Political giant? Mintoff was a poison dwarf.

Published: August 24, 2012 at 1:00am

The two men who caused most harm to Malta since the Blitz in World War II.

This was my column in The Malta Independent today.

Mintoff, a political giant? I’d like to include an expletive here, but strong ones are inappropriate for publication and any mild one just won’t do.

If another current or former Nationalist politician thinks he has to say that Mintoff had good points or that the good he did outweighs the bad, I’m going to have to conclude that the whole ruddy lot of them need to have their heads examined, and not just Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

What exactly are they trying to do here – be Christian?

It’s perfectly possible to be Christian towards the foul dead without upsetting the living victims or insulting the memory of those who died before their oppressor did.

It’s not as though Mintoff’s death hasn’t been expected for some time now. The prime minister, the former prime minister and various other Nationalist politicians had ample time to craft perfectly elegant statements which stayed true to history while at the same time being a statesman’s or former statesman’s appropriate response to a death of this kind.

As it was, the statements and declarations were ridiculous and offensive, and they have upset a great many people whose lives were seriously disturbed by Mintoff.

Perhaps the most upsetting words were spoken by Eddie Fenech Adami, who came into being and into his own as leader of the Opposition precisely as a visceral response, in terms of the power of good, to what was the power of evil in the shape of Mintoff’s government.

It was Mintoff’s evil, the ghastliness of his puppet Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, and the awfulness of those years in which Malta was reduced to a cross between Albania and Libya, that made possible the emergence of Fenech Adami as the true ‘Salvatur’.

If the good that Mintoff did truly outweighed the bad, as Fenech Adami said the day before yesterday (or was he misquoted?) then Fenech Adami wouldn’t have been necessary. That much should be obvious.

To say that Mintoff had his good points is like saying that Hitler loved puppies or that Mussolini made the trains run on time, or that Gaddafi put Libya on the map. Oh, so that’s all right, then.

For their sake and ours, the Nationalist politicians who are on this train heading towards a concrete wall of sheer stupidity should stop making utter fools of themselves.

A bad man has died. There is nothing good to be said. You’re giving him a state funeral because he gave one to George Borg Olivier in 1980.

Leave it at that, and cut the cant.

Nationalist politicians are out of their minds to speak and act as though Mintoff didn’t wreck Malta and make us so ruddy desperate that Eddie Fenech Adami became a sort of Moses. We lived in hell, and we will never forget it.

The reason many people began voting Nationalist, and this includes my extended family, was precisely because of those years and Dom Mintoff. It was only later that it became a vote of conviction for the Nationalist Party rather than just a vote to keep those bastards out of government.

And it is still a vote to keep those bastards out of government, too.

Joseph Muscat has now taken advantage of the situation by having himself filmed and photographed laying a wreath at the foot of a monument to Lord Strickland, and telling the press that Strickland’s liberal and progressive views were taken on by Dom Mintoff.

What utter tosh.

Muscat should seek to work out how many supporters of the Strickland Party preferred to switch to their sworn and fatal enemy, the Nationalist Party, rather than vote for Mintoff. Again, that includes practically my entire extended family.

Yes, some Strickland supporters did vote for Mintoff in 1971, but they quickly changed their minds and didn’t do so again. Those of them who voted for Mintoff in 1971 must still be guilt-tripping about it because I have noticed they were among the first to clutch at Eddie Fenech Adami’s words as a sort of self-justification for what they had done back then.

It’s a way of telling themselves that they didn’t perform a quasi-criminal act in helping bring Mintoff to power because, you know, even Eddie said that he did more good than bad. And that was very gracious of him because after burning down The Times, Mintoff’s men moved to his home, sacked it, attacked his wife, and obliged his children to be rescued by neighbours.

What total bollocks.

So now we have leading Nationalist politicians helping the Labour Party to rewrite its shoddy, hideous history, after telling us for the last three years that Muscat is practically committing a criminal act by doing so.

You can’t praise and eulogise Mintoff in death and then go back to campaigning with horror stories about what life was like under the Labour governments of the 1970s and 1980s, and how terrible it is that ministers from Mintoff’s cabinet are still hanging around Joseph Muscat.

Make up your minds.

If you tell people that Mintoff wasn’t so bad after all, and that the good he did outweighed the bad, then the natural response among people who don’t remember or don’t care is: “So what’s all the fuss about, then? Imagine how great Muscat will be with Mintoff’s men around him.”

They are contradicting themselves and undermining their own campaign message, and worse than that, they cause offence to all of Mintoff’s victims who vote Nationalist largely because they hate Labour for what Labour did to them.

When bad men die, they don’t become good. They just become dead.

The thousands of unimaginably awful, vulgar, violent and crass comments and death threats posted by Mintoffians and their offspring on my website since Monday night are testament to the damage Mintoff did and how his terrible and violent legacy lives on.

Twenty-five years of peace, prosperity, free education for all, massive economic improvement and EU membership, and these freaks are still as monstrous as they always were.

The last thing they need is encouragement from the Nationalist Party which was supposed to protect society from their excesses. Reconciliation works only when the two sides are prepared to reconcile and when the two sides have the same values and code of decency.

It does not work when you are up against a totally different and savage culture, because what it becomes then is highly dangerous unilateral disarmament and not peace and civilisation.

Nationalist politicians are wrong to feel that they have to praise the monstrous pervert who made these savages.

