Labour adds a bit of blue

Malta Independent on Sunday

Oct 4


All this ado, over what exactly? It was not a cabinet minister, or even a backbcncher, who crossed the floor, but a failed election candidate who has changed sides, so why the fuss?

Frankly, because many of us prefer a good gossip to serious business. Claudio Grech’s resignation as Smart City’s CEO hardly raised an eyebrow.

Prominent ex-Labour minister Joe Grima who, while it was obvious that the PL was not going to make it and that he had lost influence within the party, ran a chat show on the PN’s channel Net TV and has now moved to the PL’s One TV, also sparked little media interest.

I could have started my column like I did last week: “Round and round we go.”

Now that the PL – provided that they seriously get their act together – should really win the next election, it is no surprise that a number of ambitious people would be looking to securing their future.

We are going to see more and more people being less strident in their criticism of the PL and more cautious in their praise of the PN, ensuring they do not lose their lucrative posts or contracts under a different administration.

Marisa Micallef is no victim. She is a survivor. If she did lose her job in the UK, she had to look around for her best option. According to PN general-secretary Paul Borg Olivier: “She was unhappy the government was not able to provide her with a job.” Let’s face it, there are not many places to go here, are there? If you are neither Blue nor Red, your chances are even more restricted. So she went for Red.

Marisa is also one pushy lady, so she probably orchestrated the hype about her defection to Labour.

As a columnist, her writing had veered sharply towards the PN, since she was a Gonzi acolyte and had been rewarded with the chairmanship of the Housing Authority (of course it was a political appointment, Dr Gonzi). It was her consolation prize when she failed to win a parliamentary seat as a PN candidate.

My hunch is that she will try to get her media platform back. That is one card PL leader Joseph Muscat, with his new technicoloured coat on, will be banking on.

Now that he is her new guru and paymaster, Marisa’s writing will have to bolster the Labour Party, which will now be a little bit blue as well as red with streaks of green thrown in.

It will not be that easy for her, however, to persuade the more sophisticated of her readers that she was so wrong in the past and is so right now.

A letter in The Times argued that she had “blurred memory”. It said: “Ms Micallef gave the impression that the best jobs are reserved for the blue-eyed boys and girls. She seems to have forgotten that she was chairman of the Housing Authority under a Nationalist government and, in the meantime, used to write loads of articles criticising Labour.”

Good point. And Ms Micallef knows full well that it is not only the PN who looks after its blue-eyed boys and girls – although there are far fewer blue-eyed girls.

She was one of the lucky few, being in the right place at the right time with the PN. Many of the other PN girls, who had been around for a lot longer, but were less forceful, did not get any rewards.

Now she has clinched it again with the PL.

But does she really think she would have been offered the job, had she not crossed over? Of course not. She would not have been of any use to Joseph Muscat.

Also, if one of her reasons for leaving the PN was because the right people were not being rewarded, did that worry her when she was doing well with them? Is the PL any better?

There are loyal women as well as men, at least as able, who have served the PL for a long time, who could have filled the post she has been given more than adequately.

Marisa, however, has the edge on badgering editors to publish her stuff, although I am not sure she will be as successful this time around. But you never know, everyone can go around and around, including editors.

Having said that, I have no problem with Ms Micallef landing herself a well-paid job. Everyone has every right to work for whom they wish. And it is great if you can have your cake and eat it.

She has also managed to get all that attention from a male-dominated chauvinistic media.

Malta Today gave her extensive coverage and on Wednesday dedicated two whole pages with opinions from 12 male commentators, plus Joseph Muscat, about her move. The paper could not manage the opinion of one single woman on the issue.

Probably l-orrizont will now be having articles in English, or have someone translate Marisa’s articles into Maltese – unless Joseph is planning on his own English language paper.

But will Ms Micallef help the PL or hinder it?

Besides banking that she will have space in The Times, The Independent and lots in Malta Today, Mr Muscat thinks that she will persuade those of her ilk (upper middle class) to vote Labour, come the next election.

That is where other, more deserving Labour women, were pipped at the post. In fact, the post was probably created for her. Her asset is that she is what used to be called “tal pepe”.

