Issue #692 - Maltatoday

Transcription

€1.20
YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT
TALE OF TWO CHRISES
INTERVIEWED
Pgs 12-15
maltatoday
SUNDAY • 10 FEBRUARY 2013 • ISSUE 692 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY
Revealed: The
political risks and
the story behind the
Presidential pardon
SEE FULL STORY ON PAGE 4
SEE ANALYSIS PGS 16-17
mt survey
PL lead narrowed by two
points down to ten
MALTATODAY SURVEY
For which party will you vote?
Change since February 3
parties has been largely closed thanks to
a 3-point increase in respondents who
have yet to make up their mind.
SEE FULL SURVEY 10, 11
PN
31.3%
 +0.9
Voting intentions by age:
41.2%
PL
 -1.5
18-34
34.3%
▲ +6.9
35-54
34.3%
35-54
SEE BACK PAGE
43.2%
 +0.5
New MaltaToday mobile
application launched
MALTATODAY has launched a brand new mobile application
which offers a better service to Smart phone users. The application also offers readers innovative categories which allows
them to view info on ferries, weather and the list of candidates
in the election. MaltaToday will be providing more widgets
with practical info. The new application also allows viewers
to send tips to the editor. The application can be downloaded
from Apps on iPhone and Android.
55+
 -1.2
–
35-54
2.2%
NOT
VOTING
45%
55+
1.7%
 -0.4
–
-0.2
30.8%
AD 1.8%
3%
18-34
▼ -0.5
 -4.3
27.9%
 -3.5
55+
18-34
1.7%
 +0.4
NO
ANSWER
24%
 +1
Former MFCC chairman never signed
Nazzarenu Vassallo declaration
SILVIO Scerri, who was the Chairman of MFCC from 2008 until 2011,
never signed the declaration issued
last weekend by Nazzarenu Vassallo
and others on behalf of MFCC. Scerri had sold his shares to magnate and
PN sponsor Nazzarenu Vassallo and
was Chairman when MaltaToday alleged that the PN had its dues writ-
ten off by MFCC.
In a public declaration, former
MFCC directors other than Silvio
Scerri rebutted claims that MFCC
had written off dues owed by the
Nationalist party to MFCC.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 6, 7
Newspaper post
THE Nationalist Party has managed to
cut Labour’s lead by 2 points meaning
that the PN is now trailing Labour by 10
points: down from 14 points a fortnight
ago.
Though the PN has closed the gap by
four points in the past two weeks, the
margin remains substantial and higher
than it was in December, when the PN
had closed the gap to 9 points.
But Labour leader Joseph Muscat continues to enjoy a very high trust rating
of nearly 46% against Prime Minister
Lawrence Gonzi’s 34%.
The MaltaToday survey shows the PL
has lost 1.5 points from last week and 3
points in the past two weeks, the PN has
gained 1 point in the past two weeks.
This shows that the gap between the two
2
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3
News
Prime Minister puts on a
brave face during visits to
‘barren’ sites
JACOB BORG
FRESH from tough budgetary negotiations in Brussels, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi hit the ground
running with visits to two rather
barren sites in Bormla and Mater
Dei.
The government has been lathering up various interest groups and
burning through the chequebook.
Earlier this week, Gonzi professed
to having a “change of heart” over
the building of a motorsport and
road safety facility.
The reason why Gonzi had been
hesitant about giving the go-ahead
to such a motorsports facility is that
“every square inch of land on this island is precious”. By Saturday morning, the Prime Minister had seemingly discovered a few more inches
as he signed away the deeds to the
land to the Rugby Football Union.
Gonzi also visited the new Oncology Hospital, which is currently just
a shell. Getting a decent photo-op
for this one proved to be the hardest
challenge for the Prime Minister, as
bare concrete and gruff construction workers rarely make for a pretty
picture. Gonzi announced that the
building of the new ward was “on
time and below budget”.
The hospital is being built at a cost
of €54 million, of which 85% are EU
funds.
The PM took the opportunity to
clarify the PN’s proposal on out-ofstock medicines.
Pharmacies will invoice the government at an agreed reference price
for any medicines handed out, with
the government footing the bill.
