Super One’s Ray Azzopardi has been given a job at the Maltese embassy in Brussels

Published: April 8, 2013 at 10:03am

Ray Azzopardi, who with Norman Hamilton is the oldest (in terms of duration) piece of furniture at the Labour Party’s Super One television, has handed in his notice there and has told interlocutors that he will be going to work at Malta’s embassy in Brussels.

It is not clear exactly what he will be doing there. Azzopardi has worked in television for most of his career, first at Xandir Malta and then at Super One, after working for years in a maintenance-related job connected to the radiography department at St Luke’s Hospital, pre 1987.

Ray Azzopardi with Michelle Muscat

Ray Azzopardi with Michelle Muscat




63 Comments Comment

  1. Wilson says:

    Malta’s representation has really gone to the dogs.

  2. lorna saliba says:

    Shouldn’t they send Renato with him? They’d make a great impact together.

  3. gil says:

    Jobs for the boys ey. What he will be doing there is not important. In Malta we are all qualified for everything. I am expecting to be called up as Head Heart Surgeon any day now. Can’t wait.

    The important thing is that he is going to BRASSILZ mjen.

  4. etil says:

    Still more jobs for the boys. Who is next and when will the long list of PL awards/paybacks cease.

  5. Tabby says:

    Shame on you George Vella – I suppose this is but a first in a series of such job give-aways.

  6. La Redoute says:

    Perhaps he thinks Brussels is glamorous and has a throbbing gay scene that’s just gagging for his presence.

  7. marks says:

    Ray Azzopardi is the ultimate survivor

  8. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Would that be the embassy to the EU or the embassy to Belgium.

    The latter is something of a holiday posting, so there are plenty of precedents. The former, however…

  9. Brian says:

    Yes… they need him at the fuck…sorry, TUCK shop.

  10. Bernard says:

    Dracula in Brussels. He will amaze them with his skills.

  11. Jericho says:

    Maybe he’s going to compere at embassy events, with a microphone and a blowdry.

  12. Sonia says:

    I was wondering why Ray Azzopardi was walking directly behind Dr Gonzi, Joseph Muscat and the outgoing and incoming Speaker of the House at last Satruday’s opening of Parliament.

    He’s gone up in the world, hasn’t he, from being a TV presenter in the Golden Years of Labour?

  13. Helen says:

    Daphne, in the 80s I used to work at the Department of Health in Valletta. This idiot was PRO to Minister Vincent Moran together with Tony Debono (the switcher to PN and who reached very high levels and probably switched back to Labour again now).

    These two were a big thorn in my side as after the 81 election they came down from the Mininstry to look for me. I was already tipped off not to come to work, anyway I was still recovering as a little while before my father had passed away in an accident.

    They came down swearing to put me in my place and transferred me to the Refuse Disposal Centre quote ‘biex il-Qahbu jiehu hsiebi’. My crime was buying the Nazzjon and bringing it to the office.

    • Nina says:

      I went through similar experience, in the early 80s at St Lukes Hospital.

      My crime was “being overheard saying that Malta very much like a communist country” to a foreigner working here who actually came from one and talking back to a surgeon that announced himself as only second to God.

      Within a few days I was transferred from a special unit to TB unit at St Vincent de Paule Home (Has-Serh at the time). Never clocked in to work at the TB unit and they made my life at work like hell.

      But I looked for different hardships… and flew off to get the education that Mintoff deprived me of – and stayed there. Who would have even dared to imagine that 30 years later this same scum will be on the same turf I work so hard on?

      • gil says:

        Sorry to hear that, both of you. Keep speaking up and educating others of this tyranny lest we repeat it…well lest we repeat it for for than 5 years.

      • gil says:

        Sorry to hear that, both of you. Keep speaking up and educating others of this tyranny lest we repeat it…well, lest we repeat it for more than 5 years.

  14. Joe Portelli says:

    In my view , it is very clear what one achieves by leaving the island now at this age. HE DOES NOT WANT TO RISK EXPERIECING WHAT OLD AGE FOLKS WENT THROUGH IN THE PREVIOUS LABOUR GOVERNMENTS.

    Those old enough who witnessed the helpless old suffering during those days of turmoil, mistakes, vendettas, restrictions, loss of liberty can never forget what it was like.

    Being in Brussels, even though attached to a Maltese office, will allow one to live like a European, whilst his masters experiment with settling scores back at home.

  15. Helen says:

    Further to my above comment, it was Maurice Agius, then General Secretary of UHM who saved me from this situation and arranged for me to be transferred to the Lands Department, away from these morons.