“The Labour Party had suffered in the past because it failed to connect with certain sectors of society, which felt that the PN was their natural home”, Mr Muscat said when explaining her appointment in an interview on One Radio.

Does he really think that because Marisa has moved over, many PN supporters of her breed will follow? I don’t think so.

It is when he starts to demonstrate that he has sound policies, which he can galvanise to show that he is really different and can transform things, that he will persuade some of the upper-class PN voters to change the way they vote.

Their disgruntlement with the Party is not enough, as the last election proved. The PL has not managed to attract the English-speaking upper middle-class in the past with the likes of Mary Darmanin, an intellectual heavy weight by comparison, and Gillian Bartolo, a better writer, not forgetting Marie Benoit.

Besides, the Opposition leader must be careful now that he is aiming to please the upper class that he does not lose support with Labour’s grass roots.

I fear that, just as George Abela, now President, upset many Labour Party members when he made excuses for the bad behaviour towards former PL leader Alfred Sant by so-called PN “puliti” (as in upper-class, not clean), Joseph Muscat might be upsetting the grassroots by giving a top job to someone who has been so dismissive of their party in the recent past.

Most importantly, the upper middle-class will need much more than Ms Micallef’s insistence that the PL has the answers to our woes.



pamelapacehansen@gmail.com

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When and how to comment

While I of course share the sorrow of the tragedy where Clifford Micallef lost his life and am appalled by reckless driving and have contributed to The Times online with the following comment:

“What a preventable tragedy. My heart reaches out to his family.
Our roads are a jungle. There are no proper and safe biclycle lanes, yet people shoud be encouraged to cycle, not scared witless.
It is healthier to cycle not only because it provides exercise for the rider, but it also reduces pollution. If only our politicians can stop the rhetoric and act now.
As for reckless driving, it is rampant. One would need a concerted effort by the authorities concerned to regain some form of control on the roads.
The speed cameras seem to catch minor offenders, yet the real culprits seem to get away with murder. A car can be as deadly as a gun.”

I do, however, have reservations about the hate campaign being conducted in the media, especially online.
I agree with Michael Scriha,the defense lawyer, that the man being charged is being denied a fair trial. Unfortunately, although I appreciate that the current outburst is provoked by the unnecessary loss of life of a special person and lax road controls, it has all the markings of a lynch mob.
The Law Courts are there to dispense justice. If on the other hand the courts do not mete out the right penalties for established crimes, the media would then be failing in its duty if it did not comment.

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Been there, done that, nothing changes

Wow, Has it been that long since I blogged.
I did have a glorious week in Gozo, although tinged with some sadness, but that was just a week!
It has suddenly hit me that I am middle aged, in my brain, I mean, I have been middle aged for a while now. But not in my head.
And how has this suddenly hit home?
I was thinking about BBC's Eastenders over lunch.
Little Dot should go. She is a pain and Christian is not convincing as a rejected lover; Ian is just too predictable and the only interesting character at the moment is Stacey.
What the hell am I doing? I obviously need to get a life. OK. I do not watch too much television, but it is the involvement that is concerning.
Do I really care what happens to fictional characters? I think I am more interested from a 'critique' point of view. Even so....

I am losing too many friends to cancer. Art curator Dennis Vella being the latest. We did not meet often, but I shall miss him.
A few years back he asked me whether my mum would mind him visiting to look at her portrait by Emvin Cremona. A book was being created about the artist and Dennis was keen to include her portrait.
My mum does not like visitors much, but she agreed. She also agreed to let a photographer in later because she liked Dennis.
He had told me that Emmanuel Fiorentino, who I knew through working at the Sunday Times, was co-ordinating. Unfortunately, Emmanuel died soon after. I never knew what happened to the book.
My 'Gozo' friend Helen nee Salamone also passed away recently; Gozo visits will not be the same again. And yet another friend since childhood, also with a Marsalforn connection - Noel Radmilli also died of cancer, not that long ago.
I don't mean to be morbid, but maybe it is because of my heaviness of heart that I have to involve myself in fiction.
Another thing that, perhaps, is driving me to fiction (I am reading a lot) is the "Been there, done that, nothing changes" frame of mind.
After I had put a lot of energy into campaigning to stop the awful blitzkrieg we have to endure all summer and had collected hundreds of signatures, which were presented to Parliament a few years back, nothing changed.
This summer is even worse. Now others are trying to rekindle the interest. Not just in stopping the petards but all intrusive noise. I wish them well. Maybe this time more people have had enough.
But is not just noise. Besides having no concept of "peace and quiet" we lack the basic need of a healthy community - that of being civil to one another.
Malta verges on anarchy, on the roads, in our neighbourhoods and the environment.
I have not even bothered to even look at the MEPA reforms. It is too late and am cynical that much will change.

