The PM on Bondi+ right now
Quite interesting so far, but I am transfixed by that ‘gangala’. It’s way, way too much for a man of just 39, and the change in five years has been really dramatic.
What’s happening? I had a sudden vision of the PM in five years’ time, with a face like the ‘moon with a face’ in children’s stories, perfectly round and with no hair, sitting on a completely squat body.
It’s so distracting that I can barely concentrate.
He’s fed up, he said, because he’s used to taking a decision and watching it happen, but in government he can’t because there’s too much ‘red tape’.
That isn’t red tape, Mr Prime Minister. Those are the systematic, embedded controls which a liberal democracy uses to ensure that prime minister and governments cannot abuse the situation or behave like dictators.
Mintoff’s day was a long time ago, and the Golden Years were not golden at all.
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Joseph Muscat: “Qazzitni l-burokrazija”
X’dekor ta’ Prim Ministru! Jista’ jitkellem ahjar nahseb.
[Daphne – That’s deliberate. He’s reflecting the way certain switcher types speak. It makes him more attractive to them.]
It’s Mintoff-speak.
Is it just me who’s thinking that he really seems on the brink of breaking down and crying?
[Daphne – No, he isn’t.]
Of course, he isn’t. He is cocky and confident and he is nowhere near crying.
I am on the brink of breaking down and crying myself. Hela ta’ flus il-Parlament. It is heart-breaking to behold to what contempt he holds the organs of the State.
It’s not just contempt for the organs of State. It’s contempt for everything that isn’t himself or doesn’t belong to him.
You definitely got the wrong impression, P Sant.
At one point I had to stop watching. I simply couldn’t stand his arrogance and cockiness.
What does he think he is?
Typical Labour’s disregard for proper protocol.
These are checks and balances Mr PM dating back to the times of the Greeks.
Remember trias politica ?
Imbecile.
Ah then he is paving the way for a 25% reduction in bureaucracy, which means he means to continue to govern the way he and his ministers have ‘governed’ so far, bulldozing in with their decisions, lack of consultations, and complete disregard for protocol.
And how can one quantify a 25% reduction in red tape? But then, it’s an exercise in persuading your average labour supporter and switcher that this is the best government in decades.
He also said there was no handing over from one government to another but failed to mention that his first strategic gaffe after winning the election was removing all permanent secretaries from their post.
Yes Muscat removed the people who should have given this handing over.
Yes, and worryingly, Lou failed to point this out.
He did not remove all permanent secretaries. He was sly enough to split them apart. Those who were removed are being accused of all inadequacies.
Those who were retained are being praised for their outstanding qualitiies. He mentioned Alfred Camilleri who in the Gonzi administration said no to all.
Now he found it comfortable to increase the staff complement of the civil service indiscriminately. They should have stood their ground and fought to protect the constitution. But they just protected their interests.
Never mind the face. The man is tired and exhausted.
That’s what I think. He’s nowhere near Gonzi as to his stamina, despite being half his age. He’ll soon break down. We’ll soon be seeing less and less of him. Wait and see.
His voice delivers no motivation.
Meanwhile, despite his efforts at the Spinach, he is gaining weight. This is a clear sign of stress.
Nothing that a daily dose of amphetamines can’t fix.
The bonus is that he can forgo wasting time in the gym.
It did wonders for early sixties vintage Johnny Cash.
It’s all doom and gloom in the health sector, or is it in every sector?!
Not the best advert for Spinach Gym, I must say.
Very comfortable set of questions… where is the investigative journalism Lou used to boast about?
How he talks makes you believe that he is one big lier
Can’t believe Lou surrendered this quickly – why is he interviewing Humpty Dumpty tonight?
Muscat wants to project an image of the next ‘salvatur’. And he doesn’t fear ‘tests’ which is arrogant to say least; fear is what gets adrenaline going, so that little bit of anxiety is always required.
I have a feeling these will be the longest 5 years of my life.
Hold fast. Courage now. We’ve seen worse. The Second World War lasted for five years and eight months.
‘My life’ not my grandmother’s.
WWZ about to be screened here. Ironically, partially filmed here. How apt, since we are now ruled by them. Where’s Brad when we need him?
The War in Afghanistan has been going on since 2001, with no end in sight. My grandfathers, in comparison, had it easy.
But I advise you savour every minute of these five years. Draw them out for as long as possible. Because some time towards the end, we’ll have left the EU.
Right before the second break just now, did I hear him correctly? Did he say: “Qallajna l-flus lil PBS”??
You are absolutely right… that is what he said
Yes, that’s what he said. Just like trampling a ‘gremxula xi mkien’. Where’s Astrid? Busy pumping her abs for the beach?
Even calling his party the Underdogs trying to gain sympathy. It’s all hype and marketing. He’s a sly one, plus I do not think that the PN underestimate him. He should have been an actor.
[Daphne – As if. His acting is utterly appalling. Didn’t you watch his ‘speech to the nation’ last night? He’s a salesman: he’s exactly like the sort of man you get persuading you to buy this or that washing-machine or car. And in Malta, that’s all it takes. Amazing.]
Un venditore di tappeti. (G. Andreotti).
Exactly like his idol, that scum Mintoff.
