate for MCST. In most countries at that age and with so little experience he wouldn’t even be considered for a senior lecturing position or to lead in a research team let alone be entrusted with an entire country’s science and technology research policy. Surely there must have been a more qualified candidate.
You are being very unfair. In the past few years, various Maltese scientists have made to the fore of international, high impact journals. Just to mention two – Alex Felice and all his team have made it to the front page of Nature Genetics and their breakthrough was the main topic of discussion during a whole day meeting in the UK.
Same for Joseph Grima and his chemistry team – inventing novel compounds with useful characteristics some of which might find their way into cardiac stent.
Or the engineer Jonathan Borg’s team and their work on inventing a new prototype for the endoscope head that should reduce the time for endoscopy by at least 30%. These last two funded by MCST.
Another success story is David Zammit Mangion’s work in avionics – again breakthrough’s in making flight especially take offs safer.
And these are the one’s that I remember; I am sure that there are others in physics, IT, Bioengineering etc.
And yes, most of it not through EU funding – there are problems for small universities like ours, but through sheer hard work, MCST and university funds as well as industry here in Malta.
So please refrain from belittling the hard work of Maltese scientists who labour under very unfavourable conditions and still produce very good and excellent scientific work.
“L-MCST ma jimxix minhabba f’Botox Jeff izda minkejja Botox Jeff.”
What you said regarding Jeff fighting with a man over another woman (not Carmen) is hilarious. I can picture him fighting and making a fool of himself. The faster he disappears the better for all of us, unless he wants to keep us entertained with his fights when drunk.
Don’t mean to quibble but while I agree with the general thrust of your arguments against Mr Botox, the ESA agreement may have gone through even without Mr Scicluna’s involvement. As part of the EU, Malta deals with the ESA on several matters; most notably, since Malta is a board member of the European GNSS Agency which deals with the ESS regularly. The ESA, despite its name, is not a EU Agency and has been around for a lot longer than the EU has. Consequently, Malta needs to be able to deal with the space Agency to fulfil some of its obligations as an EU member state.
I know it’s very “people’s front of Judea” as explanations go, but perhaps Mr Scicluna’s involvement accelerated an inevitable next step rather than made it happen.