“Obama jmissu jarma tal-Monti hemmhekk, Mich – ara kemm ghandu post”
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June 19, 2013 at 6:37pm
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We plebs – we are not high society so we don’t get it. Muscat does not want to make history, he just wants to go down in history.
He does not care how or why. It is an obsession. Second Republic, I spoke to Piano and I told him this and that, I met Hollande…naqra minn kollox.
As much as PL’s ideas are hilarious and villagesque, Gonzi and co.’s plan to locate the houses of parliament right at the entrance of a walled city is dictatorial ; a sort of “Look at us! We are the supreme power”! (Ceausescu would have loved that kind of thing).
[Daphne – Why do you think the Palace of Westminster is on the Thames? It was the entrance to London town.]
Parliament is not the seat of government, despite popular perception. Taking your argument to its logical conclusion, we should blow up the Auberge de Castille to make way for il-monti.
La Redoute:
OK, I’ll rephrase as to eliminate any ‘doutes’:
All I’m saying is that in the Middles Ages, in the Baroque period – whatever – political symbols were erected in prominent spots in cities. Doing that today is likely to be deemed unethical.
What Valletta needed was space, fountains, some modern lightweight sculptures and a Music and Arts centre (regardless its style). Needless to say: such a project would approach the billion Euro figure not the pidly 80 million which seemed to overwhelm most of the nation. Imma l-Malti, miskin, f’xi festa jifhem…
Having said this, a billion (or so) Euro centre would need to house a professional orchestra that does it justice. I’m a performing arts lover, and in my 50+ years living round Europe, I’ve seen all the major North American and European orchestras and it is very sad to have to admit to the fact that my country of origin probably has the worst orchestra in Europe (and one of the worst in the world). “Keep Calm: Horrore und Ziegmunt F (alias F Ziegmunt) will sort Arts education out”.
I am afraid your clarification did not eliminate doubts but raised some fundamental issues.
What is unethical in placing the a symbol of democracy in the most prominent part of our capital?
While I too would have preferred the restoration of the Royal Opera House, I don’t find anything wrong or unethical in the new location for parliament.
I hate the new design but I also admit to having very little knowledge about what constitutes architectural beauty.
However, I do appreciate and defend the significant investment made in bringing the world renowned Piano to design our parliament. This elevates parliament and reinforces it as a symbol of democracy in the eyes of the Maltese and those who visit our islands.
Like other architectural wonders such as Mdina, Victoria and the neolithic temples it says something about our history and our ancient heritage. Something to be proud of.
What is unethical is that Muscat is making a mockery of this national (not PN) symbol. Those who agree with him do not even realise that they are being manipulated by Muscat. In so doing they mock our history and disregard the years of hardship to realise independence and become a member of the European Union.
I hope you do appreciate this argument.
Joe Fenech the fundamental problem with your otherwise “fair” but idealistic reasoning is that you are talking with a Luxembourg or Monaco type of coffer, whereas the decision to get Piano to design the Parliament, without adulterating a historic property and at the same time free the President’s Palace for better (money generating) uses is really cutting the best dress out of what is available. More than that it is probably impossible to do better.
You see I too am a lover of performing arts, but I also understand that they come at a huge cost which the nation, given the audiences, cannot sustain beyond a certain limit. All you need to do is look at Greece and Italy. The former just disbanded its national orchestra and the latter is cutting its cultural spend beyond believe.
PS. Just been to Luxembourg and even there they are trimming their culture spend as the country is losing its competitive edge
We are not in the Middle Ages…
Time for Maltese politicians to evolve!
Perhaps you should grace politics with your progressive outlook.
ACD, actually you know what? – you’re very right! After all, unlike most politicians, I’m self made, was in the EU 4 decades before Malta and did not need politics as a career platform or to see my business flourish.
Parliament is the highest institution in Malta and it deserves a prominent place. Nothing to do with power. Or would you rather our MPs meet in a garage.
Maybe William Mangion can help them find a suitable garage etil? :)
Good idea. Perhaps Willie Mangion can get a year’s extension to his contract to find another garage for our MPs to debate in.
