Category: Mediawatch

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Mediawatch

Time(s) to Vanish

Our latest Scissorhands post has had its effects. In less than four hours Labour’s rising star lost her place among the team of bloggers on the timesofmalta.com site. Nikita Alamango’s blog is no more.  For posterity’s sake here are the before and after pics from the Times site. Thanks again to the Times for their predictable reaction. Don’t hold your breath for a scoop in the Times itself about Nikita’s exploits.

We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. But hell, we ain’t sorry. These darn wankellectuals… they’re all over the place. Peace, love and happiness.

 

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Now you see me…

timesofmalta.com (around midday)

J’accuse butts in (what a pain in the arse)…

Oops. We've done it again.
J'accuse (a short while after midday)

Now you don’t…

timesofmalta.com (teatime)

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Mediawatch

Nikita (another Scissorhand)

At the start of this week I spoke of Joseph Muscat’s apparent cluelessness when it comes to dealing with the spin-offs of the Euro-economic crisis. Populist talk about “the EU needing to take decisive action” does not a government policy make. I have met people on this holiday who speak about the euro crisis as though it is happening to other people – or worse who seem to get some satisfaction out of the idea that the whole euro business might collapse. But this is Malta, whera new issue of BOV bonds or whatever they were is oversubscribed, where party policies are not questioned and where come what may health services and education will remain free.

Thank God for Nikita Alamango and her brilliant blog in the Times. With youth like this : ” a student, a member of the National Executive of PL, International Secretary of FZL and Deputy Secretary General of the National Youth Council” our nation can have a brighter future. Why am I so enamoured with this bright rising star of the labourite firmament? Because she’s done her research and has given whoever wishes to read her carefully edited blog due warning about the signs of the impending economic doom (Joseph, do take note). Prosit tal-programm to the Times for catching this gem and publishing such great material.

The blog post in question (Global markets – a ‘toxic cocktail) is being reproduced hereunder since the Times have a nasty habit of brushing embarrassing moments under the carpet (when they notice that is). What is really, really interesting for us gobsmacked enthusiasts of Labour’s enfant prodige is how her article uploaded on the Times on the 10th August (Saint Lawrence, not that the irony escapes us) seems to be uncannily similar to an article in the Financial Times by Gillian Tett (Eurozone crisis resembles US turmoil in 2008). Here’s a sample two paragraphs… the first is from Gillian’s in the FT and the second is from Nikita’s :

Gillian first…

When Greece first started to wobble, many policymakers – and some investors – tried to downplay it because Greece is so small relative to global markets – with less than €200bn of foreign-held central government debt. Similarly, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, with assets of $600bn and $400bn, were also small compared with the US financial sector. (from this article in the FT)

And now Nikita…

When Greece started to quiver, many tried to downplay its importance arguing that Greece is relatively small compared to global markets. In the same way which Lehman Brothers were ‘small’ when compared with the US financial sector. (from the Times of Malta)

You think it is a coincidence? nah. The whole story on the FT is a series of bullets and all NIkita does is paraphrase the whole shebang, thesaurus in hand to replace words like “wobble” with “quiver”… here’s another example, if you are too lazy to compare the whole business (besides you might need to register (free) to read the FT article).

Again, here’s Gillian:

This has now forced some eurozone leaders to move to a new phase and admit something they long denied: namely that Greek debt will need to be restructured and not everybody will always be bailed out. On one level this is sensible; reality is finally starting to bite. But on another, it takes the crisis to a new level – again, following the 2008 playbook. For what eurozone governments have done is push investors across a crucial psychological Rubicon – and make them realise that assets that used to seem risk-free now carry credit risk. As shocks go, this is perhaps comparable with the US government’s decision to put Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship in the summer of 2008. A sacrosanct assumption is being overturned; investors no longer know what to trust. (from this article in the FT)

And here’s the member of the Labour Party National Executive:

As a result, this has forced leaders within the Euro zone to move to a new era and admit what they have denied all along – that the Greek debt will have to be restructured and, unfortunately, not everybody will always be bailed out. This was a sensible acknowledgement;: reality is starting to bite. On the other hand, it pushes the crisis up to a new level reminding us of 2008. Governments across the Euro zone have pushed investors towards a crucial point, the realisation that all assets now carry a credit risk; (from the Times of Malta)

What do you say? Gillian Tett must be one hell of a lazy writer – plagiarising stuff from one of Malta’s up and coming politicians. Surely she should have known better. Hold on. Gillian’s article appeared on the FT on the 4th of August. That’s a good 6 days before Nikita’s Saint Lawrence day post. Lovely jubbly. It’s surely manpower like this that will help Joseph’s Labour create the new economic policy that will get us out of the current mess.