    I still get the shivers when I see Ray Azzopardi and Tony Debono.

  16. TROY says:

    Why is Michelle wrapped up in a blanket?

  17. Helen says:

    Alfred Mangion can confirm this story.

  18. Helen says:

    I was then Mifsud

  19. Helen says:

    And that was my 11th transfer in 16 years. Sorry this story is coming in hiccups but the internet is playing up.

  20. Censu says:

    L-appointments qishom sparaturi ta’ machine gun hergin.

    Mela l-ewwel Deo Scerri direttur tal-BOV, u ftit sieghat wara Ray Azzopardi ghall-ambaxxata ta’ Brussels.

    Ghandu l-wicc Muscat isemmi l-meritokrazija u li Malta Taghna Lkoll? Minn imissu wara dawn? Knock! Knock! Who’s there? It must be either Paul Bonello or Philip Rizzo at the door.

  21. Min Jaf says:

    Jobs given to PL political appointees do not necessarily come with any actual work attached. The only requirements are a desk, a chair, and a payslip. In most instances the first two might be dispensed with.

  22. ciccio says:

    Margaret Thatcher has died today. A great woman, a great leader.
    I believe she deserves one of your posts, Daphne.

  23. Last Post says:

    That’s ‘meritocracy’ by Labour’s standards. With such standards, who needs a University course in EU Affairs and International Relations. And the same goes for other courses in Public Administration for the various appointments in the Civil Service.

    It should be starkly clear to all genuine ‘switchers’ that Labour hasn’t changed at all. To those who remember the Mintoff days this is exactly the same style of government and policies. It is even worse than Alfred Sant did.

    Not to worry. In spite of the sweet- and double-talk of the ‘Malta Taghna Lkoll’ rallying cry, the effect of all these hotchpotch and deliberately spiteful appointments will eventually filter down and influence both the big picture and the everyday policy decisions affecting the population at large.

    It is not a thought I relish but it is the way the world, and especially a small world like ours, goes. Like very small children we have to touch fire and get burnt by it before we believe the harm it can cause us.

    • Josette says:

      My biggest worry is that it will take time for the switchers to realise that they’ve been cheated. It is very hard for any of us to admit that we have been conned. It’s human nature.

      I just hope that they will get there in five rather than 10 years. At the rate we’re going, Malta’s exceptional economic performance during the economic crisis is going to go exceptionally wrong, exceptionally fast.

  24. fair is fiar says:

    Mhux hekk!

    Meritokrazija, roadmaps, etc…parole, parole.

    Imma n-NEPOTISMU jirbah fuq kollox.

    Tista ma taqbilx mal-PL imma xorta tista tahdem, jekk ituk ic-cans!

    Ipokriti.

  25. bookworm says:

    Methinks he has an integrated scanner and will xRay all and sundry, hence his job as a konsulent tal-intern.

  26. sandra says:

    Same old story – why does he not retire and let some young chap take this post. I hope he speaks French.

  27. Aunt Hetty says:

    Someone has got to water the rubber plants and iron the curtains I suppose.

  28. mario galea says:

    Brussels taghna ilkoll. From Moran’s PRO to Super One to Brussels. Way to go, Ray.

  29. Miss forcina says:

    He also served as PRO with Censu Moran at the Health Ministry in the 80s. He is notoriously remembered for his role during the storming of Egypt Air’s hijacked plane in Malta in November 1985.

  30. Zunzana says:

    What is happening is certainly not one of the CHANGES in governance, the ‘Moviment’ campaigned for. ‘ JOBS FOR THE BOYS’ was one of the comments so frequently uttered by the Labour media in view of the previous administration.

    • ciccio says:

      “We campaigned as a movement. We govern as a movement.”

      There is a lot of meaning in that phrase which Joseph Muscat keeps repeating – he even made the President of the Republic repeat it from the throne in Parliament.

      It must be the title of the guarantee (or contract) which Joseph Muscat gave to the switchers and the others to whom he promised some key position during the electoral campaign.

  31. Spiru says:

    Good inspiration for Agius Decelis – from radiographer to ambassador or whatever…..

  32. Paul says:

    Does he speak French ?

  33. ROCKY says:

    It’s obvious. They are off-loading their payroll costs.

  34. Karl Flores says:

    ”Tista ma taqbilx maghna, imma tista tahdem maghna.” . The MLP keeps it’s promise It is being shown whenever a post is filled. (mill hbieb tal hbieb imma)

  35. Crockett says:

    It’s got to be the lure of Belgian chocolatiers…

    • M. says:

      Do we really need to see Nationalist MPs (Claudette Pace and Marthese Portelli are cases in point) posting comments and/or uploaded photos on Facebook about the parliamentary session while they are still in parliament?

