A caldo! Ai termini! Manuel ‘OK Siehbi’ Mallia and Codruta Cristian fly to Bologna for il Capodanno

Published: December 31, 2014 at 3:52pm

Manuel Bologna 3

Manuel Bologna 2

Manuel Mallia and Codruta Cristian were on today’s Ryanair flight to Bologna – no priority boarding ghax hela ta’ flus. And no sign of any children, either – perhaps they’ve divided the three of them between Paul Sheehan, Pawlu l-Machine Gun and Joe L-Olandiz.

On the same flight: Charlon Gouder en famille.




95 Comments Comment

  1. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Ryanair?!

  2. observer says:

    I heard he was at Lidl’s yesterday purchasing tramezzini and prosciutto cotto. Sandwiches on Ryanair flights may appear costly to misers.

    • claire says:

      I paid five euros for a bottle of water on a Ryan Air flight as I was dehydrated from the heat on that plane.

      Since then I have never travelled again with this airline or any other low cost airline.

      [Daphne – I think the solution is not to avoid low cost airlines, but to buy a bottle of water from Agenda in the Departures Lounge and put it in your handbag. That’s what I always do, regardless of what airline I’m travelling on.]

      • Goth says:

        Thanks to Ryanair I’ve taken around 200 flights, or more. Never had a problem. You abide by their rules, learn the tricks to make your life and that of other passengers easy and you will be as right as rain.

        I cringe and get frustrated when I see stubborn and clearly clueless passengers giving a hard time to the staff and holding up the flight. You have another option, of course: fly Air Malta for €400 return. Lap up the ‘luxury’.

  3. edgar says:

    There is a beautiful fountain in the main square in Bologna. Shame that the water is frozen.

  4. Just Me says:

    Best wishes for 2015 to the owner of this blog, her family and everyone else around here.

    • ketchup says:

      Yes, it’s thanks to Daphne that we get to know things that we would not know otherwise, and besides, this blog has its light moments too – otherwise it’s nothing but gloom and doom.

      Well done to the international worldwide network of spies, too.

    • just me says:

      Yes, very best wishes to Daphne from me too…
      I was the first “just me”… Could you please choose another nickname?

  5. ursula says:

    With a half a million stashed under his mattress he flies with Ryanair…..Scrooge

  6. TinaB says:

    “Nice pic duda. Auguroni.”

  7. Jozef says:

    Lots of people going up to Bologna today.

    • nadia says:

      Excuse me having to vent a little, but this “going up to Bologna, going up to England” really irks me. Such horrible Maltese English.

  8. ciccio says:

    Bologna jista’ joqghod jivventila kemm irid.

  9. ciccio says:

    It’s going to be a long weekend of indulgence in salami, prosciutti, mortadelle, tortellini and pasta with ragu’ bolognese. Exactly what the dietician ordered.

  10. Joe Fenech says:

    Bla tfal ghax hela ta’ flus tehodhom jaraw pajjiz iehor.

  11. WhoamI? says:

    Well, as you say, no sight of any children.

    It doesn’t mean they’re not going on holiday with them as well. Maybe it was cheaper to put them in suitcases in the hold. Taf int, €50 return irhas minn seat. Prekarjat. U bla jopp issa.

  12. Barabbas Borg says:

    Only Ryanair flies to Bologna unless you change flight as far as I know so the Minister has no other option in this instance. As to priority boarding, Ryanair now assigns seats numbers so there is limited scope for it.

    • albona says:

      That is unless you want to sit together, in which case you have to book seats at €5 to which you can add priority boarding for a further €2.

  13. R. Azzopardi says:

    I encountered Manuel Mallia on a flight to Rome via Easyjet back in April 2011. Same as this time, no priority boarding, no BS and he kept himself to himself. kienet ghadha ma kibritx rasu nahseb.

  14. anthony says:

    Mar jivventila l-frejjeg u l-qassatat ancora caldi fil-capoluogo tal- Emilia-Romagna.

  15. Stephen says:

    La mhux minn but il-poplu, nittqamlu.

  16. Marlowe says:

    This reminds me. Since Air Malta’s new CEO seems to be a straight talker, isn’t it time one of the journalists from the many news rooms we have calls her and asks about the inquiry they launched last year when a taxiing flight returned back to the gate to pick up the PM?

