So, Franco – was it wertit?
Campaign publicity material which Franco Debono sent out only some days ago.
Candidates for the general election have until this evening to throw their hats into the ring, and Franco Debono has not. Instead, he has written a sort of valedictory on his blog, telling us goodbye and good luck and why he was so right and perfect, and suggesting that he’s taking off for Italy while maintaining his law practice, or what remains of it, in Malta.
It can only be a good thing that a man of around 40 has at last taken a decision to fend for himself, but I can’t see it happening. It’s not as though Italy, in the current economic climate, is gagging for middle-aged lawyers from Malta without qualifications or experience in Italian legislation.
And I can’t see him living in a couple of rooms in some suburb and doing his laundry, either.
So it’s all just wishful thinking.
But anyway, it’s just so much childish and narcissistic ‘you don’t want me, so I’ll go off and sulk where I’m appreciated’. The fact is that Franco Who has spent the last two months trying to drum up support for a political party of his own. He’s been publishing his number on his blog, asking people to ring him, ringing them himself, sending out the campaign material pictured here (par idejn vera sodi, God bless him) and knocking on the doors of those who voted for him in 2008.
He was told, in no uncertain terms, where to go and how to get there.
And at last he understood what simple people like me had been telling him for the last couple of years: that people will always tell you what suits them, and not what suits you.
More fool he for taking seriously all those pats on the back, all those anonymous comments of encouragement on his blog, and above all, all the string-pulling and using by the Labour Party.
While coming to terms with the knowledge that he’s finished, Franco Who will have to digest the reality that his classroom nemesis has become prime minister.
I hate to say I told you so, Franco, so I’ll say something else instead: serves you bloody well right.
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Donnu sejjer l-Italja, Franco. Għax taf int, f’dak il-pajjiż kulħadd sebgħu dritt, mill-prim ministru sa taż-żibel.
Is it just me who finds the photo and caption on this pamphlet disturbing and sinister? For some reason, Franco’s expression makes me think of a serial killer and the way his hands are posed, “par idejn tassew sodi,” he looks like he is about to strangle someone.
To me they seem ready to grasp a cow’s abundant udder – and start milking it
Indeed he does.
forsi hemm ikollu aktar xoghol hux. Aktar kriminlita’ = aktar xoghol
U jekk isib x’jagħmel u jibqa’ hemm, tant l-aħjar.
Good bye, dearest Franco I will miss you. NOT.
Goodbye sweet ‘Prince’. (The name of my dead dog.)
Joseph Muscat thanks his form 2C archrival Franco Debono, by contesting the elections in Franco’s home town Hal Ghaxaq.
The Great Leader tells Franco “Hu go fik”, and Franco reciprocates by giving him his number 1 before running off to Italy.
‘I hate to say I told you so, Franco, so I’ll say something else instead: serves you bloody well right.’
May I please add “Hu go fik”.
HU ISSA GO FIK KUMMIDJANT PRIM Franco Debono! Issa oqghod ghidha lilek innifsek meta tkkun Ruma titkarrab ghax-xoghol.
What a coward for not putting his money where his mouth is and contesting as an independent.
So that’s it then? Final curtain?
No open letter this time, but a line by Peter O’Toole in Zulu Dawn:
Learn nothing from that man, except how not to behave.
I will need a par idejn tassew sodi if I ever meet him: to wring his neck.
It is a pity that for this guy to try and assuage his megalomania, we’re going to end up with Muscat as Prime Minister.
As you well said, the irony is that his nemesis at secondary school will end up going over the finish line while he will not even take part in the race.
Daphne, you must admit that having Franco jumping around making a fool of himself would at least have made the upcoming defeat of PN a little less painful, especially if he got the Maximum 25 votes that it is rumored were promised to him by like-minded lunatics.
It would have been a prime example of revenge being served best, on a cold plate.
Did you read Raphael Vassallo’s article today in Malta Today? I think it pretty much hits the nail on the head. Liberals including your good self-have been trampled by the God Fearing PN in the last decade, so it’s a little late to try becoming liberal by electing an extreme practicing Liberal like Simon Busuttil.
[Daphne – I don’t read anything Raphael Vassallo writes. I’ve known him since he was born, so I have him squarely in perspective. People like Raphael are not liberals but totalitarian and intolerant. Agreeing with divorce and despising religion does not make a liberal. Simon Busuttil is liberal, but he is also a practising Catholic who hears mass every day. I bet you didn’t know that bit. The Nationalist Party has been the natural home for people like me for years. It is profoundly liberal and tolerant in the real meaning of the words: respect for the rights and freedoms of individuals. It was wrong on divorce, and that’s about it. Divorce is neither here nor there: the legislation was piloted by the most deeply intolerant and illiberal person I know – Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, an extreme right-winger, hence his magnetic attraction to Labour.]
