Have Leo Brincat and Marlene Farrugia been gagged and locked in Joseph’s cupboard?
Or are they afraid that what was done to Anglu Farrugia, who they thought untouchable, will be done to them if they open their mouths and say anything untoward?
We miss the point that the deputy leader’s very public and summary assassination was not just the simple replacement of an inconvenience with a convenience. It was done in exactly the same spirit as having a challenging person taken out and shot in cold blood before the eyes of those who might have ideas about doing the same thing. It’s called ‘pour encourager les autres’.
Marlene Farrugia, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s ex wife, is the Labour Party’s official spokesman on energy. But even though the sole topic of Labour’s conversation is now the price of electricity, she has been kept in the cupboard.
And guess what? Even the press are colluding with this, or have forgotten that she’s energy spokesman for Labour, and they’re not going to her for soundbites and quotes, or asking why she’s been hidden.
Leo Brincat, Labour’s official spokesman on the environment, sustainability and climate change, a prolific poster on Twitter, self-promoter on Facebook and owner of a personalised website, has been ominously silent too about the Technicolour Dreamcoat’s amazing new energy plans.
Herr Flick soaked us with a flood of tweets up to 7th January and now that the Great Plan has been revealed, we haven’t had a single cheep out of him.
Herr Flick (on right, in 1980s jumper; the other one is Karmenu Vella) is Labour’s official spokesman on the environment and sustainability, but he has been silent about Labour’s Great Electricity Plan since its unveiling.
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Actuallu il-Leo was on TVAM this morning, and kept interrupting George Pullicino who was slowly but surely demolishing the great pie in the sky.
When George asked him if he has been involved in the plan, Leo muttered that he had been, but “only in the parts which fall under his responsibility”, i.e. the environmental side one would assume. He had nothing to say on this part though.
Will Labour’s electoral campaign peak too early and go out with a fizzle not a bang? They cannot sustain this pace, PR, ads in The Times and the rest.
They both were on TVAM this morning. Marlene at one point said that it was her idea to switch to gas. And she wore this really foolish grin throughout. Herr Flick said nothing.
Please don’t say Labour’s electricity plan but Muscat’s plan because only a few knew about the real plan.
Definitely, Muscat kept Anglu Farrugia in the dark about the plan and that is why Farrugia messed up everything when speaking about energy during the debate with Simon Busuttil.
Exactly – I can’t stand Anglu Farrugia, but he was made to look a bumbling fool simply because his own leader did not bother to gen the poor guy up, prior to the now infamous debate.
Also, someone commented that a day or two before the Technicolour Dreamcoat’s announcement (nice one Daphne, clever), Il-Guy went on record saying that gas would definitely NOT be brought to Malta by sea. But then, lo and behold…
It wasn’t just the general public who were kept in the dark, it was practically the entire shadow cabinet.
Why complain now that people with industry experience in the subject matter are finally replacing the village lawyer-, perit- or dentist-MPs who have been given portfolios clearly outside their expertise for all these years?
May this be one of many more such moves to come.
Il-ħobż tih lil min jaf jieklu.
The ‘industry experience’ can be translated into ‘Lobbyists’. Get real.
Saw Marlene Farrugia for the first time this morning on TVAM. What a poor show.
She should stick to what she knows how to do best. At least people told to open wide cannot possibly answer back.
Saw her this morning on TVAM and, believe me, she did not put on a good show.
Talking (practically screaming ‘qiesa cercura’) out of context, interrupting the very civil Jason Azzopardi, and basically confirming what Labour is all about.
When asked what had been her role during the preparation of the PL ‘proposal’ she answered – in all seriousness – that her function had been that of reminding Joseph Muscat to reduce the electricity tariffs.
This policy flies flat in the face of a leftist ideology which the Malta Labour Party is supposed to uphold. No wonder its official spokespersons are being left out of the loop.
This is not a ideological decision, but a sinister plot to which only a few are privy.
Labour is proposing is the privatisation of the energy sector. Of couse, saying it would be privatising Enemalta would be anathema to its supporters who look upon their party as the stepping stone to public sector jobs.
But it will be privatising the energy sector nevertheless, selling off and extending the power station right in front of Dom Mintoff’s former Gharix. I remember KMB leading the protests there against the construction of the power station.
The ideological implication of this Labour policy is that the private sector works better than the public sector, so much so that its efficiency would bring costs down. Admittedly, there is nothing wrong with that. But where is the ideological standpoint of the Labour Party?
The admission by the Great Leader that companies have already shown interest is quite preoccupying, done deal or not.
Labour appears to be suggesting that it can reach a deal with an energy company to keep its prices low for 10 years (that’s two Labour terms) and in return would get a monopoly on the country’s energy sector.
At face value it looks like an unholy alliance between a Maltese brand of socialism and capitalism, the likes of which we usually expect in South American banana republics.
It sounds very much like a done deal.
