The casual sprawl of moneyed entitlement

If John Soler intends to do another interview with the press, he might think twice about the way he allows his photo to be taken. Because, apart from the interview itself, which I will get to later, I think it was that photo which really got up people’s nose the most.

First there is the casual sprawl of his denim-clad legs sticking out from behind his desk while he leans back in his chair, which just speaks volumes. This habit of splaying one’s legs, which has been dubbed the “man-spread”, may be OK for an informal encounter, but for a newspaper interview it’s just all wrong.

Now, of course, there will be those who say that deep down, Mr Soler is a perfectly nice guy, but that pose just signals a certain air of arrogance and moneyed entitlement. It’s the pose of someone who is not used to being told what to do, who is almost sitting there on sufferance, and who has had no choice but to do this interview.

The right to build | Sliema Townsquare director John Soler, interviewed

His hand, spread flat on the desk further confirms this image of someone who is used to being in control. He’s unsmiling, and looks somewhat annoyed – in fact he is practically scowling, which doesn’t help matters. You might think that these are petty, trivial details, but never underestimate the power of a photograph.

If he had anyone who is PR-savvy advising him, they would have told him that another photo should have been taken, one where he does not give the impression of being so coolly nonchalant, so obviously preppy, so obviously born into money. If this were just an interview about him as an entrepreneur he might have just got away with it, but unfortunately for him, this was about a very hot issue, and the questions which James Debono so incisively asked him all have to do with how the Townsquare tower will impact the lives of other people. You know, common mortals.

Maybe he didn’t realise how his answers sounded; maybe he is not used to choosing his words more carefully because of how they will read in print, or maybe (and more worryingly) he really could not be bothered. Whatever the reason, the worst thing about his answers was that he came across as not caring one bit about how this huge development is going to affect residents.

It is his attitude towards them which is the most appalling; the way he spoke about having “the right to build” and about how “I never received compensation when people were building around my property” or the most callous answer of all, when asked about the elderly living nearby, “There are other construction sites near which people could be living the last 10 months of their life.” I actually winced on his behalf on reading that. The sheer insensitivity of that sentence alone basically torpedoed the entire interview.

No one likes arrogance. And there is something particularly unpleasant about those who have been born into privilege who go swanning around as if they own the entire country (which the way things are going, they probably will).

Even if we were prepared to give these big developers the benefit of the doubt, with this one interview Soler simply confirmed the impression many of us already have: of a business class which cannot see beyond the heaps of cash swirling in their dreams.

The upshot is that this interview conveyed to the general public exactly what the problem is: not so much these developments themselves, but the utter disregard of the people behind them for those who will have to put up with the traffic chaos, diggers, cranes, noise, pollution and mayhem once the building starts. We already know they don’t give a crap about what us “little people” think, and this just really confirmed it.

The least Soler could have done was to prep himself so that he could help to mitigate the negative image we have of the greedy, uncaring business class. He could have at least attempted to make the “right noises” so that he does not come across as so unabashedly haughty.

Unfortunately, he did none of this. Instead, he appeared to be telling people in Sliema to “take it or leave it” while turning his back on their real concerns. At least they can be grateful he did not proceed to pull down his pants and show them his backside as he did to St Julian’s supporters when he was the captain of Sliema’s waterpolo team.