Il-fajn lajn ta' Maltastar
Ooooh, nasty! Maltastar calls me a vulture for revealing that the Muscats are fireworks merchants.
Please, somebody explain to Maltastar what ‘a fine line between’ means. They seem to think that there is a fine line between life and death.
Oh, and now I’m a screeching vulture because I told you that Joseph Muscat is the heir apparent to the family fireworks business which is run out of his home address (he lives at the same address as his parents).
And they can’t bring themselves to spell out exactly why they think I’m scoring points, because then they’d have to explain to their readers that Joseph Muscat’s father is a fireworks merchant and that Joseph Muscat was raised on the profit from a fireworks business and still benefits from it.
Why do they think it’s something to hide? Could it be because what I’ve said is correct but they’re damned if they’re going to die for my right to say it?
Maltastar Leader, 10 September
A FINE LINE
The events of the last few weeks have been dominated by fine lines.
There was the fine line between life and death as prominent characters in public life and their relatives passed away.
Many others experienced this tragedy even though their lives are not lived in the public eye. The grief of loss is equal, whoever suffers it.
Fine lines between our beautiful fireworks tradition that gives so
much joy to many, and heartbreak so suddenly, as happened tragically
in the limits of Gharb and Mosta this summer.
The fine line between talking calmly and with vision about where Malta could and should be, and how the Maltese government should conduct itself for the welfare of us all, and bullying and intimidation in the Lady Di pub and more.
There is the fine line between absolute truth and absolute lies that still needs to be revealed in the spin and counter spin in the case of Nikki Dimech.
While the majority of us contemplate fine lines and try to appreciate
what we have, the usual band of vultures try to pick on the bones of
injuries, try to score the cheapest political points from deaths by
fireworks.
When do we hear these vultures screeching about deaths and
horrific injuries on our roads, a far more regular occurrence?
Fine lines, hypocrisy and humbug have characterised the closing stages of a Maltese summer.
28 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
What a pointless leader from Maltastar.
But remarkably, although I found one use of the word “lies”, this was used in the same sentence with the text “Nikki Dimech.” It was not used in the sentences about “deaths by fireworks.”
“While the majority of us contemplate fine lines and try to appreciate what we have, ” – so says Maltastar on 10 Sep 2010, barely 2 weeks after a tragedy, whose causes are still to be determined by an independent board of enquiry, and which could point at anything including the quality of material used in fireworks manufacturing.
But if one reads Maltastar on any other day of the year, then it is full of reasons why we should despair at “what we have.”
Jesus wept:) !
Not sure if He wept… but I definitely did. Are these journalists products of the Communications Dept? Says a lot about our standards if they are.
How much do they pay at Maltastar? Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to do much more badly than this.
I suppose you imagine that “to do much more badly than this” is good, idiomatic English?
There’s an old saying which involves glass-houses, stones and the verb “to throw”. Look it up.
ChavsRus, since you’re also throwing idiomatic stones you should note that it’s glass houses (or glasshouses if you’re a grower). No hyphen.
What “political points” do you try to score?
[Daphne – I imagine they’re referring to my explanation as to how Joseph Muscat has a vested interest in the fireworks business.]
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100912/local/fireworks-muscat-makes-proposals-speaks-of-his-fear-of-discovering-his-father-is-dead
There is a thin line between making a fine point and belabouring it.
So, now it has been revealed that Muscat is the son of a merchant/business man and not from ‘il-klassi tal-haddiema’ u l-mittilklas.This does not go down very well with the hardcore Labourites.
Qrajt is-suggerimenti ta’ Muscat fuq it-Times u qal hafna cucati, avolja missieru huwa importatur ewlieni tal-kimika.
U ghaliex, kif jighdu l-Inglizi ‘we want to reinvent the wheel’, meta nistghu facilment naraw kif joperaw fabbriki barra min Malta, anke fl-Italja.
Xi delettanti tan-nar hbieb tieghi dan l-ahhar zaru fabbrika fl-Italja u baqghu impressjonati bil-livell ta’ sigurta.
Wiehed mil-Maltin talab biex imur barra halli ikun jista’ icempel fuq il-mobile. It -Taljan gibidlu l-attenzjoni u qallu li jista jcempel kemm irid ghax l-igniters kollha ‘short circuited u grounded’.
Barra minn hekk kulhadd libes ilbies protettiv bhal ‘antistatic shoes and gowns’, u kien hemm ‘anti-static flooring’, u indafa impekkabli, biex ma jkun hemm l-ebda depositu u tixrid ta’ kimika mal-hittan u l ‘madwar.
Meta naqra is-suggerimenti ta’ Muscat, bejni u bejn ruhi nghid anke il-mexxejja taghna huma amateurs u jithallsu l-eluf, mela ghalfejn niehduwa bi kbira lid-dellettanti tan-nar mhumiex professjonali f’xogholhom.
