Category: Campaign 2013

  • Elephants, rooms and budgets

    This budget is as much about the elephant in the room as it is about financial measures and planning. We came to the budget after almost a full calendar year of “will he, won’t he” insofar as Franco Debono was concerned and we had the extra leverage by the man who will henceforth be called…

  • The Hidden Hand, Fundamentalist Liberals and other tales

    Something strange happened in parliament yesterday. George Vella meant to congratulate Tonio Borg for his appointment to the post of Commissioner and apparently did so. In doing so though he came up with some weird theory about a “hidden hand” that could have been behind John Dalli’s resignation (so he did resign?) and the opposition…

  • So it shall be done…

    Simon says, Tonio does The contest for Tonio Borg’s seat is giving us another very interesting glimpse into the workings of the nationalist party. Lawrence Gonzi believed that a contest would be healthy for the party, that still remains to be seen. The impression we get is that no matter how united a front the…

  • What was he thinking?

    Indietro Tutta! was a hugely popular satirical programme that aired on Italian TV (Rai2) just before the evening news for four short months (65 episodes in all) between December 1987 and March 1988. The programme introduced a new vein of humour to Italian TV thanks mainly to the po-faced feigned imbecility of co-hosts Nino Frassica…

  • Swing!

    A long weekend away from the hustle and bustle of politics is not going to stop “everything” from happening. Try as you may to minimise access to wifi you still get whispers of the goings-on beyond the breakwater at Sète or the Place de la Comedie in Montpellier. Comedic much of it turned out to…

  • Men of the Moment

    “We need a contest”. Prime Minister Gonzi apparently believes that a bit of competition would be healthy for his party. In a way you cannot blame him. The opposition is anything but good competition in that respect given how it seems to be banking solely on the concept of “victory by default”. Joseph Muscat’s schizophrenic…