If Maltese society is really that absurd in its codes of conduct, these politicians should look outside Malta and to the north of Europe for guidance on how to behave in these situations, even if they can’t use their own celebrated common sense.




125 Comments Comment

  1. johann says:

    nithassrek daphne, veru dizunur ghall poplu Malti. Issa ha tehoda kontra il Kap tieghek ukoll Dr Gonzi ghax ha jaghmillu funeral statali. Ahjar toqghod kwieta ghax l-id tal-Hallieq hija kbira u xi darba tmiss lilek u hemmhekk verament il poplu Laburista, Socjalista, Mintoffjan, Santjan, a group of savages, poison dwarf etc johorgu jifthu Champagne, biex jiccelebraw it-tmien ta’ din il kitba moqzieza.

    • Wormfood says:

      Mela nsejt li hawn nies li ma’ jgħixux f’żmien il-fewdu bħalek? Ġej bil-kap, għax ma’ temigrax lejn qiegħ il-Pakistan jew is-Sirja ?

    • Lilla says:

      Oh shut up!

      If what Daphne says bothers you so much, why come hear to read what she writes?

      Idiots.

      • johann says:

        cause i have the right to read it and the right to reply, simple btw if i am an idiot. what are you? a great idiot :)

      • Lilla says:

        That would be ‘a bigger idiot’ and that bigger idiot would be you. Try to learn how to write properly in English before you give yourself away.

        Simple? Yes, you are that too.

  2. Josette Jones says:

    If Mary Fenech Adami were still alive, I’m sure she would have had a few words for Eddie a couple of nights ago after what she went through at the hands of Mintoff’s thugs.

    • Heyy says:

      Kemm intkom nies mill-aghar!!!! Kieku kollha kemm intkk0m innehhilkom ic cittadinanza

      • Pizz says:

        Ehh ahjar nibzaw ghax ‘Heyy’ ha jnehhilna c-cittadinanza :S

      • Kenneth Cassar says:

        Very liberal and progressive of you.

      • IMHO says:

        Ghandi soluzzjoni iktar facli ghalik – igbor lil kull min jahsiba bhalek u morru ndifnu ma’ dak in-nittien u kulhadd ikun kuntent.

      • Pawlu says:

        Iva Heyy! Propju l-istess mentalita’ ta’ Mintoff; ma taqbilx? Elimina! Nehhi min-nofs!! hallina!!

        Prosit Daphne!

      • dudu says:

        Iss heyy!

      • Toyger says:

        La verita offende Heyy.

        You would like to have the island all to yourselves would you?

        Well how about this? Why don’t YOU leave and let US live in peace and serenity?

        Tnehhielna c-cittadinanza…..now there’s a new one!

        You say we are prejudiced, but it’s your mentality that keeps on driving this hatred. As long as you keep denying the hurt and damage Mintoff, KMB and Sant caused to Malta, you’ll be fuelling the negative feelings of those who have been hurt by them. And the cycle continues.

      • Heyy says:

        KMB and Sant were SHIT. Even I admit that

  3. John J. Mercieca says:

    Well said Daphne, this is the first sane comment in an otherwise insane Malta.

    When I read about the two days of mourning and state funeral for Mintoff I was like, WTF!?

    The most we should have given him is to drag his naked body through the streets behind a truck through all of Malta’s villages while celebrating and throwing stones at his mangled remains.

    • hubert grech says:

      ara jaghmluhix lilek flok ja fidil bhas-sahhara..tghallmu tkellmu bil-Malti jew tisthu tghidu li intom Maltin?

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Jien nisthi. Imma lanqas kieku. Dan il-blog miktub bl-Ingliz, mela nikbtu bl-Ingliz. Jew tisthu turu lill-barrani x’qed isir f’Malta?

      • Josette Jones says:

        Issa għidli il-għaliex ommok tagħatek isem tant Ingliż bħal ma hu Hubert, minflok xi isem Malti bħal, per eżempju, Ġaħan.

      • hubert grech says:

        dan il blog miktub bkollox ghax kieku l-ingliz miktub sew ok

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Hubert, int xi wiehed minn dawk il-fundamentalisti tal-“ilsien Malti” li qed tbiddel ir-road signs kollha? Qed tgerrxilna t-turisti.

      • Heyy says:

        Ahjar ghalihom it turisti, mela tmur il-Grecja mhux bil Grieg is -signs, jew l-Ungerija mhux bl-Ungeriz, ja qatta nies bla pregju ghall-pajjizkom, foxx l-Inglizati li ghandkom

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Pajjizi kien ikun sabih kieku mhux mimli nies bhalek, Hubert.

      • Heyy says:

        u minghajr in-nazzjonalisti muqrani bhalek

      • M. Bormann says:

        Fidil. Sahhara. Truly the vocabulary of a fucking numbskull.

        Don’t you know that English is also an official language in Malta?

        You dumb bloody Mintoff-worshipping shit.

        I’m having a damn overdose of this kind of stupidity since that short, ugly fucking piece of shit died. Half the Maltese population should be sterilised, to avoid the propagation of more chicken brained, ignorant peasants.

        Anyone who thinks Mintoff was is-salvatur, or missier Malta, should be sterilised. That would get rid of most of these idiots.

