Here’s another comment that I think should be flagged up
Posted by Bubu on this website this morning:
Good morning, Daphne.
Speaking about vindictive behaviour.
I am sitting right now at the Mater Dei reception directly in front of the phlebotomy room.
There’s this short, stumpy ugly man with his wife who seems to think highly of his position in the grand scheme of things. I think he has been rubbed the wrong way by the security man who didn’t seem to have been inclined to allow him to get in out of turn. At least that’s my understanding of the situation.
He is making a big show and saying in front of the waiting crowd – “Kemm hu supperv! Tini t-telecell ha ncempel lill-ministru”.
“Ma jkellimnix? Ma jkellimx lili? Issa tara jkellimnix”, he asserts confidently to the mumbling crowd.
And on the phone, following a couple of minutes of very visible furious pacing and posturing, waiting for his wife to fish an ancient mobile phone out of her voluminous handbag, “Hello Fredu. Ic-chairman jien. Iva c-chairman…Il-marid mhux hekk! Mhux hekk il-marid!…”
Anyway, the chairman (pertaining to what body I have not been able to determine) was apparently deemed not important enough to speak to the minister.
It seems certain however, that today in Malta taghna lkoll as it was in the golden years, you are directly reported to the minister if you do your job without fear or favour.
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Security personnel deployed at Mater Dei Hospital are engaged by and answerable to a private company.
Veru ta’ wara l-muntanji dawn.
‘Sorry hi, ghaddili wahda l-Hugo Chavez ghax mhux qeghdin idahhluni dawn’.
On a different but current issue, I am happy to see a Dutch MEP who is expressing a view which I expressed here yesterday.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Dutch-MEP-says-golden-passport-is-anti-social-20140113
“De Jong, who disagrees with the citizenship sale, has said that member states should threaten to stop the admission of Malta’s IIP (Individual Investor Programme) citizens, rather than grant Brussels the competence of who should be an EU citizen.
“There should be a debate on the recognition of passports,” de Jong suggested in his blog, saying that not everyone who buys a passport may be eligible to enter the Netherlands.”
My comment here was as follows:
“I agree. At this point, the citizenship being sold is European, not Maltese. Therefore, the argument used by the EU so far that a member state has sovereignty over its citizenship does not apply in this case.
In fact, I would say that an EU state should be able to (legally) challenge the right of anyone BUYING a Maltese passport from entering its territory on the grounds that whilst a Maltese national is an EU citizen, a buyer of an EU passport is not an EU citizen. We are hoping that the names of the BUYERS will now be published, so it should be easy for other EU countries to know who has BOUGHT a Maltese passport.
Those countries should be able to argue that they too have sovereignty on EU passports, and therefore no EU passport should be issued without their say in the matter.
If citizenship sold can be revoked, then the EU dimension of such citizenship can be challenged by a country which is not the country issuing the citizenship and passport.”
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/01/this-is-the-most-important-story-in-all-of-todays-newspapers/
But this reflects another of my concerns expressed here in another comment. We can see the beginning of a defensive approach on freedom of movement of persons in the EU. If Muscat becomes a “leader” on citizenship sale as he predicted, then, based on that famous “movement” video which Daphne had published here, there needs to be a follower. It will take one more country following Muscat’s example, and freedom of movement in the EU as we know will change forever.
I used to have that “Taf min jien?” all the time. I had that at football matches when Hibernians played Valletta and the crowd shouted “Issa nghidu lill Ministru”.
I had it during investigation: “Issa nqeduk ahna ha nghidu lill (Minister’s name)”.
From 1971 to 1983 that was the order of the day. I was then moved on to the Inland Revenue.
In 1987, just when the election result was published, someone decided not to refer to any minister but take the law into his own hands and plant a bomb on my doorstep.
Poor coward, forgiven for being a coward but most of all for his cowardly act.
Sorry for my reaction, Daphne: Ole Ole, “Ola.”
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-01-14/news/ignatius-farrugia-guilty-of-harassing-daphne-caruana-galizia-3681615872/#prettyPhoto
“They were each fined €2,400 and ordered not to communicate with Ms Caruana Galizia or approach her for a period of one year, against a guarantee of €1,000 each.”
It’s going to take a few Brazilian waxes to pay that fine.
More roadmap politics.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-01-14/news/bed-shortages-plague-at-hospitali-leads-to-additional-corridor-being-used-3682238464/
It was all costed, of course.
Mhu se niskanta b’xejn! Jien nahdem spizjara mal-privat. Trid tarhom il-bazuzli jcemplu lill-ministru ghax il-medicina taghhom out of stock.
U wara ftit granet tarha delivery man gej biha biss – urgent supply.
Just last week, a patient who happened to be in the pharmacy said: “Kieku ma rajtx ma kontx nemmen!”
Never had we seen this happening before and now it seems to be the order of the day. Back to the 80s? Tal-biki!
The man is an a*shole. Probably left a shiny pick-up outside in a no parking area and will report the warden if he or she dares to give him a ticket.
