No. I am not ignoring what is going on in Parliament. How can you? On the other hand I still am amazed at how ridiculously shallow is the level of political assessment in this country of ours.
Kudos, first of all, goes to Lawrence and his “team” for having managed to string together a mini-Med summit that will go down in the annals of history as yet another photo snapping opportunity for a group of 10 leaders who sat together all bearing the same expression of “why the hell am I here?”. Sure, Med cooperation and plans are great and necessary but we know much more than go fawning at the foot of an idea that had lain frozen since the last meeting in 2003, lived in a coma right throughout enthusiastic Sarkozy’s “Mediterranean Union” and proved to be worth jack shit at the time of the Arab Spring.
Anyways, after the Arab spring we get this cocktail-glass-clinking event that gets us a bit of tarmac, Monti giving the obsequious nod about security in the Mediterranean, Lawrence Gonzi spouting some circum tauri about the common values and aspirations of these nations and … oh yes… there will be an MCAST in Misurata. I am told that Arriva officials panicked at the idea of getting thousands of schoolboys to the college across the sea in time. (Just kidding, I’m not that stupid you know… if I were I’d have planned the new transport system in Malta and would be running for elections as a certain party’s future promise).
Which brings me to the Allies continually battling the Axis of Evil and who face Armageddon single-handedly. Why oh why are we still bothering with Franco and Jeffrey? Well one reason is that Gonzi’s PN are trying to make some point of pride and “we shall not be moved” business. Which is beginning to look damn silly. You know, the kind of silly as surrounds the kid who is caught with nutella all round his mouth and bread crumbs on his shirt and claims “I’m not eating in class miss”. Yep. Gonzi and his PN are strolling around with pie all over their face and they don’t seem to be bothered one bit.
Meanwhile, across from Pieta and over to Hamrun you have the other bunch of idiots. They are swooning and swaying all over that gullible piece of work that is Franco Debono – egging him on to get at Austin, Joe or whatever tickles his renegade fancy. The Earl Grey sipping dork still believes that he is somehow remotely relevant to the business of government and accountability when in actual fact his actions (and those of his companion in crime) belie the true base nature of his intentions. Were it not clear enough we now have the concerted effort between the Paladins of Progressivism, the Cavalier of Democracy and the Sipper of Teas to get a debate and motion onto parliament’s agenda that smacks of desperate opportunism to say the least.
Gonzi must have been hoping that it would come to this. The PM seemingly busy with his ultra-important tête-a-tête with nine leaders of state while Labour scrabbles for the floor and whinges and whines in order to get a very very important motion on the table of the house. What motion? Well …. it’s a motion about plans to privatise the management of car parks. Well actually it is a motion about plans to privatise the management of car parks …. that have been shelved. AND Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – still playing at the game of “we care so much for the people and are duty bound to represent them” have been performing somersaults trying to slip in a motion of no confidence in Austin Gatt.
What a sad and sorry bunch. Labour’s high and mighty appeal about all the woes of our nation and then just look at what kind of subject they want to use as a motion of no confidence that might (in their hopes) bring the government down. A utility measure? A budget bill? IVF? Immigration? What else could it be? Hell no… it’s a shelved plan for a car park. This coming from a party whose exponents are not ashamed of representing a party that gives off all the signs of having no clue about what to do when in government.
Franco and Jeffrey? Less said about them the better. Jeffrey’s intellectual prowess when it comes to defending arguments is tantamount to “unfriending” people whom he disagrees with. Shallow and transparent does not even begin to describe him. Franco – well enough has really been said about Franco. He can no longer hide behind grand plans of reform – legal or otherwise. If ever they were close to his heart then he lost them some time ago and he has definitely succumbed to the battle of nerves.
As for the party in government. You get the feeling that just before the end of summer they had sort of sniffed out an exit strategy – one that could be a repeat of the famous “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat”. Something has gone very Pete Tong though and this must have happened on or around the Independence day festivities. The guess here at J’accuse is that the PN has opted to focus on the wrong issues and hit the wrong targets. Above all, the PN is repeating the same mistake that it risked committing in 2008 – the same mistake that Labour persists in committing every election. What mistake? Simple. The mistake of treating your electorate like absolute fools and taking their vote for granted.
We will definitely be seeing new efforts at denigrating the wrongly called “floating voter” (not floaters as that tautological fool Musumeci calls them) the closer the election gets. J’accuse has a message for these people (yes, that includes you Mario Vella) – stay strong and don’t vote before you’ve got their attention. Every single one of them. Including those who will tell you that (alas) you are setting yourselves up as objects of hate right before they rush off and vote intelligently with a huge number one next to the name of … Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.
