The PM/Leader of the Opposition debate last night
You’ll be wondering why I haven’t written anything about it. I was out and unable to watch it live. I’ll be watching it via the TVM site later on today, and will write about it then.
Meanwhile, this was the first email in my inbox this morning:
Dear Daphne,
Hope you’re doing well.
I don’t know if you have already followed yesterday’s debate on Xarabank given that your recent posts are dedicated to Franco Debono.
But I really do hope you follow asap and share your views on the matter. Gonzi was absolutely brilliant and answered each and every question while Muscat just talked gibberish and the usual cliches. The right-headed people, even PL supporters, recognised this even through some posts on Facebook.
When Muscat was given more than 3 minutes to make his arguments in order to make up for the time taken up by Gonzi, he just tripped up in what he was saying. He was lost. His arguments are nothing but cliches and statements used in advertising.
However I am fed up of reading in other comments boards how brilliant Muscat was and what a great leader he’ll make. Well whatever.
One thing is sure. After following yesterday’s debate I have no ifs and buts of who is the most suitable leader for our country. Worse still I feel it is suicidal to gamble otherwise. I’m sure you know what I mean and that you’ll express yourself loud and clear as usual.
77 Comments Comment
Reply to Censa Click here to cancel reply
I’d want to believe that ultimately people do not vote on the basis of “who won the debate”, as if on its own it erases 4 years of Government and Opposition.
Personally, I wasn’t impressed by either and I tend to think that whoever was impressed by any of the leaders’ interventions, did so to satisfy his or her own innate need and craving for it.
Not me though.
It is not a question of being impressed but one of evaluation.
It was startlingly evident that the PM could answer and develop sound arguments whilst Muscat was simply lost resorting to cliches and cheap sarcasm.
Such as the 20000 “new jobs” fable, you mean ? This was shot down by the EU, the NSO and Tonio Fenech in his pre-budget report !
Eddy, if GonZiPn did not create 20,000 jobs despite the European and global economic crisis, why isn’t there an increase in the unemployed?
Meanwhile:
1. There has been an increase in the participation rate of women, which means that there were more people looking for work.
2. There has been an increase in the number of pensioners staying at work, which means that less positions became vacant.
So if the economy did not create jobs, why don’t we have more unemployed? The number of unemployed is around 6,000 – no relevant increase from 2008.
The government, these past four years, overcame a global financial crisis in a successful manner that is acknowledged by ALL international institutions of note.
What has the opposition achieved in the meantime? What decent policies have been formulated?
It’s fairly obvious which is the better party. Whilst half the NP politicians would ideally be replaced, the LP is unfortunately mostly rubbish. At the end of the day, it’s a binary choice.
What Opposition?
Jozef: Ghidilna fejn tinsab dik il-kumpanija Braziljana li semma Gonzi l-bierah. U kemm qed thaddem nies. U staqsi lil Gonzi ghax baqa ma rrispondiex mistoqsija parlamentari dwar din il-kumpanija li ghamillu Gino Cauchi f’Gunju li ghadda. U baqa ma rrispondiex sa llum ! Tghid qed jisthi jirrispondi ghax jaf li jaqa wahda ghac-cajt wara l-ftahir li kien ghamel fi Frar dwar din il-kumpanija, li kien qal li gejja hawn. U llum qal li ilha sena f’Malta !
Eddy, the PM does not need to answer because the information may be publicly available at the Registry of Companies. Investigative journalists could go there themselves.
Since firms are distinct legal personalities, any company registered on the island is Maltese irrespective of the nationality and domicile of its shareholders. So you may not find any references to Brazil.
Pay attention, though. The shareholders may be protected.
The financial laws introduced by the Nationalist Party government (soon after MLP lost its second consecutive election in 1987) allow for shareholders’ names to be protected unless they are being investigated (i.e., by the police not by a journalist).
So, it may be that the PM is precluded by law NOT to reveal shareholder information.
Anyway, if it excites you so much, go to MFSA.
I wonder where AVIATION companies could be located. The Grand Harbour perhaps.
Eddy, Ghidilna dwar il-kontijiet tad-dawl, kif, meta, b’kemm u ghal min ser jorhsu.
Dwar il-kontijiet tad-dawl, Joseph Muscat ihallina fid-dlam.
Mur ara s-Super 1, Sur Privitera.