  17. conversazion says:

    TEXTING AT AIRPORT

    em: Roberto, il-movimento irridu niggalvanizzawh stante li l-Laburisti jridu jehilsu minna.
    rm: u le jahasra. Gibnilhom 36000 vot.
    em: ittihomx nifs. Hallik mit-tpingijiet fuq il-facebook.
    rm: siehbi, se nibqa’ nissofferma b’kull mezz u ghamla.
    em: grazzi. Ingiblek xi cd minn bologna siehbi?
    rm: m’ hemmx ghalfejn siehbi.
    em: sahha ghax se niddippartixxu.
    rm: ok siehbi.

    • xdcc says:

      rm: Bihaq, nittama li bqajt b’ mankanza ta’ sosten ma jmurx tivventila xi wahda fuq l-ajruplan.
      em: Thabbel mohhok xejn, siehbi, ghax ghadni kemm ivventilajt wahda sew hawn fit-terminal

  18. ta wied is sewda. says:

    Arrivano i nostri, OK amigo.

  19. c c says:

    Bologna is very appropriate for Leli as the Italians call it “La Grassa”.

  20. Mila says:

    ”The government has formally set up a national dance company to take part in national and international events. Its purpose will be to promote dance.

    The company, called Żfin Malta is headed by a board chaired by Alison White. The board members will be announced shortly, the Culture Ministry said.”

    Was there a call for applications or is this a position of trust?

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141231/local/national-dance-company-formed.550170

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Double You. Tea. Eff.

    • Chris says:

      There was a regular call for the Artistic Director which was awarded to Mavin Khoo.

      There was no call for a chairman or board members as these are chosen by the minister responsible.

      It has, unfortunately, always been the case, despite calls that the system should change and replaced by a call for interested persons and the fact that the Nationalist Party has proposed such an idea back in its 2008 manifesto and never bothered to implement such a system.

      At least in the case of Alison White we have a knowledgeable person who will understand the needs of the dance company, and has strong administrative and managerial skills and can communicate fluently to both the local scene as well as the international dance community which is the main focus of the company.

    • Matthew S says:

      How very Mao.

      State sponsored art which reflects the lives of the peasantry and serves socialism.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Matthew, I love you and I want to have your babies.

      • Matthew S says:

        Forget the baby-making. There are opportunities to be seized and we need to stay in shape.

        This is a sneak preview of the company’s first programme:

        THE RED SUN DANCE HONOURING THE GREAT LEADER OF MALTA JOSEPH MUSCAT AND HIS PEOPLE

        i. A faithful rendition of the North Korean dance Ma Tagħmlu Xejn Mal-Perit Mintoff,

        ii. A hip-hop rendition of Ġensna

        iii. Ballet Dancing with Joseph Calleja.

        iv. an improvised dance version of I Shot the Sheriff by Manuel Mallia and Paul Sheehan

        v. Striptease and lapdance by Moira Delia (Chris Cardona will be the lap)

        INTERMISSION

        vi. A recreation of Mr and Mrs Luciano Busuttil’s first wedding dance

        vii. The Macarena by Justyne Caruana, Helena Dalli and Deborah Schembri

        viii. Danza Nuda by Cyrus Engerer and his boyfriend

        ix. The Invisible Dance by Louis Grech, in which the audience may or may not see the dancer

        x. Everybody gets on stage for the August Moon Ball Dance, a very complex piece in which Mary Louise Coleiro Preca will do the twerk, Franco Debono will do the chicken dance, Konrad Mizzi will do the robot, Owen Bonnici will breakdance and Joseph Muscat will fracture his ankle while waltzing with Michelle.

        Bonus event during the intermission: Catfight between Mary Spiteri and Ira Losco

        Guitar: Lou Bondi

        Orchestra: the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sigmund Mifsud

        Choir: Etoile, Soleil and a bunch of less important children

        Sound Technician: Leo Brincat

        Lighting: Nexos

        Venue: Ta’Qali, Taħt it-Tinda

        Special attraction at the bar: Jeffrey Pullicino Oralndo ((€ 5 to take a photo with him)

        Entrance is free because taxpayers will foot the bill.

        5% of the proceeds will go to an animal shelter of Michelle’s choosing and the rest of the cash will be hoovered up by various Maltese bażużli.

        NARAWKOM!!

        The above programme is designed by Silvio Parnis and printed by Keith tal-Kasco

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        If Peter Serracino Inglott were alive, bless him, he’d be in body and soul. (Spare me the platidues.)

        Does anyone remember ‘Zebra’? it was preceded by ‘Il-Qamar’, a kind of dance-theatre pastiche where the performer (suitably female) gave birth, live, on stage, to some pebbles.

        Interesting, you say? I say it’s dire.

        Pamela Kerr rules.

