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When Claire Bonello walked up to Nationalist candidate-to-be Beppe Fenech Adami and commented flippantly about barons et al, it was to be expected that ic-Caqnu, who was seated at the same table, would take offence.
It was after all his hotel and his family who was in attendance. Anyone else might argue that being provoked, they would be reasonably justified in lifting their hand and slapping a woman in the face.
But Caqnu of course should have had the good sense of inviting the angry columnist to his table and ask her to elaborate on the ‘baron’ accusation. In the end we all know the story or part of it.
My absent column last Sunday, held back due to some bad time management, led to a torrent of speculation, suggesting I did not write last week because I was in Caqnu’s pockets.
You see, Balzan is in cahoots with Caqnu, one leading Green party representative messaged to my colleague, accusing ‘us’ of having sold our soul and advising him to seek less corrupt pastures. I have not seen the fellow yet but when I do I will do a Caqnu on him and hit back at this arse with some very colourful verbal diarrhoea.
I have no hang-ups about being accused of being an angry middle-aged editor, but to be accused of being in Caqnu’s pay is taking it far too far.
For having been the first newspaper to have published a mugshot of Caqnu I was the honoured recipient of several phone calls and messages with one simple message: take it easy Salv!
I looked the other way. This newspaper has published stories about Caqnu’s activities. But it is not Charles Polidano that bothers me, but rather the fact that the media have failed to report in general what big commerce does and does not do.
Polidano may be bad news in Malta, but abroad he has made inroads in some major projects, such as the Lm52 million project at London Heathrow Airport. If the Brits wanted to select someone for an OBE they should have given the honour to Caqnu. It sounds nicer and better too: Charles Polidano OBE.
Ic-Caqnu should not be too offended by the untimely intrusions of the media. He should take it in his stride like the Bertu Mizzis of this world or the Michael Caruanas of the other world. I mean, unlike Dr Michael Caruana, better known as Il-Billy, he has not been caught receiving a children’s allowance whilst being an undeclared millionaire.
I have every respect for Claire Bonello, and she has more spine than most other writers. And more importantly she talks about taboo subjects, the ones you listen to only in the confines of the security of our four-walled kitchens. I may not agree with all she writes and opines about, but I will bloody defend her right to say it.
Which takes me to the letter (not for publication) that I received the other day from a polite elderly fellow who wrote to defend good old Bertu Mizzi. He said in a few words that he did not understand why I was writing about Bertu. Well, I should have told him that he will not see anything written in other newspapers anyway: The Malta Independent on Sunday will never write a sentence on the bloke, because just in case this correspondent was unaware, Bertu’s family have interests there too.
There is not one newspaper other than this one that comments, for example about the majestic ugliness of the Tigné project. It is a towering mass of dreadful concrete facing the indescribable beauty of 16th century Valletta. This is the definitive piece of architecture that has successfully ruined Marsamxett harbour.
Needless to say, if anyone did repeat my words, they would lose out on the advertising.
No one for example debates the fact that the Fenech Adami government, with the Opposition’s blessing, declared the Portomaso area, Manoel Island, Tigné Point and Chambray as special development areas. The designation practically meant that the speculators of these massive projects ended up paying the equivalent of a bottle of wine for every square metre of land.
This public land was leased, or effectively given away, for a pittance – in the case of the whole Hilton-Portomaso site for a shocking Lm100,000 – and worse still, the tax on sale of any properties sold in the area discounted to a ridiculous tax regime.
No wonder these boys never complain of suffering from the effect of a bad economy. And no wonder, small entrepreneurs feel that they are the forgotten people.
So to all those who write me long letters not for publication, could I suggest they ask themselves one simple question before they put pen to paper? Could it be that everyone chooses not to discuss certain people and issues simply because it is not in their (newspaper’s) financial interest?
Since we are on the subject of finances, we should remind readers that the economy is doing very well, people are feeling better, their spending power is not depressed and there is a general feel-good factor. Everyone embraces the Euro and the general public are very understanding about the surcharge.
Europe is on everyone’s mind, most especially the hunters. And some people think it is just great that Europe has brought about so many changes.
Yes, this is of course a joke. The Prime Minister is the only one who talks about a buzzing economy. Some dim-witted advisor has sort of convinced him that the figures sort of add up so we must be doing better.