Forsi ghax Gino Cauchi qazzez parlament bil-PQs stupidi u vojta tieghu?
Is The Times meant to champion neutral and unbiased reportage? Hardly looks like it.
Link to Kurt Sansone’s axe-whetting/chip-relieving report below:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121102/local/gonzi-muscat-go-head-to-head.443747
Hopefully, the updated website of The Malta Independent will fill the void left by The Times. Malta is craving for an element of quality journalism, which is not there at the moment.
Don’t you know that Kurt is planted there instead of Sabrina Agius?
Unfortunately the gap is too wide to bridge now. Unless Joseph Muscat screws up royally, he’s got this one in the bag.
The PN will regret their soft stance towards Franco Debono. This will be their undoing. Unbelievable electoral defeat to this amateurish Labour outfit.
Kif jghid il-Malti, it-tigrija sal-barkun.
Mr CHARLIE BORG
Today, 09:36
A Brazillian company is going to invest 50 million euros in Malta GonziPN said,he always starts a debate with a joke.Gonzi also displayed an elec.,bill which was zero because the owner installed solar panels,can everyone install solar panels ? (another joke)…Gonzi never mentioned the parlament during his speeches,off course he is scared stiff of the building.Well done J.M. you gave him hell.
From the Times of Malta
As far as i know the PM never mation the company.
Dawn tal-lejber daqsekk iwassal mohhom bil Malti u xorta ma jifmux.
WHAT THE F**K? According to The Times, Simon Busuttil met with JPO and Jesmond Mugliette to hear their views before taking a decision on whether to contest. And this after having an amicable chat with Franco Debono.
Has Busuttil lost his marbles?
Councillors, please DON’T VOTE FOR THIS PERSON.
I just can’t believe he’s doing this.
Actually he is doing the right thing. You cannot make your mind up just because everyone is telling you what to think.
It sounds to me like Busuttil is taking a level-headed approach to the situation and deciding things for himself. I find it quite endearing.
Would you rather he didn’t and then have JPO, Debono and co causing more problems?
Edward, the fact that Franco Debono is actually on Busuttil’s side (see http://www.francodebono.com/2012/11/03/simon-busuttil-seems-to-be-a-uniting-force/ ) does not augur well for the party.
If Busuttil is happy with such “recommendations”, then jolly good luck to him. As for the Nationalist Party, well, it just goes to show that they probably can;t really tell who to trust.
Who on earth does Simon Busuttil think he is.
Bismarck ?
Simon Busuttil: Dak li kien tant ferhan dwar il-‘burden-sharing’ VOLONTARJU ! U are x’hadna, hadna ” l-burden” minghajr “sharing” ! Daqstant jara l-boghod dan il- bniedem !
Ah, mela harget il-vera bandiera tieghek, Privitera: razzist lemini inkallit.
Baxter: Razzist ghax ghidt l handa l”burden” minghajr ” sharing” ? Jaqaw ghalik l-immigrazzjoni mhix ” burden” ghalina l-Maltin ? Mhux wiehed minnhom int hux ??????
Iva, Eddy. Jien ta’ nisel Afrikan, u gej minn familja Lhudija.
So if Simon ever takes over the leadership of the party, you will see Franco Debono and JPO once again in parliament. Good luck !
“Good luck!” say you.
Hmm. I thought you were Franco’s number 1 supporter, at least that is the impression you try to give when you write on his blog, egging him on.
Obviously your antics there are but a charade, fool you for thinking that no-one can see through them, because you are only fooling yourself.
Well, fool you again, now the cat’s officially out of the bag. In simple terms so you can understand – your “Good luck!” exposes the fact that like everyone else with at least one screw holding their neck on you too hold Franco with contempt and have absolutely no respect for him and his shenanigans, though he sincerely seems to think you and your ilk are part of his wide “support”.
You can’t help but step in the shit even when it’s pointed out to you.
Viva il-Lejber!
Had this been the United States, all decent media would be proclaiming loudly and clearly that the Prime Minister triumphed over the leader of the Opposition. We saw this sort of thing happening during the first presidential debate when everybody unequivocally claimed that Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama.
But this is neutrality obsessed Malta where prudence reigns supreme. The headline on the Times of Malta website this morning reads ‘Gonzi, Muscat go head to head.’
That’s a headline you put up before an event. After the event, the headline should be the result. Who employs these so called journalists?