      • Heyy says:

        Jekk narak fit-triq nahlef li naqbad intikk b’bicca njama go rasek dak il-vojt faxxist ja liba ba pregju ghall-pajjizkhom, foxx l-Inglizati taghkom, u foxx Dingli Street taghkom.

      • Heyy says:

        Foxx ilsienek hazin li ghandek zobbman

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Heyy, jekk naghti l-vot lil-Labour tweghdni li ma taghtinix xebgha? Ghax qed nibza’. Ma rridx vendikazzjoni kontrija jew il-familja.

      • silvio says:

        This Hubert must be suffering from the FRANCO Syndrome.

        Instead of keeping away from the blog, which is mainly in English, he expects it to be changed to Maltese.

        We have nothing against Maltese, in fact we love it, but if you don’t want to write or read in English, just fuck off.

    • Heyy says:

      Kien haqqu sena mourning ja muqran

      • ray says:

        kemm hu sabih tistahba fuq blog. Ja hamallu laburist

      • Matt B says:

        What’s the IQ of the recent spate of people commenting on this blog? Sub zero?

      • Kenneth Cassar says:

        “Jekk narak fit-triq nahlef li naqbad intikk b’bicca njama go rasek dak il-vojt faxxist ja liba ba pregju ghall-pajjizkhom, foxx l-Inglizati taghkom, u foxx Dingli Street taghkom”.

        Spoken like a true fascist.

        [Daphne – Where did Dingli Street come from?]

      • IMHO says:

        Tista tikbih hajta kollha jekk trid u mhux sena biss. Illum li dak il-poxt nittien m’ghadux jirrenja ghandna l-liberta’ nghixu hajjitna kif irridu. Min hu kapaci jitkellem bl-ingliz isib id-dinja miftuha ghalih. Wierden li kburin li jitkellmu biss bil-Malti jaf jghixu tal-hajjithom kollha go drenagg ta’ injoranza kif qieghed taghmel int.

      • Adrian says:

        Naħseb aħjar titgħallem tikteb bil-Malti qabel tgħajjar lil min jaf jikteb u jitkellem kemm bil-Malti kif ukoll bl-Ingliż.

      • ciccio says:

        Hawn naqbel perfettament mieghek, Heyy.

        Ja muqran li kien, kien haqqu sena mourning. Kont inhallih “lying in state” fi Pjazza San Gorg (fejn il-Funtana Emmanuel Mallia) ghal-sena shiha.

      • Heyy says:

        Jekk narak kun zgur li nbul f wiccek demla faxxista

    • Mario says:

      And then tie the remains to the Luqa monument.

    • anna caruana says:

      VERA FAXXISTI , ARA TITQARBINX IL HADD LI GEJ UKOLL

    • Noel says:

      Shame on you all.are you roman catolics?

    • Noel says:

      La ddur il folja titlaq min Malta jkollok.caw caw madliena

    • simon says:

      Tal misthija…Anke il lingwa taghkom warrabtu….wara kollox il-partit taghkom qatt ma ried il-lingwa Maltija bhala il-lingwa tal-Maltin ahseb u ara kif tridu tajdu li intom Maltin… prosit sur J. Mercieca…..Kliem sabieh hafna li qed tajd…Tipiku Faxxista…Wara kollox il-Partit tieghek fl-imghoddi kien habib ta Mussolini. Taf xnaf najd habib….Mintoff kien Dak li nehha il-faqar mil- pajjiz u il gvern tieghek rega dahhal il-faqar fil-pajjiz… forsi int wiehed min dawk li temmen li il-kbir ghandu jahkem iz-zghir…tipika politika nazzjonalista…Forsi ghalekk ma tantx kien jinzlilkom Mintoff ghax qatalkom din iz-zejza…

  4. hubert grech says:

    nahlef fuq ommi li jekk narak inbul fuqek ja qahba kerha foxx kemm ghandek viva dak imnieher kbir li ghandek tallinix narak ghax zgur inbul fuqek

    [Daphne – Ma tantxse tazzarda taghmel hekk, ghax nahseb li nigi daqshekk darbtejn. Tghid m’intiex xi ggant Malti ta’ hames piedi, jew?]

    • hubert grech says:

      jekk izzid imniehrek vera tigi darbtejn jien bhalek ta mhux ha nibza nurik ismi xi darba nitaqaw

      [Daphne – OK. hubert, kif trid int. Imma ftakar dejjem li jien niltaqa’ ma’ hafna freaks u xi kultant insiba difficli niddistingwi bejn wiehed u iehor. Jekk tilbes name-tag forsi ikun ahjar.]

      • hubert grech says:

        ghandek kitba ta l-ostja kemm nixtieq li kont nghix hdejk hasra kif qatt ma gejt toghod is-south ghax il bidnija nibza nigi ghax hemm xi lifa velenuza u boghod mill isptar

      • Heyy says:

        l-ewwel freak hija int ja qahba!

    • ciccio says:

      Hubert, don’t try it. Pissing on someone else is a crime, and if you are caught by the police, they will confiscate your instrument of the crime and exhibit it in court – possibly in front of Consuelo Scerri Herrera. Assuming you have an instrument, of course…

  5. Grezz says:

    You couldn’t have said it better.

  6. ABZ minn daphne caruana galizia says:

    qisek zobbi daphne, minn ghand il maltin kollha.

    • AE says:

      Mghandekx drift titkellem ghal Maltin kollha.