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Continuation

Reading comments about the extensive power failure in The Times online, this quote stood out for me among the partisan dross.
“This is the third time I have had to run the generator during the day this year (I do not run it at night so as not to disturb others).”
I think the gentleman was British. If only some of that consideration could rub off here. I was sure that I would not have got any sleep on Tuesday night had the power not been restored.
A large generator, that I think was erected sans MEPA permit, stands not far from my bedroom and I am sure the owner would not have had any scruples in running his all night.
What was really unnerving on Tuesday was the inability to get any kind of information from Enemalta. The phone was permanently engaged. I finally got some information from The Independent newsroom at about 17.00.
A press release had been issued, but there was still no indication of what time the power would come back on.
It eventually was restored at about 20.00. Nine and a half hours since the stoppage, except for a short resurgence between 15.30 and 16.00.
Enemalta’s chairman, Alex Tranter gave a rather mixed message yesterday, while insisting Enemalta has enough power generation capacity to meet demand, he said that the boiler that tripped starting a domino effect on the remaining machines that could not take the load.
Boilers, he said, “had a self protective system shutting them off in case of overloads.”
So if there is a problem with overloads the capacity is not meeting demand.
“This was demand which the corporation could not meet because four turbines - two at Marsa and two at Enemalta, were not in use yesterday.
Those at Marsa had been undergoing maintenance while those at Delimara were getting a major overhaul.”said Mr Tranter.
I am no engineer but a major overhaul at one station and maintenance at another at the same time seems like a serious lack of judgement to me.
It was refreshing to read Marco Cremona’s contribution. An engineer, he had this to say: “Enemalta's Generation Plan 2006-2013 says that Enemalta will run out of spare generation capacity by Summer 2009. No investment has been made in increasing generation capacity since the report was prepared even though the report strongly recommended that Enemalta install a new power station by end 2008. So whom is Enemalta's chairman trying to kid when he says that we have enough generation capacity to meet demand? In saying so, he is contradicting Enemalta's own conclusions.
I very much suspect that Government's obstinence in retaining the high electricity tariffs is derived from the knowledge that there would not have been enough generation capacity to meet demand this summer.
Increasing the tariffs sky high resulted in a shock factor that reduced demand so that we may just make it through the peak. They simply do not have the courage to say that they messed up.
It may just work this year but not the next, and the one after ... especially with some mega-projects like Smart City coming on line soon.
Cowboy tactics, nothing else... and playing with fire.”
I believe, but I cannot say I read through all the comments, that Marco Cremona was the only person to hit the nail on the head.
With high density buildings mushrooming all over the island and little being done with regard to the infrastructure, it is no wonder that the corporation could not guarantee that yesterday's blackout would not happen again.

