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 not much left. Labour supposedly had a well-oiled machine in the run up to the election. I say supposedly since no matter how many plaudits can be wasted on their “achievement” it still boils down to a PR stunt so big that one can only blame the gullible for having fallen for it hook, line and sinker. It did rely muchly on the idea that twenty-five years of nationalist government had given rise to much corruption and fit in nicely with the average Maltese voters penchant for martyrdom and self-pity that puts the Secret Policeman’s Ball to shame.
Two years into Labour government and when the words and charades fell apart we have a government that is mired in its own bullshit. We may have a 58c COLA increase but there are innumerable cheques that cannot be cashed (and I am not talking about the salaries given to the friends and friends of friends of taghnalkoll meritocracy dudes but about promises unfulfilled): Take Minister Joe Mizzi and his latest revelation that the public transport subsidy will have to rise to 23 million euros. It makes Manuel Delia’s fiasco suddenly look like a Nobel Prize Achievement. Not just that. This particular purveyor of champagne socialist bull has the gall to refuse to explain what effect this will have on the tariffs for the normal gentry who rely on such transport. Those who don’t (rely on such transport) have just been told that many of the roads they patronise (as in patrons) daily will be shut for works – presumably to be inaugurated in a couple of years’ time by a beaming Minister.
So Arriva was not THAT bad after all was it? Bar a few questionable choices regarding the use of bendy buses it seemed to work quite well. Turns out that Labour’s only interest was finding something else to urge the people to feel uncomfortable about – then they would mumble something about 51 proposals from another planet and everyone would think all would be hunky dory under Joseph. J’accuse never fell for that sales pitch (see That Bohemian Planet 51) because anybody with a head on their shoulders and a brain between their ears could smell the Labour party’s particular brand of bull a mile away.
Now what do we have? We have ministers toying with public safety, others playing around with our code of laws as though it were a restaurant menu that needs bringing up to date, we have obscure dealings with not so democratic and open nations, we have a refusal to be accountable in parliament, we have a mess of an energy program complete with a faffing minister who does all he can to divert attention, we have a transport fiasco about to blow up again and we have a never ending system of nepotistic and taghnalkoll appointments that is about as barefaced a raspberry to the all that bullshit about meritocracy and transparency.
Now do you see how ironic the Dr BS moniker actually is?