 

The Par Condicio Moment: A simple note to pre-empt labour diehards. J’accuse reseves equal treatment to ALL plagiarisers. Especially those who purport to be the leaders of our nation. If you doubt us just search “Scissorhands” in our search box … you will see how we are true to our word.

* Incidentally when copying  and pasting parts of the FT article you get this message (Nikita must have surely had a hard time removing it):

Please respect FT.com’s ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6691437a-beb3-11e0-a36b-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1Uo76exV4

 

Nikita’s oeuvre in full…

Global markets – a ‘toxic’ cocktail

As the markets on Thursday and Friday reached a new low, I decided to browse some news websites to get the gist of the recent trends.

In particular, I think that the CNN piece titled Global markets destabilized by ‘toxic’ cocktail offers some food for thought.

The reporter goes on to explain how both investor and trader lacked confidence as share prices fell due to the ambiguity which dominated the global financial markets at the end of the week.

Thus, continues the CNN reporter, today’s global equity sell-off and the subsequent stock market drop was a result of a “toxic” cocktail of global economic factors and, of course, a lack of crisp and determined political leadership.

Many columnists and experts warned both investors and politicians against taking a long summer holiday this year. Sounds like an August plague, like the one back in 2007/2008, where senior leaders are away and the markets are thin and is, some how, bullying to unleash a new wave of unpredictability.

As temperatures in summer soar, the way in which today’s Euro zone story is taking shape feels unnervingly like the pattern behind the American financial disaster in the late 2008. Let’s ponder the following:

1. When Greece started to quiver, many tried to downplay its importance arguing that Greece is relatively small compared to global markets. In the same way which Lehman Brothers were ‘small’ when compared with the US financial sector;

2. Likewise, when the financial crisis broke out, policymakers in the Euro zone at first assumed that the problem was liquidity, not financial competence, and blamed it all on speculation and speculators. They repeatedly tried to postpone tough decisions that needed to be taken, just like the US authorities did in late 2007. However, it seems no more successful in the Euro zone than it was in the US;

3. As a result, this has forced leaders within the Euro zone to move to a new era and admit what they have denied all along – that the Greek debt will have to be restructured and, unfortunately, not everybody will always be bailed out. This was a sensible acknowledgement;: reality is starting to bite. On the other hand, it pushes the crisis up to a new level reminding us of 2008. Governments across the Euro zone have pushed investors towards a crucial point, the realisation that all assets now carry a credit risk;

4. Like the saying goes, every action has a reaction: a spreading sense of fear. With those investing in Euro zone bonds having low experience in calculating credit risk, they found it hard to assess which countries are safer than others. To make matters worse, very few have understood the complexity of interconnections between the Euro zone bands. It’s all about real-time data, apparently, and, of course, getting this picture of a country is quite a tough challenge since banks had stopped measuring their risks in the past decades;

5. Consequently, as fear grows, another ghost of the past returns: short-term funding risks. The structure of the Euro zone system has encouraged its financial institutions to rely heavily on short-term funding. Therefore, this results in an increasing risk of accelerating capital flight. This short-term funding could still dry up as it did twice in the case of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers in 2008 due to the unforeseeable actions of credit rating agencies which are sustaining market fears.

It’s interesting to note that while some analysts, as we have seen above, have compared this crisis to the 2008 recession, others like David Buick, are adamant that the current collapse cannot be compared with the 2008 crash. Buick also hints at the possibility of a new round of quantitative easing, whereby central banks print money to help boost economic growth.

On Monday, the ECB announced its intentions to purchase euro zone bonds in both Italy and Spain after both these countries declared new reforms and austerity measures with hope of boosting their economies respectively to demonstrate how serious they are to get on top of things.

Other than that – what’s next ?

After a temporary recovery illusion, we have to wait and see how this second phase of a double dip recession will develop. Will it truly follow 2008 into a full-scale financial meltdown? Will the state of the US economy improve soon to do dispel people’s fear that the US might go back into recession? And can the single currency, which is in dire straights, actually survive? (Obviously, the fragmentation of the Euro zone would make it much worse). Will major stock markets around the world (S&P500 and NASDAQ) continue to experience a downward trend while the Dollar (due to the news from Bank of Japan to “print” an extra 10 Trillion Yen) and gold continue to appreciate?