Parliament is a symbol of democracy and not of any one individual. Those who think that Parliament building should have been hidden away somewhere else have a very poor understanding of the meaning and importance of democracy as represented by its Parliament.
We are the smallest democracy in Europe. Why should we be ashamed of our Parliament building?
And why not Joe Fenech. Yes, the members of parliament are supreme because they REPRESENT (sometimes unfortunately) us. That is what democracy is all about.
Guzi:
Represent the people! Say that to the Europeans and the Americans!!!
Why not use the new parliament building as a place for bands to rehearse? That would be a year’s William Mangion salary saved. Maybe Joseph Muscat could rent out his car to take equipment back and forth while he is in parliament.
Erm… Are WE not Europeans?
Well, as far as I know all European and the American governments were democratically elected, including the Maltese one. So yes, people will sometimes feel not represented but the majority should always feel reperesented.
Exactly, in a democracy parliament is supreme.
Fejn trid taghmlu.
L-arcipierku jew id-due balli. Jew forsi taht iz-ziemel ?
Tkunx injurant.
Thallatx lil dittatur abjett u qattiel ta eluf bhal Ceausescu (sieheb dak iz-zibel Mintoff) ma Gonzi.
Mur sewwi mohhok.
In all fairness, the Parliament building attracted a barrage of criticism at the time. This was mainly due to its being done without proper consultation and at a very high cost to the tax payer. It was done at a time when the country was fighting off a recession while the project was only entitled to negligible EU funding, if any. Culture apart, it was a massive investment at a wrong time.
We had the same episode with the acquisition of Malta House in Brussels. The smallest country in the EU insisting on having Maltese as its official language (when English would have been perfectly acceptable) and purchasing one of the largest buildings owned by any EU state. This obviously gave the impression of grandeur but in reality was very lucrative and paid well in terms of consultancy fees for a selected handful of people involved in the deed.
I believe particularity of Maltese, which we should be proud of, is that it is the only semitic language in the EU. Therefore its very unique value. The argument for Maltese goes deeper than mere necessity of comprehension and communication. I would say we are extremely lucky to find both our official languages recognised and catered for in the EU.
Consultation with whom? With a Xarabank audience? With you? With me?
That was the most practical site, parking spaces for MPs and employees(maybe 80) in the ex-train station tunnel(Yellow Garage).
Richard England suggested the then disused Excelsior Hotel.
Why do you think Dom Mintoff made Auberge de Castille his office, instead of Borg Olivier’s Auberge D’Aragon?
“Look at me! I’m the supreme power”! And he was Ceaucescu’s friend.
That was my reply to Joe Fenech’s comment.
So Mintoff is your philosophical benchmark?
The Auberge De Castille was used as the headquarters of the French occupation forces between 1798 and 1800 and as the British army headquarters after 1800.
I seem to remember someone once quoting Lord Mountbatten of Burma as saying that the view from Castille was the most beautiful in the Mediterranean. Since 1972, it has been regarded as the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta.
What is so wrong with that?
In my opinion Joe Fenech was not correct when he criticised the location of our house(s) of parliament. It is a magnificent and practical work of art and somehow blends with the surrounding area; a decent place where our representatives can work.
Auberge de Castille is the symbolic ‘seat of power’ – it’s in the highest part of Valletta and you have to climb a flight of stairs to reach the actual PM’s office. That’s how things should be. If Mintoff and Ceaucescu liked that set up, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong.
About the theatre – how many of us are theatre lovers, can afford to go to the theatre and have time on their hands to go for nights at the opera like our Mr Fenech?
I think I will be going to watch Mark Knopfler playing some Dire Straits pieces on the Granaries, but I don’t know whether I’ll attend Joseph Calleja’s concert even if it is for free. I must say that I felt really proud of him when he performed at the Royal Albert Hall in the Last Night of the Proms. He’s got talent, but those are my preferences.
Maybe I get my full satisfaction wearing jeans and a tee shirt eating a ploughman’s lunch (‘hobza friska imhaffra u inhawra, biz-zejt u t-tadam’) on a sandy beach and feel down having to be in a straitjacket nibbling canapes and drinking champagne with caviar.
