Author: Jacques René Zammit

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Blogspot

il-flus ma jikbrux fis-siġar

Illejla għaddej skambju ħelu bejn iż-żewġ partiti. Il-kelma ġġib hekk. jien nibqa konvint li kampanja elettorali bħal din tiswa mitqla deheb għal min janalizza il-filosofija tal-kelma u l-komunikazzjoni – altro che Abelard. Fil-bidu tad-disgħijnijiet l-intellettwali tal-PN (jew dawk li kienu jaqbdu ktieb b’idejhom) kienu jittfantsu b’Karl Popper. Dak kien iwissi ħafna dwar il-perikli tat-televiżjoni u l-użu ħażin tal-midja. Għadda żmienu u m’għadux moda. Ma kellhomx ħin jiskopru lil filosfi a-la-mode bħal Zizek u intilfu fil-mijażma tal-pluri-komunikazzjoni.

Din l-elezzjoni se tibqa imfakkra għall-tsunami ta’ informazzjoni f’direzzjoni waħda. Insewh l-ismigħ u d-djalogu. Ħallikom mid-demokrazija parteċipattiva. Din hija battalja ta’ propaganda bħal ma qatt rajna qabel. Il-partit Laburista għandu sezzjoni fil-paġna tal-kampanja online, jisimha “The Truth”. Iva. Il-Verita’ Tagħhom Ukoll. Carmen Sammut – Kap tal-Magna tal-Ħsieb tal-Labour (Ideat) – illi tagħmel analiżi fuq MT tal-kampanja m’ilux qamet għall-fatt li l-partiti jużaw lingwaġġ diviżiv : proġett TAGĦNA, bomba TAGĦHOM. Mid-dehra l-Labour qisu qed jagħmel sforz li ma jidhirx daqshekk diviżiv… mhux li qed jirnexxilu… pero dak mhux il-punt.

L-ewwelnett il-lingwaġġ tribali u partiġġjan dejjem hemm kien u huwa parti intrinsika mis-sistema li se tibqa hemm kemm iddum is-sitwazzjoni tar-rebbieħ jieħu kollox (winner takes all). Jista Muscat jagħmel sforz u jipprova joħloq immaġini differenti pero dak li hu – immaġini. Din hija l-elezzjoni tal-effetti speċjali. Rajtuh lil Toni Abela fuq Bondi+ jipprova jispjega għalfejn ma joħorġux rapporti? Qallhom li il-PN ma jikkritikawx iżda jdawru l-kliem. U kif qed insemmu dik il-farsa ta’ Bondi+ u TVHEMM, issa għandna ġurnalisti li jaġevolaw partit fuq ieħor billi jpoġġu domandi mhux pertinenti.

Il-partiti jinstabu konvinti li jistgħu jirrepetu li jridu. Jekk tirrepeti gidba għal biżżejjed drabi n-nies jibdew jaħsbu li hi verita. Xi jiem ilu Muscat ħabbar li gvern laburista idaħħal skema fejn tista iġġib espert id-dar u dan jagħtik parir fuq kif qed tikkonsma l-enerġija u kif tista ssir iktar effiċenti. Smajt in-news clip u konvint li qal li din se tkun skema volontarja u b’xejn. Filgħaxija beda jdur klipp nazzjonalist li kien jgħid li gvern laburist kien ser iġiegħlek tirċevi esperti d-dar u li dawn ser jiġu biex il-gvern ikun jaf kemm qed tikkonsma. Speċi ta’ big brother. Gidba. U tal-minimum wage? Tiftakruha? Ħadd ma jaf eżatt min qed jgħid xiex basta ma jaqblux.

Meta Cacopardo dar fuq Simon u Toni u qalilhom li qatt ma se tissolva il-problema għax għalihom din hi “logħba politika” kien jaf sew x’inhu jgħid. Żmien l-elezzjoni qatt ma kien ser ikun mument tajjeb biex wieħed janalizza pjan għall-enerġija. Dan jafu il-partit Laburista li jaf li waqt elezzjoni tinqeda b’nofs veritajiet u mingħajr ma tikxef idejk (iva, se nsemmi l-VAT għax hekk kien ukoll) u jafu l-PN li jaf li biex tgiddeb idea lanqas għandek bżonn argumenti daqshekk sodi (staqsu lil JPO u l-kampanja sostnuta favurih). min ibati? Tbati int. Tbati għax temminhom u tbati għax itik li taqbeż għal wieħed jew l-ieħor.