In all seriousness, I hope that a sultry summer will not result in an agitated autumn.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Nikita Alamango is a student, a member of the National Executive of PL, International Secretary of FZL and Deputy Secretary General of the National Youth Council.

I ain't Gillian Tett.
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Mediawatch

Clueless in Opposition

Joseph Muscat is gracing the headlines of the timesofmalta online pages. A Sunday headline is a great “catch” in marketing terms since it keeps the potential voters up to date with Muscat’s policies and positions. We have learnt recently that what Muscat thinks and believes does not necessarily reflect his party’s position but we also learnt that this has little effect on his popularity ratings with “the people”.

The Times post stresses two issues mentioned by Inhobbkom on One Radio this morning. Here is the J’accuse précis on what Muscat thinks:

1. Decisive action needs to be taken by the European Union on the unprecedented economic and financial situation the world is facing, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning

2. Dr Muscat expressed shock at the release from prison of Charles Muscat, known as il-pips, after serving 15 of 25 years. Mr Muscat had been jailed for  double murder. (…) he could not understand how this could be allowed by Malta’s judiciary system (sic). It was worrying to him as a father, as a politician and as a citizen. It was also a matter of national security, he said.

Now, given that this was not a Sunday coffee morning with an open subject and that this is Malta’ Opposition Leader going about his daily work that involves reminding people that this government is bad (very bad) and that as a direct corollary his party is the best solution since sliced bread we have to look at these two statements in that very light. EU policy and Criminal Policy it is then.

1. EU Policy

And here comes the first bomb. Before even seeing what Muscat (Inhobbkom not il-pips) is proposing, we have to actually look at what the problem is that Muscat is highlighting. Well, thankfully, Muscat seems to have been alerted to the ginormous economic disaster that is threatening the Western world. He gives a nod to the US downgrading of the credit rating. Then he informs the world that the EU needs to take decisive action. Here are the thoughts that rushed through my mind in between the ringing of alarum bells and flashing of lights:

(a) Our PM-to-be still speaks of “the EU” as though it is an extraneous entity when it comes to economic affairs and budgetary management. It’s the old Daily Mail and Daily Express business of blaming “the Europeans” for the fictitious regulations on the length of sausages. Does our PM-to-be know that the problem in this case lies with the 27 nations and with their management of National Budget in defiance of the strict rules that the EU imposed?

(b) Here’s some news for Muscat. President Sarkozy is pressing for a G7, G8 and G20 meeting in order for them to discuss the economic crisis ahead of a G8 meeting. “The EU” is merely part of a huge chain of decision makers that can suggest concrete action…and here comes the biggest surprise for Muscat…

(c) Decisive action will and has to begin at home. Austerity measures – the kind of which  the Greeks and Spaniards have already got the bitter taste – will need to be taken by national governments. What we have seen Labour’s FreeVote proponents do is generally criticise government intervention to reduce public debt and spending. We have seen for example Marie Louise Coleiro (or was it Justyne) declare that only a Labour Government can guarantee free health care. So to put it blandly, Muscat’s posturing on radio about abstract entities taking “decisive action” is only a populist statement designed to tell the people that he has absolutely no intention or plan to take such measures himself. Neither does he seem to be able to acknowledge that the current government should be taking those measures already – and that he should be backing them to the hilt.

2. The Judiciary System (sic)

“The people” are angry. They are angry that the pederast priests got punished with so little time in prison. They are angry at dog killers getting off leniently. You do not expect the man in the street to understand the reasons behind “we are servants of the law that we may be free”. The idea behind the rule of law is that it provides certainty – for the accused, for the victim and for the condemned. It does so by providing clear rules as to what elements should exist to find someone guilty and what the metre of punishment is.

Our PM to be is so eager to ride the wave of current public discontent with regards to crime and punishment that he rushes to blame the “judiciary system” (yes, the Times in all its infinite wisdom and eagerness to publicise Muscat’s latest banter translated “sistema gudizzjarja” literally). Muscat fails to note that this kind of problem emanates from parliament – if the crime is not well defined, if the punishment does not fit the crime and if the calculations for early release are too lenient then the source of the problem are the lawmakers – the gaggle of freevoters in Valletta.  The laws have been there for quite some time … some of them even survived the period of the Great Leader whose Birthday Everybody Celebrated on Facebook yesterday.

