Eternal flame now on reduced hours to save money for Willie Mangion’s contract fees and the PM’s car-leasing to self
The new government has put on reduced hours the eternal flame at the Floriana cenotaph to the war dead.
Opposition deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami asked in parliament why the eternal flame is no longer burning eternally. Transport Minister Joe Mizzi replied that as a cost-cutting measure, the eternal flame will be on only between 6pm and 6am.
How much money they hope to save by putting the eternal flame on shift work while, say, paying Willie Mangion and Frederick Testa Eur2,300 a month to, respectively, look for a rehearsal space and advise on PBS teledrammi, is beyond me.
They don’t seem to grasp the meaning and symbolism of ‘eternal flame’, either.
You can see how they’ve worked this one out: why keep it lit during daylight hours?
Errrr…because it’s an eternal flame.
I suppose it would be a Maltese eternal flame that only comes on at 6pm and goes off again at dawn.
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Fucking bastards. And call ME unpatriotic.
They died fighting the ‘barrani’s’ war. So why should Labour give a shit about them.
Please Mr Baxxter remember that there must have been a billboard with Joseph saying that he has our CO2 emissions at heart .
My sentiments exactly
Really now.
It took this ersatz country fifty years to finally have a proper cenotaph with an eternal flame. Because it would seem that “independence” and “sovereignty” and “hbieb ma’ kullhadd” are far more important than honouring our war dead. But then we are a young country, so one must have patience.
Now the valiant patriots of Gensna, who strut about winking at the Far Right, have decided to save a few Euros, amid the veritable tsunami of profligacy that they have unleashed. Our eternal flame will be part-time.
Go to hell, you pathetic scum. You’re not fit to lead a troop of knackered whores in a bordello.
For God’s sake do not get into huff over this lot as we still have to survive the impasse until the next election, and bear in mind that for the most part ‘cenotaph’ is alien to their sphere of intellect.
Baxxter, the entire cabinet is part-time. And some of them are eternal too – look at George Vella, Karmenu Vella, Edward Scicluna, Manwel (Emanuel) Mallia…
Il-vera wicchom u x’imkien iehor xorta dawn in-nies – ma niflahx nisma aktar.
Gawdi ja Gahan Malti.
I hope we won’t be going back to dim lights around the bastions or no lights at all in an effort to cut down on costs.
But as Reno Calleja once said of Mintoff, “Ma kienx qammiel; kien bil-ghaqal.”
I think this is a Labour syndrome.
You’re joking, right?
[Daphne – No, of course not. This is real: a real parliamentary question, a real answer and a truly unreal situation.]
“Mitna ghall-barrani
U stmawna fil-warrani…”
There you go, all unknown warriors.
I’m surprised they don’t switch it off at night “because nobody can see it.”
Shite. Can never promise Mrs. Ciccio ‘eternal love’ again.
Five years of this bloody crap?
Can you imagine the uproar caused if the Olympic flame were to be switched off and put on shift?
World War II soldiers saved us from Nazi tyranny. We should be ETERNALLY grateful. This government seems to ignore this. Labour won’t work! And I am convinced it won’t even with these small gestures.
[Daphne – Bear in mind that the Labour view on World War II is ‘mitna ghall-barrani.’]
What do you expect from an “Operations Manager” whose job was to install vehicle tracking devices in customers’ cars?
It is guarded on a 24 hour basis in other places so that no one puts it out…….well here it is the government that puts it out.
Why don’t they use solar LEDs if they do not comprehend the significance of the eternal flame. Only in Malta.
Before becoming a Minister, Joe Mizzi worked in an office and his main job was making photo copies, so what do you expect.
And we all were under the impression that with Konrad’s master plan gas was going to get cheaper.
So now the eternal flame has become like the flame of my cooker. On again, off again tra la la la la la.
With this new Labour government the meaning of “meritocracy” had to be changed. Now we must also find a new definition for “eternal”.
It’s now the nocturnal flame, no longer the eternal flame.
Why not cut down on the Valletta bastions lighting and street lighting too? Happy memories of that bastard Mintoff.
I recall when in Mintoff turned off public fountains half of the street lights because of the oil prices.
They were re-connected in 1987 by the PN administration.
Vote Labour and everything will get a price tag. Next in line is the stopping of the automatic irrigation of our landscaped roundabouts and centre strips.
How pathetic. No pride at all. Typical Labour. They make you ashamed of being Maltese. If they don’t respect fallen heroes, how on earth are they going to respect the rest of us.
WTF. How much would it cost? I will gladly contribute to keep it on during the day as well.
Allura, m’hawnx min jaghti l-flus ghan-nar tal-festa, Jien nippreferi nuri rispett ghal dawk li mietu fil-gwerra.
Cost cutting? Rumour has it that in a couple of months the amount of Taghna Lkoll night watchmen deployed in government departments will outnumber the amount of daytime employees.
Oops sorry, War Dead, but our eternal flame only does the night shift.
Ma jinbidlu qatt tal-Labour; il- veru nies kattivi.
It-triq li tieħu mill-Mistra għall-Mellieħa qed tkun mitfija fi dlam ċappa b’periklu kbir għas-sewwieqa. Jista’ xi ħadd jgħidilna għaliex?
Deja vu. Back to the seventies.
Large tracts of main thoroughfares are in darkness.
It is pretty obvious.
Let’s hope the phenomenon will not spread to our houses.