U issa għandna l-isbaħ waħda. Bdieha l-Prim Ministru. Staqsa lill-Labour min fejn ġejjin il-miljuni li qed jintefqu fil-kampanja elettorali. Ma ridtx nemmen dak li smajt b’widnejja. Dan Kap ta’ Partit li bla mistħija ta’ xejn jinvesti hu ukoll f’kampanja elettorali li jista’ jkun tiġih b’xejn imma xorta tiswa l-flus. Għax iva sinjuri Gonzi u Muscat, mhux kullħadd beċċun. Lil Debono ippruvajtu tgħadduh ta’ miġnun imma xeba jwissi dwar il-liġi tal-iffinanzjar tal-partiti. Tal-Labour ħarġu l-barra mill-kumitat li suppost iddiskuta dat-tibdiliet (bl-iskuża ta’ Justyne Caruana) u baqgħu mhux parteċipi għall-ikbar glorja tal-avvanz demokratiku. U tal-PN jinħbew wara tal-Labour meta qatt ma refgħu sebgħa.

Issa allajbierek jakkużaw lil xulxin dwar spejjeż. D-dejn ma hux fi flus imma fi pjaċiri li se jkollhom jintraddu għax bejn billboards, materjal elettroniku, swali għal laqgħat u xeba affarijiet oħra inutli tinħeba wara l-idea ta’ volontarjat. Din sieħeb tal-voti barra. Għaddew ħames snin oħra u l-PN issa, lejliet elezzjoni meta ma jista jsir xejn, jgħidilna li hu favur. Nilgħab ġidi li l-għada tal-elezzjoni ma jsir xejn. Għax il-kliem fieragħ ta’ qabel elezzjoni ma tridx tqisu. Anzi iktar ma jinsultaw l-intelligenza tiegħek iktar trid tqis li ikun aħjar tivvota għal partit ieħor – biex ma jibqgħux jittrattawk ta’ beċċun li jemmen li flushom jikbru fis-siġar.

U fl-aħħar ma nistax ma nsemmix il-midja. L-alternattiva spiċċaw b’allokazjoni miżera fuq l-iskrin. Sewwa qalulhom ta’ Bis-Serjeta … il-qaħba tal-partiti. Għaliex din id-diskrepanza. Fl-Ingilterra per eżempju din kienet l-ewwel elezzjoni fejn il-LibDems ingħataw l-istess ħin bħall-hekk imsejħa partiti kbar. Ara fejn waslu. Ma hemm l-ebda raġuni għalfejn QABEL l-elezzjoni l-ad ikollha kwota inqas ta’ ħin mill-partiti l-oħra. Naċċettawha bħala stat ta fatt imma fil-fatt l-ebda partit ma għadu kiseb vot wieħed fl-elezzjoni 2013 u allura li naċċettaw li ad huwa partit inqas mill-oħrajn ifisser biss li naċċettaw diskriminazzjoni inġusta ibbażata fuq il-bżonn li ż-żewġ parititi bit-televiżjonijiet fallimentari tagħhom jistgħu jibqgħu ibellgħulna r-ross bil-labra.

U nemmnu li l-flus jikbru fis-siġar…. għax hekk qalulna.

 

in un paese pieno di coglioni ci mancano le palle.

Categories
Campaign 2013

Chameleon Politics

It’s a good thing that the parties have gone ballistic with colours in their campaign – the obsession is second only to their quasi-fanatic devotion to the newfound toys in the social media sphere. You’d have a hard time catching up with the goings on all over the place between twitter, facebook, party websites, press releases, press reports, tv discussion programs, and more (more?) even if you were not a one man blog. The first few days of the campaign have given us a very interesting point to observe and that is the ongoing crisis between medium and message. I’ll elaborate after a little video break…

The Political Campaigns Hit Home (or just a Sony Bravia ad)

Like the Sony Bravia ad above, the two campaigns (only PLPN have the clout for massive haemorrhage of funds) are conceived as a colourful blitzkrieg on the senses. The main effect is intended to be obtained by a shock and awe interplay that would make Stormin’ Norman proud (may the Good Lord bless his soul and forgive him his failed incursion into Irak). Noise, colour, drama and catchwords form the core of the campaign and themes take a very secondary place in the whole affair. From Labour’s midnight launch to PN’s unsubtle appropriation of the MSNBC colours-of-the-rainbow variety label the main thrust is one that is meant to sweep you off your feet and leave your logical, questioning apparatus numbed for the first few days.