      Won’t they ever learn? All we need now is for someone to upload a comment about the lamb couscous or whatever waiting for them at home, followed, perhaps, by “yummy figolla”. Nothing will ever surprise me.

  36. Frans Cassar says:

    Brussels taghna ukoll.

  37. Matthew S says:

    Farewell to quite possibly the greatest prime minister of all time to ever walk the earth.

    I hope you put something up about Margaret Thatcher.

    Our dimwits in government could learn much from this great lady.

  38. josef2 says:

    Nifirhulu lil Ray Azzopardi.
    Min ghandu l-ghali, ha jzidu.
    Malta taghna lkoll.

    • Josette says:

      U b’dir-rata daqt ngħidlek żommha … imma sfortunatament lil art twelidi nħobbha u ma ħaqqhiex titmexxa minn dat-tip ta’ imbarazz

  39. Lomax says:

    Watching budget debate. Gonzi is brilliant as always. What a tragedy to give him the boot rather than our erstwhile PM! T

  40. Giraffa says:

    Never mind the above. I am watching Lawrence Gonzi deliver his address to Parliament in response to the Budget speech, and I can’t help remarking that it is going to be very tough for the new PN leader to reach such height of eloquence, clarity of argument and statesmanship.

    Certainly none of the opposite crowd could aspire to counter Dr. Gonzi.

  41. MARYANNE says:

    I am watching the budget speech and particularly Dr. Lawrence Gonzi.

    Poor Malta. They voted in Labour to get rid of queues at the hospital’s emergency department. Little do they know that they have sent the whole country en masse to be treated there.

    Edward Scicluna went through a very poor and SHORT speech full of mistakes and hiccups, while Dr. Gonzi had to ask for extra time.

    Dear Minister, repeat after me. It is KOMPETITTIVITA.

  42. canon says:

    Dr Gonzi was brilliant this evening in Parliament. It is a pity that we are going to lose his leadership.

  43. Janneke Pis says:

    Mon Dieu, le petit Dracula Maltais part sucer au royaume belge

  44. Nina says:

    With Ray Azzopardi in Brussels, we can rest assured that all the ministers and the PM himself attending Council meetings (8 or 9 a month in total) will have a compere to manage their trips, press, and the sort. Who cares about substance?

  45. Izzie says:

    Don’t worry my dear, mit-tajjeb ghall-ahjar! Haha, my foot!

  46. J. Portelli says:

    Dear Ms Caruana Galizia,

    In response to your blog post we would like to make a clarification that Ray Azzopardi was NEVER registered as a radiographer and never worked as one – you can actually confirm this with the Council for Professions Complementary to Medicine (CPCM), who is responsible for the Radiography Register.

    From what we have learnt, Mr Azzopardi was actually a member of the ‘Korp tal-Pijunieri’ and from time to time may have assisted in minor maintenance work on some medical devices – but once again would like to point out that he was NOT a radiographer.

    Radiographers are not mere technicians as you are trying to imply – and such a grade of radiography technician does not exist locally.

    Radiographers are recognised professionals who, after successfully completing a 4 year undergraduate degree course at University, need to seek and obtain state registration and a licence to practice from competent authorities in order to be able to work and practice as radiographers.

    In this regard, we would appreciate that you correct the details on your blog accordingly, as we feel it is unfair for the reputation of our profession to suffer as a result of a political ball game being played.

    If you agree to such changes we feel that there will be no need to publish this post on your blog.

    Kind regards

    Jonathan Portelli
    President
    Society of Medical Radiographers, Malta

    [Daphne – Thank you very much for clearing this up by writing in. I will amend the post accordingly and also publish your comment as it is important. However, I do remember that Ray Azzopardi was somehow connected to the radiography department at St Luke’s pre-1987. I knew this through work I did at the time. Yes, you are probably correct in that his work was almost certainly connected to maintenance and not to radiography as such.]

  47. TinaB says:

    Doesn’t one need to have the necessary qualifications to apply for a posting through Foreign Office.

    In what is Ray Azzopardi qualified in order to be able to carry his duties at the Embassy in Brussels?

  48. john says:

    It’s a great relief to hear that Ray Azzopardi was never a radiographer. I was beginning to fear that it might have been him who once manipulated my testicles in order to carry out an examination.

    That’s all right then. It must have been someone else.

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