How about a banana festival while you’re at it?

Published: February 12, 2015 at 3:27pm

Valletta

The desecration of the painstakingly (and expensively) created area at the entrance to Valletta continues apace.

Now we have an absolutely hideous and tacky kiosk selling junk food slap bang in the middle of the new square.

It has a permit from none other than the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, though why that outfit should be handing out permits of that nature is anybody’s guess.

This is the organisation chaired and run by Taghna Lkoll appointee Albert Marshall, a man who makes me wonder, each time I walk past him, whether Merlin has waved a wand and brought somebody’s Essex garden gnome to shuffling life.

He is the man who replaced Davinia Galea, who was forced out by the incoming Taghna Lkoll barbarians as they swarmed over the gate (literally). I can’t imagine Mrs Galea giving a permit for a hideous kiosk, or even a nice one for that matter, to be set up there. But then that’s why people like her were removed and replaced by people like Albert Marshall.




36 Comments Comment

  1. Botom says:

    If Renzo Piano visits Malta and see how these bunch of amateurs are making a mockery of all that effort, he will probably have a heart attack.

    They are just not fit for the job and what irritates me most is that those NGOs who used to be so vociferous and make a fuss over everything under the previous government now seem to have lost their voice.

    This government has either bought their silence or else has frightened them into submission.

    This is a tragedy not only for Renzo Piano project but most seriously for democracy. This government is literally getting away with murder.

  2. Jozef says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150212/local/mepa-turns-down-permit-for-monument-of-the-four-knights-at-city-gate.555795

    Damn.

    ‘..Last month, an application was filed by the chairman of the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, to place it opposite the new Parliament….’

    An hour ago the same article specified how the OPM justified the decision saying the light brigade had been commissioned by the ‘Nationalist Administration’. Edited.

    As for the kiosk,

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-02-12/local-news/Valletta-mayor-says-kiosk-should-not-have-been-placed-in-La-Valette-Square-6736130488

    Finger pointing, uncomfortably close to the OPM again. The statement uncovers the degree of inept handling subdued to Taghnalkoll. Jahasra mhux tort taghhom.

    Alexei Dingli for Lord Protector of the Faith.

  3. D Sullivan says:

    There’s a Melita cable kiosk just past the bridge too.

  4. mf says:

    And the police are chasing goats at Msida.

  5. john says:

    Other members of the Arts Council:

    Dr Paul Cachia
    Frederick Testa
    Nicholas Depiro
    Dominic Galea
    Caroline Tonna
    Jackie Scott
    Joe Micallef

  6. required says:

    Following the public outcry, they’ll probably tell us that it was a piece of art, put there to elicit a reaction.

  7. El Mundo says:

    Ghamillu chicken and chips lil Du Vallette.

  8. Lizz says:

    Is that a chicken wrap De Valette is holding in his outstretched arm?

  9. Freedom5 says:

    It turns out that Jason Micallef is the most culturally alert of the lot.

    KZT – ssssh kelb laghqi la tqajmux.

  10. Chris says:

    The statue next to the kiosk is pretty hideous also and that too was commissioned by the previous government.

    And to think they were planning on adding those four knights with it, which goes to show when it comes to taste both parties are seriously lacking – vide that horrendous piece next door to the War Memorial in Floriana.

  11. chico says:

    Well, I reckon La Valette liked the occasional pastizz as much as the next man.

  12. skype says:

    La Valette gabuh qisu waiter hemm. Fardal jonqsu.

  13. Geremie says:

    Anzi ghadhom ma tajjruhx lhemm lil Vallette.

  14. Cikku l-Poplu says:

    Ghala din il-vendikazzjoni shiha mal-Belt?

    Parkegg li Pjazza De Vallette, monti li anqas estetikament ma jmur f’dahla ta’ belt, nuqqas ta’ tkomplija tal-progett originali, Karnival fi pjazza mill isbah tal Belt fejn nistu nghidu hija l-uniku post apert tal-belt u lista shiha li tkompli. Ejjew nuru li ahna ghandna kultura u nies kburin bil belt taghna specjalment issa li gejja s-sena tal Belt Ewropeja.

    Intom in-nies tal-belt li intom tant kburin biha ftakru dan il-gvern x’vendikazzjoni qed jaghmel mal-belt li hi taghkom qabel ma hi taghna specjalment intom Beltin li ha l’vot taghkom semmhu lehinkom.

  15. Desperate says:

    Is this photo real? Or is it a result of a photo-shop product?

    [Daphne – The only thing that has been changed in this actual photograph is the sign on the front of the van.]

  16. Martin Felice says:

    Have the wardens issued a fine to the white car seen parked behind the Kiosk.

  17. Maltri says:

    That thing is dead in the centre of the square and resting with the base of the monument.

    Kif ma jisthux?

  18. nitpicker says:

    Even La Vallette has turned his back on this tacky addition to his city.

  19. claire says:

    Ser indumu indahku nies? Wara dik il-porkerja ta’ train li hemm iddur fil-belt, issa jmiss il-hot dog van?

  20. claire says:

    We all pity Renzo Piano. I don’t care at all about him. He was paid well for his job.

    What I pity is our children who should be living in this kind of culture under this government “tal-hamalli” elected by “hamalli”. Gvern bla gost u kultura. Gvern mitt sena lura.

    I pity our capital city which deserves respect and appreciation.

    There are no words to describe the kind of hamallgni shown in this picture.

  21. Artemis says:

    Philistines!

  22. Allo Allo says:

    Well, the banner advertising the event is still hanging on the St Venera tunnels… ready to be reused.

  23. Christian says:

    It seems like we re going to be seeing more and more of this sort of thing happening in the next years. We’re under the reign of the “Racanc”, with aesthetic tenets and standards of good behavior hijacked by unprincipled opportunists who will not recognise a beautiful thing (or a hideously ugly one for that matter) even if it kissed them passionately on the forehead.

  24. Elston Myers says:

    What a shame this government is for our country – a country that in the eyes of most taghna-lkollers can match top countries and capital cities in Europe whilst at the same time approving such atrocious kiosk-acts.

    At this rate, idiots and low-cultured individuals risk destroying this country in a year or two.

  25. Claude Sciberras says:

    Speaking about Banana Festivals, every day I pass through the Sta. Venera tunnels and notice that the Banana Festival (Qormi) banner is still hanging up there 3 months after the event took place. Shouldn’t the Qormi Council remove it now?

  26. Alison says:

    The kiosk was moved to Ordnance Street exactly on the corner.

    The woman owner was seen frying chips and infesting the area with cheap smells of hot oil.

    She looked angry and irritable, so she must be a Taghna Lkoller.

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