Who’s running the Labour campaign? It’s pathetic.

Published: September 26, 2012 at 10:48am

So this morning I was woken by a friend who rang to tell me that I’m on the new Labour billboard.

I yawned – a real yawn, because I’d just woken up.

Same old, same old.

Every bloody general election, they wheel me out to scare the horses (it’s been going on for 20 ruddy years). You know, so that the taparsi tal-pepe electors they’re trying to recruit to swing themselves into power, so that people like Karmenu Vella can carry on filling their pockets, will rush out and make Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici/Alfred Sant/Joseph Muscat (fill in as necessary from 1992 onwards) prime minister because they’re spitefully resentful towards me for all manner of reasons that have very little, really, to do with political beliefs.

Sort of convent-school playground sentiments, if you know what I mean. ‘Vote Labour to spite Daphne’. Talk about arrested emotional development.

I could, I suppose, mock up the same sort of billboard and stick myself in the middle of a load of a Labour politicians – because that’s just it really.

I’m not a politician. I don’t get elected.

I’m not going anywhere, even when Joseph Muscat becomes prime minister and that sorry sack of an ex police inspector, Anglu Farrugia, becomes his deputy prime minister with Mintoff’s minister from the Golden Years, Karmenu Vella, calling the shots, and Mintoff’s money-grabbing, Caqnu-land-dealing daughter as Minister for the Femili.

Vote Labour, and you’ll still get Daphne. And of course, with Labour in power I’m going to have an even more fantastic time tearing them to shreds, because when they’re in power, there’s going to be so much more stuff to write about.

Imagine that cabinet line-up. It will be a feast of idiocy, ineptitude and corruption every day of the year for five long years.

Whoever is in government, I’m still going to be writing. Labour and its supporters just don’t get this. They think, because they come from an era where it was perfectly all right to burn down newspaper buildings, that I am here writing by grace, favour and protection of Il-Gvern.

Joseph Muscat can come along with a pair of shears and personally slice through my telephone cable and disrupt my power supply, and it’s not going to make a blind bit of difference.

The idiots. Honestly. The useless tools.

And of course, to ratchet up the idiocy quotient, they take one of the most publicly available photographs of me off the photographer George Scintilla’s website, without his permission, and tack on an amateur Photoshop double chin like one of those fake beards we used to buy at the Magic Shop as children – ma jmurx xi hadd jghid ‘kemm ghandha ghonqa twil u sabih Defni, se nivvota PN ghax ghandi a neck fetish u dawk tal-Labour msieken kollha bla ghonq bhal Joseph u Kert Farrugia.

Imagine even being jealous of a neck, for crying out loud.

I have a neck and they don’t, and we can’t have that can we, because it goes against socialist principles and unfortunately necks don’t fall within the Karl Marx guidelines for redistribution of wealth.

We must execute all people with necks or have Cyrus Engerer’s new f**k-buddy, the Labour Party’s communications coordinator (not Kurt Farrugia, the other mousey one) chop it off digitally because it can’t be guillotined off as their mind-mates would have done 200 years ago.

So childish it’s hard to believe that anybody with half a brain is prepared to entrust the running of this precariously-situated country in the hands of a bunch of halfwits like those who have had four years to come up with a campaign billboard and could only think ‘Oh yes, let’s use Daphne like we did in 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, and 2008. Let’s do it again too in 2012. What a smashing idea. High fives all round.’ Then it’s off for a quick fumble in the stationery cupboard with Cyrus.

Can you imagine how cross they’ll be if I’m run over by a bus today? They’ll have to think of something new.

Let’s use amateur Photoshop to stick Kurt Farrugia’s double chin on Daphne, so that people will say ‘Il-lustja man, dik x’fet ket fiha! Mela ha nivvota ghal Joseph ta!’

The photo they used – personally, I think they made a mistake tampering with it, because this looks far more menacing: “You looking at me?” Click. BANG! And the poison dwarves of Labour lie dead before they’ve even seen the gun.




129 Comments Comment

  1. Interested Bystander says:

    It looks like they tilted it a few degrees to the left because in the original you are leaning. The double chin effect is maybe unintentional, caused by rotating the head in the original ‘neck and shoulders’ background.

    [Daphne – I work in the field, Interested Bystander.]

  2. Interested Bystander says:

    If they had left your head in the original tilted position, it would have been resting on Austin’s shoulder.

    Far more menacing.

