Buy your synthetic underpants and plastic handbags from beneath the Piano project

Published: May 22, 2013 at 8:46pm

market stall

So we have yet another liberal and progressive decision by the Labour government: stuffing the hawkers’ market beneath parliament and the landmark Piano project.

The government revealed in parliament that it has a written and signed commitment with the Monti Hawkers Association, entered into when it was still the Opposition.

Quite frankly, I don’t know why people are reacting with shock and horror and surprise. Horror, yes, but shock and surprise? We knew that the Labour Party had agreed on this with the hawkers before the election. That’s how they got the hawkers’ vote, and the votes of their families.

What we didn’t know was that there was an actual contract.

The hawkers went to Labour with a proposal – our votes in return for putting the market at the entrance to the city – and liberal, progressive Joseph Muscat agreed.

You see, it’s easy to get into power when you do these things. Not so easy to handle them afterwards.

I knew about it at the time, which means I must have read about it somewhere – but the information would have been lost in the general panic and deluge of the intense campaign.

Many people would have missed it. I didn’t think it was a major electoral issue, just a niche thing, but now in the calm after the electoral storm, people are shocked by it.

Markets are fun. People love them. But nowhere do you find them in such a prominent and prestigious place, because however much fun they are, they are also extremely shabby.

But then Labour has a long history of shabby decisions and cheap choices, so please, don’t act surprised. If you put your hand in a snake-tank you’re bound to end up dead. If you vote Labour, this is what you get. How many learning experiences does anybody actually need? A least one learning experience per generation, apparently.




21 Comments Comment

  1. one of us says:

    Does Kenneth Zammit Tabona buy his synthetic underpants from the monti?

    He hasn’t the guts to admit he made a mistake.

    All these Labour moves must make him shudder but yet, silence.

  2. U Le! says:

    Imagine David Cameron moving London’s flea markets into Whitehall from the Cenotaph to Charing Cross or around to Birdcage Walk.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      We can’t imagine that. That is precisely why we should never have severed our links with the UK. Many of you wanted independence. See where that got us.

      • etil says:

        We were getting along with the PN in government – now we are back to the golden years. Malta is sinking faster than the speed of sound with these idiots in government.

  3. Rumplestiltskin says:

    Another decision with a large spite factor. Mintoff delighted in such actions.

  4. P Shaw says:

    I guess it’s back to the Eighties. Weren’t the hawkers located exactly there in what was known as Pjazza Helsien back then?

    Do they intend to block the shoppers and tourists from proceeding further into Valletta, just in case they get tempted to purchase something from somewhere else?

    This move will be another deterrant in addition to the traffic from going to Valletta. Forcing your way through the hawkers before going into Valletta is a huge discouragement.

  5. T.Cassar says:

    I just cannot imagine them there in 2018. They’ll just make a laughing stock out of the European city of culture. Was this on Jason’s agenda for this special year?

    • Calculator says:

      Seeing how bitchy he is, I wouldn’t be surprised if his agenda is to cock everything up to spite the PN, whose darling they think V18 is.

  6. gb says:

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-05-21/news/80-million-piano-design-may-soon-be-bookending-monti-1643708416/

    “Sources at the office of the prime minister told this paper that one establishment owner in Ordnance Street, Carlo Seychell, was so incensed by the prospect of having the market set up in front of his pub that he beat a path straight to the prime ministers door, demanding that the plans be redrawn in order for the market to begin half way down the Street”.

    So his (ex) wife gets an iced bun and Carlo (of the Mintoff and Karmenu Vella in budgie-smugglers pic) gets a rabble in front of his pub on a daily basis

  7. Harry Purdie says:

    And just imagine. The depths have yet to be plunged.

    • Weird no ? says:

      If it is right under our House of Representatives it will not be underpants on the house but under. Music blaring will be House music. Can’t you get the concept ?

  8. La Redoute says:

    How does a contract signed in Opposition hold when one gets into power? Isn’t that trading in influence?

    A similar arrangement has been made with boat house owners and, doubtless, with hunters too.

    • Ask Manuel Mallia? says:

      ‘Follow the money’ still holds.

      Of course it is, in any other decent country. Imma Malta bla etika. These things are overlooked. People duck their brains and look any other way.

      It’s not that we’re powerless. But admittedly we are voiceless, otherwise why did Baxxter’s suggestion re a change.org protest go uncommented and unactioned. There. They have us by the balls and they planned it that way.

      It’s all in the timing. He secured the necessary contracts before. He has a broad Ministry for a reason. Contracts galore. Iced-buns are a distraction, with a consequence, but a distraction nonetheless.

  9. Pied Piper says:

    How about moving the Monti to St John’s Square perhaps even displaying their wares on the parvis; this will attract more church-goers?

  10. john says:

    Tal-Labour minn dejjem kienu l-kings tal-medjokjarita tal-politka f’ pajjizna. Ghalekk Malta qatt ma tista tiehu r-ruh.

  11. Antoine Vella says:

    The real tragedy is that many Maltese will think it’s a good idea.

  12. Mary Anne says:

    What a horrible decision! It reflects the anti-culture and decadent attitude of the whole lot in government. This is the cherry on top of the cake that will make Valletta 2018 a complete fiasco. Poor Malta.

    • etil says:

      Unfortunately some foreigners still think of Malta as a backward country – now they will be proved right if this horrible idea of the Monti under the new parliament will go through.

  13. rowena smith says:

    Martin Scicluna should have something to say about this, you know, with his experience at Din L-Art Helwa.

  14. ciccio says:

    What next? The Labour government announcing that City Gate Complex will be leased out to Carnival enthusiasts for their carnival floats? Jason the King might love the idea.

Leave a Comment