The article then tries to give the impression that the debate was balanced and both stuck to their guns. Either who wrote it has ulterior motives or he cannot recognise victory if it wore a pink tutu while dancing a victory dance.
The debate can be summarised thus:
Joseph Muscat talked ONLY about the electricity rates and something called kitchen economics (whatever that is).
Lawrence Gonzi talked about job creation, health, education and a myriad other things. He did this using facts, figures, statistics and reports, none of which Joseph Muscat contested or criticised (how could he?).
Lawrence Gonzi had answers to practically every question while Joseph Muscat couldn’t answer the one and only question he was asked: ‘How, when and by how much are you going to lower the electricity rates?’.
If we’re going to elect the Labour Party, we’re going to do so simply to have the electricity rates reduced and we don’t even know how that’s going to come about.
Way to go Malta.
Where is the online recording of the debate? I can’t find it.
[Daphne – I believe it’s http://www.tvm.com.mt/live. Then go to yesterday’s schedule and FFW to 8.40pm. I haven’t checked yet, but those are the details I was given.]
Got it. Thanks!
Edward, it is really crap. Dive was heaps better. Searching is not user friendly, fast forwarding is a nightmare, and after twice having to restart (which means that you have to hunt for the beginning every time) after pausing, I have given up.
Definitely a marathon (step just doesn’t hack it) backward from DIVE.
I agree with the email. Joseph Muscat spent the whole evening going on about the water and electricity bills and when asked to state how and when they would be reduced all he gave was the usual spiel about waiting for the PN electoral manifesto.
He started off on a very wrong footing stating to all and sundry that the government has done everything wrong, only to state later on that they would build on what the government is doing and when challenged agreed that they were good foundations.
And to Mandango70, sour grapes gets you nowhere
Up till last month, we were about to have a general election with four political parties fronting up. These were –
a. the PN headed by the present Prime Minister,
b. the Reformist PN headed by John Dalli,
c. the Even Better PN headed by Joseph Muscat.
d. AD.
Now there are only three.
No, you forget the “Mother of all PNs” headed by Franco Debono. So previously five, now four.
Just watched it now. Bil-Malti, Il-prim ministru pejjpu lil Dr Muscat.
Jas: Qatt ma smajt li s-sigarett joqtloq ?
X’hemm jistenna għalik Edd’ la jitla’ l-lejber?
Just watched it.
All I can hear is the PM quoting facts and Muscat talking from a place of ignorance of how things work. And no matter how many statistics Gonzi provides, Muscat still insists that his version of things is true. Stubborn and evasive.
And why does Muscat never actually answer questions. When he was asked, directly, about his plan to lower bills, he didn’t answer it at all. Why all the secrecy?
In fact, the whole thing was one up for Gonzi, because all Muscat did was talk about how he wants to build on the success of the PN.
It’s funny, but it’s almost as if we don’t need the PL around, because the PN works well, and all they need to do is keep on perfecting and tweaking. Which begs the question ” Why vote for the PL when the PN, who knows the success better than them because they brought it about, can just carry on doing what they are doing”?
Thank you Dr Muscat, for showing us that we don’t need you.
Didn’t you hear Dr. Muscat tell Gonzi, that once Gonzi publishes his electoral manifesto, Dr. Muscat will publish the PL’s which will include the information which Gonzi wants to know now, while not giving GonziPN’s plans !
You, Sir, are a lost cause.
Mr. Privitera, What you fail to see is that it is not Dr. Gonzi who wants to know now how Dr. Muscat intends to lower the electricity tariffs. It is the electorate that has the right to know, and the journalists are asking the questions: how, when, by how much, and for whom.
Why should we wait more if we could benefit now from reduced tariffs using Joseph Muscat’s plans? Why is Joseph Muscat making us pay tariffs higher than they need be?
The truth is that Muscat has no plan.
The only idea he proposed for the reduction of tariffs – besides “Dalli’s plan” – was that of lowering Enemalta’s Rate of Return on Capital Employed. But this would only render Enemalta’s business plan unsustainable, which in turn would result in the “early return of capital” when the banks call in the loans to Enemalta.
The government would have to honour the loan guarantees. Which means that the government would have to pay something like 700 million euros of loans to foreign financial institutions at short notice.
This idea is unsustainable – Joseph Muscat cannot sustainably reduce the electricity tariffs this way, as he proposed. This is another example of Joseph Muscat’s total economic incompetence
Yes I did, which sounds more like a tactical move than a compassionate one.