Hahahaha
There is even place to have three carnivals all at once. Pity the ‘brains’ behind the government’s policy and strategy makers are not in Obama’s cabinet.
They would have spared us and the country so much humiliation. Only God knows what we will be made to endure during the next five years.
Daphne
This is completely out of subject but I have to point it out.
I do not participate in the VAT lottery but I once heard it is riddled with corruption. Take a look at the link below. You will notice that a person with ID no 410182M won twice in the same draw.
Yes out of a number of tonnes of receipts per month, two receipts belonging to the same person were drawn. And in both cases the receipt was in excess of the max permissible and so he/she won the maximum amount ie 11647 x 2.
That’s Eur 23,000 plus in only one draw. Now if this is pure luck, may God bless this guy and may he or she be blessed but if it is something fishy that is going on then I am sure you have ways and means to know.
https://gov.mt/en/Government/DOI/Documents/VAT%20DOI%20WEBSITE%20RESULT%20062013.pdf
Maybe a statistician would have things to say on that!
As far as I know, the tickets are drawn up and verified ”live” on tv.
scott brown, the lucky guy lives in Tarxien. Wonder what are the chances of winning such a lottery twice?
The odds are around one in one hundred million.
Titnejkux bil-poplu. Please.
Lanqas biss jafu jisthu.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alKCErzwtKG8 – Beat this Great leader Joseph with an international recognition of your government’s performance in the near future. Challenge accepted?
‘Qisu l-vara hierga mill-knisja fil-gurnata tal-festa.’
This is how Net News editor John Zammit described Joseph Muscat at his latest press conference. He made my day.
Good morning to all.
Yes I laughed at the apt description. John Zammit is really great. In fact I suggest he publishes all his commentaries to date. Prosit John.
I am beginning to suspect that the Prime Minister’s visit to Renzo Piano in Paris didn’t accomplish what he wanted to turn the House of Parliament into something else.
I think Piano disagreed with Muscat’s proposal and since Muscat didn’t have it his way, he tried to humiliate his project by transferring the Monti hawkers to the Valletta entrance.
[Daphne – No, that promise to the Monti hawkers was made before the election.]
Now it seems that the building is going to be used as House of Parliament.
People have to realise by now that Joseph is taking non-decisions, in other words approving every decision which Gonzi took before him.
Malta’s entry into the European monetary system, the Budget which he voted against, Arriva, the Cospicua waterfront, the health system and the Piano Project which GONZI will inaugurate as Joseph promised.
No need to tell you that Joseph keeps his promises.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120401/local/labour-government-would-invite-lawrence-gonzi-to-inaugurate-city-gate-project.413686
What would have happened if the use of the Piano Project was changed? How would have Joseph kept his word with Gonzi with whom he has a “good relationship”?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130620/local/minister-distributes-fruit-to-immigrants-at-hal-far-open-centre.474618
Hu go fik, Lowell.
I still think the hand shake here was over a European platform. This way he’s on his best behaviour until next year and then providing a 4th carnival in Brussels thereafter for the run-up to the Presidency. Out of sight, out of mind? Perhaps that’s what JM meant when he said “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I didn’t understand a word you wrote.
Haha.Thank you for much needed humour today. I could suggest a couple of more places – what a bunch of idiots.
Well done for you excellent article in The Malta Independent. A must-read for the PN leadership and all PN activists.
Yes, mistakes where committed by the PN government but compared to its many successes, those mistakes were peanuts.
As you say, Daphne, Simon Busuttil saying that 36,000 people cannot be wrong is wrong in itself.
Lawrence Gonzi is the best Prime Minister Malta ever had. People’s lives are significantly better with more educational opportunities, more public spaces and more job opportunities. The Maltese never had it so good.
As for the reasons for the PN defeat, there is one and only one. People wanted change no matter what. They did not want to see more of the same, even if it meant that less competent people would be in office.
Had PN gilded roads in gold, they would still have been voted out of office. The scale of the defeat may have been larger because of some mistakes but even without mistakes, in hindsight, defeat was a certainty.