Conclusion

Muscat continues to show signs of populism at its worst. The greatest exposure is his inability to identify  the source of a problem and proceed to identify the solution. He is blinded by the need to resort to simple PLPN Grammar and Rhetoric. It’s the kind of rhetoric that resorts to simplistic reasoning aimed at reaching one conclusion: PN are hopeless managers in this day and age. The sad thing is that the people did not need reminding that the PN has taken more than a few twists for the worse in recent times.

What Muscat does manage to do is to also remind us that the alternative to the current unpopular government is absolutely devoid of concrete policies and ideas. That’s what happens when you are too concerned about riding popular discontent and throw any available mud in random directions in the hope that some of it will stick.

Sadly for us and as we all know… stick it will and how… here’s to a future headless government – all for the greater good of alternation.

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The Press & Manu's Mission

The tragicomic news items from the island never cease to surprise but the story of the rise and fall of Emmanuel Cini in the sympathy ratings in the Maltese press is as intriguing as ever. For those who have been too busy complaining about omnibuses or owling, Emmanuel Cini is the man who is attempting to become Malta’s Marco Pannella by going on a hunger strike until Minister Gatt resigns.

The story – accompanied by a daily vlog (video blog) – of the weakening Cini did hit the headlines by his second day of starving. It was pushed by the pinker of the press (MaltaToday & Maltastar) and then picked up by the village gossip angle of the Times. Being the christians that we are (especially when the subject is white and not coming in a boat from North Africa) the papers were quick to emphasise the disabilities and illnesses of this particular individual – gunning for even more empathy from Joe Public.

By Day 4 there was something weird in the air. No direct contact from the ministry, the usual labourite barks hanging onto anything remotely anti-government and the pink press milking whatever was milkable. Then came Cini’s daily vid and his clumsy attempt to distance himself from what he called Labour’s “squeaky clean” image. Apparently this martyr did not want to “tarnish” Labour with his deed (How could such a commendable act tarnish Labour we wondered? Then we wondered why all this fuss about the “squeaky clean”).

There was an uncomfortable silence about this man’s travails. Sure, the TGITTCB crowd and the usual hobby-horse anti-government bitching elevated Cini to hero status but the reluctance of the press to dig deeper stood out.This morning Joe Camilleri from the National Commission for Persons with Disability politely refrained from joining Mr. Cini’s cause. Surely there was something everybody knew but was reluctant to mention.

Then came Daphne to the rescue. Her pachydermic memory (and a few tips from the blog commentators) unearthed another side of Emmanuel Cini (if you excuse the weak pun). Suddenly the hunger-striker became the gay porn star with a track record of more than half a screw missing. Apparently it did not take much to unearth his earlier life in porno stardom.

So what kept the press from delving deeper? If this man had been in the news earlier why were not newshounds’ instincts alerted? Is this a sign of incompetence or is there more to it? I have a feeling there is more to it in the sense that once you eliminate the average PL-friendly press who can get more mileage out of the striker if he is a victim and not a pornstar you are left with journalists who might not feel it is right to question the motives of someone who is “putting his life on the line”. In other words Emmanuel Cini, the dying man, is untouchable because he is sick and dying.

Nobody would dare question his recklessness. Nobody would question whether Arriva and Minister Gatt are worth dying for (are they?). The weakness of the press is not always politically motivated. It could have a lot to do with our modus operandi and values. It could also have to do with being lazy: the dying man story was as good as it got for some: why look further?

 

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Austin & the two Emmanuels

Minister Gatt has taken note of the hunger strike announced by Emmanuel Cini. He has asked Arriva to speak to the hunger striker and try to ensure that his ends are met. We know this from a report in the Times in which Gatt’s actions were transmitted to the Times by a spokesman for Dr Gatt.

Minister Gatt did not speak directly to the press. He did not speak to Emmanuel Cini either. If the striker is even half serious you’d expect a bit more commitment from Gatt. Instead of his usual gutsy dismissive statement we get his metatron – a spokesman for Dr Gatt. Which makes you wonder what happened to the other Emmanuel, the one who was only too happy to have his name linked to anything Arriva before the fiasco began.

You know which Emmanuel we are talking about. The one who very evidently would not understand the meaning of a hunger strike.


