You take an unplanned break from blogging and when you come back you find out that nothing much has changed. Last time we were blogging regularly (seems like ages but it’s only a week ago) we commented on the farce that was the MUMN’s badly managed PR about the stress caused to the...
From Crimea to Bengh...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
“Nurse of the Mediterranean”, “Florence Nightingale”. These terms are no coincidence and were not invented by some nationalist spinmeister in an effort to boost our “pride” in our country. As Maltatoday picks up on public sentiment and reports that three...
The Pride of Lions
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Do you have Independence day hangover? Are you still reeling from the injection of pride in our country and its achievements – especially in its delayed reincarnation as the potential Florence Nightingale of the Libyan Spring? Or are you still feeling rather indignant at the “divisive” call for AST’s resignation? Better still, are you still clutching your aching sides after laughing all night at Labour’s non sequitur style reponse that “if my ex-Foreign Minister was an arsehole then your ex-Leader /PM / President played host to a flurry of arseholes in the early nineties”? However you may have woken...
Press Standards ...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Italy’s sovereign debt rating has been revised downwards (A from A+) by Standard and Poor’s. The marginal comment to this revision was that the country’s outlook was “negative”. Notwithstanding Berlusconi’s “manovra” that seemed to have appeased...
Qatar
posted by Jacques René Zammit
It’s official. Malta is one of the safest places on earth (bar Qatar). Apparently the Maltese archipelago is one of the zones of the earth that is least prone to natural disasters with a 0.72% risk of such an abomination occurring. There is one country that is safer and that country is...
Crisiswatch
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Controversial historian Niall Ferguson sees no solution for the current European Debt Crisis which he describes as a “European Lehman Brothers“. Are we really in for a shocker? Is the biggest strike still to be dealt on the European economy? Will the euro suffer the consequences?...
Lunchbreak
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Right now is the time of that gap in the time-space continuum when the General Box labelled “Summer” starts to shut slowly taking with it the smells of the sea, the sweaty brow of the aestival traveller and the dizzy dreams of dolcefarniente. At the same moment the musty smells of...
Labour Loves Libya
posted by Jacques René Zammit
George Vella, Malta’s possible future Foreign Minister has drawn his own conclusion about the best possible outcome that could result from the toppling of Gaddhafi. The Times online title says it all: “Libya can boom and ‘absorb’ immigrants“. Nothing wrong there...
Smile (More)
posted by Jacques René Zammit
Well. We’re here. And that’s a good thing. Being here is rock. Having a blog purged from malicious hacks is rock (and roll). Having friends who spend a whole night with you trying to figure out what the fuck went wrong is rock (and roll encore). Not being Gaddhafi is rock. Not...
What Paradise?
posted by Jacques René Zammit
The immigrants are rioting. The Maltese comment boards are rife with spiteful messages of the “send them back home” kind. Forget blaming the police or the government. It’s the whole damn country that’s in a mess at the worst possible time. I’m not speaking of...
Thinking in 2D in th...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
It’s been a week on the island and as you can see from the lack of blogging it has been a busy one. Any time I may have away from planning is dedicated to the sun and sea (or the sun and swell during the last two days). The most “politics” I get during this time is a chance...
A nation of stone-th...
posted by Jacques René Zammit
The judgement in the case of the two paedophiles Godwin Scerri and Charles Pulis has justifiably leapt to the top of the most talked about news stories on the ether. There is no doubt that any normal human (anybody who does not have a Breivik streak anyway) will have passed through a mixture...