No, the prime minister and his wife are NOT buying Villino Zammit in Sliema
Villino Zammit in High Street, Sliema (top end of Victoria Avenue/George Borg Olivier Street)
Rumours that the prime minister and Mrs Muscat have bought or are planning to buy the large house called Villino Zammit, in Sliema’s High Street, have been circulating since late summer.
Over the last two weeks, the rumours have become more intense and are literally all over the island, spreading right through every social stratum and group. Also, they have gone from rumour to ‘fact’.
In the last four or five days, I have received countless telephone calls, emails and text messages from people who I know and others who I don’t know, telling me that the prime minister and his wife have bought this house for Eur2 million.
People have even stopped me in shops and on the street to tell me about this.
I ignored the rumours for a variety of reasons, among them my favourite, Occam’s razor. The main reason, though, is that it would be insane, from a public relations point of view, for the prime minister to spend Eur2 million on one of Sliema’s last remaining grand old villas. People would 1. immediately ask why he has that kind of money; 2. accuse him of pretentions and pretentiousness; 3. become very cross and contemptuous. I think even he knows that.
Today, when I could barely move for text messages telling me about this purchase, I decided that I couldn’t ignore the rumours anymore. The story had taken on a life of its own, and whereas a month ago reporting that the prime minister is NOT going to buy a Sliema villa would have been a non-starter in terms of news – quite unlike reporting that he IS going to buy it – now, things have changed.
So many people right across the island are convinced that it is true, that even reporting it is NOT true is now news.
This evening I rang Malcolm Dato Mallia, whose mother (nee Zammit) is one of the owners. He knew what I was calling about as soon as he heard my name.
“We have been laughing about this for the last month,” he told me. “People are asking us about it all the time. We are hearing about it everywhere. But I can assure you that we have never had any exchange or conversation with Joseph Muscat about buying this house and no, he has never put in an offer. The rumours are wrong.”
And there you have it. Joseph and Michelle Muscat are NOT buying Villino Zammit in Sliema’s High Street, for Eur2 million or any other sum.
19 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
The other rumour was a flat at Tigne Point, but then how could Michelle Muscat play the village benefactor there during the village feast?
Thank God, now we don’t have to worry about our property values going down.
Is he moving to Sliema, though? Many of his Cabinet did. Why wouldn’t he?
Konrad Mizzi moved to China. Occasionally, he flies to Malta to put in an appearance.
Maybe Michelle Muscat’s ambition is to be a Sliema Wife.
OMG news does travel fast but in the wrong directions.
The rumour started because a certain Joseph Muscat (of the Capua Hospital family) bought a flat in the block where the Dato Mallias live.
People obviously mistook him for the, excuse me, PM. Qiesu Joseph Muscat wiehed jezisti. Kieku kienet Cinque Cento kienet tmur f’direzzjoni ahjar minn din ir-rumour. We have to be Maltese.
I’ve got all your movies in VHS, Edwige.
I can describe my adolescence as Edwidge Fenech bla sound.
Edwidge, what a super name.
Baxxter, you gotta send me those flics.
Ever since my youth, I admired how you were the first woman in Maltese history to appear in the Italian films. Gone are those days.
Please no. Not in Sliema. Never. Not wanted.
No, he wouldn’t move to Sliema – it’s too far from his parents.
[Daphne – That’s hardly a consideration. The real reason is that he won’t spend money on something he can get for free. And that’s the reason he lives in a house built in his parents’ garden, not because he wants to live in his mother’s pocket. He doesn’t strike me as a mother’s boy at all. If he were, for a start he wouldn’t be such a Mintoffian. This is a daddy’s boy we’re looking at.]
And it doesn’t have an underlying garage.
Yes, but:
“There is no smoke without fire.”
Book of Proverbs of Sant The Bewigged, Chapter 42, Verse 94.
Bhalek nahsibha jien. Il-Malti jghid li l-qasba ma ccaqqcaqx ghalxejn.
Ma jafux kif jaghmluhom l-affarijiet minn wara dahar il-poplu.
Lanqas li m’ghandniex ezempji! Mela biex jixtri dar Joseph Muscat irid ikun jaf kulhadd?
Whatever the rumours…if the Muscats do come to Sliema, will they fit in? I think not! So please stay in Burmarrad…thank you.
[Daphne – They’ll fit in perfectly. It’s no longer 1988.]
If Silvio Parnis can fit in, so can anyone.
By the way, what happened to the Silvio Parnis case involving his ex-aide? Daphne, any news? Or is this just going to be swept under the carpet like everything else?
You need to stay up to speed. The ex-aide was mollified with a very large iced bun. Facebook comments deleted, case closed.