    [Daphne – I know. Imagine that. Bonnie and Clyde tal-Belt.]

  3. Jozef says:

    Do they realise they’ve portrayed one of the most vocal critics of the PM’s position regarding divorce as one of his friends?

    Jew mohhhom zurzieqa jew ma jwassalx.

  4. carl says:

    you are really beautiful in this photo daph, let them talk what they want, keep doing what you do we are behind you

  5. mattie says:

    Xi dwejjaq ta’ nies. Ahjar ikunu naqa ‘genius’, innovvattivi u differenti u jghidulna x’ser jaghmlu fuq dawk il-billboards, min jaf kemm tqum flus poster daqs dik fuq stand bhal dak.

  6. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Fuck me. Talk about negative campaigning.

    Futur li jghaqqadna indeed. Rivers of blood more like.

    • Harry Purdie says:

      No way. Baxxter.

      BTW, doesn’t this group of dunderheads know that negative campaigning by one side translates into positive campaigning for the other side? (among thinkers)

  7. kev says:

    Hawn min qed jghid li dak tal-grizma. Ohrajn qed jghidu tal-precett. Jien nghid dak ir-ritratt tal-gowinewej.

  8. Ghar u Kasa says:

    This billboard, again, is intended ONLY for Franco Debono. The persons shown on the billboard were THE ONES he attacks as the Evil Clique. They know his way of thinking, to say the least, 100%! So they try hard, repeatedly, to press him for ‘the move’.

    I guess there’s a psychological mastermind by profession behind this…. Futur li ‘JAQQ GHADNA’ indeed.

    [Daphne – It doesn’t take a psychological mastermind to understand somebody as simple as Franco Debono, Silverbug. He’s a textbook case.]

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Thing is, the only two faces on that billboard who won’t be running for election are the only ones I would gladly vote for.

      One you already know. She’s our heroine. The one and only. The other is said to be a heartless office control freak. But I’d rather vote for intelligence than congeniality.

      • Rover says:

        My feelings exactly but then we don’t want the lady to be saddled with a parliamentary seat. There’s much fun to be had after the next election.

  9. ciccio says:

    Did they really expect the Prime Minister to surround himself with Karmenu Vella, Alex Sceberras Trigona, Joe Debono Grech, Leo Brincat, George Vella, Joe Grima and … Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, as friends?

  10. COD says:

    guys and gals be aware that the portal inewsmalta.com is a portal run by the MLP to twist the news for there own benefit.

  11. Unbelievable says:

    If you want to completely lose faith in the Maltese people have a look at this album

    http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.113710795352112.14671.100001395772685&type=3

    Makes me cringe thinking these people have a vote…

  12. Josette Jones says:

    “VOTE LABOUR! We have no ideas, no plan, no policies, no vision… but, Daphne Caruana Galizia.”

  13. david pace says:

    Keep it up sweet:) The more you write and the bigger your effort, the greater the victory for Joseph and Michelle Muscat.
    lol I could understand your frustration……God bless you.

    [Daphne – Why do Maltese hamalli call people ‘sweet’? I’ve never been able to work it out.]

  14. Silverbug says:

    Well, I was gearing up for Halloween, seeing as I am invited to a do. Bl***y disappointing. I do not think the pix is witchy at all. And here I was seeking wild hair and torn clothes. If this pix is anything to go by, I wanna be a witch :)

  15. david pace says:

    hehehe you are sweet but only in your dreams!

    [Daphne – That’s right, I am not at all sweet and I couldn’t be arsed about even trying. I leave that to the ‘feminists’.]

    • david pace says:

      great:) keep it up…that’s why you’re a key tool.

    • TinaB says:

      David, if you support a party which can come up with nothing better than a photo of Daphne Caruana Galizia on a billboard, you are an idiot.

      But what does one expect from someone who calls other people “sweet”, “babe” or “qalbi”?

      [Daphne – You forgot the “lookin good hon!!!!!!!” Honestly, I sometimes think Maltese women of all ages only post their picture on Facebook to have their fragile ego affirmed by a long list of lookin-good-hons. Bring on the Most Feminist Government in Maltese History, because it’s going to have its work cut out.]

      • L.Gatt says:

        Santa pacenzja … I can’t stand that “looking good hon” comment either.

        Marlene is one of them; she keeps changing her profile pic and, lo and behold – for days after she basks in what she perceives as the glowing “looking good hon” and “you’re so beautiful” comments.