DAY 4 OF HUNGER STRIKE: THE REAL EMMANUEL

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Veiled Arguments

The “wolf in sheep’s clothing” metaphor is back to haunt us. Only a while back we had a Archiepiscopal warning from the pulpit about the various wolves attired in sheep’s best (and they were not referring to vêtements signé Desigual) and now we have PM Gonzi accusing the Labour Party of having a lupine nature disguised as a fluffy animal. The phrase first appears in the Matthew 7:15 (that’s the bible, not an early morning Matt):

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

What is Gonzi on about then? Well I am not sure whether this report by MaltaToday and this one by the Times of Malta were from the same event  but they make an interesting reading into the mind of the One Who Many Think Committed Hara Kiri. The PM was commenting on Cyrus Engerer’s volte-face and trying to give his spin to the issue. We’d love to see Lawrence Gonzi’s credibility ratings at the moment but even if we assumed that there are still some people who take his word as the law we can find some interesting conclusions to continue to draw.

the counter-spin: wolves, the 80s and tolerance

MaltaToday highlighted Gonzi’s weak attempt at counter-spin. He pounced onto Joseph’s Muscat silent fatwa on Adrian Vassallo’s solo run and painted a picture of 80’s style intolerance in which “In-Nazzjon” was a public taboo. It’s tiring. Nauseating even. This whole business of projecting Labour’s past onto the future milked to some success for the 2008 Taste Campaign is long past its sell-by date. Gonzi is evidently clutching at straws with this argument. It is only made worse with his stress on “tolerance” – fresh from his monumental “NO” and spitting in the face of the vox populi (see “Drawing Conclusions”). There are inklings of the dire need that Dr Gonzi has for some intelligent (new?) advice before speaking to the press when he then opts to couch his ideas in biblical metaphors : triggering the very red lights that have made him lose so much in the popularity polls. Fail.

the ideas on switching parties

The Times report is more concerned with Gonzi’s opinion on Engerer’s choice to switch parties. According to the Times:

” Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said he respected the decision of Sliema deputy mayor Cyrus Engerer to resign from the Nationalist Party and join Labour but disagreed with his reasons. Mr Engerer did not resign because of the PN’s stand on divorce but pinned his decision on one issue: Dr Gonzi’s No vote against divorce legislation in Parliament on Wednesday.”

Much is being made elsewhere about Engerer’s Damascene switch (including questions being asked about whether it was not so sudden). Dr Gonzi is here “respecting” the decision made by the young turk. Many will confuse “respecting” with “agreeing with ” or “accepting” Cyrus’ switch. Gonzi does neither. He disagrees with the motivation (His own No vote) and above all he has a problem with the assessment of principles.

anchors

It’s the last bit that is very telling. Principles. Here is how Dr Gonzi reads the latest crisis:

“I fear we are reaching a situation where people are no longer anchored to their principles.”

People and principles. Is Gonzi, like almost everyone in the political arena, missing the woods for the trees? We have written elsewhere that the biggest problem is the lack of principled backbone within the major parties – their choice to not commit. Gonzi is pointing his fingers at “people who are no longer anchored in their principles” using Engerer as an excuse. His fingers are pointed in the wrong direction. It is the parties who have abdicated from representing clear cut principles and sacrificed these principles on the altar of populist convenience.

Wolves, Pots & Kettles

The biggest demonstration of this dog-eat-dog unprincipled world was the exchange of accusations by the PM and leader of Opposition. While Gonzi was accusing Joseph of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Joseph was busy spinning the line that “Labour had never changed its position throughout the debate”. Nobody can deny that. The point is that Labour had no position to change. It had no position on divorce. That is what Gonzi should have told Cyrus Engerer – that he was joining a party that did not have the balls to take an official position on divorce.

There’s another question I need to ask Joseph. How come “Labour not changing position” is good but “Gonzi not changing position (and always standing for the NO)” becomes bad? It’s stupid, stupid, stupid all over the place. It’s like two people tossing a coin ten times and the result is 7 heads and 3 tails. Joseph is suddenly “right” because he backed heads while Gonzi is wrong because he called “tails” all along?? Meanwhile Labour chose not to call heads or tails but wins prizes for being constant in not taking a position. Is this a crazy world or not?

Engerer

Will Engerer manage to change Labour into a real progressive party? Does he have the clout? Will it matter? It won’t to the token voters who just see Labour as the new lesser evil away from GonziPN. The question is “what will it take for them to notice that MuscatPL is same, same but different?” How long till we will be discussing how MuscatPL failed to take leadership on civil society issues, or worse still how its attempts to play the populist led to a hodge podge of botched legislation? We’re kicking off with “kids’ right to maintenance till they are 23″…. quite a good start to raise unprincipled, spoilt brats whose concept of politics is waving the blue/red flag whenever duty calls….

In un paese pieno di coglioni, ci mancano le palle – j’accuse 2011