Pantomime all year round

Pantomime scripts have become wittier - and richer - in their subject matter.  But surely, their scriptwriters could easily get away with just copying political speeches verbatim. The absurdity and self-gratification in most of their speeches need not be censored or edited.

To start with, the Prime Minister's declaration that he would be imposing a truce is not only a joke, but a big fat lie.

There has not been a day since the declaration of this farcical truce when the PM and his ministers have not taken advantage of the so-called Christmas truce to trumpet their five-year achievements in their speeches from their podium minutes before inaugurating a new unfinished square, a lift, or even a Hamrun supermarket.

The last memorable speech to arrive at the time of writing was the one inaugurating the new PBS building. Standing next to him was Joe Mizzi, who was unfortunately remarkably stiff, as stiff as that character in Hogan's Heroes, Colonel Klink.

I don't blame him. The PM was salivating over a State TV that had, according to him, introduced "plurality", along with pretty much any other positive development in broadcasting.

And of course, there was the thank you to Anton Attard, the man who was planning to migrate to The Times but is now having cold feet, it seems.

But back to the PM's speech.

He said that the government, through PBS,  "had managed to build a regiment of independent producers".

What he really wanted to say was that he and his predecessors had managed to create a monster.

That monster goes by the name of Where's Everybody. And to top it all, they hijacked State TV to make as much money as they could and more importantly, trumpet the government of the day.

The PM talked about a revolution.

Yes, a revolution in taking State TV back to the 80s, when PBS served the devious political plans of the party elected to run the country from Castille.

Before we had Toni Pellegrini. Now we have Anton Attard.

The PM thanked Anton Attard, though he should have underlined that never before had Xandir Malta been run by a CEO who had such a clear conflict of interest.

He did not thank the other players who have made PBS a success story for the party in government.

He failed to thank Natalino Fenech (the man who runs the newsroom according to what he thinks is the news), Joe Pirotta (the chairman of the editorial board who has a lot to answer for implementing an editorial policy that is one sided) and last but not least, the duo Joe ('Peppi') and Lou aided by that 'thingie' that presents TVHemm.

I remember that before Joe Mizzi was ceremoniously appointed, he replaced Claire Thake - another political appointee - as Chairman. 

I recall Thake trying very hard to convince me that State broadcasting was not dependent on tax payers' money.

What led her to make such a silly comment beats me.

But what was also beyond her, was her understanding of State broadcasting, and its role.

In Gonzi's partisan speech before the opening of PBS's so-called creativity hub, he talked of an entity that was making ends meet.

In other words, he was trying very hard to create the impression that PBS was making money, and not losing it.

Gonzi, like most politicians and elected ministers, never ran a business - he worked for a business... or rather, served as a highly paid public officer. In business, you do not look at your accounts on a yearly basis. 

The foreign geeks who run Air Malta and entertain themselves until the early hours of the morning like to present us with that kind of accounting.

Air Malta is making money, they claim. Well, time will tell.

When you look at accounts, you compare your last years and add your losses to your profits. Then you start to smile or cry.

With Gonzi's appreciation of accounts, PBS would need another 25 years of serious profits to zero all its losses.

But then again, someone should tell the politicians that State broadcasting is not about making money, rather about informing, educating and serving as a cultural melting pot for the public.

May all your wishes come true, next year as we enter two months of absolute hell and political fatigue!