Labour plans to sell off the energy sector to an unknown (to the rest of us) corporation so long as the latter helps keep it in power.
Frankly this is an issue of national security.
Leo wasn’t anywhere to be seen this morning either, solar parks and alternative sources galore.
Which measures however, happen to be the ones proposed in the November budget. Water saving kit eh? To think of all the ridicule when energy savers were proposed.
Funny how The Times changed footage of Joseph’s press conference in Bulebel, someone must have called, protesting it made him look miserable and damp.
Marco Cremona felt the need to upload a comment correcting what The Times reported him as saying.
I suppose Labour’s money thrown at the papers serves a dual purpose.
It’s uncanny how similar to Berlusconi’s the tactics have become. He too had a party without any political structure in place, unchallenged, until he found himself alone and with mass mutiny dissolving his voter base. It was only then that he reluctantly agreed to appoint a secretary, who found himself reduced to spokesman in no time.
Elected on a plebiscite of over 36%, a record in Italy’s republican history, Berlusconi went down to less than 16% last December. Obviously, he says it’s everyone else’s fault, doing away with any individuals who posed a challenge, retaking control of the PDL, HIS party, expecting unconditional loyalty or else.
He justifies his choice to go for the decisive ruthless big boy mentioning specific pointers indicated by opinion polls. His voter base demands it.
What he goes on to imply is that if he complies others will follow. We’ve seen something similar in the late 70’s.
This pharaonic proposal, seemingly purposefully against all odds serves Joseph well. Just like Silvio’s bridge across the Sicilian channel, or, if we have to go back, JFK’s pledge to put a man on the moon, ‘not because it’s easy, but because it IS hard’.
He could also be getting his kicks out of it, my wife, always disarmingly collected when it comes to analysing men and their foibles, called it his Jerry McGuire moment yesterday.
He just desn’t believe any of it. It simply suits his craving, you’re right about Michelle, his brushing her off has become rather prionounced lately.
‘Kunu protagonisti’ is just that other famous quote, ‘don’t ask what the country..’
Could work, if only Joseph were leader of anything other than Labour. And that’s what everyone should consider, his cabinet will be more or less the one they had in 1996, and if it won’t, they’ll be at the door demanding their dues.
They expect procurement to follow in less than a month after the ‘tender’ is launched. I think they should really put more effort in fooling us, at least.
Of course Leo is lying low. Minister of Energy Konrad Mizzi’s nutty scheme to lower electricity prices will mean less incentive for people to invest in solar panels and other forms of alternative energy.
It is not a nutty scheme. This scheme will work.
A foreign energy company will promise Labour 10 years of fixed energy prices (as compared with the prices delivered by a moribond, inefficient public sector corporation), and in return it will receive a monopoly over the country’s energy sector.
These alternative energy schemes like solar energy are all red herrings. It has been proven the world over that alternative energy does not work. That is not where the beef is. The beef is a monopoly of Malta’s energy sector.
Now the Malta Employers’ Association is coming out all in favour, suggesting the possible secondment of Enemalta employees to this “unknown” private energy company. So much for not privatising Enemalta.
It is a known fact that the private sector can deliver cheaper and more efficiently that the public sector.
The odds are that the project will be profitable for this “unknown” energy company from day one and would not have to wait 10 years until it starts squeezing the country dry by virtue of a monopoly awarded to it by Labour just to get into government.
The sheer immorality of such a scheme by Labour is mind boggling.
Who is behind it? It cannot be that wimp Joseph Muscat, in the same way that it cannot could have been Joseph Muscat who dumped Anglu Farrugia.
Who is controlling Labour?
Polidano already imports gas through Poligas, so the next step perhaps?
Mercury Rising,
Marlene’s one of his closest chums.
Joseph specifically thanked her during his first speech when elected leader. I never understood why he did that.
Jesus, so the plan is basically to hand over energy production to Caqnu. Connect to the grid, yeah right.
They’re mad.
And they’re going to introduce a door to door audit, he called it an ezami, to see where wastage lies.
Can already see it on Maltatoday, ‘majority of households in need of works to combat heating/cooling problems’.
Saviour has his lunch at his place in st.Julian’s.
Scum, all of them.
So we’re voting out PN to hand power over to Caqnu.
Way to go. Very progressive.
Well, it makes it a concrete proposal.
Sorry.
Concrete angel, siehbi. Id-diska favorita ta’ Ritienne.
From Mercedes to Ferrari dump trucks?
Marlene Farrugia was on TVAM this morning. Her only positive contribution was in saying that she was always in favour of the EU. Her stunts on the energy policy were of course incomprehensible.
Dik ic-cercura kienet fuq TVAM u ma flaħtix tinterrompi kemm hi maledukata u ħamalla. Ma nistgħax nifhem kif hemm min jaħseb li għax kapaci jkun ħamallu sa jikkonvinci lil xi ħadd.