Lord Strickland could in fact speak Maltese – with an English accent, possibly sounding similar to the way Yana/Joan Mintoff Bland speaks.

[Daphne – Definitely not. Yana Bland affects a faux archaic rural accent when she speaks Maltese. Lord Strickland would have sounded like many of my friends.]

He chose to speak English while on offical buisness because that was the norm unless you backed the pro Italian lobby in which case you spoke Italian. Strickland himself would also converse in Italian at times.

He was partly Italian on his mother’s side, and he went to school in Italy for a few years as well.

Bar a 14-year period between 1903 and 1917, when he served as governor in the colonial service, Strickland lived, worked and had his main buisness interests in Malta making occasional long visits to England where he owned a London residence and a Castle in Westmorland. He also served as MP and then member of the House of Lords from 1926. But his main interest and base was Malta.

Quite a broadside, Daphne.

You are right in part of what you say, but wrong in others. I’ll let you figure out for yourself which is which.

Where you are wrong is that “I admire strongman” – as a matter of fact I am also an admirer of strong women, and that is exactly why I consider myself as one of your admirers.

Who on Earth would name their house ‘Zebbug Zghir’?!

[Daphne – Well, at least it’s not going to the wild cats. The Mintoffs have got those.]

She had an ID card in the name of Manwaring up until at least October 2004.

ID CARD LOOKUP 0706451M

APR 2011 Bland Joan k/a Yana 23, Triq ir-Rnella, Il-Kalkara
APR 2009 Bland Joan k/a Yana 23, Triq ir-Rnella, Kalkara
APR 2007 Bland Joan k/a Yana 45, Zebbug Zghir, Joann Garden, Tarxien
OCT 2005 Bland Joan k/a Yana 45, Zebbug Zghir, Joann Garden, Tarxien
OCT 2004 Mainwaring Joan k/a Yana 45, Zebbug Zghir, Joann Garden, Tarxien
MAR 2003 Mainwaring Joan k/a Yana 45, Zebbug Zghir, Joann Garden, Tarxien

Source: Local Council Electoral Register

Silvio, it’s Giovinezza and there’s no article.

You might not appreciate this but it is strange for someone like you to disapprove of fascism and then admire Mintoff.

Mintoff is the closest Malta ever came to having a Duce.

[Daphne – Antoine, you might not appreciate this, but you are more accurate than you think. Silvio actually is a great admirer of Il Duce and fascism. He’s an old-style Nationalist of the near-extinct type. People who are that way inclined are now attracted to Labour, not the PN. In fact, you can sometimes see Silvio struggling with his attraction to the Labour Party despite his traditional loyalty to the PN. Sorry, Silvio, but it’s true, isn’t it? You like that whole strongman thing.]

One more humble suggestion, then:

Brand Malta! Malta di best! Mietna ta’ xejn! Mietna ghal barrani li dalwaqt ikun fil-gvern. Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox!

Mintoff did not fight to have the British removed from Malta – on the contrary he tried and failed to integrate Malta with Britain and later tried and again failed to keep the British forces in Malta while charging them an exhorbitant rent.

When all that failed he rewrote history to make it look like he ‘kicked out’ the British from Malta.

Yes I remember,it was the same time when they sang ” La Giovanezza” or am I wrong?

Ciccio, the main point of our branding campaign was to show that you do not need Maltese citizenship to stand for election. You can be a tourist and land a place in government! Yeah! And at preferential tax rates! Plus sun and sand (no sex though)! Yeah!

Brand Malta! Malta di best! Mietna ta’ xejn! Mietna ghal barrani li dalwaqt ikun fil-gvern.