Adrian Vassallo
“The Labour Party has transformed itself into a movement, the sole aim of which is to bring down the Nationalist government, with nothing beyond that (u imbaghad naraw).”
– Adrian Vassallo on Bondi+ tonight
He’s right about this. The movement which Joseph Muscat keeps talking about is really just a coalition of the Nationalist Party’s enemies. They have nothing in common with each other and no shared political views or attitudes other than that desire.
They don’t even share the motivation for bringing down the Nationalists. Some are motivated by the desire to replace them, others are motivated by the desire for bitter revenge, while others want to push their narrow interests.
Adrian Vassallo also said that Joe Mizzi, the Labour whip, rang him from Uganda “where he was on parliamentary business”.
Parliamentary business in Uganda? The whip? This sounds fascinating. We must know more.
Meanwhile, do read the report on timesofmalta.com. I don’t feel like repeating everything. It’s late and I’m at that ‘Mulej, hudni’ point in my labours.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120510/local/vassallo-in-scating-criticism-of-ditatorial-joseph-muscat.419242
Should his opinion be taken seriously? I mean…he’s against divorce.
[Daphne – Most people are against divorce, spa. Whether they’re against divorce legislation is a different matter. And yes, even there you can take a person’s opinion seriously. Joseph Muscat is in favour of divorce legislation, but can you take his opinion seriously?]
Obviously he is to be taken seriously. Unlike most of his team-mates, at least, he showed that he cherishes principles, has a conscience and above all; ends do not justify the means.
The Uganda reference is the thing that disconcerted me most.
Isn’t parliamentary business defined as some work to do with parliament, as in that group of 65 people elected by (and hence accountable to) the people? Therefore the business is public.
What non-public hush-hush parliamentary business does Malta have with Uganda? What non-public parliamentary business does Malta have to send a member of the opposition?
Sorry, I know that my impression of Uganda is tarnished by the Idi Amin reign and I am not abreast with the politics therein, yet ….
http://www.maltastar.com/…/20120403-mizzi-at-ipu-maltese-parliament-in-...
Completely off topic, but I couldn’t believe my eyes seeing the comment in the screenshot on timesofmalta.com yesterday morning. Really reached a new low. The comment was duly removed a short while later, but how did it go through moderation?
http://englishagents.com/p/IncredibleComment.png
[Daphne – Go back to the banana forest, says the oafish Maltese peasant. Banana forest…]
I’m glad someone took a screenshot of that one. I left a comment soon after saying that both the author of that comment and The Times should be prosecuted for publishing it, but my comment was never published.
This git seems to spend most of his time posting comments on the sports page.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120429/valletta.417611
‘foreign countries…’
This Labour movement reminds me of the Prodi government elected as “anti-Berlusconi”.
In the same movement they had the staunchest of Catholics, and the anti-Pope radicals.
They had the staunches free marketeers and the extreme left – actually the No Global movement.
No wonder they did not spend more than 20 months in government.
On a different note, Daphne, what happened with The Times? On PBS yesterday I saw the inauguration of the Aviation Park. Now, politics aside, I think this is BIG news…so how come it doesnt even get a little box in The Times’ most hidden pages?
[Daphne – I think I saw the story in the on-line edition.]
Re Adrian Vassallo, Michael Refalo has a very good article in The Times today. It’s on the back page.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120511/local/brain-hansford-hits-out-at-one-tv-chairman.419245
“Hansford migrates to PBS” and Joe Mifsud tells all on TVAM.
[Daphne – I see The Times has him down as Brain Hansford in the article file name. He’s anything but. His show was absolutely terrible, and I’m not surprised Super One put an end to it. PBS is mad to take him on. What poor quality, honestly – a current affairs talk show host who doesn’t know the first thing about current affairs. You can’t legitimise such dross by putting it on state television.]
It’s like musical chairs and the music has just stopped..
I agree that the quality of Hansford’s discussion programmes was very poor. His main weakness was the lack of research and preparation. In one programme, he actually referred to the ‘orkestra filantropika’.
He took things at face value without trying to delve under the surface.
I may be naïve but, notwithstanding his weaknesses, he seems to be well-intentioned, irrespective of political affiliations.
Let’s hope he works hard to improve on the quality of his programmes at PBS.
What about Marisa?
Boring Hansford would be more appropriate.
I’m sure that the unbiased board that picked Brian knew very well what they were doing.
Even you Daphne dear can see through this PN farce.
This is Joseph Muscat’s sound logic as a new, young progressive leader.
The Labour Party wanted to reply to Adrian Vassallo’s resignation letter. Muscat and Vassallo were both in Malta while Joe Mizzi was in Uganda. Therefore, Muscat phones Mizzi in Uganda who in turn phones Vassallo in Malta.