Could this be a turning point in Malta’s history, when the liberal/Sliema segment of the population puts its weight behind the Labour Party.
[Daphne – The people I think you have in mind are far from liberal (I would know). They are selfish, largely uneducated and narrow-minded. It is these two factors which drive their behavioural patterns, including voting, and this becomes apparent after five minutes of conversation. A liberal who has never read a book other than Fifty Shades of Grey? I don’t think so. The defining characteristic of those who espouse liberal politics is higher than average education, and by this I don’t mean, necessarily, a university degree. In the same way, low levels of education are associated with the far right. Have you ever heard those you call the ‘liberal/Sliema’ segment talk about black Africans, Muslims, ‘Arabs’ and gay men? Well, you should. One typical ‘Sliema liberal’ I know practically disowned her son and exported him to a foreign land when he told her, at the age of 17, that he is gay.]
If this happened it would be truly an incredible turn of events, and also show once and for all that religious beliefs should not be mixed with matters of state.
“Extreme practising liberal.”
This has got to take the biscuit.
Are they the ones that unequivocally sit on the fence?
In fact it has been a cracker.
@ Lord Lucan
Daphne hits the nail on the head in her replies to your comments. Being a liberal is often misconstrued as being anything from anarchic to extreme left.
Being a liberal actually entails respect for others, whoever they are, whatever they possess, preach.
The people call liberal are anything but. They are condescending towards other people, not because they are superior, but because they simply cannot understand them.
The liberal/Sliema segment of the population?
Extreme practising liberal?
Let’s turn the place into Belfast shall we?
I think our little friend is referring to burden sharing. He’s another one of those Lowell freaks.
Oh, a ‘Libertarian’.
Great stuff, the “liberal/Sliema segment of the population”. You mean the trendy, oh so multicultural, I holiday in Thailand, modern art lovers who hang out around Qui si Sana watching Style watch? Do me a favour, mate.
It’s going to be interesting when the PN re brand/regroup after March’s defeat. You will just see exactly what Tories did in the UK. To reach out to the so-called liberals, they brought in Cameron but in turn empowered an neo-Etonian.
The same will happen to the PN – Busuttil may appeal to what in Malta is considered as liberal.
God forbid if Malta/PN get a c*nt like Cameron.
He´s running away from a mess he created. He should be stopped by the immigration police on a random check and forced to stay in Malta for the next couple of years.
Ibaghtulu d-diska: ‘I did it My Way’ ta’ Frank Sinatra.
That song ruined a lot of people, so they say.
I just want to remind Franco to take his form 2 report with him so maybe he can impress the Italians with it.
‘And I can’t see him living in a couple of rooms in some suburb and doing his laundry, either.’
You’re so right.
Socks don’t grow in drawers, towels will stink and bread will go stale.
And bills need to be paid at the Poste, the most painfully developed bureaucracy on Earth. I swear it’s fantastic, you get to queue to get into the queue.
Italy is a place where you get your salt at the tobacconist’s.
They haven’t yet mastered matching cinema tickets to a numbered seat. I dare not imagine the ruckus when someone takes HIS seat.
Jozef, when did you last visit Italy – when Mussolini ruled? Salt at the tobacconist? Cinema tickets not numbered? Bills at the poste when they can be paid by internet banking from the comfort of your home?
I lived there until 2004, that’s the way it was then. Happy memories.
Yes, Sali e tabacchi’s alive and well and the last time I was there, that’d be last year, the Roxy next to San Babila was still on a first come first served basis.
Just ask Bersani what happened when he tried to liberalise some sectors. In the name of checks and balances a caste system, each defending his own, has been formed over the years.
Ok so they’ve introduced internet banking, just to set out on a five year long polemic why banks should keep their exorbitant charges anyway.
Italy’s overregulated, everything belongs to the myriad of authorities, the regione, provincia, the comune and if it’s a large city, its circoscrizioni. Public participation so loved by our Frankie.
The end result is that nothing ever gets done. To refurbish a small block in a mid sized town one needs over 46 permits and certificates from all the different authorities with their offices spread all over the place.
That means the overall taxes paid by any enterprise at the 75% mark.
Everything in Italy is romanticised to an extent that politics become an ideological justification instead of practical action.
When a prime minister can’t even remove his ministers, that’s banned by the constitution, the stasis ensues.
Calling Berlusconi a dictator simply because he lamented that minor detail isn’t objective.
Il-PM prezenti Taljan, Mario Monti ghandu bzonn lil xi hadd biex jaghtih il-pariri. Il-persuna maghzula m’hemmx ghalfejn ikollha IQ perfetta bizzejjed li jkollha certifikat tal-Form llC.
Hallina Franco, messek ilek li emigrajt lejn iz-Zimbabwe.
Today Debono is irrelevant – tomorrow he will be an insignificant village lawyer.
Dear Franco don’t forget to take your Year 2 result sheet with you to Italy, they might be impressed.