        How sad, really. These women in their fifties must be so unsatisfied with their lives to be fishing for compliments on Facebook walls.

      • Jack says:

        May I kindly interject?

        My girlfriend was recently treated to wolf-howls and calls of “Awwww…. spreader!” from a fleeting car.

      • TinaB says:

        Oh, yes, that too – or another one, “very nice boobies xxxxxx”.

        It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. I cannot for the life of me understand how these kind of women were brought up thinking that to appear attractive they must use their body and act like whores.

      • AJS says:

        Tina, I think MTV “pimped” parents and children.

        All you see are semi-clad “phat” and fat “ho’s” and “bitches” with da man “pumpin’ it like it’s hot”.

        It’s the same the world over – thing is, in Malta it’s more pronounced because the island is small and somehow many people think the bitch ‘n’ pimp look is cool.

  16. Mister says:

    The photographer should prepare a nice invoice detailing the photo used, multiplied by how many times it was used and send it over to the PL office. Im fed up of these elves stealing other people’s work for their profit.

    The mail should be registered with a nice signature returned to prove receipt. 30 Days net sounds like a good payment term. Im sure they can find a couple of hundred euros to pay the invoice, maybe some proceeds from the sale of some land or something similar.

    When I saw the billboard I couldnt laugh, only stare in disbelief. Instead of preparing to run the country, they are more hassled with preparing stupid billboards.

    You can’t expect more from these people.

  17. qahbu says:

    THIS is their respect for democracy and freedom of speech. They have shown total disregards for a Public Servant doing his job and now they are attacking an innocent blogger for expressing her opinion.

    This is Labour in Opposition – you wait till they get into Government!

    No one is safe from them! Min mhux maghna kontra taghna!

  18. Reuben Sachs says:

    I wouldn’t kick you out of bed if I woke up and found you there. A little like the two Labour girls from yesterday but not as young.

    [Daphne – You should be so lucky as to find me in your bed.]

  19. Leli says:

    You looks so smart and poshy, you have class which money cannot buy! Let them burn! Leli

  20. etil says:

    Just out of curiosity – can whoever place the photo of a person who is not a public figure, on a billboard, without first getting said person’s approval ?

    [Daphne – No.]

  21. lola says:

    I like the photo. It is so nice.Why bother? You are more in the limelight now.You should thank them.

    [Daphne – I don’t want more limelight, lola. I have quite enough and never wanted any in the first place. I didn’t think all this would happen just through writing a frigging newspaper column, and it’s not as though I’m some kind of new phenomenon. I’ve been at it since 1990. I really can’t understand why the Labour Party still finds me so fresh and thrilling. Do fixations on individuals last two decades and counting? Surely it isn’t normal.]

    • Angus Black says:

      All poor techniques apart, I find the billboard quite appealing, though by the wrong Party.

      They placed Daphne in very good company and could very easily be mistaken for a PN poster. They figure that including Daphne with the ‘klikka’, is going to lose them votes.

      The LP screwed up again and I wish they continue on the same tracks. Billboards such as this will narrow down Labour’s lead (reported by unnamed polls).

  22. Richard Borg says:

    Your neck was not photoshopped. It is hidden behind gonzi’s shoulder.

    [Daphne – Same difference. And I wasn’t only talking about the neck, either. When you see a picture of my neck separating Kurt Farrugia’s head from his shoulders, give me a ring. I’m sure that’s up next, he’s so touchy about his utter lack of one.]

  23. Wayne Hewitt says:

    Will they make a billboard with Joseph Muscat and his ex-Socialist Minister friends of the infamous 1980s that will be running the country once he gets in power?

  24. ronpaul says:

    In the post election report that the Labour Party conducted in yet another electoral loss, they came up with a number of reasons why they didn’t win what was regarded a sure win.

    One of the reason mention was the billboard used ‘Korruzzjoni’ where all ministers of the PN government where featured in this billboard. i can see another mistake from labour with this billboard. It seems that they never learn.

    And why on earth go on the negative again?

    They had a ‘successful’ congress where you claim to be in a position to prepare the electoral manifesto or the so called roadmap. They should have illustrated this roadmap, rather then going negative yet again.

    Pathetic indeed.

  25. Giovanni says:

    There are various poster than the one you have published. The ones that I have seen give me the impression that all of a sudden Labour might be in some sort of panic, could it be their recent polls ? ( not published ones)

  26. Ozzy says:

    Daphne, yes you will still be writing I have no doubt about that ,if labour gets elected. However what I hope for is that you will finally be treated equally like other citizens when it comes to free speech limitations.