      Daqs kemm mghandhux dritt siehbek muscat jghid Li mintoff kien missier il Maltin kollha.

      Jiena Maltija w ma naqbel xejn maghkom. Tkellmu ghal dawk l-injoranti w hodor bhalkom.

      Din l-opinjoni tieghi. Ghandi dritt ghaliha w miniex ha nazzarda nghid Li nitkellem ghal Maltin kollha ghax hawn nies bhalek.

      • simon says:

        Ahna hodor??? Tara Dan il-blogg mhux difficli tara min hu ahdar u faxxist…Min dejjem kontu u tibqaw hodor…twadbu il-gebla u tahbu idejkom…l-affarijiet li qedin tghidu dwar il-Perit Mintoff juru il hdura li dejjem kellkom…Wara kollox is-servizzi socjali kulhadd gawda minnom ghax li kien ghal gvern taghkom dawn l-anqas biss jezistu..Anke is sahha tridu taghamlu bil-hlas..qiskom tridu taghajdu li min jiflah ihallas jghix u min ma jiflahx imut….Tal misthija jekk tahseb li hajtek tiswa aktar min tieghi…

      • Salvatur 1971-1987 says:

        Mela meta tasal ghall-pensjoni, li kont minflokok ma nehodhiex ta’, jekk ma taccettax li Mintoff missier Malta.

        NIES TA’ ODJU KBIR FL-ISTONKU, jmisskom tisthu.

    • Matt B says:

      Tkellem ghalik, u mhux ghall-Maltin kollha.

    • Heyy says:

      illostja kif fqajtni bid dahk men!

      • Lilla says:

        Ghadu hadt ma qallek kemm tispikka fik l-intelligenza?
        Xempju ha nghidlek men!

      • Clifford says:

        Biex tara x’zibel se jkollna fit-tmexxija tal-pajjiz. Issa dan jibda jidhol fl-ufficcini tal-gvern bl-orizzont f’idejh u jippretendi li taqdih kif irid. Jekk tghidlu li ma tistax, jibda jghidlek il-famuzi kelmiet ‘Taf min jien?’ u jghidlek li sa jumur fejn ghaud jmur. U jumejn wara taqla transfer. Jekk tohrog citazzjoni lil xi hadd malajr tircievi telefonata minn xi ministeru jew deputat jew kandidat biex taghlaq ghajn wahda. dan u l-hmieg li se nibdew naraw minn dil-marmalja.

      • Bormliza says:

        Proset, ABZ minn Daphne Caruana Galizia… Fqajtni bid dahk man !!! Tajba kienet din :) Nista nghidlek li f ismi qed titkellem zgur !!!

      • Natalie says:

        L-unika kelma bl-Ingliz u miktuba hazin.

      • Heyy says:

        X’jinteressani mela din xi ezami tal-lingwa?

      • asshole-dcg says:

        Mela dan ezami tal-lingwa? Jikteb kif irid!

        [Daphne – Le, ja injorant jew injoranta. Tikteb kif suppost, mhux kif trid. Ara fejn gabek Mintoff, b’dik attitudini.]

    • Hip Hip says:

      Kemm int ebite.

    • Grace Camilleri says:

      Le m’ghandekx dritt titkellem ghall Maltin kollha, tkellem ghalik inniffsek.

  7. Oscar says:

    Daphne, you’ve just given me enough reasons to give up on this country. Mary Spiteri and her like sealed it.

    • Toyger says:

      What’s causing me to give up on this country is the fact that the likes of these Hubert Grech and Heyy are eligible to vote.

      It’s not just that they vote Labour, but the fact that they harbour so much hatred towards anyone who doesn’t share their same opinion. God help us when their likes are elected into government. We’ll truly go back 30 years in mentality. U viva l-freedom of expression imbaghad.

  8. Robert Attard says:

    If, as you say, Mintoff was such a criminal then why wasn’t he condemned to imprisonment for the rest of his life? Are you suggesting that our judicial system is inherently corrupt? Assuming that this is true then who is responsible?

    I assume you have ample proof concerning the criminal history of Dom Mintoff, so what kept you from going to the police?

    Are you also suggesting that Dr Edward Fenech Adami thinks that Dom Mintoff was the master mind behind the attack on his wife?

    [Daphne – It is absolutely pointless reasoning with Laburisti. If you were able to work things out, you would have worked out how best to vote a long, long time ago.]

    • Robert Attard says:

      The truth is that you can’t find a decent and reasonable answer to my questions. The only response you can come up with is to assume that I am too stupid to be reasoned with.
      Best regards
      Robert

      [Daphne – Isn’t it obvious that anyone who votes Labour can’t be reasoned with? That’s why they vote Labour in the first place. Mela n-nies bir-raguni jivvutaw ghal dawk, jew kontra l-ishubija fl-Unjoni Ewropea? Tirragunaw minn sormkom, kolla kemm intkom.]

      • Heyy says:

        Foxx Kemm IL-QAHBA GHANDEK DAPHNE,, MANK NARAK HA NIXHITLEK BORZA HARA BHAL MA GHAMLET YANA IL-HOUSE OF COMMONS!

      • Robert Attard says:

        Hi,
        Please don’t put me in the same basket as the other people. I voted in favour of the Eu and I have voted for both parties in the general elections. I don’t really have a political allegience although I admit that I more center left rather then center right.
        You assume too much about people but I guess it is not all your fault. This blog is just hate spewd from all sides and maybe I am too naive to expect reason at all
        Regards
        Robert.