Innaqsu il-kontijiet tad-dawl u l-ilma.
Nixghelu l-lampa tal-pitlolju u ncemplu ghal-bowzen.
A brutal slap in the face of all those who died in the defence of our country, of Malta itself, and not for any foreigner.
That struggle was against a foreign tyrant dictator intent on annexing Malta to his fascist “empire” by force of arms. That was OUR honourable struggle as much as it was the fight of the rest of the other world democracies.
This LP thinks it knows the cost of everything but it only gives proof that it does not know the VALUE of anything worthwhile.
Eternal flames are eternal flames except in MaltaPL.
Whether it is Delphi, Paris, Rome or wherever, it burns forever.
Many have been extinguished, usually in war by barbarians.
Elettorat tan-nejk hekk jixraqlu.
A clear case of knowing the cost but not the value of things.
A reversal to the days of “qammielizmu”.
We are witnessing a redefinition of concepts to suit the governing class. Ethics has become something which is optional; an eternal flame is one which burns between 6pm and 6am. It’s a ploy used by dictators. I wonder where all this is going to take us.
This bit of news reminded me of when the late Danny Cremona (then Minister in Mintoff’s government) had gone to the National Bank, which had just been taken over by the same government, and gave instructions to switch off the Telex machine during the night, as that was a waste of electrical power.
Admittedly, that was comic and showed his ignorance in the matter, whilst this is disrespectful.
But is Joe Mizzi actually acquainted with the term ‘eternal flame’, or is it outside his experience?
U Joe Mizzi mhux fis-circuit breakers jifhem.
They were right in the end – bring in the clowns.
am·a·teur noun \ˈa-mə-(ˌ)tər, -ˌtu̇r, -ˌtyu̇r, -ˌchu̇r, -chər\
Definition of AMATEUR
1
: devotee, admirer
2
: one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession
3
: one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science
— amateur adjective
— am·a·teur·ish adjective
— am·a·teur·ish·ly adverb
— am·a·teur·ish·ness noun
— am·a·teur·ism noun
Examples of AMATEUR
She played soccer as an amateur before turning professional.
These photos were taken by both amateurs and professionals.
The people running this country are a bunch of amateurs.
Only amateurs make this kind of mistake.
Problem here is that some politicians and members of the public seem to forget that if the British weren’t here to protect Malta, they would have been occupied by the Nazis and 3/4 quarters of the population would have been deported to labour camps.
@ charles – thank you thank you, am sick and tired of trying to explain to some idiots who keep on harping that – dahhluna fil gwerra l-Inglizi u kollu tort taghhom.
I keep telling them that we should be proud, being small as we are and we were never occupied like countries bigger then ours and why? Because the British were here to protect us, but some people are so so happy to be idiots.
Fucking socialists. They know the meaning of price but not value. I’m almost ashamed to be part of this nation.
hahaha than why not get a plane and fly to another country in europe surely the fucking pn’s told you and explained to you that now you can work and live were ever you want in the EUROPEAN BLOCK…mio xxxx from the socialist ugly party
At 9pm tonight they were off…
How can anyone be surprised by such irreverence, is everyone’s memory so short or was everyone literally born within the last 30 yrs?
Just like some creams have periodically been advertised on the local media as a cure for all ills so was this political advertising campaign. It got the people to dig into their pockets and pay (with their votes). It reached its aim, now whether it delivers is another matter.
Millions of people believe in many things they have never seen themselves or seen proof of. Some of these beliefs contradict each other so believing does not make one right, in fact some would describe one using other adjectives!
One can certainly see and feel the glow of the wisdom of the many (voters), one need only look at the extinguished eternal flame.
Is this the only way they can think of as a cost-cutting measure? X’faqar.
Tghid kieku kienet it-torca tal PL kien jitfiha matul il-gurnata?
Maybe the money saved will go for this: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130528/local/government-to-help-hawkers-replace-their-stalls.471512
LP priorities are based on voting power apparently, and the war dead are “kannoli bla krema” after all.
I shudder to think how many more pre-election promises are still to be fulfilled and at what (or whose) cost.
The People elect a government they deserve…. so there you all go! now enjoy :)
yes we voted for labour because gonzi kept that flame burning at the cost when people were trying to make both ends meet, when the maltese people could not afford to pay those ridiculas electricity and water bills, what could be more drastic than a gonzi spending millions on projects that for the time were not needed.Just look at the deficit how quickly it went up during the era of gonzi and austin do I need to remind you all. so please joseph carry on at least you are not a sarcastic person as all those pn’s let them all burn under the flame that they adore.
Form 1 maths exam question come June:-
What is the difference between the cost savings of fuel/gas consumption for two eternal flames switched off for 50% of the time, and the overtime costs of a government employee to attend twice daily to switch on/off the said flames?
So the Labour government thought nothing of spending Eur23,600 on yet another Gensna show, mitna ghall-barrani and all, but thinks nothing of skimping on a few Euros a year when honouring the war dead.
The Maltese who voted for change sure got a load of it …. and we’re only at honeymoon stage.
Labour truly has no shame.
And by the looks of it not much common sense either.
I have relatives who served in the armed forces and died in both world wars but their decision to serve and to pay the ultimate price means more to me and my family than some come and go politician who is out to get richer by his newfound position.
so what if the flame is not burning!! they are all in heaven now,prayer is more important than the flame.