Gonzi clinches €1.12 billion in EU funds
under new budget
HARD-FOUGHT negotiations in
Brussels have seen Prime Minister
Lawrence Gonzi obtaining €1,128
billion in funds for Malta in the
next financial period covering the
EU’s budgets from 2014 to 2020.
The funds include €20 million
more in directly-allocated funds
of cohesion and agriculture funds
than Malta would have obtained
had it remained a ‘less developed’
country under Objective 1 funding,
the OPM said in a statement.
Heading into Friday’s discussions,
Gonzi stressed Malta’s consistent
position that it should not be penalised for its economic progress
after just one full financing period
(2007-2013).
“Today’s deal in the European
Council means that Malta has secured a total of €914 million in funds
under cohesion and agriculture.
Had Malta retained its convergence
(Objective 1) status under the 20142020 financial period, it would have
received €892 million under these
two headings. The deal will therefore actually be a slight increase
(€22 million) in these policy areas
than would have been the case had
it remained an Objective 1 region.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi (left)
with permanent representative
Marlene Bonnici (back) and EU
advisor Richard Cachia Caruana
(right)
Moreover, there is a recognition of
the permanent handicaps of island
member states in the conclusions,
in line with the Lisbon Treaty,” the
OPM said in a statement.
The indicative overall funds
which Malta will receive under the
2014-2020 framework estimated to
be €1.128 billion, which compares
well with the €1,115 billion Malta
was allocated during the current
2007-2013 period.
“This agreement is a landmark
result and a major success for
Malta,” Prime Minister Lawrence
Gonzi said.
“The outcome was excellent for
Malta in view of the various challenges facing the EU’s economy,
the overall budget decrease and
the entrenched positions of other
Member States... it will remain
a priority for the government to
continue to facilitate and maximise the use of EU funds,” Gonzi
added.
PM thanks supporters for
‘visceral energy’ during
fundraiser
Prime Minister
Lawrence Gonzi
and his wife Kate
being interviewed
as part of the PN’s
televised fund
raising marathon
THE PN’s party faithful were yesterday treated to a smorgasbord of local
personalities and singers during the
party’s fund raising marathon.
PN supporters were seen proudly
grasping their complimentary copy
of the electoral programme as they
were ushered into the hall to listen to
Prime Minister Gonzi.
Gonzi thanked the people for their
“visceral energy”, proudly claiming
that the PN’s message is slowly getting through.
“Every day is important, every day
has to be a victory. People should put
thought into their vote. If a mistake
is made then we have to live with it
for the next five years. We are committed to creating 25,000 jobs. The
PL has made no commitment to job
creation,” Gonzi said.
Gonzi urged the supporters to donate to the PN, claiming that the
Party cannot keep up with the PL’s
spending on “billboards and fullpage adverts”.
In a throwaway comment, Gonzi
declared “I got my money from Brussels, I do not know where others are
getting theirs from.”
At the time of writing, the party
had managed to raise €252,142.
Jacob Borg reporting
4
News
Bizarre setting to Presidential
pardon Cabinet meeting
FROM PAGE 1 An urgent Cabinet
meeting convened on Friday evening
led local newsrooms to speculate
that it was called to take maximum
political mileage for the EU budget
deal achievement obtained by Prime
Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
Surprisingly, the eleventh-hour
Cabinet meeting was convened to
discuss the request of a Presidential
pardon by George Farrugia – sole
shareholder of the company Aikon
Limited, and suspected of accepting
kickbacks for sale of oil to Enemalta.
It was a lost opportunity for Prime
Minister Lawrence Gonzi to boast of
his accomplishment in Brussels.
Farrugia – a former partner to the
company John’s Garage – is represented legally by PN dissident and
the former parliamentarian Franco
Debono. Farrugia fell out with his
family’s business after his family
accused him of siphoning over €6
million from the company.
The story about George Farrugia
and Frank Sammut’s alleged undeclared commissions for sale of oil
to Enemalta were revealed exclusively in MaltaToday.
Next week, the police are expected to press charges against at
least four individuals. However,
this could be stalled if Farrugia’s
deposition leads the investigators
to implicate new people who so far
have not been interrogated by the
police.