      • IMHO says:

        Kull ma trid taghmel mela taqbez fuqa int, ja xkora hara.

      • practicing catholic says:

        I have never been so shocked in my life! Is this the way catholics are supposed to speak? Are we so insensitive to Christ’s message of forgiveness? Actually if i had to make a guess of who is going to burn in hell at this moment i wouldn’t be so sure it would be Mintoff! And why bring the name of Mary Fenech Adami who was such a sweet, loving, woman and assume that she wouldn’t have forgiven the people who hurt her. she was a practicing catholic not like many of us, unfortunately! why don’t we stop judging? after all we all do some good and some bad!

    • Marisa Farrugia says:

      @ Robert Attard :- The judiciary did put some one behind the bars. True it was not Mintoff but the Police Commissioner of that time was found guilty for the atrocities. The latter was a faithful follower of Mintoff. It was thanks to Guido de Marco and Eddie Fenech Adami that finally dignity was restored

      @ all those that believe in the Salvatur ta’ Malta I say: min mititlu ommu baqa orfni- u nispjega ruhi. Ghax ghad hawn min ittihdulu affarijiet bhal art, assi u propjeta grazzi ghal amministrazzjoni Mintoff u sal gurnata mqaddsa tal lum 2012 ghadu b’xejn.

  9. hubert grech says:

    int tobod l-ahmar ghax int barrija bil qrun hahaha

    [Daphne – Mela ibdew gibuli barri wara l-bieb, kif niftakar sew li kontu taghmlu lil George Borg Olivier meta kont tifla.]

  10. hubert grech says:

    il granet ghaddu qieghdin biex ikollok titlaq minn pajjizi ghax malta mhux pajjizek int postok soho forsi taghmel lira ma xi ghax vera kif jitla il labour tmut bil -guh forsi gonzi ittik xoghol gdid toqot ixxom il voti mitlufin ok

  11. hubert grech says:

    int u mintoff haga wahda hemm differnti int la tmut ha ma kun jaf li miet imma mintoff jaddu mitt sena u kun ghadu jissema

    [Daphne – X’kien ma tantx tiffansjani jekk jien u Mintoff haga wahda?]

  12. hubert grech says:

    tixtieq mela jien mignun niffansjak kieku ghami u madiex idejn biex immessek forsi minn qallek li int u mintoff haga wahda mela issa anki mohhok jieghed jitlaq diga lahqek alla

    • Charles Darwin says:

      Tghallem ikteb u mhux toqghod turi l-injoranza grassa li ghadek tghix fiha.

      Jekk “Missier Malta” ghamel tant gid kif ghadek tant lura hdejn il-kumplament tal-Maltin?

  13. hubert grech says:

    ha hallik kwieta ta ghax raqda ahjar imma mhux ha ninsik forsi xi darba naghmul hbieb u tahlasli drink issa suppost kuntenta ghax hlist mill perit

    • Clifford says:

      Thank you Hubert for showing us the real colours of the Labour Party. Keep it up. Hopefully the turncoats read your posts and start reasoning again.

    • etil says:

      Ikkalma ftit sur Hubert Grech u ghid lil shabek jitkellmu ta’ nies – jekk huma kapaci u mhux il hin kollu jidhu.

  14. mc says:

    Thank you Daphne for expressing my thoughts in this article. Though it’s too late now, Eddie’s words are out. I was fuming when I read what he said.

  15. Fifers says:

    Daphne the whore… no other words to describe you Daphne…. a true whore… kemm ticcargja? jew taghti kollox free ghax int cheap hamalla baxxa u moqzieza?

  16. Grace says:

    Many people voted PN to keep MLP out of office, like many voted MLP to keep PN out of office. Now many PN supporters will be voting PL to keep GonziPN out of office. I don’t blame you for writing what you do, it is the writing of a sick mind, I pity you.
    I suggest you take a good look at your past and you will realise who really spoilt your life. The MLP have been out of government for practically 25 years, You should have picked up the pieces and moved on long ago.
    As for your spoilt youth, I also was a young woman in the 70s and 80s, I was never physically involved in politics, although I supported labour. I still look on those years as beautiful because politics where never my priority. I was a young mother when the PN came into power still I look on those years as beautiful, because it is not politics that influence my life, but my family and friends.
    When Mintoff came into government in the 70s, a clerk’ s wages were about LM6, my friend used to have to save for weeks to buy a pair of shoes. When I started working in 1974 wages had already doubled, and by 1985 my wages were over Lm 35. When I became pregnant with my first child I had the luxury of choosing if I wanted to continue working or stop to raise my family, even though we were paying a for a house loan. I could also decide if I wanted to give birth in St.Luke’s or in a private clinic. I cannot understand why your life was so disrupted by Mintoff, unless you were listening to a lot of negative talk, like what you write today, which made your outlook rather negative. Get a life and try to enjoy what’s left of your life.

    [Daphne – You live in a world of your own, Grace. Do us all a favour and stay there. Some women take pills to achieve your state of numbness. You’re simply oblivious to what’s happening around you because, as you yourself said, you cared and care only about your own narrow interests: id-dar u l-familja. Miskina. Ibqa sejra kif int. Nispera almenu li t-tfal tieghek fethu mohhom. Ma tant nahseb li ftahtulhom int.]

