On the subject of the PN’s appalling decision to trundle out that fossilised, self-serving nonentity

Published: October 26, 2014 at 10:28am

Godfrey Norman

If there is any man in public life who is the very synthesis of that descriptor noun which begins with W and ends with R, it is Godfrey Grima.

What a waste of space.

Somebody should tell the Nationalist Party that you don’t start afresh by hallmarking your Ideas Convention with shambolic extras from One Foot In The Grave who have been led to believe that they are the sine qua non of intellectual life in this intellectual desert called Malta.

I know people in their 20s who have done far more in their lives so far than Godfrey Grima and his boyfriend Oliver Friggieri have done in both their lives put together.

I know new and fresh people who are more eloquent by far, who are more in touch with the world, and who have real and proper insight into the reality of life in 2014. Godfrey Grima and especially Oliver Friggieri never knew anything much about life. They never went anywhere or did anything and they lived in a capsule. They are no different to those individuals who have had their entire lives centred on one particular waterpolo club and one particular set of friends. Would the Nationalist Party seek the views of somebody like that? No. Well, then.

Those are the people I want to listen to: people of my children’s generation. Godfrey Grima is old enough to be my father, which is no mean feat given that I am 50. I have absolutely no interest in hearing what that generation has to say and neither does anybody else my age. We grew up hearing it, for heaven’s sake. I do not even want to hear what people MY generation have to say because I’m sick of the lot of them by now.

Bring on the young. They are the present and the future. Because they grew up in a different world, not a world of Cold Wars and Communism and Berlin Walls and, in Grima’s case, World War II destruction and reconstruction, because – unlike the rest of us – they came to adulthood in an EU member state, they are different from us. I want to listen to them. We all should.

Pack Godfrey Grima up in a carton and post him back to Joseph Muscat and Karmenu Vella. What he thought was never worth much even in his prime. Now, it is worth nothing.

The Nationalist Party should have had the good sense to see that it stands to gain nothing from branding its Ideas Convention with a scruffy old blast from the past who has spent the last couple of decades hoofing around after Alfred Sant and Joseph Muscat, and pontificating on Super One TV, and who never had anything worthwhile to say anyway.

It lost an opportunity to get some really worthwhile people out there on its podium, some dynamic individuals in their 20s or 30s.

Godfrey Grima is probably narked because his hero Muscat put his Fat Controller brother on the state payroll and made him Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Tourism, but made him special envoy for nothing despite all his special guest appearances on Super One.

I’ve had it up to here with these freaky men and their black-hole egos and their constant need for admiration, ‘respect’ and adulation. What a sick situation.

Read Norman Vella on the subject. I respect his views because they come from a place of honesty and forthrightness. And I am glad he sees it the same way. Link below.




13 Comments Comment

  1. Makjavel says:

    Simon Busuttil should understand that once a traitor always a traitor. It’s a personality flaw, not a single act or decision.

    • Chris says:

      This has nothing to do with being a traitor. I would like nothing better than meeting a person with opposing views, as long as that person has something intelligent to say and will challenge me intellectually.

      Godfrey Grima is a known sangisuge. He is a political trollop who will go anywhere for the right amount of money, or now, flattery.

      But then again the Nationalist Party has long been an old boys’ club with politicians and people like Godfrey patting each other on the back.

      It is useless having Simon Busuttil bring out the tired old cliches of being closer to the people if at the end of the day the voices they continue to hear are each others.

  2. king rat says:

    How about some names put forward of those responsible for putting this sweetalking bigoted dinosaur on a platform .

  3. R Camilleri says:

    I would like somebody who is more technical to answer the following question.

    If Malta starts generating more power than is needed because we are forced to buy electricity from Electrogas and Shangai Electric, would that mean that the amount of renewable energy we will need to produce by 2020 will also increase?

    We are already miles away from the 10% renewable energy target, let alone if we increase production to accommodate the pre-electoral promises of Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat.

    Will the Maltese taxpayer be fined if we do not reach the 2020 renewable energy targets?

    Will the Maltese taxpayer be fined for the increases CO2 production?

    • Tarzan says:

      Technically, it is not possible to generate more electric power than that which can be consumed by the electric load. To give an example. If you have a 5000Watt generator and you plug in a 100Watt light bulb, then the generator is only providing 100W of power (ignoring losses according to the efficiency). It is very wasteful to run a large generator with a small load.

      Normally for any generating station, maximum fuel and resources efficiency is reached when it is loaded to near maximum capacity. That explains the madness of Labour’s roadmap of having a huge new power station, and at the same time running what we already have at less than half load.

      The interconnector cable together with the BWSC/China power station, plus local clean renewable energy(solar and wind), have enough generating capacity for most of the year. For peak demand in the hottest days of summer, or the coldest days of Winter, then the existing Dellimara gas/diesel turbines can be used.

      They are clean and quick to start-up, but the most expensive to run. They are good enough to cater for peak demand or emergencies.

      If any extra power generated, then it could be sold out to the European grid through the interconnector cable. But my guess is that it will be sold below the price to produce it, and hence only a cost cutting exercise.

      One interesting point which we hardly ever mention is that the total generating demand on our power stations has been steadily declining these last years. This is due to more use of renewable solar energy, and higher efficiency appliances that we use, plus we are more carefully not to waste energy.

  4. mc says:

    Was Albert Gauci Cunningham also speaking at the convention this morning? I hope I got it wrong.

  5. davidg says:

    The PN might as well bring Alfred Sant to give his contribution to its Ideas Convention. U le.

  6. Pablo says:

    This New Testament prophet, Godfrey Grima, once tried to sell Muscat as another Eddie Fenech Adami. Can you imagine anything more inane?

  7. Vagabond King says:

    I give up. As they say, with friends like these who needs enemies. The PN, and particularly Simon Busuttil and Chris Said, had better get their act together soon before they lose most of us for good.

    Whatever happened to Ray Bugeja? Wouldn’t he have been a better choice for that podium?

  8. Rumplestiltskin says:

    Kudos to Norman Vella for calling it like it is.

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