Earlier this week, MaltaToday
was blocked from reporting garnishee orders against
those suspected in
taking bribes.
The suspects’ lawyers quoted the Money Laundering Act
to block MaltaToday
from publishing the
names.
Soon after the publication of the MaltaTo-
Franco Debono (left) and
George Farrugia (inset)
Lawrence Gonzi at the end of
Friday’s Cabinet meeting
day story showing George Farrugia’s
alleged involvement in kickbacks related to Enemalta’s oil purchases, the
prime minister announced that he
would offer a presidential pardon.
Gonzi said that the person would
be offered a presidential pardon if he
came forward with new evidence.
The police were initially hesitant to
declare a stand in favour of a presidential pardon but later they changed
tack. They changed their stand when
they realised that Farrugia was willing to go back in time and reveal new
evidence.
Unknown to the Prime Minister
was the fact that Franco Debono was
representing George Farrugia.
After his public declaration that he
would offer a Presidential pardon, it
became very difficult for the prime
minister to renege on his offer.
Police Commissioner John Rizzo
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Frank Sammut will be
arraigned in the coming days
enquired with his chief investigators whether this would benefit the
inquiry. It appears that eventually,
they came round to accepting the
fact that Farrugia’s deposition will
implicate more people which would
otherwise be difficult to charge.
However, MaltaToday sources
behind the Farrugia kickback have
said that there could be new angles
to the revelations that could embarrass the government further – since
it could reflect on ‘disconcerting’
connections that would only serve
to shame the political class.
On the other hand, the Labour
Party appears worried and apprehensive that the Farrugia revelations could remotely or indirectly
rebound on their campaign by exhuming people linked to Labour.
Yesterday, the prime minister was
reluctant to answer any questions
made by MaltaToday journalists related to the presidential pardon.
He would neither confirm nor deny if all his ministers were present
for the late Cabinet meeting and he
would not comment if a PN candidate had approached him and discussed the issue of a Presidential
pardon before he publicly offered
the presidential pardon. He said he
had nothing else to add to his press
conference at the end of the Cabinet
meeting.
The prime minister’s decision not
to comment on the Presidential pardon a day after a highly publicised
Cabinet meeting might indicate that
his advisors have realised the outcome of Farrugia’s pardon may potentially backfire.
5
News
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD
Between a ‘labour of love’
and an ‘endurance test’
MIRIAM DALLI
LABOUR’S 837 proposals of its electoral manifesto have been costed at
€730 million – “a realistic and ambitious programme” according to leader
Joseph Muscat.
Muscat has put much effort in insisting that a Labour government would
deliver the manifesto “within budget
and on time”, adding that this should
“become the norm and not the exception” in how a future government delivers.
In line with the expensive-looking
and polished manifesto, the programme was launched during a grandiose event at the Bay Arena that included interventions by known and
other less-known individuals, giving
a three-minute discourse on why they
will be voting PL. Others explained
their decision of switching their allegiances to the “Labour movement”.
While no one expected the Nationalist Party to come out full of praises,
it shot down the manifesto as “a mere
copy” of its own programme. Indeed,
one cannot deny the similarity between the proposals of the rival parties, which would also reflect the similarity in their positions on the majority
of the issues.
As former PN minister Michael Falzon put it, the fact that many proposals
also appear in the PN’s electoral programme signifies that the two parties
are responding to the same requests
made to both of them.
“I don’t imagine there is any association or NGO that made a set of
proposals to the PL and a different
set for the PN,” he told MaltaToday,
pointing out that the 2013 manifesto
was incomparable with Labour’s past
electoral manifestos.
According to media analyst and head
of the PL’s think-tank Ideat Carmen
Sammut, Muscat was “clearly aware”
that the choice of the late date would
trigger accusations that he might have
lifted PN’s proposals.
“But Muscat must have been comforted by the fact that Labour had
also faced similar charges during past
elections, when it was far less strategic in its electioneering and naively
announced its plans prematurely, allowing PN’s powerful spin machine to
trash them,” Sammut said.