  21. Mila says:

    Has he explained how a state paid driver and car were used for childminding or is everyone free to dip into our taxes a caldo?

  22. Toni bajada says:

    Daphne, i dont always see eye to eye with your views but i still want to wish you all the best to you n family. May we have much more valid arguments!!

    • Jack Beans says:

      I’m curious: You don’t see eye to eye with her views, yet you wish to have more valid arguments – from whom?

    • Gaetano Pace says:

      Toni, the problem is that when you create expectations you are running a 99% risk of creating disappointment.

      Disappointment brings anger and anger has the risk of being followed by depression.

      Worse than that is the fact that your expectations impose conditions on others, something over which you have no control.

      Would it not be easier if you could only bring yourself to come to terms with Daphne`s snippets and live happily ever after the New Year?

    • A. Charles says:

      Mr. Bajada, I wonder what your views are. Please can you elaborate?

  23. manum says:

    Happy New Year to you Daphne and yiur dear family, thank you for the valuable news.

  24. stephen borg says:

    That’s a pretty small suitcase for such a huge man.

    It can’t possibly take the thick clothing needed in wintertime.

    He’s probably going to wear the same clothes for the entire holiday in that case.

    And with that body mass he probably sweats like a beast of burden. Miskin min ha jmur joqghod hdejh xi tlett sieghat lura Malta fuq l-ajruplan.

  25. Toni Borg says:

    Miskin Manwel cannnot afford a more comfortable flight since he was made to resign from Minister!

    Prendi Moreno!

  26. Candy says:

    Saw him and his wife sitting in Economy on an Air Malta flight from Rome a few weeks ago. To his credit, he didn’t try a Deborah Schembri.

  27. gn says:

    Ma marx ma siehbu Franco?

  28. aidan says:

    Tony Bajada, ghati cans ha jghaddu l-vaganzi tal-ministri u imbaghad jergaw jibdew il-frejjeg wahda wara l-ohra. Il-vaganzi taghhom ukoll.

  29. A V says:

    Should this have us worrying even more than we have already worried about the subject.

    “At the same time, major consumers from Japan to South Korea and China are seeking to offload some of their long-term LNG supply commitments, contributing to the glut.”

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-exclusive-oil-price-crash-claims-first-us-lng-project-casualty-2014-12#ixzz3NemS4VVN

  30. Tutti Frutti says:

    Dalle stelle alle stalle

  31. Toni il-Blokka says:

    Mela l-baguette ta’ l-Air Malta ha jdurlu maz-zokkra?

  32. Giordano Bruno says:

    Cheap journalism synonymous with D.C.G.

    • etil says:

      Molte volte la verita’ offende, Giordano Bruno.

    • Jozef says:

      Giordano Bruno was a fraud. Major misogynist as well. He preferred the stake than face arguing his weird notions of violence and the faith.

      Italy’s Manuel Dimech.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Ouch!

        (It doesn’t help that he was played by Volonté.)

      • Jozef says:

        ‘…It is truly, O most generous Sir, the work of a low, filthy animal nature to have made oneself the constant admirer, and to have a fixed solicitous attachment upon or around the beauty of a woman’s body. Good God! What more vile and ignoble vision can present itself to a clear-sighted eye than a man, brooding, afflicted, tormented, sorry, melancholy; who waxes now cold, now hot, now boiling, now trembling, now pale, now blushing, now in a pose of perplexity, now in an act of decisiveness, a man who spends his best season and the choicest fruits of his life distilling the elixir of his brain towards putting into thought and writ and sealing in public monuments those endless tortures, those grave torments, those reasoned arguments, those laborious thoughts and those bitter desires addressed to the tyranny of an unworthy, imbecilic, foolish and sordid smut?

        What tragicomedy, what act, I say, more deserving of pity and laughter could be produced in this theatre of the world, on this stage of our perceptions, than these subjugated men, rendered pensive, contemplative, constant, steadfast, faithful, lovers, devotees, adorers, and slaves of a thing without faith, bereft of all constancy, destitute of intelligence, empty of all merit, void of any acknowledgment or gratitude, where no more sense, intellect, or goodness is to be obtained than might be found in a statue or a painting on a wall? And where there abound more disdain, arrogance, effrontery, vainglory, rage, scorn, perfidy, lust, greed, ingratitude, and other moral vices than the poisons and instruments of death that could have issued forth from Pandora’s box, all to have, alas, such expensive accomodation with the brain of such a monster?