Inews is triumphantly reporting that that the Labour riff-raff were not found guilty of assault but of harrassing you in Rabat. News about the hefty fine meted out to the perpetrators is buried in the story. “Gurnal indipendenti”, my foot.
Inews is not independent. It’s run by the GWU which is officially divorced from the Labour Party, but still sleeping in the same bed.
Very happy for you when I heard that you won the court case against the Labour Zurrieq mayor Natius Farrugia who was found guilty of harassing you in Rabat. Surely it is fitting for the mayor to submit his resignation from his post but I doubt it as under this Labour Govt. accountability means nothing.
And more is yet to come.
This is a switchers’ paradise.
Franco Debono, again. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140114/local/theft.502637#.UtV6Asu9KSM
There’s Deborah Schembri on Net doing her best to cover all aspects of the cash for citizenship scheme.
She thinks Hannes Swodoba is just jealous.
I haven’t yet understood whether it’s turning into a laburista which inhibits one’s brain cells or the inverse. I mean, honestly, is this the level of discussion they intend to inflict on the European parliament?
Deborah Schembri should honour us with her views about the harassment of NP election agents labelled as “tal-Gakketta Blue” and taken to court with false charges from which they were declared innocent.
I am reliably informed that she has some very pertinent information about that frame up.
Yes, that’s Labour for you my friend.
Full speed ahead to the Mintoffian Golden era when well known political thugs from Zeijtun used to go to St Luke’s, terrorizing nursing and medical staff alike, demanding instant medical attention ghax “haqq ****, int taf min jien, u ghax ****, ghalija, l-ebda ****jew ******* ma jista.”
Will the major of Zurrieq be resigning from his post after this?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140114/local/three-fined-for-harassing-caruana-galizia.502635
Just read the report about your case against Natius Farrugia on the Independent. Happy you triumphed Daphne. Well done and thank you.
Hi Daphne, do you know of any books which you can recommend, that portray the way life was in general in George Borg Olivier’s time just before Mintoff got elected? I’m referring to the tourism industry, economy, and the social life of the Maltese in general.
Thanks.
[Daphne – No. You will have to do your own research, starting with the newspapers of the time. They’re available at the National Library in Valletta.]
At that time Dr George Borg Olivier had handled the transformation of the Malta economy from that of a fortress to a civil economy, tourism being prominently represented, so brilliantly above all expectations that the British government tried to cut down on the subsidy that it was giving Malta over the transition period. The Governor General Sir Maurice Dorman actually joined the public demonstration “four square” behind the George Borg Olivier Malta government.
That was the first occasion when the Malta electorate was bamboozled to vote for a change and instead of a change for the better was plunged to the status of a third world developing country with the people living in misery while the Labour government boasted of a “kaxxa mimlija”.
And yet our eminent historians tell us that it was all inevitable.
Try the last volume of Ganado’s ”Rajt Malta Tinbidel”.
“Defence lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri argued that the girlfriend’s brother resembled Mr Agius but the police had failed to include him in the identification parade. The court said this was a shortcoming of the prosecution.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140114/local/theft.502637#.UtYnTc3QQXw
and
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-01-14/news/coin-robber-handed-suspended-sentence-3681976320/
It also transpired that William Agius’ vehicle was used in the robbery however he argued that this had been lent to Roderick Debono, his girlfriend’s brother, for some time.
Mr Debono too was investigated as witnesses had seen three people leaving the residence carrying a bulky white object. While Mr Debono looks a lot like Agius, he could not be found guilty as his photo was not part of the identification parade.
Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit presided over the court. Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri appeared for Agius.
My observation is that if the girlfriend’s brother had the car in his possession at the moment of the burglary , and the car was seen leaving the crime scene with three thieves , than it goes without saying that the girlfriend’s brother was an accomplice in the burglary.
Thanks to our Law Commissioner we can now catch the second burglar and get the vehicle seized by the court.
Bravo Franco keep up the good work!
When will the prosecution start proceeding against the second thief ?
What is your email address, please?
[Daphne – dcgalizia@gmail.com]
Fresh on the heels of a court decision which found that the Golden Years Mintoffian government had violated the human rights of National Bank shareholders, Labour MP who is receiving multiple remunerations from the state payroll interferes with banks decisions on interest rates.
Probably the 20-something year-old MP who posts photos half naked (Ok, it was the upper half) on Facebook thinks that he can dictate market conditions, commercial and capitalisation considerations to the private banks.
“I believe corporate social responsibility demands that banks do not appear as being greedy.” – he is quoted as saying by Malta Today.
“Labour is safe for business.” Now who had said that?
It’s worth remembering that the last time Labour was in government in 1996-1998 they imposed a one-time 15% tax on banks’ profits, because they believed banks were making huge profits.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/businessdetails/business/businessnews/Banks-must-reduce-high-borrowing-rates-MP-20140115
Now that EU Citizenship will be used as a cash cow, are we heading for another clash with the banks, maybe?