We are not Muscat’s acolytes, waiting for him to generously tell us what his plans are.
There is no reason to keep people in the dark, which is why it is all so sinister. In fact, I think it shows that Muscat is a bully.
Yes, I think everyone heard that, about twenty thousand times.
Joseph might be inexperienced but surely not that inexperienced to think that if he stated how he found the magical solution to lower electricity bills within one month of him coming into power, we (as in those who are actually intelligent enough to give credit when due) would not give him credit for it.
We are no longer in the school playground, even though it appears that Mr Privitera certainly is, what with second childhood and all.
Joseph does not have an electoral manifesto.
That’s why he keeps playing for more time, otherwise there’s no way a new leader whose mission it would be to get a party back into office would choose to go down that route.
It’s counterproductive at this stage, stakeholders have the right to know.
Friday was the evidence.
Naaah
You were watching Franco but hate to admit that you’re hooked on his antics :-)
Daphne i would suggest a competition on who guesses the right number Joseph Muscat mentioned water & electricity bills . I start with 35
God help us if this idiot becomes PM.
They used to show old programmes on di-ve.com, but they have stopped the service. It was great to catch up with missed TV programmes.
I was amazed that this time Dr Muscat referred to the prime minister by his title rather than his first name like he used to do. I suspect someone pointed this out to him.
Wrong. I suspect he’s only doing so to be treated the same way in a few months’ time (though Lawrence Gonzi has always had better manners than Muscat).
I can’t watch the recording of the debate. Has anyone been able to watch the recording using the above link?
Yes link works – you need to pause the streaming and move the timeline pointer to around 14:20
Go to Xarabank.com and you will find the debate.
I am middle class, what worries me are not water and electricity bills but an incompetent government whose leader cannot even answer a simple question. Why this fixation with lowering water and electricity bills? What needs to be done is lowering consumption, using alternative sources of energy and increasing efficiency. This is what the current government is doing. What will a Labour government do differently?
Governing a country is not about lowering water and electricity bills.
Perhaps Governing a country for you, is spending over €165 million for a power station which can’t work when it is still brand new !
Mr.Privitera, have my advice go buy fishing rod and kill the time fishing.
Oh fuck, Eddie, you are so tiresome.
Let me waste some bytes and give you a simple analogy.
You order a new car. While the agent is delivering it to you, one of the wheels falls off, because someone forgot to tighten the nuts. Loose nuts obviously don’t mean that the car is bad, it’s just human error. The rest of the car is otherwise perfect.
Obviously there is now some damage done to the car, due to the wheel coming off, but the agent will repair it fully and deliver it to you when sorted. But not only, in the meantime he is paying you at least enough money so that you can rent a replacement, even though you actually do own another vehicle you can use.
By your shitty reasoning, what happened is all your fault.
@Eddy
Government is about policies which PL have none to date. The turbine is being fixed. Now go back to the PL hell you call home.
Stop showing your ignorance, Privitera.
Xarabank yesterday unmasked Muscat. And Michael Briguglio was just right: Muscat’s main (and only) pledges – water and electricity bills and minimum wage freeze – are just a ‘froġa’.
On the subject of the minimum wage, Muscat is saying he is not going to increase the minimum wage but he will not freeze it. So if he is not going to increase it and not freeze it does it mean he will lower it? Muscat should be very careful of his choice of words.
Censa: Jaqbillek tibda tmur li skola mill-gdid. U tibda mill Kindergarten !
Eddy, kieku l-kindergarten kellu ezami tad-dhul, int lanqas biss kont tghaddi minnu. Tridx thallina, u tmur issib xi haga ahjar x’taghmel b’hajtek? Jew qed tittama li jitla’ Muscat u jqabbdek toqghod tikkalkula kemm ser jonqos kull kont tad-dawl, u jimlielek hajtek?
Is there a You Tube video of the fatal three minutes, when Muscat was lost and had nothing to say?
If yesterday’s debate was anything to go by, Joseph risks losing the election.
30 minutes to tell us he’ll lower electricity rates until he tripped on the Brazilian company investing in Malta.
He looked a right turnip, painful watching his expression as it sank in he had just blown it. Big time.