        Behold, inscribed on paper, enclosed in books, set before the eyes, and intoned in the ears, a noise, a commotion, a clash of devices, of emblems, of mottoes, of epistles, of sonnets, of epigrams, of books, of chattering scribbles, of terminal sweats, of lives consumed, of cries that deafen the stars, laments that make hell’s caverns reverberate, aches that strike the living dumb, sights that exhaust the pity of the gods, for those eyes, for those cheeks, for that bossom, for that white, for that crimson, for that tongue, for that tooth, for that lip, for that hair, that dress, that mantle, that glove, that slipper, that high heel, that avarice, that giggle, that scorn, that empty window, that eclipse of the sun, that throbbing, that disgust, that stench, that sepulcher, that cesspit, that menstruation, that carrion, that malaria, that uttermost insult and lapse of nature, that with a surface, a shadow, a phantasm, a dream, an enchantment of Circe plied in the service of reproduction, should deceive in the manner of beauty; which simultaneously comes and goes, issues and flies, flowers and rots, and is somewhat beautiful on the outside, but truly and fixedly contains within a shipyard, a workshop, a customhouse, a marketplace of every foulness, toxin, poison that our stepmother Nature has managed to produce: and once the seed she requires has been paid out, she often repays it with a morass, a remorse, a sadness, a flaccidity, a headache, a lassitude, this and that distemper that are known to all the world, so that every place aches bitterly where it itched so sweetly before….’

        De gli heroici furori

  33. mandingo says:

    Mhux se nivjagga Air Labour ghax bicca hobz u flixkun ilma zghir nisthajjilni qieghed il-habs.

  34. Toni Taghna says:

    Double standards by the P.M himself. Great for one’s credibility.

  35. Toni Taghna says:

    Don’t blame Hibernians for offering a job to a convicted rapist. After all the prime minister set the example, employing a convicted revenge porn criminal, Cyrus Engerer, and giving him a top job in Brussels with another plum position for his partner as a bonus. Joey’s one to talk now.

    • Jack Beans says:

      Yes, this reminds me of that photo where Prince William is heatedly arguing a point with Cyrus Engerer with the PM smiling on condescendingly.

      How cynical of him to tweet Hibs to reconsider their position as it “will not only define them but also Malta’s image internationally.”

      Did he consider Malta’s image internationally in inviting a convicted revenge porn criminal to that State gathering celebrating Malta’s 50th Anniversary of Independence under the patronage of a member of the British Royalty?

    • Matthew S says:

      I’m going to be lynched for saying this but I think it’s an important perspective and should be discussed.

      Rape is a heinous crime which should be severely punished but, at the risk of sounding like a rape apologist, I have to say that the sentence given sounds like a miscarriage of justice to me.

      If the woman Ched Evans had sex with was too drunk to remember anything about the night before, how can she prove that she did not consent to sex?

      Drunken sex happens all the time. Drinking heavily is increasingly culturally accepted in the western world and many people feel that they need a lubricant to make up for their lack of social skills. The downside is that, when drunk, people often say and do things which they later regret or don’t even remember.

      People don’t sign on a dotted line before having sex. Consent can mean anything from a very well planned sexual experience to begrudgingly accepting to have sex when one’s heart is not into it to randomly saying ‘yes’ while inebriated.

      In an ideal world, consent would be unequivocal, loud and clear but this is the real world, and the real world is fuzzy. People don’t go around making grand proclamations about who they want to have sex with. They just do it, and consent is mostly given through body language.

      Of course, Evans is an idiot for doing it. The rich and famous find it easier than the rest of us to find willing sexual partners but they are also easy targets for rape claims and big financial settlements so they should be doubly careful about what they get up to.

      When I hear of staggering rape/sexual harassment statistics, I always wonder whether rape and sexual harassment are being given too broad a definition. Because of all the wrongs done to women throughout the ages, women are now automatically assumed to be right and men to be wrong. This is not always the case.

      Going by what I have read about this case, this seems to be a case of drunken sex rather than rape.

      One more thing: those comparing this case to the Cyrus Engerer one are missing an important point. A football club is a private enterprise. Cyrus Engerer works for the government. Although it would be entirely inappropriate to employ someone convicted of rape with the government, a private organisation can go ahead and employ him, provided no laws are being broken.

      I dare say that Joseph Muscat was wrong when employing Cyrus Engerer and wrong again when interfering with Hibernians Football Club’s business.

      Now go ahead, lynch me.

  36. Alexander Ball says:

    Mallia is no longer in government and deserves his privacy as a private person.

    [Daphne – Manuel Mallia is a member of parliament. Members of parliament are by definition NOT private persons and are, by definition, directly accountable to the public.]

