The Coach & Horses

Much is being made about Peppi Azzopardi’s side-career as a “coach” to prominent persons in the political sphere. Such persons tend to be, or have been, of a nationalist persuasion although I have it on good record that Peppi has also given non-nationalists the benefits of whatever expertise he has – admittedly within campaigns that were also dear to the nationalist party’s heart.

To begin with, there is nothing surprising that one of the main horses from the “Where’s Everybody” stable should engage in spinoff marketing designed to get people to get their message through to your average citizen. WE’s monopoly of national airwave prime time has put them in a position to be able – even by trial and error – to discover what sells best with Mr. Francis the People (Cikku l-poplu). In the land of the blind the one-eyed man sometimes develops an acute sense of vision that might surprise even himself.

Labour’s noise about Peppi’s supposed impartiality and that of the other equine from the same stable – the one who tends to bray rather than neigh – is rather misplaced. It has been said elsewhere that impartiality is not the be all and end all of discussion program or investigative journalism. It is the feigning of impartiality that is another matter altogether. To actually convince yourself that you are in the business of balanced reporting or discussion when  it is clear to all and sundry how mechanised a pantomime your programmes are is to persist in a constant lie. J’accuse never had any beef with the lack of impartiality but rather with the obstinate denial thereof.

What jars most in the case of Peppi, Lou and others who have previously backed the line of one Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is their defence of “I believed him then”. But then what? They saw his face and inverted the musical trend?

You see the Peppi defence of “I helped a persecuted individual” does not hold water in the field of marketing – you are employed to sell ANYTHING and do not question the underlying message. Peppi was either turning up at the nationalist party headquarters to coach a politician on how to appear more convincing – whatever the message – or he was there in his full mental capacity and judging the content too: and it was not THAT difficult to see that JPO was floundering fast even under the duress and stress of the time.

Nor does someone like Daphne convince me with the bull about how JPO was very convincing before the election and how now he is suddenly a liar, a hamallu or whatever else the spin machine chooses to throw at this jack of all trades turned politician. The nationalist party was falling over itself trying to get the man out of the muddle he had brought upon himself. We had pointed out the absurdity of the issuing of a press card to a politician at the time and we were told that we were “immature” and that we were picking the wrong man.

The damascene turnaround has nothing to do with policy or values but with convenience. Peppi and Daphne sound very much like a Joseph Muscat who needed four years of European Parliament action before he saw the EU light shining through the yellow stars on a blue background. And the funny thing is that it does not answer the basic question: whether you believed him or whether you were being paid on a retainer Peppi, you were in PN HQ doing PN work for a PN politician.

Saying that it’s because you believed him then is like saying you put the joint to your mouth… but never inhaled.