Once you do begin to dig beneath the catchphrases and the cloning of other campaigns you will discover a profound sort of emptiness that is capable of making very loud noises. The anaesthetised message projected by Muscat across the bastions is intentionally issue-neutral: Malta Taghna Lkoll (Malta is everybody’s – not Where’s Everybody). It is a tautology that is as big and as high as the magnificent restored bastions – an affirmation that you would always have hoped to be a given in ANY political party’s repertoire – bar Norman Lowell’s who had quite a clear idea about who owned Malta and who should not be here.

What does all this “Malta Taghna Lkoll” business really say? I for one cannot understand why the party that has spent the last four years treating every occurrence under the sun as a problem and blaming it on “GonziPN” (have you noticed how that too vanished from the vocab?) suddenly woke up and noticed that this is “divisive”. They’re deliberately confusing matters too – being divisive is not the same as disagreeing very much like having an opinion is not equivalent to being right. Labour has packaged relativism and is using it as a blunt force weapon to beat your brain into numb acquiescence. As things stand you cannot criticise anything Labour because you are immediately “divisive” and suddenly “part of a clique”. Trust me I have had my fair share of laughable accusations…

Par Condicio

Then you have the nationalist leaning readers of this blog who seem to find that I “make an effort” to include the PN in my criticism as a some sort of obligatory nod to “par condicio” (equal conditions). This twisted sort of reasoning is the same reasoning that underlines Labour’s Malta Taghna Lkoll reasoning. If you still cannot get what I mean just friend Musumeci on facebook and see how value-free relativism has been perfected as an art of the slimy buonisti – last I checked he was advocating for specialised technocrats to be in government, I suspect he has architects who are specialised in MEPA and “reading” a law degree in mind – but it’s only a suspicion.

Back to the PN. Simon Busuttil’s grocer taunt will return to haunt him throughout the campaign as he soldiers on with that cross between a smile that says “I’m nice” and that heavy frown that says “But I still mean business”. The sea of propaganda from the PN side is nauseatingly overdone with its hipstamatic/instagram effects that make Gonzi & Co look like some 70’s afterthought. Like the PL, the PN has thought of giving us a list of people who are intending to vote for their party – and why. As I pointed out in an earlier post this list is replete with what in other times would have been called “hbieb tal-hbieb” or “hbieb tal-klikka”. Both PL and PN have included what you could best describe as “minorities” in their visuals and lists – part of the ongoing all-inclusive effort. I am sure that if “gayness” was something visible we’d have the token gay or two in the list too… Unfortunately, since the revamp of the josephmuscat site, the woman with the hijab who was only visible if you (really) zoomed out is no longer visible.

ahmadaziz
Ahmad Aziz – the Nationalist party’s token “minority” icon.

 

 

 Manifestly Rushed

Sometimes satire says it best and Satiristan couldn’t have put it better when earlier today they posted this facebook update:

Illum f’xi ħin li jidhrilna, ser inħabbru l-karta tal-valuri ta’ Satiristan.  Warajha imbagħad ser inħabbru l-manifest ta’ Satiristan; u terġa’ u tgħid f’xi ħin ieħor ser nippubblikaw il-programm elettorali ta’ Satiristan; u jekk jifdal ħin anke a la Carte menu ta’ Satiristan. Biex nagħmluha ċara, l-erba’ dokumenti ser ikunu l-istess ħaġa b’heading differenti u konferenza stampa għal kull waħda. Imma għallinqas forsi jiġu tal-gazzetti għall-fingerfood. (Satiristan)

Often in the run up to the campaign we were forced to do a double take. The parties engaged in meeting upon meeting supposedly getting “closer to the people” and “listening” in order to formulate their positions. We got pre-guidelines (remember that famous list by Labour of 51 proposals?), proposals and groundwork ideas. Embedded in catchwords that would only impress a struggling FEMA (Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy for the infidels) undergrad were reams of emptiness or tautologies. Proposal 45: Importanza misthoqqa lill-biedja u s-sajd. As the other satirical page goes… Mulej Hudni.

The Nationalist party has published a manifesto that is about as detailed as Ryanair’s ticketing system. Like Ryanair’s ticketing system you have to read it very very carefully because in this campaign of colours and impressions you have to struggle with parties who say one thing but mean another. I started off by looking at how the parts regarding same-sex relationships are worded. You can easily evince that the PN has not budged on the issue and that “marriage” remains a no-no. They do leave space for doubt though by tiptoeing around the issue and dropping half promises about regulating relationships differently. You cannot blame them though.

