I too would like to thank you for your blog.

You are a reliable source and through your blog I manage to get a clearer view of the political stuff going on in our island.

Although some people argue that your comments are usually insulting or cruel, thus they refer to you as a witch, I always argue that you speak your mind and speak about actual facts. Never have I read a piece of your work and realised it wasn’t real.

I’d really like to know more about Maltese politics and what it was like back in the 70s and 80s. Thank God I was still very young in the 80s to remember much.

Therefore, I’m very grateful that my parents were always there to help me figure out things and nowadays your blog is a vital part of my life too.

Could you kindly suggest a good history book about Maltese politics which actually includes facts and not biased opinions please?

One other thing … you are such an inspiration! Keep up the good work!

with heartful thanks
mm

[Daphne – Unfortunately, Myriam, there isn’t any such book and that is a major part of the problem.]

A friend passed your article to me as “it sums up my unhappiness on the island”.

Men, with egos larger than life expected me to shut up. When I did nothing of the sort, they made me feel “wrong” and blamed me for their insecurity, said I intimidate them.

Women called me a bitch and maneater. I don’t flirt or slut around but I can keep up any conversation be it about needlework, cooking, football, cars or art. Yes, this can attract attention much more than a foot long skirt does.

I will never trade in make-up or my stilettos. Likewise, I will never stop speaking my mind or being witty or clever. Regardless of how much I am outcast or battered by any society.

There comes a time, however, when a tinpot society, suffocates you enough that it halts your personal growth and the mentality described within your article spills over from the personal life onto your professional one. For this reason, I have now moved to another country. Rest assured that the tinpots exist everywhere. The difference is that the space is much larger and therefore easier to disperse.

My opinion is that the sheep mentality reigns in Malta. The need to belong to a labeled group is amplified by the restricted space. Once you become outcast there is not much place where to go to as you either bump into one side or the other. There is no place for a pig in the middle.

I sincerely hope that one day more people start realising that being yourself, having opinions and expressing them freely contributes to a more colourful life, where people grow and move forward together.

In In the meantime, I’d rather enjoy all that life has to offer than be concerned about what the drama queens and egos think or have to say about me.

Keep on blogging, Daphne. It’s a free world for speech and thought. So people are free to get upset about it as much as they want as well! :-)

Thank you, Daphne. You’re the best.

Or more likely that I was a complete nobody.

http://ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/mondo/2013/03/14/Yoani-Sanchez-New-York-prima-volta-Usa_8401826.html

This is one of the ways in which Daphne opened my eyes, by reporting things which weren’t on The Times – perhaps they are just incompetent rather than biased.

It amazes me how the Yana Mintoff land scandal wasn’t reported in the media and how nobody checked to see if the so-called ‘switchers’ at Labour’s (very late) revealing of their electoral program were actually switchers.

It is also appalling how Labour managed to get away with fraud by presenting a taparsi tal-pepe switcher who is really a woman born from Mintoffian parents who own a Labour Party Club in one of the areas in the South.

However, what began my distrust of The Times was the way they handled the death of Mintoff, as they seemed to deliberately leave out a lot of facts.

Labour are trying to deflect attention from their imcompetance that is starting to show.

They changed and added ministers even after DOI issued the press release.

They keep on switching entities till today between the different portfolios.

They are going mad because they didn’t realise they dont have enough office space for all their ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

This is not going into the merits of the mess that the new head of civil service excuse me designate is perpetuating.

*non politically biased , Gaia loving, Sliema liberals

@ian – You are right, men don’t like to say they are cliquey and bitchy but call it networking instead which usually involves a closed network of men only. Wow, what a difference I must say.

I agree entirely as I am one of those, who is constantly told to shut up in meetings, to pass on ideas but not as my own and am sniggered at by men as well as women you so aptly described in your statement.

“Some women, in a small and antiquated society that programmes its women to compete for male attention from an early age, become deeply envious, at a level and in a way they barely understand, of what they can only see as a whole lot of attention being directed at another woman, especially when that woman doesn’t fit the definition of what they have been told from birth a woman should be like.”

The worst of it is that men pretend equality exists but in reality they do everything to stop it in the boardroom when capable women walk in.

The reason is that they are exposed for who they are, incompetants. The only way to break this mould is co-education, which I strongly believe in.