Here goes:
Stqarrija
3 ta’ April 2012
Maħruġa mill-Uffiċċju tal-Kommunikazzjoni tal-Partit Laburista
Is-sitwazzjoni Parlamentari f’Malta tisemma fil-konferenza tal-IPU
Is-sitwazzjoni prezenti fil-Parlament Malti u fit-tmexxija tal-pajjiz, kienet it-tema trattata f’diskors li l-Whip tal-Grupp Parlamentari Laburista Joe Mizzi ghamel waqt il-konferenza tal-International Parliamentary Union li qed tiltaqa’ fl-Uganda.
Huwa semma’ kif il-Parlament qed ikun trattat mill-Gvern prezenti wara li fil-bidu tas-sena rnexxielu jsalva minn vot ta’ sfiducja, mhux bl-appogg tal-maggoranza parlamentari izda bil-casting vote tal-Ispeaker. Minn dak inhar il-quddiem il-gvern wera f’aktar minn okkazzjoni wahda li qed jibza jiffaccja voti fil-parlament tant li ma ngiebu l-ebda ligijiet ghal approvazzjoni bil-voti quddiem il-parlament u billi beda jevita milli jlaqqa’ l-parlament meta membri tieghu jkunu barra l-pajjiz.
Joe Mizzi semma’ kif fost l-ohrajn, il-ligi li timplimenta l-mizuri mhabbra fil-budget ghal 2012 ghadha mhux approvata u dan meta l-ewwel kwart tas-sena diga ghadda, u meta l-istess budget li l-process fuqu ghadu mhux mitmum, diga kellu jitnaqqas b’€40 miljun fuq ordni tal-Unjoni Ewropeja. Tnaqqis li laqat l-aktar hazin lil dawk l-aktar vulnerabbli fis-socjeta’ taghna.
Semma’ wkoll kif mozzjoni dwar l-istat tal-oqsma tal-intern u l-gustizzja qed tithalla fuq l-ixkaffa mill-gvern ghaliex jinsab imbezza’ li ser jitlef il-vot fuq l-istess mozzjoni.
Joe Mizzi spjega kif Malta ghandna sitwazzjoni fejn apparti l-Ministri u s-Segretarji Parlamentari, l-kumplament tal-membri fil-parlament huma fuq bazi part-time, u li l-parlament taghna jiltaqa’ biss tlett darbiet f’gimgha. Semma s-sitwazzjoni fejn il-parlamentari jridu jahdmu b’nuqqas kbir ta rizorsi u dan meta x-xoghol taghhom zdied bil-bosta meta apparti ligijiet lokali, bdew ukoll jkunu nvoluti fuq ligjiet ewropej kif inhu d-dmir ta’ kull parlament tal-pajjizi membri fl-Unjoni Ewropeja.
Il-problemi fis-sistema parlamentari taghna u l-istat li l-gvern gab il-parlament fih llum il-gurnata, mhux ser ikunu solvuti billi jintefqu €80 miljun biex ikollna parlament gdid. Meta l-poplu qed jara din in-nefqa filwaqt li qed ihabbat wiccu ma tnaqqis fil-budgets, ghal edukazzjoni, s-sahha u l-qasam socjali kollu, bilfors il-poplu jibda jahseb li l-parlamentari huma maqtugha mis-sentiment popolari.
Joe Mizzi sostna li pajjizna qed jiffaccja sitwazzjoni ta nstabbilita’ finanzjarja, l-ekonomija hija stagnata, u l-istess jinsab il-parlament fejn is-suppost l-ghola istituzzjoni tal-pajjiz, u l-ikbar espressjoni tad-demokrazija, mhux qed jahdmu kif suppost jahdmu f’pajjiz demokratiku.
http://www.ipu.org/conf-e/126agnd.htm
This is why (probably) Joe Mizzi was in Uganda.
The Labour media never bleat about the “wastefulness” of these kind of trips, do they.
Mulej, tehodnix qabel tispicca di’l-farsa.
I only saw bits of Bondi+ and if I recall correctly Adran Vassallo described Muscat’s style as “Communist”.
Maybe I misunderstood but is it just my impression that this term is coming up a bit too frequently when referring to Muscat and the Labour Party?
Where can I watch Bondi+? I cannot find it anymore on di-ve.
Dr. Adrian Vassallo baght messagg car li kull min imur kontra Joseph Muscat irid jispicca mill-PL.
Qal ukoll li Joseph Muscat qed imexxi bid-dittatura. U Dan meta ghadu fl-opposizzjoni ahseb u ara jekk ikun fil-gvern kif se jmexxi l-pajjiz.
Hu kompla jghid li dejjem qabel mal-programm elettorali tal-PL u xorta gralu hekk.
B’din jiena fhimt li ried jghid li hemm differenza kbira bejn il-PL u l-PN, ghax il-PN jekk persuna jkollha opinjoni differenti minn dik tal-kap jew tal-partit hadd ma’ jipprova iqaccatlek rasek mill-partit.
U din hija differenxa kbira bejn iz-zewg partiti.