Muscat’s strategy in delaying the
manifesto could have been to allow fatigued electors the opportunity to taste
and digest key messages. Sammut said
this would have given Muscat ample
opportunity to rebut the counter arguments of his political adversaries.
Sammut believes that Muscat’s great
challenge lies in managing to complete the numerous pledges within the
established timeframes while respecting the costings.
“This is Muscat’s greatest challenge
but in itself suggests a significant cultural change. By appointing Louis
Grech to supervise his project, the par-
Joseph Muscat signs copies of Labour’s manifesto
during the launch at the Bay Arena on Wednesday
ty is sending out a strong message that
Muscat means business,” she said.
But has Labour really delivered the
beef the Maltese were promised?
According to Michael Falzon, the
manifesto is “an endurance test”.
“Doing all this in five years would
leave Joseph Muscat and his team
tired and worn out,” he said.
Falzon argued that things which
may look easy on paper would become more difficult when applied in
practice, while the prime minister and
his ministers would have a lot of time
taken up by normal everyday administration.
“I wonder whether this was taken
into consideration,” he said.
This campaign was marked by the
heightened pressure on both parties
to cost their proposals – a costings
exercise that must “always depend” on
projection that do not cater for unexpected turn of events, Falzon said.
“It is therefore necessarily an exercise in wishful thinking – despite the
claim that Labour was more prudent
than the exercise the PN carried out
on its own programme.”
The manifesto also outlined ambitious reforms in national institutions:
Muscat intends to open the way for
a Second Republic with the aim of
emancipating the country from partitocracy.
“This entails reforms in public broadcasting and the Broadcasting Authority. Good governance will be driven
by an effective whistleblower’s act, an
act on party financing, the removal of
prescription on corruption and casting the deadweight of bureaucracy,”
Sammut said.
But such reforms, she added, necessitate a national effort that was inclusive
to all sectors and segments of society
and hence the slogan and theme of the
Labour manifesto, ‘Malta for all’.
But while the manifesto included
many measures that could be introduced with little or no financial out-
put, Falzon warned of the success of
many measures that depended on a
culture change in various sectors of
the society.
“Culture changes are not bought
with money or brought about with the
stroke of a pen. They have to be nurtured slowly and patiently and have to
be accepted by most citizens because
resistance to them could spell trouble.
“Labour’s electoral manifesto could
well be a labour of love. But love is
fickle as much as people’s trust in
politicians… at the end of the day, the
proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
6
News
Gozitan Lidl will gobble
up €5 million in trade
from surrounding stores
MEPA TO DECIDE ON GOZO LIDL ON TUESDAY
JAMES DEBONO
A retail impact assessment recommending the approval for a Lidl
supermarket in Xewkija, Gozo, is
anticipating a €1.81 million diversion in trade from convenience
stores selling foodstuffs in Rabat,
and another €3.17 million diversion
from convenience stores elsewhere
in Gozo.
A decision on the controversial
supermarket which is partially sited
in an outside development zone
next to the ecologically sensitive
Wied Zejta valley, is expected next
Tuesday – just three weeks before
the general elections.
According to the retail impact assessment, the new Lidl would bring
about a likely reduction in the turnover of convenience goods stores in
the primary town centre of around
of 5.8%. Turnover outside the town
centre was expected to see a 2.5%
reduction.
These reductions occur as a result of trade diversion outstripping
the forecast growth in convenience
goods’ expenditure.
On the other hand the study concludes that trade in non-food items,
or comparison goods, will continue
to increase, despite the opening of
the Lidl supermarket.
Overall, the majority of these
comparison goods is expected to
be drawn to Lidl from the primary
town centre (€590,000), whilst a
smaller €250,000 amount is forecast
to be drawn from comparison goods
stores outside the town centre and
elsewhere on Gozo.
Notwithstanding the opening of
the Lidl store, Rabat is expected to
experience a 4.8% increase in trade
over the period to 2015, whilst
stores outside the town will experience an increase in trade of 5.3%.
This is because the forecast growth
in comparison goods’ expenditure
over that period exceeds the “relatively small amounts” of trade diversion that will arise from the opening
of the Lidl store.