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Energy breakdown

Prolonged loss of power is enervating. I refer today to the energy breakdown affecting most of the island of Malta for most of the day Tuesday.
I was very calm and took the day’s events in my stride. Things changed dramatically on the next day when I got a water bill for nearly €2,000.
When I went to check the consumption on my meter I realised that the clock was racing, yet all my taps and utilities were off.
But let me start on Tuesday.
My lights went off at 10.30 just as I was leaving home.
No big deal, even if I had to tackle the stairs (no light between the 2nd and 1st floors) struggling with my large bag (I intended to include a swim in my schedule) and two rubbish bags (one recyclable).
As I parked on the street where I wanted to do some shopping later, I noticed I had a puncture. Again no big deal, I called the breakdown service from my mobile phone and realised my battery was running low.
After getting an engaged tone after several calls. I decided to cool off with a swim and try again later. I assumed they were having a very busy morning.
There would still be time to attend to my other commitments.
When I still could not get through after several other calls and it was getting close to noon, I guessed that the company's phones needed electricity to work.
How on earth can a company, providing a service as essential as car breakdown rescue, operate without a 24hour serviceable line? Even I had thought of this eventuality and stuck to GO (Malta's fixed line provider). Even mobile phones need recharging and mine was running dangerously low.
Anyway, I still refused to get het up. I would just have to cancel a couple of appointments, delay my shopping, which needed refrigeration, walk home, have some lunch and do some work.
However, since there was no Internet service I had a siesta instead.
How can one complain of the “good life”.
Swimming, lunch and siesta – heaven.
However, by 15.30 I was getting a bit restless. I finally managed to get the breakdown service (I was told their power was now back on) and made an appointment to meet near the car in an hour.
As I got changed my freezer alarm went off, which indicated that my power was back on. Wow, that was not too bad.
But just as though a clown had popped his head up and said “Not really”, as I pressed the button to call the lift, the power failed again. A second later I would have been trapped. Phew! This time I picked up a torch and could see my way down the ‘black spot’ on the stairs.
I was now concerned that the breakdown service phones were out again and that my full freezer might be slowly defrosting.
Anyway, to cut to the chase, the breakdown service arrived, a little late, but my car was back on the road. But the power was still not back.
I could not work on my computer or watch BBC World or CNN to catch up on what was happening in Iran. I decided I would read. I had three books on the go – Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope”, Martin Amis’s “House of Meetings” and Stephen King’s “Christine” (It is a car not a woman).
I poured myself a glass of chilled white wine and sat on the roof enjoying the view of the boats in the calm harbour with the bastions in the background, knowing that the views days were numbered, unless MEPA (Planning Authority) miraculously changed its ways.
But there was a problem. I cannot bear noise and generators were on full throttle all around me....
More later.

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Zero tolerance to violence

Racism is an issue in the latest tragic occurrence in Malta’s Paceville. But it is not the only one and many people are not facing the whole problem.
Violent behaviour is the main concern in this case. There are many people whose comments rankle in their racist views, but I doubt that many of them would accept violence as the answer to their grievances.
The latter are disgruntled that their children are not getting jobs because certain employers are exploiting immigrants, illegal or not. The authorities are ignoring this issue perpetuating a ‘them and us’ unhealthy environment.
Unfortunately, the fatality in Paceville, as unacceptable as it is, is also being exploited in its own way, by people with blinkered vision.
A Sudanese migrant, Suleiman Abubaker, allegedly drunk, was refused admission to a bar in Paceville (Malta’s entertainment centre). He ended up dead.
Now despite that it is common knowledge that a form of apartheid has been in practice in Paceville for years and it has been tacitly accepted by all, people who are drunk are a nuisance and it is understandable that they are refused entry to public venues.
What is definitely unacceptable is that violence is used to eject inebriated people of whatever nationality. It is a matter of zero tolerance to violence.
It is also unacceptable and illegal that people who are not drunk are refused entry to nightclubs and bars on the basis of the colour of their skin. Yet, this has been happening on a regular basis for years, with very little noise from our great ‘holier than thou’ brigade.
They only jump on the bandwagon when the scent of sensational publicity catches their nostrils.
Mr Abubaker was either pushed in self-defence, or punched to the ground, according to which version one credits. He was also brutally kicked by an unknown person and ended up dead. He suffered a fractured skull and was taken to hospital in a critical condition. He later succumbed to his injuries.
According to The (Malta) Times, a French student, who was with Mr Abubaker, testified that his friend had been punched as he tried to enter the club drunk.
He was thrown to the ground by the punch from a bouncer, Duncan Deguara, who is being charged with seriously injuring Mr Abubaker on May 29. Since Mr Abubaker later died of his injuries “eventually leading to his death” was added to the charge against Mr Deguara.
Yet, it could be that it was the kicking from the unknown person that led to Mr Abubaker’s demise.
Has his description been given to the police? Have they done anything about it?
Mr Deguara’s defence is that he had refused to let Mr Abubaker in because he was drunk. He had also been drunk the week before and had not been allowed in then either.
Mr Deguara said that on the day of the incident, Mr Abukarer tried to get in three times. At one point Mr Deguara went to the toilet and when he returned he saw Mr Abubaker having a drink at the bar. He then escorted him to the door where the victim hit him with a bottle.
Mr Deguara is only admitting to pushing the victim. He claims he pushed him on his chest out of the bar, he fell over, hit his head on the pavement, stayed down for a few minutes, got up and fell again.
His friend, presumably the nameless French student, helped him up and they walked down the road. He testified, “After he was helped up he stumbled and hung on to a signpost, only to be kicked by an unknown person.”
It may not be the bouncer’s push or punch that killed Mr Abubaker and serious attempts should be made to find the unknown assailant, but it is about time that strict guidelines on the use of force by bouncers be introduced and enforced.
This is not the first time that a bouncer has found himself in court following the death of a ‘bounced’ victim.
There is a lot of outrage, then the status quo reigns.