  17. Calipha says:

    So this is what we have come to…ok.
    I hate to break it to you, but the Malta we know today would not exist if it weren’t for Mintoff.
    He was a political titan. He was Malta’s pioneer.
    And what the hell did he ever do to you, for you to be so hateful?

    • Wormfood says:

      ‘but the Malta we know today would not exist if it weren’t for Mintoff.’

      Indeed, it would have been so much better off without Missier Malta Ħamalla

  18. ronpaul says:

    you’re missing the whole point Daphne…EFA, Gonzi and most of the PN administration will never criticize Mintoff for his Socialist policies…simply because they are Socialist themselves!

    actually, they thank him for what he built.

    whilst EFA expanded the Welfare State, Gonzi proudly shouts that the 4billion euro national debt is an investment due to the welfare state, free health care, free education…thanks to Socialism insomma!

    and honestly…have you ever heard someone in the PN today voicing a concern over this 1 billion monster called the welfare state?

    look at those idiots crying over Mintoff…when you ask them why you cal him is-salvatur? heq…taghna ic-children’s allowance, il-bonus, il-pensjoni. S’hemm jahseb il-gahan…f’cheque!

    if we had any doubts that Malta is the most Socialist country in the world…Mintoff’s death washed those doubts away.

    Those on the supporting side are limiting their support to the welfare state, without mentioning other good that he did, Secularism for instance. Maybe he didn’t turn Malta into a total Secular country, but at least he smashed the influece of the Church that was way out of control and abusive.

    Whilst those on the opposing side? they are limiting their critic to the rude way of doing things, rather than mentioning a whole list of wrong doing; environmental destruction, cultural decay , a flawed foreign policy, individual liberties, economic freedom, etc etc.

    • Cliveb says:

      Good point actually….

    • Random Person says:

      What a rubbish comment. And those so called ‘idiots’ crying over mintoff-incuding me- are those that thanks to Mintoff were uplifted from hunger and could live a decet life with a sizeable house as well as food or drink.

      [Daphne – Oh don’t be so ridiculous, for God’s sake. Compare the life of the working-classes before 1987 and afterwards, and you’ll see who your real saviour was if you insist on speaking in those terms. Do you honestly believe that the son of a dockyard worker could, in the 1980s, go to university and find himself a highly paid job with an international company that didn’t involve a machine and a boiler suit, buy himself a flat instead of waiting for socialist hand-outs and acquire all the trappings of middle-class life while travelling whenever he wanted to? Before 1987, sons of dockyard workers became dockyard workers and went begging to politicians for ‘plots’ which they then built with their own hands and their extended family’s. And they stayed in the same rut for the rest of their lives and never left the island. The trouble with you Mintoffjani is that you all suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. You fell in love with your jailer and abuser and when the cage was thrown wide open, you volunteered to stay in it, because that was what you preferred.]

  19. John J. Mercieca says:

    The more I see what these socialists are writing here the more I think that abortion should be introduced just for socialist women, also sterilization based on IQ tests. It would really help us avoid future mistakes like Heyy and Hubert.

    • Priscilla says:

      Oh pleeeease spare us!

    • Priscilla says:

      Kull min hu mal pn intelligenti u jaf jikteb, edukat u tal-iskola! KONVINTA! Lol u hallina

    • Albert says:

      This is the most absurd comment I have heard for a long time.Sterilize socialist women……it’s people like you that need a check up and quickly.Something is wrong with you my friend!!These mistakes you’re calling….would not be here annoying you if Daphne writes suitably on her blog.I can’t understand how you lot allow hatred to keep dividing us maltese.And i thought politics had changed….shame!!

      [Daphne – “If Daphne writes suitably on her blog”. Define suitable. Suitable for you? What, do you mean like this? ejt li mintoff kin mexej kbir u tana kolox aaaa mara hazina fox il liba. There, happy now?]

    • Dear asshole mercieca… INT MIN IZ-ZOBB INT BIEX TIKKUNDANNA LI S-SOCJALISTI JIGU STERILIZZATI!!!!! ARA NARAK FIT-TRIQ GHAX NAQBEZ FUQEK U NTIK DAQQA TA XKUPA, NIXHITLEK GEBLA, NBUL U NAHRA FUQEK, NHALLIK GIMGHA MAGHTAB U IMBAGHAD NAQBAD LILEK U LIL DIN IL-MUQRANA GALIZJA U NIXHITKOM GO LOKI ZGHIR HALLI TKUNU TISTGHU TITNEJKU U TAGHMLU L-AKTAR TFAL KOROH TAD-DINJA!!! THANK YOU U FOXX KEMM GHANDEK

      Foxx John J. Camilleri

  20. John J. Mercieca says:

    I feel ashamed belonging to a party that praises and mourns the dead criminal Mintoff just because he died.

    Ceaucescu was executed by firing squad, Saddam Hussein dangled from the end of a rope, Gaddafi got sodomized, beaten and shot … and Mintoff gets a state funeral? Seriously?

    • Albert says:

      I feel ashamed you are maltese after reading your trash John J.Mercieca.You must be insane to put Mintoff in the same bracket as Hussein,Caucescu and Gaddafi.Be ashamed if you know the meaning.These people were killers.Tmurx tigri ssarraf ic-cekk fl-ahhar tal-gimgha John,jew nahseb qatt m’uzajtu l-isptar taht Mintoff.

