According to a news item that went viral over the weekend the Splash and Fun complex is full of shit. Actually to be more precise, tests have detected the presence of E Coli bacteria in the pool water at the popular summer resort. The news gets worse though. Apparently the Health Department tests and results took place early in August but uncharacteristically the resort was not shut down and remained open for business. Some wise guy must have thought that the balance between shutting the resort down during the busiest summer month and a few sick clients should definitely shift the business’ way. Meanwhile the resort has issued a denial of the contamination report. The shit has only just hit the slides…
Denial aside there is a feeling of complacency that was best summed up in a recent Times editorial (was it Sunday?) entitled “Anything Goes”. The silly season is no longer an excuse, what with the rumblings and showers of early September. A Labour government elected on the Taghna Lkoll mantra has been in power for six months and has proceeded to ride roughshod over any semblance of promise that might have conned even the most lukewarm of supporters.
The Great Libya Deal is the latest in a long line of jaw-dropping charades that could only have been fed upon an audience still high on the (false) 36,000 rush. First we had a deal that was greater than any other trumpeted ad urbi et orbi. What the nationalists did not do in 25 years we did in 6 months. Now it transpires that the “deal” is nothing more than a memorandum of understanding based on the hope that the government with whom the deal was made will actually be in control of the oil that was promised at preferential prices to the Taghna Lkoll Gang. Or so they tell us. Joseph tells us that the oil is there, it is only a matter of crossing our fingers that the right people get their hands upon it. Which is actually a complete new definition of hedging (more like betting really) and speaks volumes about the diplomatic acumen of this government.
(A small aside for those silent mice at the pre-coffee shop at Dar Centrali – what the hell was all that applauding the deal for? The PN will be the subject of another post soon enough but please… wake up. )
The Libya deal was not enough though. We also had MEPA accepting some kind of extension for the use of HEAVY FUEL OIL at Delimara. Yep. This government that had promised black on white to end the use of damaging heavy fuel oil is actually going ahead with an increase in our capacity to use it. A promise is to Joseph Muscat as an open bottle of ether, there one minute – gone in the air the next. I wonder what ever happened to those people who went on about “Jiena nemmen f’Joseph ghax hu jemmen fiha”. A yes, they got a place on a board.
Still. Many are those who are still prepared to applaud this government and its shenanigans. Their counter that “these are always better than the previous lot” gets weaker by the minute. So long as we get a bit of the iced bun (copyright the runs), a discount here and a board member there… then it’s all par for the course. The evil they saw everywhere just up to the last election seems to have magically vanished simply because everything is sold to them with a taghnalkoll wrapper.
As for the nationalist party. What they need is defibrillators, life support machines and the like. Still, their heritage runs deep too… Manuel Delia must have been so happy to read the latest bit of Arriva news. €35 million loss. Flimkien kollox possibbli.
Palla lunga e pedalare.
See also: Jurgen Balzan on the subject of Oily Deals, Michael Briguglio on the subject of how the whole liberal facade was a lie, Arriva’s 35 million losses.