Non sequitur

The summer murtali attacks have started in Malta. I went to bed to the sound of explosions after 23 hours on Saturday and awoke to another attack at 08.00 accompanied by loud, persistent church bell ringing.
As I was writing this at noon we had another spate of ‘bombing’, which lasted for three quarters of an hour.
A foretaste of other peaceful Sundays to look forward to.

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So now she is mad

Susan Boyle astounded everyone when she took “Britain's Got Talent by storm”. The audience and judges were ready to boo her off stage because of her age and frumpy persona, but as she started to sing everyone was gob smacked.
Shock and disbelief turned to a frenzy of adulation and Susan Boyle became famous overnight.
The numbers that watched videos of her audition set an online record and she was door stepped by the media.
She was primed to win the final on Sunday and many expected it. She must have been devastated to come second after all the build-up, since her first astonishing appearance, so it is no surprise that she might have reacted spectacularly.
What is it about us, in general and the media in particular, that love it when a nobody makes it to the top and then enjoy seeing that celebrity fail?
Did the morning news have to splash the news that doctors were called “ to assess a woman under the mental health act”?
Later, we were told she was suffering from exhaustion and was emotionally drained, reminding me of Private Eye's " tired and emotional" (in the Eighties) when lampooning someone for being drunk.

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How honest will your MEP be?

We are going to have to vote for our MEPs very soon and it is not going to be easy to decide who to trust.
The Sunday Times has revealed that the Nationalist Party's EP campaign chief, Stefano Mallia, has instructed the party's candidates not to disclose how much they spent on their election campaign.
He issued them with the text, which revealed nothing, that they should use in their response to the paper’s enquiry.
Each candidate's expenditure during MEP electoral campaigns should not exceed €18,200.
Now if people, who are vying to represent us in Europe, have shown us that they cannot be honest about how much money they have spent in order to get elected, how on earth do they expect us to trust them period.
Most PN candidates, including MEPs David Casa and Simon Busuttil, followed the party's directive and disclosed nothing, sending only the text prescribed by Mallia, said The Sunday Times.
Edward Demicoli was the only candidate to admit that he has exceeded the legal spending limit. Now he will probably get hammered by his party for being honest.
Rudolph Cini and Alan Deidun also ignored their campaign chief and claimed their expenditure (specifying amounts) was well below the amount they were legally allowed to spend.
The majority of the Labour (PL) candidates were also unco-operative, most simply ignored the papers' requests to disclose how much they spent on their campaign.
Maria Camilleri was the only PL candidate to fully disclose her expenses (less the half the allowed quota).
Glenn Bedingfield claimed that his advertising expenditure was kept to a minimum, while Claudette Abela Baldacchino said that her campaign was run on a shoestring budget.
Steve Borg said that a lowly wage and a family to support limited his advertising and Christian Zammit said his only promotion expenditure was a brochure he distributed throughout Gozo.
Alternattiva Demokratika sent The Sunday Times a detailed breakdown of expenditure, even money received through donations, totalling well within the allowed amount.
Azzjoni Nazzjonali’s Josie Muscat, did not reply.
Mary Gauci of Libertas, the party backed by Irish millionaire Declan Ganley, did not reply. Ironically, her political group is campaigning for Members of the European Parliament to reveal their expenses.
Now we can all make a rough estimate of how much was spent on advertising, by most contesting the election in June, just by counting the amount of brochures stuffed in our letterboxes and working out the ones with large colour advertisments in the papers and billboards.
And of course most have overspent by a long shot, especially the ones who are really in the running. Unfortunately, the ones that do not spend are the least likely to succeed. That is the way politics works. The quotas are there to give everyone a sporting chance by providing a level playing field, but as seasoned players know the election field is anything but level.
As The Sunday Times rightly pointed out “These candidates (the ones who overspent) were left with two options when the campaign was over - either take a false oath or make a false declaration of expenses.”
Either way it does no bode well for integrity and transperancy on the part of most of those who will eventually get elected.