Wonder if he’ll take his cock.
As far as we are concerned Franco can go to hell.
Franco, Ma ktibx taht nom de plum biex tkun taf li qed niktiblek jien, ghax taf min jien.(tal form 2d dak iz zmien)…….ma nimmaginax li issa ha tibqa tinteressa ruhhek milli nahseb jien, pero hdimtha hazin mil bidu sa l-ahhar din…rajt kbir u hsibt li tista titlaq tigri qabel timxi..ma kellekx pacenzja tissaporti u tistenna biex tilhaq l-ghanijiet tieghek (tajbin jew hziena)….bil Malti nghidu kibritlek rasek…kulhadd ipprova jiftahlek ghajnejk hlief il-laburisti li baqaw jxewu u jaghdduk iz zmien biex tohrog ghal elezzjoni. Issa ha tahrab l-hemm u thallina hawn taht Joseph..haqqek taqla daqtejn min ghandu ukoll ta`…insomma good luck u nispera li xi haga titghallem minnha int ukoll.. il-poplu ghad jitghallem ukoll imma iiz zmien li jintilef ma jistax jerga jingieb lura…
Naħseb li Franco Debono għandu joħroġ għall-elezzjoni ġenerali. U joħroġ fuq il-Ħames Distrett. Ħalli aħna n-Nazzjonalisti tal-Ħames Distrett nagħtuh risposta.
Imbagħad in-numru ta’ voti li jġib fil-birthday imur jilagħbu lottu. Għax ma jġibx aktar minn 90. Dak hu l-akbar numru fil-lottu ta’ Malta u tal-Italja.
Jaf kemm iġib Franco jekk joħroġ għall-elezzjoni għax x’ħin beda jċempel lin-nies li ħadmulu fl-aħħar elezzjoni, KOLLHA qalulu fejn għandu jmur… u mhux l-Italja.
Lanqas l-Italja ma tistħoqqlu lil Franco, għax Cicciolina bħalu telgħet għal leġiżlatura waħda imma żgur għamlet ġid aktar minnu.
Kieku Franco Debono waqqaf partit, kien isemmih Il-Partit Tat-Tiġieġa, għax għajjur, baby u CHICKEN.
I can see thousands of Italians if not millions, queing at Fiumicino international airport waiting for his arrival. Good riddance Franco.
His class mate is next – he already promised to go if the power station project fails. It looks he already fired the project manager.
Why Italy? There is barely any work for Italians themselves, let alone for a foreigner in an Italian suit.
Franco who ?
After reading his latest blog-post, the fire department had to be called round to pump the tears out of my house.
L-istqarrija ta’ Franco, bhas-soltu, hija ambigwa u tista’ tifthiem li wara kollox sejjer jikkontesta. Dan Franco jhobb jilghab bid-diskors.
Practise law in Italy? It’s like walking into one of those minefields which the Italians left behind in the Egyptian desert.
Sounds more like modern technology has turned a cock into a chicken.
It is more than obvious that he has finally realised that political suicide is definitely not reversible.
If he’s lucky enough he might find a job. Serving pizza.
20.00! Franco Debono. Franco who?
What a pathetic loser
Franco would be welcomed with these songs in Italy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNS-UGYzKGA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ0Pz3sOhH8
“Finalmente te lo dico
con la mia disperazzione
caro mio peggior nemico
travestito da santone
VAFFANCULO!”
When he returns to Malta he will find people singing at him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MfNVzHGPLc
“Good riddance to bad rubbish”
Ghaziz Franco,
Jien kelli tliet holmiet fil-hajja: li naghmel hafna flus, li norqod ma’ supermodel, u li jkkolli familja.
Fit-tlieta li huma fallejt, imma ma qaghdtx inqazzez lil Malta kollha bihom.
Caw ghal dejjem,
Baxxter
He is taking off to Italy because he is a coward.
He is scared stiff of not being able to walk down Republic Street when the inevitable now happens.
Good riddance, irrelevant freak.
‘ADDIO’ is more fitting.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-01-30/news/outgoing-nationalist-mp-attends-pl-activity-776601608/
I think Mugliett should have spoken about conflicts of interest and bridge-building not spatial planning.
It’s obvious that he’s only looking at what’s in store for him:
“In a not-so-subtle subtle hint, Dr Muscat said he looked forward to having the best minds from the whole political spectrum working together on sustainable development.”
“Mr Mugliett spoke about spatial planning, noting that the PN has not included this in its electoral programme, asking whether the PL intends to include it in its own programme.
In his reply, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said that spatial planning will be part of the PL programme and the party is committed to it.”
Mhux ovvja!
You dream it up, Joseph will promise it to you.
Franco who?
Wayne Hew?
Hasta la vista, capon.
Am I the only one paranoically looking at the first letter of every sentence/paragraph before I read the actual comment?