Daphne I understand what you say, was already aware of most of it and I agree. But a referendum would make what people want official. If Joseph carries on with his scheme, as I agree he probably will, he will be considered a dictator. The whole world will know what the Maltese people really want and they will be against Joseph and his government and not Malta. I feel irritated and hurt reading comments on foreign media against us Maltese when we have nothing to blame. They will know that the scheme is the action of a dictator and not of a nation.

Joseph Muscat holds a doctorate. But did he earn it?

In fairness, a referendum (and to a lesser, extent clicking Like on Facebook) is a way of establishing what the wider public thinks about an issue. It establishes numbers.

Few people have the skill to explain their views in writing. If not part of their day job, most people need a lot of time and effort to write. It does not come natural to most people.

[Daphne – A referendum is not an opinion poll, and should not be treated as one. What the wider public thinks can be established by the relatively simple and inexpensive expedient of a professionally-executed survey of opinion. They tend to be fairly accurate.]

I agree that people should make the effort to write and make their views known but other modes of expressing an opinion should not be dismissed out of hand.

[Daphne – Clicking Likes on a Facebook comment should be dismissed out of hand immediately. It is not a considered response but verges on a nervous tic.]

People have been constantly expressing their views and worries but the government does not want to listen.

A referendum would force him to listen and I am strongly in favour of holding one.

[Daphne – How wrong you are. If even some of the most dedicated readers of this website have deficient reasoning, the situation is much worse that. I am sorry to give such a strong response, but I have reached the point where I am despairing. Why would a political party led by a man who ignored the referendum on EU membership suddenly decide to take notice of one on the sale of citizenship? Because they/he took notice of the referendum on divorce? They took notice because that referendum was a tool in their hands, a tool for their purposes, not because they gave a stuff about what people think. If a referendum vote shows that Malta opposes the sale of citizenship, they will proceed regardless as they did with EU membership, carrying on with a position against and refusing to acknowledge the result. This has never been about listening. This has always been about getting into a position where they have full control and power for five years. Before the election, they listened for one reason only: to find out what they could use to get into power, to discover people’s weak points, desires and Achilles’ heels – not so as to do anything to help but to pander to them and get their vote. Now they’re in, and the listening has stopped.]

The sale of citizenship scheme was not on Labour’s electoral programme. People did not vote for it. So it is even more important to have a referendum. This is an extremely serious matter so the people should decide. That is democracy.

[Daphne – Again, I despair. The reason why the sale of passports was not in Labour’s electoral programme is precisely BECAUSE Labour DIDN’T WANT people to vote for it. This is not a decision taken after the election. It is a decision taken BEFORE the election, which means leaving it out was deliberate. It was left out because Labour knew it would get a negative vote. Yet the sale of passports is clearly a precondition to something and underpins something else, so it has to go through. There is going to be no referendum and no listening to what people want. Labour HAS TO sell passports. For reasons that are still unclear, it has no choice in the matter and must proceed despite the immense collateral damage even to its own popularity.]

And I’m sure he thinks his comment was really clever – “you pointed out my flaws so I’ll point out yours”. It’s a repackaging of the old “Spanish people shouldn’t criticise hunting in Malta until they abolish bull fighting” argument. Impressive how much we haven’t moved on.

Edward Duncan
I think that you Italians should NOT comment about this at all. First you elect a comedian to your parliament and then make a mess of it. Do you really think that you can fix your problems in this way? Sorry but you’re wrong. You’re too fragmented to do this and your country is split in two; north and south. It’s up to each country to give citizenship to whoever it wishes to, based on the conditions that each country sets. Let me remind you that there are loads of so called “italians” that live in every part of the world and I guess that they’re given passports for some odd silly reasons, like having their great great great grand father or mother born in Italy. Come on guys be serious!!! You’ve got more serious problems to address in Italy such as brain drain, youth unemployment, general unemployment, unstable government and the list never ends. We are a small PROUD nation and we have changed our economy, perhaps you can learn something from us. I could have written this in Italian but I chose to use English as I know that most of you won’t understand. In quel caso potete sempre usare google translate!!!

Dak tax-xellug ma nafx min hu.

Jien insibu inkredibilment seksi. Le, veru. Il-polo shirt roza huwa “in” hafna.

Bis: “Aesthetics can be defined as a dance of attention.” Edward de Bono

“Aesthetics can be defined as a dance of attention.” Edward de Bono

Inspired by Machiavelli no doubt