Diskors qed jiġi riprodott bil-permess tal-awtur. Tliet snin ilu, fl-okkażjoni ta’ Jum ir-Repubblika, il-President Coleiro Preca għamlet diskors li fih appellat lis-soċjetà ċivili biex din ixxammar il-kmiem u taħdem hija wkoll għall-ġid tar-Repubblika. F’dak id-diskors,...

  X’inhu dak li jagħmel ktieb tajjeb? Hawn min jgħidlek li ktieb tajjeb iżommok taqra’, ma tkun trid tniżżlu b’xejn. Hawn min jgħidlek li l-istorja kollox, li dak li jkun qed jgħid l-awtur jolqot xi ħaġa ġo fik. Hemm imbagħad il-ktieb tajjeb għax tixtieq li...

This is the text of a speech I delivered at a conference organised by the office of MEP Roberta Metsola. The conference was entitled “The Fourth Estate in a New World. Citizen Journalism and Security Chalenges. Part One: BLOGGING AND POWER, THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE When I was asked to...

Malta’s Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Capital Projects has gone on record saying something to the effect that “majority rule is higher than the rule of law”. One cannot stop underlining the dangers that lie behind this kind of statement. To begin with, this is...

The atmosphere at the European Parliament this Tuesday was surreal to say the least. Not being too familiar with the building I arrived just as the debate on the Rule of Law in Malta had kicked off and took a seat hurriedly in the visitor’s balcony. Just as I started to take in the...

A long read. This post takes a look at the actors and interests in the current debate on the rule of law in Malta.  This afternoon the European Parliament will discuss a resolution on the Rule of Law in Malta. Point 5 of the Draft Resolution reads that “[The European Parliament]...

Silvio Schembri – a member of Joseph Muscat’s government – was born in 1985. He could not remember 1984 , the year, and quite frankly I doubt whether he read the book. If he has, then I doubt he learnt any lessons from Orwell. While going through facebook last night I came...

  Speaking in parliament last night, ex-Minister Manuel Mallia took a swipe at whoever had anything to do with the leaking FIAU documents. In a scene befitting pre-1989 East Germany, Mallia told parliament that the leaker of the report as well as anybody having access to it (including...

  Dr Kevin Aquilina (signing off as Dean of the Faculty of Law) penned an article in today’s Independent. In this article entitled “Demicoli v. Malta – Part two“, Aquilina decides that by calling for the resignation of both the advocate general and the police...

  On the rule of law and constitutional reform Our parliaments have begun to discuss the state of the rule of law in Malta. I use the plural form because it is not only our national parliament that has begun to debate this but also our other parliament, the one that sits in Strasbourg....

  Joe Bloggs returns to J’accuse. The series in which he examines the Government’s spin is on hold. This time he kicks off a parallel series where he takes a look at the main controversial themes tackled by Daphne Caruana Galizia on the Running Commentary in recent...

  In another guest post, Eleonora Sartori reflects on the messages from yesterday’s demonstration. The new normal In Canto III of the Inferno, Dante Alighieri describes the sighs and piercing cries of woe of “the miserable spirits of those who lived neither infamy nor praise”....