Daphne nailed it. He is a salesman. He tends to promote his product with discounts. Like 25% off on bureaucracy and 25% off on utility bills.
Even worse – a USED -car salesman.
1) The only Valletta museum our PM is aware of is the War Museum – probably visited in a Form 3 school outing
2) Renzo Piano’s project is a “Froga” and why not, deserves a Monti near it because we all have the right to earn a living.
Yes, and that only got mention after a lot of umming and ahhing, also really not sure what part of the War Museum one would place in the showroom.
The Faith, Hope and Charity bit he read in Form 3 history lesson.
According to our PM the habitat of “gremxul” is the sea. Amen.
When in Opposition, they used to make such a fuss about gremxul whenever a project was proposed.
Marine iguanas. Perhaps he’s thinking of a ‘Galapagos in the Mediterranean’. The average age of the Cabinet rivals that of a turtle colony anyway so we’re halfway there.
How come Lou’s back on TVM 1?
Lou Bondi …. neutered.
My feelings exactly!
Bondi was not same today and too bloody soft.
Sfortunatament, f’dan il-pajjiz kulhadd jitkellem kif jaqbillu. U issa Bondi qed joghqod attent hafna biex ma dardarx l-ilma li ser jixrob minnu. I believe that Muscat managed to really shut him up.
Nahseb ha xi kalmant qabel il-programm.
Too bloody right. Bondi got an iced bun and lost his appetite
It won’t last long. This kind of spending splurge, at a time when the government should have thought of reducing the money bill, is unsustainable.
I may very well be wrong, and I hope I am, but we’ll get a clearer picture when Edward Scicluna issues his first government bonds.
Will they be over-subscribed, as it always happened under the nasty and callous Nationalists? That is the question.
I am so gutted I don’t understand Maltese.
Bondi needs to change strategy, leave TV and shift directly to internet.
What happened to the usual Lou? Any journalist should have reacted in a much stronger manner towards such blatant contempt towards the state’s organs.
A PM does not assert on state television ‘nispera ma jigix xi hadd jghidli li issa se noqtlu xi gremxula’. Is this the sort of environmental planning we are aiming for? I would expect such a statement from Del Boy but not a PM.
A Prime Minister does not discredit feasibility studies simply because they were commissioned by MEPA. What logic is this? Using the same yardstick, should we discredit studies conducted by the private industry because they will only safeguard their interests?
Moreover, you should not ask for a feasibility study from potential bidders.
With regard to the new parliament building, please, stop this cheap talk. The Parliament as an institution is the fulcrum of a democratic political system. It is unimaginable and irresponsible for a PM to ridicule the parliament’s status by using useless and pointless statistics saying that a Parliament meets for three and a half hours sessions, three times a week thus it is only used for ‘ten hours a week’, so let’s stuff it with other things too.
Excuse me Prime Minister, but the fact that you use your bedroom for 7 hours a day does not mean that you may rent it out to strangers for the other 17 hours. You can, but you don’t.
Many people can be bought.
And in Malta, so cheaply.
I agree – a salesman and not an actor, and in Malta that’s all it takes, a brand and a good salesman.
If I heard the interview on radio I would have thought he is being interviewed by Miriam Dalli. Seems they have started to tame Lou.
“The proper business of a statesman is to contrive the means by which certain ends may be effected, leaving it to the general voice of the country to determine what those ends shall be and shaping his own conduct, not according to his own principles, but according to the wishes of the people for who he legislates and whom he is bound to obey.”
THAT IS THE WAY A STATESMAN SHOULD BEHAVE.
Sorry, I switched over channels to Italia 1 where the horror film ‘The Exorcist’ was showing. Reckoned it’d be less of a horror show than watching Lou debasing himself and fatso preening himself in front of the Maltese hordes.
I reckon it’s going to take 15 years minimum and 2 PN leaders to dislodge the fake pretender.
Dark ages …YES … but certainly not Golden Years.
Didn’t he say ‘we are the underdogs’ when he was in opposition? Permanently underdogs? Who’s he trying to fool? Idiot.
I zapped off from TVM immediately I saw Lou and Joseph on show. From the comments above I am sure I will never rue the move.
I think Muscat is much more shrewd than I ever thought. Now that Lou Bindi has been tamed its your turn dear Daphne. Stand by for an appointment to some executive role.
[Daphne – What strange reasoning. Where does the assumption come from that I want one, when in 23 years under various governments I never did? Why on earth would I want to work for THIS government? Please use your head.]
I never thought I’d see the day that Lou Bondi ridicules himself as a journalist. As they say, everyone has a price and Joseph Muscat has managed to buy out Lou Bondi’s professionalism.
I’m sorry for Lou Bondi. I am sorrier for the people including myself who admired Lou and the whole Where’s Everybody Team. Seeing the subjects being chosen by Xarabank and now even Bondi+, I know that they are only working on journalism that does not disturb the LP’s waters.
Bondi+, Gurnalizmu fuq kollox. They should now publicise the programme as: Bondi+ Gurnalizmu fuq dak li jaqblilna biss.
The saying actually is “everything has a price, man alone has value”.
[Daphne – http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/77057-nowadays-people-know-the-price-of-everything-and-the-value ]