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Lufthansa’s Festival of Baroque Music in London

Although I lived in London for the best part of my adult life, I had never visited Westminster Abbey, so when Aage Duenhaupt invited me to one of the Lufthansa Festival concerts of Baroque Music (the only one held at the Abbey) last Wednesday, I could not resist.
Besides, there were other inducements, such as the Westminster Abbey choir, James O’Donnell, organist and Master of the Choristers of Westminster Abbey and internationally recognised conductor and recitalist, and last but not least, St James’s Baroque. The latter is one of the UK’s leading period-instrument ensembles and has been the resident orchestra of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music since its inception.
The concert at the Abbey featured works by Henry Purcell, the Abbey organist in his time, and George Frideric Handel.
Listening to the Westminster Abbey choir live for the first time was so inspiring, not only because of their excellent singing but also because of the whole atmosphere created by great baroque music performed by an excellent ensemble in such a splendid and historical Gothic venue.
This was the 25th Anniversary of the Festival. “In spite of the economical turbulent times in which we find ourselves, Lufthansa is both proud and honoured to continue its long-term commitment to such a prestigious event.
“Britain’s only festival of baroque music has consistently reflected the quality and innovation, which characterises our airline.
“Furthermore, we are particularly delighted that for the seventh year running we are presenting the festival in association with our industry partner, Rolls-Royce plc, a global leader in the aerospace, marine and energy sectors”, said Karsten Benz, chairman of the festival.
The festival has evolved from just three concerts by the St James’s Baroque players during the 1984 Piccadilly Festival to a truly international event featuring the best performers of 17th and 18th century music.
The concerts were held from the May14-23. Except for the concert at the Abbey all other performances were held at St Johns, Smith Square.

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Patient zero

Why is the media getting so excited about swine flu? We had the same pandemic ‘scares’ about Asian flu, or bird flu, and SARS, but the media are having even more of a field day with this one.
While it is understandable that countries would want to stop the spread by vetting passengers arriving from Mexico in particular, because it was the source of the current global health scare, the amount of air space dedicated to Swine flu is being over done.
It is taking up large chunks of news bulletins, when the content could have been delivered as a short item.
Besides, the advice being given is rather comical. First of all, no one should panic. So why the hype? Then the coup de grâce is the advice to wash our hands and stop kissing “in public”.
As for Dr Sanjay Gupta chasing “Patient zero” for CNN, pleeease! It turned out to be a very healthy looking child who seems to have had a complete recovery.
In fact, even in Mexico only seven people are said to have “definitely” died from Swine flu.

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Economical with inquiry findings

Reading The Times of Malta, online this morning, I was incensed by a news story entitled “People to be arraigned as a result of prison inquiry”.
I was left feeling that, whoever covered the press conference, where the information was given, was either inexperienced, or was someone lacking innate curiosity, an essential journalistic requirement.
The item had no by line.

I read: "A number of people are to be arraigned over several crimes as a result of the inquiry probing the situation inside the prisons, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said this morning."

Obviously, I, and probably all who read the news item, would have been interested to know: What the crimes were?
I read on hoping to find out.

"Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the inquiry report made administrative recommendations and proposed that certain people should be arraigned," continued the news item.
Yes, so what were the recommendations exactly and who is being arraigned and for which crimes?

"When asked, the minister preferred not to say whether the people to be arraigned are inmates or officials.”

Ah, at least he was asked something, but not exactly probing stuff.

