Acts of vanity masquerading as acts of charity

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. – Matthew 6:2

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. – Matthew 6:3

Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long (…) – Matthew 23:5

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few pennies.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on.” – Mark 12:41-44

Michelle Muscat’s channel swim yesterday was not an act of charity but an act of vanity.

The helicopter, boats, diesel, manpower, fuss and palaver attendant on yesterday’s crossing cost a sum of money that eclipses anything she may have raised from the swim.

Other than that, her husband is prime minister, so common sense tells us that if she thinks the disabled need better facilities or the mental hospital needs nicer wards, then it is her husband’s job to make sure they are provided through public funds and the state system, and not her job to dispense them through acts of charity.

Beyond that, Mrs Muscat herself takes a significant amount in public funds that she could well do without – the car, the chauffeur, the security guards, the personal assistant and all those people to fetch and carry, do her bidding and flap around when she wishes to use yet another public building for a fashion show or high tea.

That money could be used to provide the things she dispenses through her vanity vehicle, the Marigold Foundation.

Yesterday’s braggart behaviour was just too much. The reaction of the average sensible person was that she and her husband and their free-loading cronies should simply have put their hands into their pockets, pulled out a few thousand euros and given them to charity, keeping quiet about it.

But the fact is that the prime minister and Mrs Muscat like to get money, not give it, and when their cronies donate, it’s not to charity but to the Malta Labour Party.

I have to say it: Mrs Muscat is straight out of the script for an early 1990s series of Absolutely Fabulous. Yesterday’s Showing Off For Charity was the perfect example of that. All she needed was Edina Monsoon PR-ing it madly in the background with Patsy drunk in the Jag.

“Oh darling, this is for all those poor little Tibetan baby thingies. Pass the Bolly, sweetie. How much did we raise? Two hundred pounds? Fabulous, darling. And the whole thing cost just two hundred thousand.”