What I do find weird is how given the record over the last two years the PN’s Manifesto fails to even refer to the field of Law & Justice. The word “justice” appears only twice in the manifesto and it refers to “social justice” and not to the courts and the law. No mention of the evident need of reform in the judiciary, no mention of the evident need to reform the police and their application of the law, no mention of the promised reforms in certain fields such as the “censorship” issues. The manifesto is poor in that respect and maybe the ghost of Franco still looms heavily on the PN team.

Labour’s courageous step into the dark when it came to concrete proposals was perforce related to the utility bills. Again, either I am slow, stupid or out of touch or the issue continues to morph out of our grasp. Maybe Anglu was not so wrong after all when he tried to differentiate between a cut in electricity tariffs and water tariffs. After seeing the proposals it is evident that Anglu had not studied the brief well and had almost let the cat out  of the bag. Now we know that Labour’s promise for a up to a 100,000 families is to reduce the electricity bill and as a consequence the price of water will also go down.

Aside from the choice of healthier fuel though the question of whose plan works best is still up for grabs. There are a lot of equivocal statements by Labour that can only be acceptable if you’ve already decided in their favour come what may. The questions dig straight into the question of “deliverability” especially since the actual time frame of Labour’s plan spans into the legislature after the next – unless of course they plan to ditch all the rules on tendering, planning etc. That Mizzi fellow tries to come across as an amiable fellow who can solve Malta’s energy problems and has sold the “clean energy” pitch to his party who are tweeting about it to their hearts’ content but somehow there seems to be a missing link in the economic puzzle that involves factoring, hedging and promising.

That chapter has not closed yet but I fear that the “distraction” on the energy issue will dominate much of the campaign to the detriment of a multiplicity of other issues that deserve attention and a commitment from either of the parties. The irony is that the social media weapon is not really being used to listen but rather to clobber and bang propaganda straight to the nearest mobile phone.

While, like chameleons, the parties will continue to change colour depending on what they think is “in” on a particular day, the voter needs to become more proactive and probe with questions that are relevant and difficult. The voter (and media like this one) should not allow the parties to dictate the agenda and the pace of how they reveal what they plan to do with the nation. They already dictate that to the Broadcasting Authority. The free media should remain so… and voters can only do that if they manage to throw away the shackles of dependency and the instinct to defend the gaffes of the parties who have pulled their strings for so long.

J’accuse is determined to become one of these open, questioning platforms. We are committed to uncover what lies beneath every shade of political propaganda… are you?

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Rubriques

Perspectives: Vote Mansour

As the chances of falling below the poverty line across Europe increases, the combined value of the Manchester City football squad is currently 419,615,000 €. Until Manchester City won the Premier league title, the owners spent over 700,000,000 €.

That could buy you a BWSC plant, an inter-connector and the hypothetical new Labour party plant.

Next election vote Sheikh Mansour.

***

The UK government is moving ahead with its plan to CUT welfare benefits. David Cameron is coming under increased pressure to CUT pensioner benefits and one idea that has been mooted is the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance while transferring the money saved to the state pension. A 56 member majority voted in a tax that has been described as a “strivers tax”. The new measures curb increases in benefits.

Next election think twice abut the value of your government allowances.

***

The leader of the UKIP youth has been sacked by the party after expressing his support for  gay marriage on a national radio show. The freshly unveiled nationalist party (Malta) manifest confirms the party position against gay marriage. The wording used in the relevant sections does leave room for misinterpretation though a careful reading will clearly show that the PN puts much store in the concept of cohabitation in so far as same-sex couples are concerned.

Next election read between the lines.

Categories
Campaign 2013

Politics Zero

They kicked off. The campaigns that is. By some unwritten conspiracy I was meant to leave the island the day it all went into top gear – only just. I was still in Malta when Joseph Muscat’s team went for the mother of all gimmicks and gave us the midnight launch. Did we need to wait for midnight in order to get a three word “slogan” that is simply a tautological confirmation of blandness? Of course we did not.

But Joseph’s party are carried away on the wings of enthusiasm. The theatrical and the dramatic are peaking in this election. It is not only the election of “social media” but also the election that reaps the very harmful work of the PN spin team back in ’08. Remember the campaign based on “taste”? Remember the campaign based on images and persons? Well this is a natural corollary. Labour, ever the unwitting follower, is now banking on just that : image.