“The minister was also asked why the government did not publish the whole inquiry report. He said this was because he preferred to let justice take its course and take concrete decisions before making such a report public."
And that ladies and gentlemen was that.

Hang on a minute, but that only deals with the arraignments. Surely there where more items of public interest that might not warrant court action in the report?

All Dr Mifsud Bonnici was prepared to say was “that the reform of the prisons was on the government’s agenda and a unit had been set up within his ministry to ensure that recommendations were followed."

Now is that a news story or more of a Ministerial press release? Surely it is of public interest to know more? Are journalists just relying on what Ministers tell them these days? I commented online. (Incidentally, my comment did not appear).

I was therefore relieved to find out a few moments later that the editorial “Why public inquiries ought to be published” in the same paper tackled the issue.
I also discovered, from the editorial, that “ The independent prison inquiry followed allegations including that a convicted drug trafficker had a say on the granting of prison leave and that this person was given preferential treatment at Corradino Correctional Facility.”

This reminded me of a wonderfully funny, but with home truths, British TV series called “Porridge”, starring Ronnie Barker.

The editorial quite rightly points out to a number of inquiries that have not been aired, despite this government’s rhetoric on transparency and accountability and strongly feels that the full report of this and other inquiries, which are still under wraps, should be published immediately.

I sent another comment in response to the editorial agreeing with the stance taken by The Times and auguring a vigorous follow up. (This also did not appear)
However, if one has to gauge public interest by the comments sent in response to both articles, it seems most are happy living in ignorance.

By 17.41 the editorial had only two comments and the news story, which appeared online at 11.54 had three, none dealing with lack of transparency.

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Break in at PAM headquarters

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, located in Malta, has called on the relevant authorities to further reinforce security measures for their headquarters.
The premises was the target of a breach of security last night when unknown persons broke into the building.
The staff discovered this morning that a number of computers and other items were missing. The police were called in and investigations started immediately under the supervision of the District Magistrate and the Police Inspector. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also conducting its own investigation.
The Secretary General, Dr. Sergio Piazzi, returned immediately to the island from Rome, Italy, where PAM MPs are currently meeting.
The news of the break-in shocked the PAM Members, and PAM President, the Honourable Rudy Salles of France, expressed his grave concern that the diplomatic seat of the Mediterranean Parliament had its security threatened by this criminal action.

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Follow up

Due to several mishaps (I am blaming them on a bad bout of prolonged vertigo) following the launch of my blog on Monday, some commentators have sent their contributions to my email address.
I had forgotten to enable the comment option. However, some people just preferred to limit their comments, on “It is all about power and control”, to me and did not want to publicise them.
This because one commentator felt that “local political and other parties scan and record personal expression for their data files”.
Is this paranoia? Or, does it explain why it is usually the same people with a partisan agenda who blog? What do you think?
I had also initially given out the wrong blog name, so my apologies to those of you I sent on a wild goose chase.
Anyway, things will improve as I settle in and my dizziness disappears, although according to an objective critic the vertigo has done wonders for my drawings.
Since I cannot tell who sent their opinions to my email address because they prefered not to comment on a blog and those who just could not access the blog comments, I am reproducing some of them anonomously.

May I be so bold as to make a comment? I liked it v much indeed though I think you are so used to being a balanced writer as a journalist that it did not have the Hansen bite. More you please, less balance.
I look forward to seeing more.
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One can see increasing evidence of Catholic Fundamentalism in certain establishment sections of our society, more concernedly because it seems to be emerging amongst the intellectual and academic gliteratii amongst whom are those expressing their horror that the decision of the censor to ban 'Stitching' might be reversed.
Yet, at the Manoel Theatre, recently all those same persons were present for a production, which included full frontal nudity, blashemy, buggery, clerical rape, homosexual priest rape of a mental patient - mind you it was all done with the utmost of taste.
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Very good but factually incorrect – I am sure we both saw Viva Maria when it first came out.
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Your blog on power and control is disturbing but doesn’t surprise me. I have for some time thought that the Christian church would wish to be as controlling as that other religion about which we have become preoccupied since 9/11.
Religious fundamentalism is more of a risk today due to the economic tsunami still to hit us all, when people will turn to their religious leaders for support and comfort. Religion will be the substitute for retail therapy!! Who was it who said that “religion is the opium of the poor”? Oscar Wilde I think.
I hope your blog will be an article in the Times of Malta.
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Interesting reading (and quite shocking).
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Good Blog. This country is run by the Church not by the State. In fact, you have a Prime Minister who was a former president of the Azzjoni Kattolika, a president who was a Jesuit and a deputy prime minister who is more of a bishop then a Cabinet minister.
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A very good article, I would publish it locally if you can find an editor ' bil bajd'. I totally share your views, brava.

