Comments on: When a minister’s driver shoots in public at night, it is a matter for the prime minister, not his apparatchik

By: gn

gn — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 19:38:12 +0000

In reply to H.P. Baxxter. Maybe he uses a Casio.

By: ciccio

ciccio — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 15:48:37 +0000

In reply to curious. Were the terms of reference ai termini of the enquiry ever 'ivventilati' in public?

By: Respect

Respect — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 15:48:03 +0000

He doesn’t remember the time they rang him to tell him such bad news, but he keeps remembering what the previous administration did wrong some years ago.

By: Leo Said

Leo Said — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 15:28:20 +0000

In reply to Leo Said. In Germany, there are no seperate autonomous ministries for police. The federal and the respective statal ministers for home affairs are ex officio responsible for police affairs.

By: ciccio

ciccio — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 15:16:29 +0000

In reply to curious. No. It was his turn to play Pontius Pilate.

By: Mandy

Mandy — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 15:10:52 +0000

The problem is that Labour has bent all the unspoken rules – be they to do with etiquette or otherwise – that they have led almost everybody to believe that their way of doing things is normal.

By: Leo Said

Leo Said — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 14:57:30 +0000

A police president (commissioner) in Germany first informs his administrative superior (responsible minister), who is then bound to inform the chancellor/prime minister. This holds at federal level as well as for the 16 states.

I stand to be corrected.

[Daphne – In our system, the Police Commissioner goes to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister goes to the President. ‘Police Minister’ does not figure in the Constitution.]

By: Marie

Marie — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 14:17:37 +0000

I have just read the PM’s interview with The Sunday Times. If the interview was meant to bring some positive PR for the PM, to quote a phrase used in the same interview “it has done him a disservice”.

Joseph Muscat failed to understand that when he removed the topmost experienced people from key departments – level-headed civil servants who calmly advise politicians on the best course of action, particularly during crises – they created a noose for their own necks. He thought that by replacing them with biddable political stooges he would be ‘safe’. Instead the opposite has happened and he has learned what true professionals in the top echelons of the civil service and other institutions are for.

Had the Police Commissioner and the topmost cadres in the force been experienced, impartial, not obliged towards anyone and unafraid of politicians, this episode would have been handled differently and in all likelihood nobody would be commenting about it three weeks later.

They are now reaping the fruits of their savage harvest.

The pity is that it is not only the Labour government which will suffer but the country as a whole.

By: Charlene

Charlene — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 14:12:16 +0000

In reply to mf. The PM's mobile is special, it doesn't display the time.

By: kapxinn

kapxinn — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 13:53:20 +0000

“I dreamt about those bullet holes that night. And I felt angered and disgusted the following day.”