Let’s look at the basics. The thrust of the campaign until now (Labour’s, we’ll get to the nationalist one later don’t worry) has been a skimpy idea of unity against divisiveness. After five years of complaining about everything under the sun we now have an appeal of unity and working together for a better Malta (because Malta is everybody’s). The Italians have a word for this attitude : “buonismo”. Suddenly Labour and rent-a-pundits like Musumeci are all into Gandhi style philosophies. Panto has been extended and the buzzword is “Be nice to each other”.

It’s an escape routine. By focussing on the idea that this is politics of conciliation of sorts Labour gets to once again evade the battleground of real policy (we’ll also see in a later post how this business of energy tariffs is anything but concrete).” They’re getting to love it. The fad Obama style campaign suits Muscat’s propensity towards showmanship. Louis Grech, the latest addition to the bandwagon of emptiness, shoots buzzwords faster than a partisan armed with a sten gun.

The nationalist party has replied with a sustained campaign of its own. The ribbon style of mychoice.pn could not come across any more fake than it already had until the official launch. Now we have the page full of testimonials explaining why they would vote PN. It’s choc-a-bloc with wives, fathers and relatives of PN activists, politicians or of people who have an economic interest in keeping the status quo. Why I’d vote PN? Because my husband gets loads of good work off the back of certain projects that’s why. You won’t see THAT written on the mychoice pages.

The PN machine also kicked off by mocking Labour for copying their slogan from British politicians and their logo from Obama. It was bad enough that this was coming from a party that had unabashedly plagiarised Mr Sarkozy’s campaign last time round, we also discovered that this time it was MSNBC and MSN that would be providing the inspiration for the new party campaign logo. Again we got loads and loads of image including Simon and Lawrence looking like a blue version of old pictures of Mao Tse Tung’s communist posters (or Obama – take your pick).

The multiplicity of colours used by both camps is an attempt to appeal to everyone and appear inclusive. Remember the “anything goes” bandwagon of 2008? Well the circus is back in town. We will also be seeing in a future post how the first impressions from the PN manifesto lead us to believe that while someone in the PN is eager to call a spade a spade, the final text of the manifesto still went through some Orwellian revisions (that’s a new fad too) on order to make some commitments appear much more liberal than they really are.

It’s gearing up to be interesting and J’accuse promises many more posts once we have settled back down in the Lux routine. For now we have the Politics Zero. In the meantime do not let the parties faze you with their special effects. Keep asking questions, and remember: everybody lies.

And yes… AD’s logo does look suspiciously like a drunken BP logo…but with AD you know where you stand. Which cannot really be said about our friends at the PLPN shop.

Categories
Campaign 2013

That vote abroad

A couple of months ago Simon Busuttil visited the Luxembourg expat community in his capacity as EU MEP. Exceptionally I decided to attend the meeting and had a cordial chat with Simon. I say “expat community” but I mean “Maltese EU institution workers” because there is no kidding oneself here – that is what most of the Maltese community in Luxembourg is about.

One of the issues raised was the question of voting abroad and Simon Busuttil did mention that he was “working on it” (remember – he was still mainly an MEP at the time) but that they had encountered problems in defining the right. Which is when the “Australia” bomb dropped with perfect timing. It always comes up. “What do we do with the expat community in Australia?” Well, I have a few ideas myself but frankly I do find this foot shuffling excuse to be the pits of partisan hypocrisy.

The issue needs to be tackled in steps. I’d begin with the obvious. There are by now hundreds of Maltese employed by international institutions. Their legal status is not hazy – it is rather clear. They do not become residents of Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany or wherever they are posted but rather get into a vacuum that is being a recognised resident for work purposes but not for voting purposes at national level. Which makes sense really. Even the way salaries are calculated for EU civil servants acknowledges the animus revertendi of the workers (the intention to return to their mother country). Part of an EU wage includes an expatriation allowance – paid in order for the employee to be able to return regularly to the country he calls home.

So how difficult can it be for Maltese electoral law to begin by recognising this fact and allowing for such institution workers to (at least) vote in their respective embassies. Not as difficult (or as expensive) as the regular rustle of electoral lists, flight charters and illegal probing into private details by parties surely. Not as expensive as the eco-footprint of the flights that carry the eager voters to their ballots in their home district.

There are no two ways about it. The PL and the PN are firmly entrenched against the idea of allowing voters abroad to exercise their right practically without having to take days off work. Instead they regale us with such beauties as “it is an academic exercise because the law was not changed in time” – who did not change it I ask?