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It is all about power and control

I watched Louis Malle’s “Viva Maria” (released in the Sixties) for the first time on Friday. It is a bit of a romp, but among the playfullness with the sexy Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau in their youth, Malle includes in his spoof some jibes at the Catholic Church.
Namely, what priests and monks have got up to (historically) in order to retain power, i.e. their support of brutal, exploitative and corrupt dictatorships.

The reason I bring this up is because next morning I read about the result of one court case following the Church in Malta successfully launching a witch hunt against some young revellers, who dared dress up as priests, nuns and even Jesus at this year’s carnival in Gozo.

Of course the witch hunt today is not on the same scale but the motive is still that of retaining power and control. The Church in Gozo can still wield considerable control as has just been demonstrated.
The bishops have gone on record as saying that they want to stamp out the practice forever. “This should not be allowed to happen again” (the dressing up not the witch hunts).

In the movie the name Maria is not incidental. The promiscous, striptease artistes (Bardot and Moreau) are hailed as saints for their part in a revolution.

In the real world, a young man had been charged in court and found guilty of wearing a “sacred habit” without permission. He got a one-month jail-term suspended for 18 months, for offending the State religion by dressing up as Christ during the Nadur carnival last month.

The police said steps were taken after the public statements made by Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech about the behaviour of certain individuals and costumes worn during this year's carnival in Nadur.

Like previous years, scores of revellers dressed up as priests and nuns during the rowdy Nadur carnival.

“Shameful behaviour at Nadur carnival infuriates Gozo Bishop”, who said “society is living under the dictatorship of relativism,” reported one newspaper.
Mgr Mario Grech, the Bishop of Gozo, thought it “very bad taste indeed to hurt religious sentiments by impersonating the holy figure of Jesus and the Apostles”.

He also claimed that is was also illegal and made it clear that he expected the police to act . He was quoted: “one asks where were the police at the time? The culture of making fun of the authorities is rapidly being promoted, calling it maturity. However, is it?”
He said he sincerely hoped that offenders were brought to book.

So it was making fun of the authorities that was really irking the Bishop. It was not the wearing of the vestments that provoked the outrage but the poking of fun at the Church authorities.

In a statement the bishops (I guess that the Archbishop did not want the Gozo bishop to hog all the limelight) called on the authorities to defend the rights of the public, adding that this applied not only to the religious beliefs of most of the people of Malta and Gozo but also to public decency in general.

But public reaction had been very mixed on the issue, it is the Church who is the major complainant.

Carnival is celebrated in many countries, but particpants rarely end up in court because of their costume, In Brazil (where costumes are little more than a g string) and elsewhere carnival behaviour is accepted for its eccentricities, bawdiness and irreverance.

But not on the tiny EU member state of Malta, or rather on the even smaller sister island of Gozo, The Bishops’ hopes were fullfilled. Nine Maltese people aged between 20 and 35 years are now being investigated by the police in connection with alleged offensive behaviour and costumes used during the Nadur carnival.

They will face charges under the Maltese Criminal Code, which bars people from dressing up as priests and/or donning Church vestments or naval/military uniforms without a permit.

But since it was not the wearing of the vestments that provoked the outrage but the poking of fun at the Church authorities, I am not sure whether the Criminal Code covers that.
As a local blogger pointed out, there was no outrage when men dressed as nuns took part in a charity show imitating “Sister Act” on TV. Or indeed criminal proceedings.

Yet, a young man now has a criminal record. And the fate of the other people involved is still to be decided.
The police said they had also filed charges in relation to other contraventions (not specified) during the three-day Nadur carnival.

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