Author: Jacques René Zammit

I know, I know: he is a prolific writer and J’accuse tends to prioritise English speaking press but there is another reason we tend to comment on Simon Busuttil’s articles so often – they tend to be so damn misleading in a coy, po-faced (we liked that one) way. In order not to make this a boring exercise, the J’accuse CommentRoom (it’s a newsroom for pedants) has decided to set up a special column called “Simon Says”.

So what is our SuperMEP up to today? Evidently he still has a gripe about Labour daring to present candidates for the EP elections and would like to highlight how much more useful it would be for all and sundry to vote for PN (read Simon plus some other candidates). Thing is that while we are being told that the most reliable vehicles for our trust are the candidates that walk proudly out of Dar Centrali we seem to have a little problem on how this universal truth is presented.

SimonSays chooses “Voting rights for immigrants” as the topic of his tirade. Now before you run off with the idea that four years and a bit of legislating were all dedicated to Voting Rights for Immigrants,  stop and think. Parliament has dealt with a myriad of matters and it would do no reader any harm to scoot over to their site and see what the eminent representatives have been dealing with. SimonSays prefers to stick to this subject for presumably two reasons. Firstly he was spokesperson for the PPE on this one so he has the topic by the horns. Secondly it seems that Labour DID bungle their voting patterns insofar as consistency therein was concerned.

 (Together … against the current). The PN mean machine continues to build on its earlier plagiarism of Sarkozy’s “Ensemble tout est possible” slogan. This time round the geeks at Dar Centrali have come up with a mind-boggling slogan for the European Parliament elections. You see they must have thought long and hard for a credible slogan that will basically sell itself without any further explanation.

They needed that kind of slogan that says it all. One that is as credible as the hodge-podge of candidates for all seasons. So they must have thought about the current international scenario – you know the one I am talking about… the economic crisis, the slump in business, the laying off of employees, the tightening of the belt etc etc.

I recently added free-to-air satellite to my numerous channels at home and have begun to follow UK tv on a regular basis. One of the stories that struck me last week (BBC) was that of Richard da Costa – a communications consultant and actor who took time out from work to live for four days with pigs. I watched about five minutes of the programme during which da Costa perfected his different grunts and told the audience that pigs really had personality.

As we all know, personality goes a long way but I wonder what da Costa is thinking now – almost ten days later – what with the piggy virus thingy reaching pandemic levels. I thought of him when reading guidelines on the virus. It seems that it’s ok to eat piggy stuff like sausages or well cooked pork (above 70 degrees). What is not ok is to have direct contact with pigs. For a second I wondered who, apart from farmers, would be silly enough to spend time with pigs. Da Costa… that’s who!

Times on EP elections

The Times of Malta online site has a funky new European Elections section. It may not be believable at first sight but the Times remains the most avant-garde of newspaper sites available in Malta. The Strickland House publication has decided to capitalise on the internet fever during election time and one must commend the little elves who worked on the creation of the site. The format is easy going and decided into three sections: the news, an info page on the European parliament elections and a page dedicated to the candidates and – where possible – an update on candidates blogging affairs. It is heart warming to see the professionals following the lines of where amateurs dared tread. I am speaking of course of The Malta Chronicle – a weblog that first saw the light with the 2008 March Elections. 

It was only a matter of time that the MSM would (rightly) delve into the more real and immediate world of real time info exchange. It goes without saying that the Times’ venture remains primarily a one-way affair of provision of information. In a way we can only thank God because the quality of commenting on the main site is pitiable. 

Strike Out 960

One of the news items on the EP election site right now is that of the 960 European nationals who have been struck off the electoral register. AD Chairman and EP candidate Cassola has already condemned this striking off. He has alleged that the correct procedure for striking voters off registers was not followed and has called for their reinstatement (onto the register). We have not yet had our share of conspiracy theories regarding the reason for the striking off. Will Joseph Muscat or Anglu Farrugia have another field day? J’accuse’s bets are all on a bureaucratic cock-up and not on the usual PLPN comedic antics.

Opinion Polls

These do not normally count for much but an online poll on the Times points to the possibility that for the Maltese electorate, or at least for those who bother voting in polls, the most important issue for this EP election will be immigration. The candidates from Sharon to Marthese to Yvonne must be breathing a sigh of relief for this kind of issue allows them to come up with inconsequential, broad, sweeping declarations about how the nasty big countries up North should finance our little island’s efforts to keep the swarms of boats at bay.

Incidentally, one of the vessels performing duties on the next Frontex missions will be an aeroplane provided by that huge country that straddles half the mainland continent…. Luxembourg.

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This has been j’accuse… going medieval on your brain.

Inspired by some righteous shit from one of our men in brussels.

What is it with these candidates these days? You can tell that they are dying for a US Presidential style election – they would kill for an aeroplane, a bus or a train in which to leap from State to State yelling their salvational messages at the four winds. Instead we get these fancy declarations of candidates putt-putting in eco-friendly vehicles or attempting desperately at giving meaning to the places where they speak.

Take Marthese Portelli, a law graduate, but who has given the impression of wanting to win over the hearts (and votes) of whatever housewives have survived the epidemy of political correctness. I say that with no meanness in mind. She does form part after all of the panoply of diverse candidates championed by Lawrence and masterminded by Simon. As I said on Sunday… there’s one for every occasion and Marthese Portelli is there for the aspirant Miss Housewives of the nation (do they still exist?).