  37. Jozef says:

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-01-06/local-news/Report-Libya-imposes-restrictions-on-visas-to-Maltese-for-providing-logistic-support-to-Libya-Dawn-6736128238

    One wonders whether the republic’s foreign policy could have been shared between the minister and the PM’s chief of staff.

    No clear position, no official statements, no press briefings, just a diplomatic nightmare in its fourth month. And no idea where it will take us.

    How to create enemies and breed them on our soil. And don’t give me sensitive information.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Mein liebe Jozef,

      My by calculation, I have said at least one googlillion times that Malta has a diplomatic service, but no foreign policy. This is but a case in point.

      A foreign policy is made by experts who are able to foresee just the sort of very foreseeable problems created by the Libyan crisis. Even an armchair strategist like me could see that once you have rival governments, things like visa permits would hang in the balance.

      But I suppose Joseph Muscat, just like Lawrence Gonzi before him, takes his advice on Libya from those meddlesome, ubiquitous “businessmen” (you know who you are) and a couple of academics/political players (you know who you are too), which amounts to bugger all.

      That it is to say, the businessmen will try to shape the government’s decision to suit their own purpose (more money – indawru lira, heqq!), and the academics/whatever will try to shape government policy to suit their own career ambitions (inhaffru n-nicca, heqq!).

      Get your head round this one, Jozef, if you can: Libya and Syria are handled by two different desks at the Foreign Ministry (Maghreb and Middle East, respectively). Someone must have read their atlas, all right.

      Oh well. May the rabble burn every last Maltese bazuzlu’s warehouse, and may our government tremble in fear when the Black Standard flies over the Libyan embassy in Balzan and The Caliphate’s ambassador presents his credentials to Merilweez. This is shaping up to be a great 2015. Takes me right back to the heady days of January 2011.

      Down with “bizniss”. Down with the mandarins. And if it takes ISIS to put us in our place, then so be it.

      • Jozef says:

        Yes, Malta must be the only place which got an Islamist envoy.

        Corinthia eh?

      • Jozef says:

        http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-01-06/local-news/Alleanza-Bidla-accuses-government-of-scaremongering-on-Libya-postpones-visit-to-Tripoli-6736128287

        ‘….Asked by this newsroom whether Alleanza Bidla has been offered any funding in return for its support of the Tripoli government, Mr Grech Mintoff flatly denied this.

        He also refused to name the businessmen who will be accompanying him on the trip, saying all will be revealed during the trip…..’

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        I wouldn’t mind them boarding their “xwieni” and reconquering this part of the Umma.

        You and I would enjoy the Caliphate. As a child I used to read the tales of Harun Al Rashid. You know, Sinbad, genies, dancing maidens, camels, evil vizirs and wizards and rocs aplenty.

        Call it consummate ennui, but Taghna Lkoll just doesn’t cut it. I need something more. I need the thrill of the Caliphate. I’d vote for it if I could. Labour are tal-Muzew nothings. I need something stronger to take the edge off.

        Our own Toyota technical Jozef! A DShK at the back and a Black Standard at the front, some suitably inspiring music, me in my dishdasha and you in your djellaba, tearing around The Point, terrifying the Libyan bazuzli in their white SUVs. Ah, bliss.

      • Jozef says:

        I’ll have one of these.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0IKN2hvlOQ

        Aloha Snackbar…..

    • observer says:

      And, as can be very clearly seen, no idea as how to get out of the mess our country has been led into by ‘our friends’ in Libya.

  38. Jozef says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150106/local/church-commission-calls-on-government-to-think-twice-before-giving-go-ahead-to-project-on-odz-land.550864

    Indeed, if the land is ‘disturbed’ there is such a thing as ‘bonifica’.

    But maybe we should finish replacing ‘wasteland’ with garigue first, to then transform garigue into macchia.

    What’s in a word, if not Sandro Chetcuti expecting to legitimise his loaded opinion?

    And trust the Church to revert to a sense of order.

  39. Jozef says:

    http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/48089/church_plans_for_top_teachers_should_reflect_popes_call_for_inclusivity#.VKvl3dLF9mM

    Give back the Church her schools. That’s what Liberty is, Evarist.

    How slimey this hypocrite can be, demanding a morality he understands of an entity to be separate at all costs, but not the responsibility for the state’s overlying education mission.

    As for humanists, practising Catholics can be gay and divorced. Learn your doctrine first.

    • Observer says:

      Even the devil can quote Scripture.

      Till now, Varist has limited himself to ‘quoting’ Pope Francis – completely out of context, of course.

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