With a title like that, you’d think I’m about to kick off a whole song and dance about the “living wage” and “cost of living” and whatever other index the latest fad is in that ever so exciting corner of the universe where popular (and populist) politics crosses with economics. Nae...

The latest viral trend in the fishpond that is our corner of social networking has Peppi Azzopardi announcing to the world that “his bed is his toilet” and Ira Losco sharing her deepest thoughts about mating every so often. The viral video in black and white also features John Bundy...

I’ve just left an interesting discussion that I had over the phone with a couple of other people who were also guests on a radio show on Radio Malta. Andrew Azzopardi had invited me to phone in on his popular programme “Ghandi x’Nghid” (“I’ve got something to say”) and the...

The end of this week was characterised by an interesting mass activity on Facebook. The billion people who choose to interact in the virtual world set themselves an interesting task. Facebook users invited other Facebook users to “change your profile picture to one of your favourite cartoon...

Gareth Compton, Conservative councillor for Erdington in Birmingham (UK), was released on bail on the eve of Armistice Day after he was arrested for an offence under the Communications Act of 2003 on suspicion “of sending an offensive or indecent message”. Compton was questioned about the...

Peppi Azzopardi saw fit to celebrate the 500th episode of Xarabank with a US-style debate between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The edifying celebration of the 500 steps towards Malta’s “Xarabanikification” would come to an end after a couple of hours of partisan...

In Greek mythology, the river Styx divides this world from the underworld. Charon ferries people across the Styx to the netherworld and very few people return from the bowels of the earth (Orpheus and Dante are some examples of men on whom lady luck smiled). The only other people who...

I’ve got a running series of posts in the blog that goes by the name of “I.M. Jack”. The title came around as a bit of a spoofy nod to the rotund columnist who graces the pages of a rival paper every Saturday. Every time I blog an “I.M. Jack” post it’s more of a round-up of...

At the time of the French revolution, part of the French population took to calling another part of the population “les sansculottes”. According to one theory, the name is derived from the fact that the partisans of this particular revolutionary faction wore pantaloons (full-length...

Labour (Inhobbkom’s Labour not Ed’s New New One) is busy conferencing this weekend. They’re huddled cosily in the university’s Aula Magna for a full day of talks in a conference entitled “Revisting Labour’s History” and I still cannot get over the fact that I was unable to make...

Thursday night I watched a great documentary called Teenage Revolution on Channel 4. In it, stand-up comedian Alan Davies charts the political, social and cultural upheavals in the UK of the eighties. During the programme, Davies chooses to interview the then Labour leader (now Lord) Neil...

My mind’s been elsewhere this week since I’ve had to deal with a horrible combination of deadlines and convoluted case-work that managed to distract me to no end from my usual “side-job” of diligent observation and general filling of the pages of the ether with bits and bytes of...