    [Daphne – There are no limitations on free speech, except where they impinge on the rights of other people to privacy (unless they breach that themselves) and protection from lies and slander. Understand this once and for all. Understand also the evidence before your eyes: that I am treated like everybody else in this respect while those who use the police to silence me – like Charlon Gouder and Magistrate Herrera – are given preferential treatment. You live in a world of your own.]

    It is not fair that people like Norman Lowell gets silenced and accused in court for a just cause, whilst you can say what you want and get protection from our taxes.

    [Daphne – Why YOUR taxes in particular, Ozzy? Why not the considerable taxes paid by members of my extended family, most of whom would rather pay for my protection than fund the lajfstajl of Antonella tal-iSnobby?]

    • maltawarrior says:

      @ Ozzy

      your misconstrued notion of what constitutes “free speech” is as stupid as it is anachronistic.

    • el bandido guapo says:

      “…you can say what you want and get protection from our taxes.”

      And who, exactly, does Daphne need protection from? Or, more accurately, which sector of the population is likely to wish her harm?

      Quite honestly it’s the half who aren’t of any threat to her that should be complaining, not the half who made this protection necessary.

      You’re getting a 50% discount, Ozzy.

    • Censa says:

      “It is not fair that people like Norman Lowell gets silenced and accused in court for a just cause, whilst you can say what you want and get protection from our taxes.”

      I am speechless. Just cause? Inciting racism? What’s wrong with this country?

      So Daphne cannot say anything because it is not a just cause, but Norman Lowell can speak because his is a just cause.

      That sentence really sums up the lack of comprehension of rights and an absence of thinking we have to face each and every single day in this country.

    • jackie says:

      Ozzy – Please say you’re joking when you compare what Norman Lowell says with the articles on this blog-site. If you’re serious, then your comments are deeply disturbing.

      • mattie says:

        Ozzy’s ignorance is staggering. Comparing Daphne to Lowell. Lowell and his clique are pitiful losers. Qas website sura b’ratings vicin dawk ta’ Daphne m’ghandhom.

    • Clifford says:

      Were it not for the intolerance, hatred, hdura and threats by Labour and Mintoffian thugs, nobody would need police protection.

  27. Aunt Hetty says:

    ”Sort of convent-school playground sentiments, if you know what I mean. ‘Vote Labour to spite Daphne’. Talk about arrested emotional development.”

    Last time they voted someone in simply ”to spite Daphne”, they ended up with Joe Muscat and missed out on Gorg Abela.

    [Daphne – Oh, those are not the people that I and the Labour Party have in mind. The ones we have in mind are much closer to home in terms of socio-educational background.]

  28. Joey says:

    Are you sure the original was not touched up with photoshop i dont remember you that good looking !!

    [Daphne – There have been periods in my life when I have actually been much better looking, Joey, but time takes its toll on us all. Fortunately, I don’t yet have grey hair or wrinkles, though one day soon those will come too. There’s a great deal to be said for never having smoked a cigarette.]

  29. Tony Muscat says:

    personally, I don’t see anything wrong in that “Choice of Friends” on their billboard. It should have though the name: Creme de’ la Creme” ! and by the way- I like your original photo.

    • yor/malta says:

      Somebody can scribble on the billboard ,’ these are not a perfect bunch but thank your lucky stars it is they that shaped our Island and held it intact whilst southern Europe crumpled’.

      [Daphne – Jien x’ghandi x’naqsam?]

  30. Just me says:

    Actually it is a great choice of friends. These people made Malta what it is today and our country is really doing well, much better than most European countries. So I hope these friends stay around for a longer time so that we continue to move forward.

  31. Reporter says:

    Did John (Prisoner of Brussels) Dalli want to promote GMOs?

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120313/local/Dalli-disappointed-as-his-GMO-proposal-is-rejected.410883

    Today, September 26, French cinemas will start screening a film about experiments with rats which irrefutably show that GMOs cause cancer.

    Thank you John. If you didn’t exist, we would have to invent you.

  32. nutmeg says:

    So Dr Gonzi is friends with bold, intelligent, committed people. And Dr Muscat with Joseph Cuschieri.

  33. Ken il malti says:

    That photoshopped double chin looks as badly done as the beard on the Ramses II statue at Abu Simbel.