It is simply not true. Sales are down, purchasing power is at rock bottom, business confidence is low and it is bad, very bad with the middle class.
The PM needs to get his team together. In the meantime, the Opposition leader is slowly positioning himself for Castille. I have this funny feeling that Alfred Sant already believes he is PM.
Which is fine by me, until you discover which policies guide New Labour other than the policy not to have a policy just in case the policy of having a policy screws every chance of getting them elected, policy-wise.
Needless to say, people couldn’t give a toss about policies, because all they want is a better quality of life. But the PM’s insistence that things are getting better reminds the people of their dentist who pulls out your front teeth with the excuse that it will make you look better.
One person who could serve as a model for Gonzi is Angela Merkel, the new German Chancellor. She sits through every World Cup soccer match when Germany plays. Her humble demeanour and her enthusiasm embody the new Germany that wants to look forward and move along. Germans just love to see a caring Chancellor who can spend 90 minutes of her life at a soccer match. They love to see a woman at the stadium.
In Germany there is a feel good factor and it is all in the mind. Good feeling is all about perceptions. Making business tick is all about trust. And Gonzi has to find that tricky, ticking feeling.
The other day, former GWU deputy secretary-general Emanuel Micallef laughed at the suggestion that the removal of public holidays would lead to an increase in productivity. Mr Micallef is a nice guy, but if you want to sink a business, leave future planning to a union man.
If Mr Micallef wanted proof of how disturbing to productivity public holidays can turn out to be, he should only take a look at what happened in Gozo and Malta in the last week.
Most of Malta was on a long weekend vacation this week, leading to businesses either closing down completely or simply just working reduced hours. The only people working seem to have been the unfortunate immigrants who continued to labour tirelessly in the Maltese heat.
Malta and Gozo must wake up to a new reality, it is called work ethic and it cannot be guided by the old rules of yesterday’s economy.
Listening to the Prime Minister last Saturday, I felt uneasy and disturbed by his reference to the social dimension in the government’s plans to destroy more of Malta and Gozo.
Dr Gonzi knows far too well that what he said is codswallop. There is no social dimension in the new building zones but institutionalised stupidity. The vast majority of people who will benefit from these areas are speculators – not the socially deprived that Dr Gonzi dreams about.
When Lawrence Gonzi talks like this he takes me back to the 1985 Weekend Chronicle, that socialist newspaper. The time when Labourite thugs would beat you and kick you and when Alfred Sant, then president of the MLP, would accuse environmentalists of being ‘bourgeois’ and against the workers. When the greens were beaten in the streets the Weekend Chronicle would invent the story that a group of anti-workers had disrupted a peaceful protest by workers who were calling for more social housing.
The same editor who ran this newspaper is presently secretary of the Institute of Maltese Journalists. Not bad, eh?
Change tack, Dr Gonzi. It is not too late to stop coughing up these harebrained arguments.
I have no wish to be petty, but if anyone has driven by the Naxxar church, he would be forgiven for thinking they had just driven through some mechanical rodeo. The road here is a contorted piece of giant tarmac, wavy in parts and full of unannounced orifices.
Before the local council elections, I am told that the mayor, Fatima Deguara, promised to rid Naxxar of this outdated thoroughfare. It will take more than my car’s shock absorbers to convince the Naxxar local council to treat us with some decent tarmac.
Tonio Fenech officiated the Mater Dei press conference last Friday. Why a junior minister for finance should head Malta’s white elephant and not the health minister is proof that the PM prefers his young upstart to his health minister.
Or am I missing the plot? And by the way, Mater Dei will be finalised next year, but will it be relieving St Luke’s hospital? And who will be footing the new hospital bill?
I am told that Censu Galea’s claim that the costs in the privatised ports will decrease is a big joke. Manufacturers and importers will be informed of a new cost structure in the coming days and guess what? It will be more costly.
The stone rooms at the Santa Marija shoreline which were meant as boathouses have changed their status to small summer dwellings to the consternation of those who considered the coast as their swimming post. How about someone taking some action here? Perhaps MEPA?
sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt
and if you are interested in contributing to a biography on Bertu Mizzi please drop an email at bertumizziOBEbiography@mediatoday.com.mt
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