      • John J. Mercieca says:

        Under any government I never went to a hospital, I never went to a polyclinic, I never used a free doctor, I went to a private school not a government one and I also have my own business.

        I pay taxes so you leeches can get everything for free instead of paying with your own money.

        Therefore I have the right to put Mintoff in the same ranks as those dictators.

  21. Guzeppi says:

    TAFU TISTHU minnkom infukom ? Intkom kolla A sa Z li tiktbu f`dal pastatzata ta blog hlief kliem u ideali ta zmien Hitler ma tohorgux,qas tafu x`hinu rispett lejkom infuskom l`ewwl nett ahseb w ara lejn il MALTIN l` ohra. Heyy, Hubert ,Daphne Cikku w Peppu ghamilom l`istess Hallieq u hawn hadd ma gie bi zball Sur Mercieca, la Blu u lanqas Homor..

    • Heyy says:

      Finally, a person who is not full of hatred and condemns this sickening blog and all her prejudiced followers.

  22. Leli C says:

    Inthom tas-South tahilfu li 4 snin illu m’ghajartux lil Mintoff ‘TRADITUR’ go Bormla.

  23. Mario Mifsud says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs0mHaYPYcM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    It is obvious that you hate the working class Daphne and you also hate all that the Labour Party stands for but alas good or bad Dear Dom will be remembered for generations to come,you will just be hated.If you want to be popular and draw attention do some good deed,not spit venom through your blog.Exercise your right to criticize,that’s a fundamental right in a free Malta thanks to Dear Dom and people like him,but nor you or anybody else has the right to talk about people in general the way you do.And this is for you own health.You say you are not afraid of anyone or anything but believe me everyone has his or her demons to deal with,and you have created too many to deal with at once.Have a nice day Dear Daph………………

    [Daphne – No, I don’t hate the working-class. Mintoff did. He despised the ignorant, but fed off ignorance.]

  24. Karmenu says:

    Hubert Grech , sorry to say that your whole attitude will not do the PL any favours.

    Your insults and lack of manners as well as your rude way of expressing yourself leave a lot to be desired. It all makes one think twice about voting Labour as if people with your attitude are close to Labours heart, well it’s enough said.

  25. Joseph Grech says:

    From what I hear, I hated Mintoff’s era more than liked it. I know and understand that it has had its ups and downs, but I still don’t like it.

    HOWEVER, I will never be anywhere near stating such comments about a leader who I do not like managing my country. If not to respect him, at least to respect his innocent relatives and ex (and maybe present) followers. I will just say that I did not like most of his ideas – FULLSTOP.

    This is because it is good for everyone, especially Daphne, to remember that as much as you have your own freedom of expressions, and the freedom of choosing what is right and what is wrong, respect that right for people around you. If they think Mintoff was a god, leave them at it, if you think he was shit, good for you. But leave it at that.

    Only ignorant people abuse a right, in this case the right being ‘Freedom of expression’.

    And to all the Mintoff followers and defenders, stop visiting these blogs. It is too obvious that nothing posted by Daphne will ever amuse you.

    And Daphne, I think we can both agree that your current blog posts are doing more provocations than actually providing real news, which is expected from a journalist.

    Your most recent posts I’ve read are the latest updates of what happened 30 years ago :) . Can we be updated on what is happening today and possibly, tomorrow?

    Summary if Daphne doesn’t feel like reading my big wall of text (:)): You have the right for the freedom of expression, however that is a tool to be used responsibly, keeping in mind that EVERYONE has that right, not just you.

    [Daphne – Blogs are not for news. They are for opinions. Try Facebook. Those brilliant wall-posts are so much easier to read and understand.]

    • Joseph Grech says:

      That’s the thing though, Daphne. “May you rot in hell” is not an opinion, it is just rage. I can’t find any blog in which you provide a solution/OPINION as to what can be done to resolve something that may have happened before or even thing that are going on right now.

      [Daphne – Rage? What, after all this time? No, rage is transient. That’s sheer contempt, which is permanent.]

      And by a solution or opinion, I mean realistic and practical ones.

      For example, you never pointed out how Mintoff was a scrooge when it comes to spending money, having yelled in public at whats-his-name for buying 2x Mercedes instead of Vauxhalls, with money taken from the people.

      On the contrary, our Government today decides it’s time for a €500 raise to every member, they get a year of earnings out of it before actually listening to the cry of the Maltese saying that it wasn’t fair during this time of economic challenges, then that money is still left for keepers :).

      [Daphne – With people like you, there is no hope. You lack the skills to interpret situations for what they really are.]

      See? I’m an Anti-mintoffian, but still I managed to say another part of the truth which favors Mintoff. I wish I had enough knowledge of the past to actually explain all of the truth, because I’m tired of people only telling half of it.

      [Daphne – I don’t think you’re anti-Mintoffian. You’re just not particularly intelligent, as your reasoning reveals.]

      Some people make Mintoff look like an angel sent to us by God, others make him look like a curse upon the country. Sometimes I’m too confused to realize that they are talking about the same person.