Your article in today’s The Malta Independent is a perfect analysis. The PN should have turned to you before they published their report because it just says it all. The PN would do well to copy it and paste it on their noticeboard at the PN HQ.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-06-20/news/chinese-government-offer-not-to-be-refused-1865678851/
Most of Muscat’s words reported here are rather worrying: the idea of accepting something for free for China only because it is free (there’s obviously a catch somewhere) and the whole “not his style to announce what these discussions concerned before it was time” detail, for starters.
It is obviously clear that we are going GAS DOWN GOL-HAJT!!!. We’ve started from excess deficit, putting culture down the drain, while boasting li “dan Gvern li jisma'”. What’s next? Roll up your sleeves people. We need to send him back to Burmarrad.
Mintoff, all over again – http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Government-in-wide-ranging-negotiations-with-China-Muscat-20130620
“Asked whether the government knew the company was blacklisted by the World Bank, Muscat said: “When the Chinese Government offers its biggest company to carry out a feasibility study for free, and you also have another feasibility study being carried out on all options… I think we had to accept it.””
I am more inclined to think that the Labour party, now in government (as opposed to the government itself), had no option but to accept the Chinese “offer”.
C’est magnifique! I mean your article in today’s The Malta Independent.
Many think as you do. I even phoned in during one programme expressing the same opinion.
Why is the PN grovelling in this way? For the thousands of jobs it made possible? For the thousands of jobs it saved?
For giving the opportunity to any one willing to proceed to tertiary education? For the new hospital? For the new airport? For joining the EU?
For entering the Euro zone? For having Renzo Piano design a unique architectural monument?
For Gonzi’s gentlemanly behaviour? For Gonzi’s action during the Libyan uprising? For the freedom of expression we enjoyed?
The list is endless.
The PN leaders should be ashamed of grovelling in this way. Of course mistakes were made, but honestly. Listening to some phone-ins all we have been hearing is – you hurt me! I/my son/my husband (I have to hear ‘my wife’) did not get a promotion, a job, a flat & c & c & c. As some people say, some Maltese have only one commandment – I am the Lord your God.
The only thing the PN should be sorry for is that when returned to government in ’87 it didn’t pursue the perpetrators of so many horrible instances in the 70s and 80s.
I’ve voted Nationalist in all the elections since the first time I was eligible. And I know beyond doubt that I did the right thing.
Was I wrong to vote for Independence? Was I wrong to vote for the PN led by George Borg Olivier, Eddie Fenech Adami and Simon Busuttil? Dr. Busuttil, as Daphne pointed out, 36000 voters can definitely be wrong.
And those who voted for you had their head screwed on right.
Well said. My thoughts exactly.
Jo Saliba,
Just one very little disagreement.
There is only one Commandment.
Job mal-gvern u post tal-gvern.
The rest of your contribution is super.
“Labour is sejf for business.”
“Tistghu tahdmu maghna anke jekk ma taqblux maghna.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130620/local/animal-hospital-review.474621
Congratulations, Daphne, on your splendid article today. I agree perfectly with what you wrote.
I feel so frustrated and angry when I hear the Nationalist leaders apologising. As you said, we Maltese never had it so good. All the brainwashing by the Labour party paid off.
Besides, it is so unfair on Dr. Lawrence Gonzi when they apologize. He was an exceptional Prime Minister and we enjoy such a high standard of living today thanks to him.
Another thing I would like to point out. The number of switchers is not 36,000 but 18,000. If 18,000 of those who voted Labour voted for PN instead, the two parties would have obtained the same number of votes.
And those 18,000 WERE definitely wrong. I heard Dr. Gonzi say “tirriskjawx” so many times before the election.
These 18,000 did not heed his words and took the risk. Because of their stupidity we all now have to suffer the consequences.
The PM is going to meet the Pope, soon. Will he recommend the Pope to set up il-Monti during Sunday Church?
“Haw Cikk, hemm kif se naghmlu fuq il-ligi taz-zwieg?”
“You could have discussed this matter with my Apostolic Nuncio in Malta, We do not want to waste your precious time on this formality.As my predecessor once said“
Truth is not determined by a majority vote.
”The Church’s teachings remain the same about divorce. May God bless your family…Your wife somehow reminds me of my home-country’s ex-first lady.”