  34. Marie says:

    You are good-looking in a distinguished way. I’ve always said so.

  35. ClS says:

    Looks like the ‘My choice’ campaign is not going down well with Labour. Hope the PN replies with counter billboards.

  36. Marisa borg says:

    On Facebook Joe Grima is urging Maltese nationals to take on the streets and start the Maltese Autumn based on the Arab Spring. Check it out pls.

  37. heidi says:

    Daphne

    The comment on this photo is somewhat interesting because it is made by none other than Profs Anglu Psaila….interesting indeed…

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=107965165931028&set=a.105201996207345.7798.100001526358943&type=3&theater

  38. Mercury Rising says:

    Some might think this billboard speaks to the masses, but not to me/us. We drove past one just this afternoon and were bewildered.

    Wouldn’t anyone be proud of friends like those? And I mean anyone. Only the “lanzit klikka” who feel left out by default could think any differently.

    • Wormfood says:

      I on the other hand, tend to harbour a deep suspicion of those who think in terms of ‘friends’, betrays a petty mindset akin to that of the infamous ‘mara ħażina’ harridans and a ‘group think’ mentality.

      The word ‘friend’ for me has a very specific meaning and it is not the bastardised Siculo-FB one. I also find the notion of them accusing me of befriending politicians quite insulting, I don’t like politicians and I do not adhere to the cultural norms of the local Progressivi.

  39. Gordon says:

    wtf cares that you will keep writing anyway? you are welcome to keep writing – YOU ARE AN ASSET FOR THE LABOUR PARTY HAHA :p

  40. Gahan says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120926/opinion/Valletta-deserves-better.438443

    Buhagiar’s ideas are greater than Piano’s. This is the same ex-minister who four years ago backed Alfred Sant’s hare-brained idea of a water-filled ditch under Valletta’s main entrance, for a ferry boat connection between Marsamxett Harbour and the Grand Harbour.

    Indeed, who’s running the PL campaign?

  41. CB says:

    Once they are treating you as a “quasi” politician, if I were you I would defy those incompetent idiots and join the PN ranks as a candidate in the next election.

    I’m sure that you would not only score high votes but you would also contribute greatly to our country.

    Malta needs women politicians with guts like you in order to protect the well being obtained so far, especially if certain stupid voters decide to return Labour to power.

  42. edgar says:

    I wonder whether Profs Anglu Psaila knows how much she charges for taking off all the leather (or is it plastic) clothes and boots.

  43. anthony says:

    Daphne, your appearance on the billboard is just a confirmation, if ever any was needed, of your status as Malta’s top political analyst.

    You are Malta’s equivalent of James Delingpole in the UK.

    The sooner the PL accepts this, the better (for them).

  44. ciccio says:

    “Ghalhekk bhalma gara fi Franza, anki f’Malta aktar u aktar nies qeghdin jittamaw fil-bidla u ghandhom ukoll rieda soda biex permezz tal-Partit Laburista din it-tama jaghmluha realtà.”

    – Kulhadd, 12 May 2012.

    http://www.kullhadd.com/201205124058/Editorjal/hadd-mhuwa-l-fuq-mill-poplu.html

    France, Today.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19733992

  45. Jan Flores says:

    Daphne, never been interested in politics and would probably vote Labour if I was in Malta, but what can I say?

    Volatile combination of guts and good looks. I like you.

  46. l-ahrax says:

    Really, my choice of friends.

  47. RJC says:

    And has onyone noticed that Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici is not one of the faces even though Labour voted him out of his ministry?

    If Labour really wanted to make a point they should have substituted those faces with those of Franco, JPOS, J Dalli and Jesmond Mugliett.

  48. Matt says:

    The MLP is visionless, clueless as to how to run the country.

    Their plan is to pull Malta out of the EU. Karmenu Vella has hinted many times that the EU agreement works ‘against’ Malta.

    I have no doubt that once the MLP is in government Karmenu will implement his plan to change public opinion against the EU.

    Families wake up.

  49. verita says:

    Daphne, nahseb li l-lejla lanqas torqod bl-inkwiet li gabu ir-ritratt tieghek fil-poster. Veru ghandom mohh ta’ gidra.

  50. Toninu says:

    Your neck isn’t photoshopped. That’s just the illusion you get when Gonzi’s dark shoulder changes the outline of your chin and neck.

    Interesting read though.

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