      The truth is that all of those people are cowards, both the ones telling the good parts, and the bad parts of the truth. Because for some reason they are too scared to tell the whole thing. Whether by now we should be evolved enough to stand up with our chests wide upon saying “Listen, I’m sorry I did that (bad thing), but do remember that I also did that (good thing)”. As a young citizen I do not look for a perfect, no-wrong-doing government, I just want an honest one.

      But at the end of the day, I find really weird that a woman has this kind of hatred towards Mintoff, given all the rights established by Mintoff for women. I’m not saying you should be a follower, but at least not be this hateful in your comments.

      [Daphne – Rights are inalienable, and not in anyone’s gift. What rights? Go on, list them. I’m waiting. I lived under Mintoff, and you didn’t. Don’t insult me by claiming that you know more than I do or are somehow better placed to speak.]

      • Joseph Grech says:

        That “Whether by now” should be a “Well, by now”.

        Daphne, have your web designer have an Edit option! :))

      • Joseph Grech says:

        By the tone of your replies to my posts I am assuming that I have somehow offended you, and for that I wish to apologize and make it clear that that was not my intent. However, please respect the fact that I have never stated that I am more intelligent than anyone else.

        [Daphne – Look, Joseph, at least have the intelligence to understand one thing if nothing else. I have been doing this job for a long, long time, since I was in my early 20s. By now, I am more than able to read through the actual words to the real meaning and motivation of what people write and say. There are give-away turns of phrase, tone and other clues. I’m not bothered with explaining this. Just know that I find it very easy to see through comments that pretend to mean something else. That’s all. I’m not going to bother with the rest. This is the internet age and you are 100% free to write your own blog.]

        You asked me to not insult you by claiming that I know more than you do, when I have made no such claim.

        In your first reply on my first post you said that a blog was for opinions and not for news. I gave you my opinion, and still you are calling me ignorant and “not particularly intelligent” for doing so. Therefore, it is very clear who the ignorant one is here.

        It now looks to me like the intention of this blog is to serve as a meeting spot for fanatics who have no sense of reasoning, people who only want others that think like them to tell them how right they are while no-one states otherwise. As such, I choose to have this post being my last on this website :)

        Although, I must admit that “lack the skills to interpret situations for what they really are” caught my attention. Since it appears that you have information far greater than the Prime Minister’s, the €500 raise situation has never been explained further up to this date. So, you might have your readers curious about what you have to say that the Prime Minister didn’t, about the paragraph you replied to with that claim, unless you also lack that very same ability to see situations for what they really are.

  26. Ganna says:

    Ara Vera tal labour jaqaw fl-level baxx. Daphne li ktibt huwa verita, jien qatt ma ninsa l-gas tad-dmugh li qlajt fiz-Zejtun. Meta tfakkarlhom dawn affarijiet li graw fiz-zmien Mintoff jaqbdu joffenduk. Il-verita twegga.

    .

  27. ciccio says:

    The last part of this article is brilliant. It synthesizes a truth that not many are able to describe about Malta.

    Mintoff may have put money in the pockets of his supporters, but he took away their brains in return.

  28. Gianni says:

    I feel ashamed to read such articles, from both sides. I wonder what one gains by being so offensive. All people of a certain age, remembers those years, but i find it not good to open those wounds. What’s past is past , and it is useless to create hatred. Fenech Adami is a statesman, and he knows how to choose his words. He brings people together not divide.

    [Daphne – His most recent words were very successfully divisive, and deeply offensive. You don’t have to use bad language to cause offence.]

  29. grezzju says:

    Jien familti zwieten nazzjonalisti. Missieri bla snien wara li l-laburisti pruvaw jaharqulom id-dar ghax kienu ‘gol fortizza laburista’. DAK LI KIEN MINTOFF!

  30. Joseph Mizzi says:

    L-ewwel darba li dhalt fuq il-blog ta’ Daphne. Qrajt l-artiklu u xi whud mill-kummenti. Inhossni disgustat u dispjacut ghat-turija ta’ mibgheda, estremizmu u vulgarita’ miz-zewg nahat. Li Dr Eddie Fenech Adami jghaddi gudizzju posittiv fuq Dom Mintoff, mikejja l-izbalji u l-metodi tieghu, ghalija turi kemm hu bniedem kbir Fenech Adami. Min hu kbir jaghraf ukoll il-kobor f’haddiehor, forsi ghax jaf li min hu kbir jaghmel zbalji kbar ukoll.

  31. Albert says:

    The hypocrisy when you see that the man has a rosary in his hands.

  32. Mario Farrugia says:

    as the saying goes – one’s hero is the other one’s terrorist.

    I’m off to sleep and I am honestly happy for your orgasmic hate marathon that you have waited for so long.

    ….. some say you are the Devil, others say you are a Divine Angel with a striking pen. I think you are a pathetic, unsatisfied woman in a never-ending menopause

    When you die we will witness another long corteo – there you will be judged.

    What I am 100% sure is that you will not be given a State Funeral but it would be heavly guarded, there will be lots of people and they will be chanting ….. glory, gloy alleluljha

    [Daphne – Exactly why would a newspaper columnist be given a state funeral. Corteo? God, how naff.]

  33. Claude Sciberras says:

    Agreed fully. Would like to know exactly how Eddie came up with the more good than bad and what lies in the balance?

  34. Amused.... says:

    Thank you so much for being sooooo entertaining ;)))

  35. ulwap says:

    Ma dawn qalu li imbidlu dawn n-nies? lanqas qatt.

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