The PM shouldn’t remain so diplomatic or fair, his reference to how Joseph’s three year old rant potentially harmful to the renewable energy cluster and those who’ve committed themselves cannot be emphasized enough. That Joseph is, with his limited capabilities, gathering around him those who won’t subscribe to the shift this country’s experiencing.
What Joseph promises the PN’s doing. The correct way, lowering bills by lowering consumption, and that, is self evident fact.
Which would show how Joseph, stuck for three years on the same slogan, has become a liability himself, that Malta changed since he was elected leader, leaving him trailing behind. Unbelievable, a 37 year old with the mindset of an old fart.
It’s Labour’s nightmare; Sant’s debate at University when their proposals were torn to shreds, when Lawrence Gonzi listed how these had already been done, Sant left speechless.
The ideas haven’t been developed, as ever, does it show.
The PN has all the space to challenge his environmental creed, his naff, cheat’s, take on business, added value, lightweight economic thinking, virtual development, and question his ekonomija tal-kcina, where did he get that, Thatcher revisited?
We don’t need the PL. The PN have been doing a fine enough job. Even Muscat practically admitted it.
Now it’s just a matter or tweaking and correcting things and keeping it all going.
I thought there were more important issues to discuss on the programme. Like how judges can allow someone to get away with attempted murder just because that judge thinks it is understandable to be deeply insulted by the word gay.
Or how one judge can sentence someone with two plants of weed to ten years, while another lets a guy who beats his girlfriend get away practically scot free.
“What Joseph promises the PN’s doing.”
Actually it’s the other way round, ”What the PN says it’s planning to do Joseph starts to blabber about”.
He is the cock which crows before sunrise, hens think that if the cock doesn’t crow the sun won’t rise.
Typical was the statement in which he said that roaming tariffs were reduced because he gave some sort of input as an MEP. That was a fib, and I ask reporters worth their salt to investigate what he claimed on Xarabank.
My guess is that he eavesdropped someone in some cafe and came to know of the good chance for this directive to pass, he was just being a typical reporter.
If GonziPN wasted €175m on a power station which does not work, can Joseph Muscat tell us what he will do with it when he becomes Prime Minister?
Scrap it or repair and run it?
Is he going to do what Mintoff did with the Hondoq ir-Rummien desalinator when he came to power in 1971? He let the expensive equipment rust for years, leaving Gozitans with a scarcity of water.
It was a pleasure seeing the prime minister yesterday. He showed not only how capable he is, and how brilliant he is, but he showed mostly that he is hands on, on all sectors.
The gap between the two yesterday was enormous. There were moments yesterday when I pitied Joseph.
I cannot imagine how anyone would be able to trust our country in the hands of a man who doesn’t have an idea of what is going on, in and around us. At least, that is what he showed yesterday.
TM: Ask Gonzi to call an election, ISA !
Unfortunately, at least fifty percent of voters in Malta do not have the vaguest idea about what is going on in and around us.
Joey Muscat is just one of them.
So there you are. He will be leading the next government.
He will still,even then, have no idea of what is going on in and around Malta.
The poor natives will find out when it starts to hurt.
Then it will be too late.
Have they published the result of the tele-voting question?
People like Privitera confirm that Labour isn’t even capable of simple mathematics.
If Privitera loses his job and finds another what does he call his re-employment?
That simple, Eddy, but it seems you and your Labour can’t even understand this, though you are happy to play hide-and-seek with the way water and electricity rates are going to decrease.
Imagine, Privitera loses his job, gets training or a University degree and finds employment at a much higher value system.
According to Labour that’s irrelevant, it’s not a new job.
It boggles my mind when I read that the MLP are 10 percentage points ahead in the public opinion polls. How can young families raising children put their trust in Joseph Muscat?
What has he to offer to the middle class? Home-owners can lower their electric bills by turning off the switches but what would happen if businesses stop investing in Malta when Labour comes to power?
Bye bye good jobs.
A must-read:
http://www.itv.com/news/2012-09-10/taxes-rise-while-popularity-plummets-for-francois-hollande/
Does anyone have any more information on this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN2c7eyP_-U
I can tell you that I voted PL in 2008. Where does that leave you?
Joseph Muscat was dishonest in not stating that Brimmer is a PL activist.
What was Nuxellina – the Qormi Mayor – doing in the front row during the debate? In my opinion she was a PL-planted cheerleader, and that’s not a compliment.
Tell Eddy Privetera that he has been living in opposition for the last 25 years and will die in opposition.