Joseph Muscat has a conflict of interest in the matter. He is a legislator, a leader of a political party which represents public opinion, and the son of a merchant dealing in fireworks materials.
Which hat was he wearing for that article in The Sunday Times? If you read carefully, all three of them.
Now, the less he says on the subject, the better. He should declare publicly that he has a conflict of interest, and let the experts appointed by the government conclude their report.
Then, he should show us the hat he is wearing, and tell us his views accordingly.
Conflict of interest! Short circuit. Tuza l’Ingliz ghax mhux wahda tal professjoni. Ma tafx kif jitkelmu in-nies tas-sengha.U trida li tifhem f’kollox hlief fis-sengha taghha li thaffer ghal mejtin. Dik sena. Jghidu li hi sabet tarf ta Tutankamon. Ghadewla d-dokumenti u bla ma caqalqet mid-dar sabet tarf tas-sejba.
X’aktarx ser jinnominawha ghall premju “Nobel”. Dan isem ma tistghax titraducih. Caruana Galizia ghax skond l-isem minn ghand min haditu kien jghix fl-Istat Spanjol:Galizia. Caruana hu kunjom nies baxxi l-Italia u Vella xi hag’aktar.
I feel that very few really understand your journalistic stance – quite a lot have a very aggressive attitude towards you who always calls a spade a spade
You have been upstaged.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100912/opinion/haven-t-we-waited-long-enough
I told you you were trying to ignite a damp squib (pardon the pun again).
[Daphne – Oh, I’m going to write about that. Wait until tomorrow, please. Crass hypocrisy: he managed to write that entire article without telling us that his father actually SELLS FIREWORKS AND CHEMICALS and instead gave the impression that he’s some dilettant tal-festa. And that bit about the boy and the petard – honestly. What was the alternative – leaving the boy to it, to blow himself up? Any adult would have done the same, unless he was a sociopath – especially if, in the first place, he probably sold the stuff that could have blown that kid up. I have as much sympathy for Muscat and his father as I have for a family of crack dealers giving donations to Caritas and talking about how they want to help addicts.]
That article must have been even more effective than I thought.
[Daphne – No, chavsRus. In PR terms, what’s he’s done is given the media a ‘hook’ on which to hang further stories. And don’t forget that he’s not addressing an audience of chavs who can’t think.]
Maltastar… ‘Vague’ as is their norm. Excuse the pun.
Mela t-tradizzjoni mishuta tal-murtali zgur li m’hemmx cans li tispicca minn Malta, iktar u iktar meta Muscat ikun prim ministru.
Maltastar has turned bad English into a fine art. There is hardly one sentence without some grammatical error or malapropism.
Haha I have this image of “journalists” writing this article, all wondering what to write about, until one of them says, “Let’s be artistic and make it all about fine lines”.
Daphne, I don’t know why you bother. You seem to hope that one day they will learn, that one day some sense will come out of that party but I think that you are waiting in vain.
Until they manage to find a decent leader and get rid of the many bad apples we will continue to have a very useless opposition. I used to think it is because they have crap leaders but I’m now convinced that it is the whole structure that puts the people in the positions of power so there is little hope for good leaders to get to the top until all the structures are full of people who can see the difference between someone with great leadership skills and brilliant ideas and a manure salesman.
Xi grala din il-mara tal-flus, ghax ma tistghax tghidila sinjura fis-sens ta’rispett. Jidher li ghandha salt tahwied fl-istonku. Trid titmejjel issa mhux tikteb artikli serji ghax tilfet is-serjeta. Jenhtieg psikjatra ghax kaz serju li ftit d-dinja tara minnhom.
Miskini fiex waqat. Qatt xi darba xi hadd kien jobsor li taqa f’basezzi li lanqas nies lanqas edukati li kienu jghixu f’mandragg ma jaqaw.Hadd ma jtik milli m’ghandux.
You do have to see Michelle and Joseph on Superone! Eastenders galore:) and vote fishing in the process
Joe just told us that Michelle bleeds a lot! Do we care? There’s a fine line between grotesque and burlesque.
From Joseph Muscat’s treatise on chemistry:
“Reactions, especially latent ones given our particular and changing climate, of some materials and formulas are largely unknown. The local reclusiveness barely helps.”
Largely unknown TO HIM. And there is no such thing as a latent reaction. Formulas? Does he mean chemicals?
I pray to god in heaven, if there is one, to deliver me from this moron.
Breaking news: PL issues ban on facial hair.
First Muscat’s goatee and now Anglu “Swiss Toni’ Farrugia’s ‘tache.
http://maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=11825
I’m looking for recent videos of Toni Abela…
End of an era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUImpeQG66U
Is it possible that the Maltese population is thinking of having this cart-load of blown-up baloons governing Malta?