Then you get the genius labour way of thinking: Why should we bother fighting for their rights if they do not vote for us? Based of course on the assumption that all expats are blue-eyed boys (remember Alfred Sant tabling the list in parliament of private citizens who had availed themselves of the charter flight?). Twisted reasoning like this can only be the ugly offspring of partisan politics. Alternattiva demokratika is firmly committed to change this sorry state of affairs and does not do sorry excuses of the Australian kind.

Ah yes. Did I mention the “Australia scare”? It’s a bit like the “wasted vote” on the eve of elections. The parties will tell you that there are over 1 million Maltese living abroad – and do you want them to vote for you? 1 million Maltese eh….We all know the answer to that one – and somehow I think that the bemused Melbourne, Toronto or New York second-generation Maltese would have an answer to that one too. Change the incentive from “free flight home” to a trip to the nearest embassy and we’ll see how quickly voters choose to exercise their right.

Next time you speak of free flights and free holidays think again. You should be speaking of expensive bills chosen by the PL and the PN… because the only ones benefiting from the current system are the same old dinosaurs that you chose to vote for.

Categories
Campaign 2013

Labour’s EU – shaken and stirred

It would not be much time before Louis Grech would have to move out of the “pretty face” comfort zone and be obliged to give us a demonstration of his political nous. “From Brussels with love” was his honeymoon period – yet another  EU veteran riding on the crest of “the EU wave of doing politics”. We sat through the Christmas period (or rather chomped) and watched the cute fund raising efforts and the truce that never was frittered into thin air.

Grech played in away territory today – hosted at the by now notoriously biased TV HEMM studio. Judging by the reports on Facebook it has gone down well with Labourite hopefuls – eager to get a bite of their new Messiah. Judging by the first report in the press it was yet another exercise of bull. Actually scratch that. It wasn’t… it was worse. Either MaltaToday has had a bad day pinpointing the highlights of Grech’s replies regarding his contribution to the NO TO EU camp or Grech really fluffed it.

In the end Louis Grech’s explanation for having been against EU membership sums up to two things : (1) it was not good for Air Malta and (2) there were aspects that could undermine the Maltese financial services industry. Following that, in what is an evidently an effort to feebly justify this sad excuse for a position on EU membership Grech comes up with a prize explanation:

“At my age it is ridiculous to state that something is totally wrong or good, and I believe one may say that it was only on certain aspects of EU membership that there were adverse effects for Malta. But on other aspects, for example the legislation of particular directives or even environmental monitoring, these were positive effects of membership. You cannot see these things as simply black or white.”

“Bravu Cirillu. Ghalhekk jghidulu hekk. Kakka f’qalzietu u mesah fil-glekk!”

Lest I am accused of doing a Normal Vella allow me to point out that the second part of the quote is mine. It’s the tune that resonated in my ears after reading that paragraph of circum tauri. Louis Grech conveniently forgot that this was a referendum. There were two options: either you voted yes – in which case it was Hello Ludwig Van’s 9th and all that – or you voted no – in which case it was back to Tema ’79. Simples. It was not a case of “you cannot see these things as simply black or white”… it was a case of “you have to decide “Yes or No”.

Louis Grech worked out his sums in 2003. He chose no. As a leader or deputy at the time he would have done the same. how do I know? Because he formed part of the movement that worked so bloody desperately to keep Malta out of Europe. Yes, with Joseph Muscat. Being nice to each other does not mean forgetting that these choices were made. Fuck political correctness (excuse my patois) but this is getting bloody ridiculous. Someone has to get Labour in order and get them to shoulder the responsibility of their decisions. What Louis Grech SHOULD have said but didn’t say is much, much simpler. It’s those three words that we find so hard to say in Malta: “I was wrong”.

This is not triumphalism of some Yes to EU camp. In my books everybody won on the 8th March 2003. Even Louis Grech and Joseph Muscat. This is the gauging of a future leader of a party (or deputy) and how he takes responsibility for past decisions. Recognising when you are wrong is just as important as recognising when you were right.

The Malta Labour Party cannot keep shaking and stirring history in this infantile illusion of “everything is all right now – we are all friends now that we are in Europe”. Their position remains ambiguous so long as they do not openly state simply and squarely that their anti-EU stance in the past was WRONG. Excuses about Air Malta or malta’s financial services industry are neither here no there. Nobody ever said that EU membership was not about shouldering responsibility and yes, about making sacrifices.

What is worrying is that Labour still believes that politics can be built on illusions and half-truths. Shaking and stirring is for Bond and his Vodka Martinis. What Malta needs is clear and honest politics. Louis Grech has failed on this first count – and with him the Labour party. Sorry for party pooping but the honeymoon is over.