As our Minister of Energy and Health would say: “Fenominali.”

H.P. Baxxter:

Si tu n’existait pas, il faudrait t’inventer

I had to struggle to write it in L-Orrizont Maltese, but here goes:

BLOGG ECCEZZJONALI ISSA F’MALTA

Dan l-ahhar il-gurnalisti ta’ L-Orizzont kellhom l-opportunità esklussiva jittestjaw prodott gdid fis-suq Malti. Dan mhu xejn hlief certu blogg immexxi minn certu persuna, li l-gurnalisti taghna jiddikjaraw huwa l-aqwa li qatt ittestjaw.

Il-blogg jinsab f’indirizz wiehed biss, u sabiex wiehed jiksbu ghandu jmur direttament fih. Hemm isib dak li tixtieq qalbu, kollox ippakkjat f’artikli mimlija informazzjoni utli. Wiehed jista’ jaghzel bejn grajjiet kurrenti, kummentarju fuq is-socjetà, kummenti politici jew ahbarijiet esklussivi, inkella jitpaxxa bis-satira mill-aqwa.

L-Orizzont kellem lic-certa persuna li tmexxi dan il-blogg eccellenti, u qaltilna li dan taghmlu fil-hin liberu taghha, bhala delizzju. Mistoqsija ghaliex ma taghzilx minfloku l-ganutell jew il-coffee mornings ta’ Silvio Parnis, hija wiegbet b’mod enigmatiku dwar l-importanza tal-gurnalizmu. Ma gietx registrata t-twegiba ezatta, izda nistghu nikkonfermaw li l-prodott huwa wiehed tajjeb, ghall-familja kollha, accessibbli ghal kullhadd, u jinsab fil-hwienet ewlenin erbgha u ghoxrin siegha kuljum, il-gimgha kollha.

Il-prodott nistghu nghidu li jaqa’ taht id-definizzjoni ta’ prodott ta’ lussu, izda li jmur ma’ kull tip ta’ lajfstajl, kif ukoll ma’ kull stil ta’ ghamara. Wiehed jista’ juzah kemm matul il-gurnata kif ukoll bil-lejl, fuq il-post tax-xoghol kif ukoll fid-dar, u sahansitra hdejn il-bahar jew waqt xi barbikju mal-familja. Tant hu hekk li wiehed jista’ dejjem igorru mieghu fuq il-mowbajl.

Nisthajlukom qed tistaqsu “Imma dan il-prodott hekk tajjeb, minn jaf kemm huwa ghali?” Ghandna l-pjacir inhabbrulkom li huwa b’xejn. Dan ifisser li huwa accessibbli ghall-haddiema u l-familji taghhom, ghall-anzjani, kif ukoll ghall-istudenti.

Tassew huwa prodott fenomenali. Inheggu lil kullhadd sabiex jippruvah u jgawdi wkoll mit-tjubija li doqna ahna. Intemmu b’tislima lic-certa persuna li tmexxi l-blogg u nawgurawlha snin twal ta’ hidma fuq dan il-prodott hekk bnin u tajjeb.

I see what you did there.

“Hope you acknowledge email and awaiting your reply.” (‘Don’t burst my bubble, bitch!’)

This ‘communication’ is wrong on so many levels. Malta is falling into unassuming mediocrity in all respects, and at break-neck speed.

The Switchers will wake up one ‘fine’ day and possibly rack-up enough nerve to start to think about coming round to their god-forsaken senses; about which time they might start to inquire about which country they have been inhabiting for the last couple of years.

And more importantly, they might dig up enough grey matter to ask themselves why everything is starting to go pear-shaped and in many cases, bottom-up. Except for the interests of the inner Taghna Lkoll (I’m in) crowd, that is.

Once a Switcher, always a Switcher (that’s my motto) and the sooner the PN grassroots come to accept this uncomfortable fact, the better for its overdue renewal.

The most expedient strategy for the PN’s survival and sustained evolution today is the grassroots’ self-realisation of what/who and is/was politically anathema to the common good of society in the party’s recent political history.

The almost forgotten term ‘Social Justice’ has unfortunately become associated with dramatic eloquence, sensationalism and fundamentalist political ideology, rather than political pragmatism as a sustainable and winning political strategy.

The term ‘Social Justice’ was the winning battle-cry of the PN of the 80s and it remains the deep-rooted yardstick by which the electorate vote-in/out their governments.

Sadly, the PN lost sight of this governing principle many years ago and hence the all-too obvious result today.

Either the PN picks-up on this simple reality or we will soon be reliving the Lorry Sant/Fusellu days.

It is simply a matter of time.

Marjorie Kelly, Downe, Kent: It was probably 35 years ago. I was on a plane coming back from Malta with my husband. It turned out that the then-prime minister of Malta, Dom Mintoff, was onboard. We’d just got our food trays when the cabin crew told us to practise doing up and taking off our seatbelts. We then had to adopt the brace position and the plane went into a nosedive. The pilot said it was a technical fault but we knew it was more than that the way we were descending. We had to make an emergency landing in Corsica. I was by the window and it was pretty scary. It looked like we were going to land in the sea. Our two daughters – aged five and one – weren’t with us. I said to my husband: “I hope the godparents fulfil their obligations.” It was a short runway in Corsica and we must have landed on the outer perimeter of the airfield. It was an unbelievable, awful, screeching noise. Eventually we stopped and the emergency chutes came down. We discovered that the captain had been told there was a bomb on the plane. Because Dom Mintoff was on the plane someone wanted to blow it up. Captain was told that there was a bomb on the plane and it was going to blow up. The plane was too large for the runway so there was a lot of room for error and it was a very scary landing. And the pilot hadn’t had time to jettison much fuel at sea.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28689306