Truth and facts were the victims in the mass hysteria engendered by Labour’s electoral campaign
Remember how they based a big part of their campaign on the falsehood that Malta’s electricity prices are the highest in Europe, if not the world?
Except that nobody bothered to listen to those who tried to shout above the din that yes, it was a falsehood.
Now in the calm after the storm, those who got taken in might have time to digest one of today’s news stories: that household electricity prices in Malta are stable and below the EU average.
Now, whenever somebody tells me that he or she voted for Joseph to try him out, or for change, or because he or she took those messages on board, I just feel pity and compassion.
I can’t even get cross at these people. They manifest the sort of sympathy-engendering gullibility as those individuals who invest their life’s savings in some shell company after a series of persistently persuasive calls from a boiler-room organisation.
17 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130527/local/household-energy-prices-in-malta-stable-and-below-eu-average.471449
It says that:
1. The highest increase in household electricity prices was registered in Cyprus (+21%).
2. Expressed in euro, the highest average household electricity prices in the second half of 2012 included Cyprus (29.1).
3. When expressed in purchasing power standards (PPS) the highest household electricity prices were in Cyprus (32.9).
Why exactly did Joseph Muscat complain because we were different from Cyprus?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101101/local/gonzi-not-as-good-as-fenech-adami-in-economic-management-muscat.334190
Ah, but to have understood this fact before the campaign, I guess you needed to be the sort of person who actually cares about and listens to people who describe what goes on beyond Malta’s shores. I unfortunately doubt that’s the case for most of the voting population.
Indeed it was mass hysteria. No one voted for the things that Muscat promised.
They voted for Malta Taghna Lkoll.
And the problem with that is that it means different things to everyone. To some it means they can now get rid of foreigners, to others it means undoing everything the PN has done over the past 25 years, to others it means they can now do what they want.
Muscat has no control over this, so he’d better come up with a plan for when the shit hits the fan.
Life in Malta wasn’t perfect, but it was the best it has ever been in a long long time. And we were still on the way up. Why on earth did people want a change in direction?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21734277
The shit is already hitting Joseph’s fan.
And he’s ducking it by staying out of view.
Elves galore. The imbeciles commenting , as usual, expect the production costs (i.e. the price of oil in no small measure), to be directly indexed to the average salary in Malta, or any other EU country in this case.
I don’t pity them at all. I despise their lack of foresight, insight and interest in the future.
Most of all I despise them because due to their sheer stupidity I have to see my country going back to the dark ages.
One age-old curse is “May you live through interesting times”. Well, I reckon we’re heading for so many “interesting times” it will be a long time until we stop kicking ourselves for bringing them onto ourselves.
Totally agree.
varist Bartolo protested that Malta is BWSC’s guinea pig.
Instead of demanding a compensation from BWSC for using us as guinea pigs, the government forgive all other rightful claims.
One should compare the ratio between the prices of utllities and the average wage in Malta with those of other countries.
Labour’s strategy in opposition of persistently blaming the government for all ills worked wonders. We all know the beguiling effect of a chant on the human mind. Just ask yourselves how many people you know who have constantly moaned and groaned when they never had it so good.
One should compare the ratio between the prices of utilities and the average wage in Malta with this ratio in other countries.
[Daphne – Go ahead, then, David. Compare the cost of household electricity in Britain to the average British wage, but don’t forget to factor in the cost of gas for heating your home nine months a year while you’re at it. And it might also be a good idea to compare the cost of household electricity in Italy to the average Italian wage, or the cost of household electricity in Greece to the average Greek wage, always assuming that the people with electricity bills to pay have jobs. Shall I go on? The level of sheltering from harsh reality, among big Maltese ‘children’, is quite impressive.]
I think we all know that the purchasing power in Malta is much less than other other countries. I remember tourists from Scotland complaining last year that the prices of public transport and face cream in Malta were higher than those obtained in Scotland. We all know that our wages are lower than those in the UK.
This is also reflected in IMF statistics http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=mt&v=65k.
[Daphne – David, your po-faced style of communication and your literal mind make me despair. “I remember tourists from Scotland complaining last year that the prices of public transport and face cream in Malta were higher than those obtained in Scotland.” Other people might say that you cannot be serious, but I know only too well that you are.]
With hindsight at this point in time we can honestly say that the PN were spiralling out of control.
As a cohesive functioning party they were far from a happy bunch and for all the platitudes being heaped on Lawrence Gonzi he was unable control the unravelling of the party structure in parliament around him.
To hold this man to God-like expectations would be utterly unfair and that is what many of the electorate expected – now we have the promises of Joseph and the man himself to contend with.
Am I imagining things or is our PM’s style of governance laid-back, way laid back, or even by remote control.
Not even 100 days into his mandate, he has already lost control of his Cabinet, parliamentary group and sundry hangers-on, with everybody doing his own thing.
This cabinet has 22 prime ministers and 1 prima donna.