A Happy New Year to all J’accuse readers and diehards. This blog starts its heavy trek towards celebrating ten years of blogging after an unforced hiatus. No, that is not a word stolen from Varist’s vocabulary. I return well rested from a visit to the islands that are fast becoming...
On Resignations
posted by Jacques René Zammit
It has just been reported that Joseph Muscat considered his invitation to Dr Mallia to resign as a matter of courtesy. The impression that the Joseph Muscat of 15.00 hrs today wants to give is that the Joseph Muscat of 21.00 hours (approximately) yesterday was not simply asking Dr Mallia to...
Bang! Bang! Democrac...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Two shots. It could take two reckless, dangerous, irresponsible, illegal shots to finally get the people to “wake up and smell the coffee”. It might. There’s no telling really how willing an electorate can be to allow the fundamental tenets of a democracy to shatter before...
By Appointment
posted by Jacques René Zammit
I was asked recently to give my two cents’ worth for an article being prepared by a MaltaToday journalist. He was looking into the recent history of KSU and more particularly the trend of ex-KSU council members becoming politicians (even more particularly Nationalist politicians). Was...
Ġej budget li ma jit...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Difficli li timmaġina li dan il-baġit ikun wieħed li jitwemmen. Difficli, biex niftehmu, li jkun xi baġit fantastiku. Roħs ta’ prezzijiet u taxxi. Jekk jgħidulek li se jseħħu wisq probabbli tkun int l-ewwel wieħed li jgħajjat “Ħożż fl-ilma”. Kumpens għall-għoli...
The Merry Wives of C...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Con Artistry Just before I graduated from the law course and set off to the College of Europe to harden my bones and extend my experience in the arcane arts of European Law I finally managed to get linked to a law firm. Such link included a promise of employment, particularly a promise of...
Labour’s Bulls...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
There’s no two ways about it. The only quirk in the Grand Theory of Labour’s Bullshit Factory is that Muscat seems to be resiliently surviving in the popularity stakes. The people still hang on to whatever fairy dust he can throw at them – and from the looks of it there is...
Sino-Maltese
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Sino- is a prefix that we get from Latin, Arabic and Sanskrit. In all three of these classical languages it refers to the land of the rising sun. In Latin they were referred to as Sinae, the Arabs call them Al-Sin and for the Sanskrit it is Cina. The prefix was quite the vogue in the cold war...
Quod non fecerunt
posted by Jacques René Zammit
MaltaToday carries a story about how 1 million euros of EU funds are being allocated for the “restoration of the prime minister’s residence”. As is done these days the press got the information from the horse’s mouth i.e. the non-constitutional role of Prime...
Kliem il-Fieragħ
posted by Jacques René Zammit
“Mhux fjer. Korrotti. Ħbieb tal-Ħbieb. Issa jmiss lilna. Issa daqshekk. Roadmap. Tagħna lkoll. Gvern ta’ Kullħadd. Għal kullħadd. Tagħna lkoll. Neħilsu iċ-ċittadin mil-jasar u mit-tgħakkis tal-kontijiet. Tagħna lkoll. Tagħna lkoll.” Xi krexxendo sabiħ. Ifjen mill-oħla...
Democracy Everywhere
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Joseph Muscat’s positively progressive band of meritocratic men announce the scrapping of Local Council Elections as a cost cutting exercise and practically nobody other than the opposition bats an eyelid. Ah but the opposition is negative isn’t it? And we need to save money...
The Hunters and the ...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
All the love that Labour’s lost. Well in many ways it is just desserts. Whenever I asked how sustainable Muscat’s populist politics I always seem to be given confident answers in the positive. Of course it is sustainable – people are happy and happy people will generate...