The report also claims that the
Lidl supermarket can create spin-off
benefits for the town centre, offsetting any direct impact felt by exist-
ing trades – namely, that a number
of Gozitans currently travelling to
Malta to carry out their food shopping would be more likely to shop
from Gozo.
The study also says the Lidl supermarket will fill the gap which exists
for a large discount supermarket on
Gozo. “The island does not currently benefit from such a store, and the
store would therefore add to the diversity and range of food shopping
provision on the island.”
Moreover, as convenience goods
facilities in the town centre represent just 15% of the total retail floorspace of the centre, “it is clear the
vast majority of retail floor-space in
the town centre will remain largely
unaffected.”
The study concludes that existing comparison goods retailers,
which make up 85% of floor-space,
will continue to experience significant growth, whilst convenience
goods traders will be able to withstand “relatively small diversions of
trade”.
The retail impact study was conducted by London’s WYG Planning
and Design and consultancy firm
EMCS. All large supermarkets are
subject to retail impact studies, as
per MEPA policy.
The original case officer report
recommending the approval of the
supermarket stated that the assessment was not required, because the
supermarket was deemed not to
have a large-scale impact on the Rabat town centre. But it was following a public hearing that MEPA’s
Environment Planning Commission
imposed this requirement.
Traffic impact
One of the objections against the
project is related to its traffic impact.
Original plans showed trailers
entering the site from St Leonard Street, which links Victoria to
Xaghra and Nadur, while cars will
enter from the side of an existing
petrol station in Mgarr road.
During a public hearing in June
2012 it was brought to the board’s
attention that it was practically
impossible for trailers to enter the
site. Residents who spoke to this
newspaper claimed that the existing
parking spaces make it difficult for
trailers to manoeuvre, and that this
could create a danger spot for drivers entering and leaving.
The large refrigerated trucks
transporting supplies to the German supermarket chain might also
not be able to manoeuvre inside the
site, creating further problems.
Case officer recommends
approval
A decision on the project is now
expected on Tuesday.
Back in June 2012 the decision
was postponed after MEPA’s Environmental Planning Commission
ordered the project’s architect to
submit an updated Fire Safety and
Ventilation report, an updated Construction Management report and
clearance from Transport Malta,
and a Retail Impact Assessment,
following the provision of the
terms of reference provided by
MEPA’s Forward Planning Unit.
A MEPA spokesperson confirmed
that all these documents have been
submitted.
The case officer is advising MEPA
to approve the first Lidl supermarket in Gozo, which would be located
at the edge of the Xewkija industrial
estate.
The 4,813 square metre development is earmarked for a large vacant
plot at the back of an existing petrol
station on Mgarr Road.
Environmentalists have objected
to the development because 30%
of the site lies outside development
scheme.
But the case officer states that the
supermarket and the car park are
now entirely located within development zones.
In the original application most
of the supermarket’s parking area
had been located outside the limits
to development, leading to MEPA
informing Lidl that the project was
“unacceptable in principle”.
During a public hearing in June,
environmentalist Astrid Vella and
Green Party deputy chairperson
Carmel Cacopardo raised objections to the development, saying it
would affect a natural storm-water
culvert nearby.
The supermarket structure will
now include two overlying levels
of parking, with the first floor level
catering for 52 parking spaces and
the roof of the structure, catering
for another 58 car parking spaces.
The remaining area in front and
on the side of the supermarket
structure, which falls within the
development zone boundaries,
is to be used as an external parking area providing 24 car parking
spaces.
The height of the supermarket
structure is set at two floors with a
maximum height of 12 metres.
The site of the proposed supermarket included a number of illegalities consisting of “derelict
vehicles and other scrap” and an illegal access road located on private
land. The applicant was informed
that unless these illegalities were
removed the application could
not be processed with a positive
recommendation. The illegalities
were only removed in February
2012, and the enforcement case
was closed.
MEPA’s policy guidance on retail
outlets states that supermarkets
should be preferably located in or
on the edge of town centres, which
is not the case in the Gozo applications.
MEPA has already issued permits for Lidl supermarkets in San
Gwann, Santa Venera, Safi, Luqa
and Ghaxaq. The Safi and Luqa
supermarkets were located in ODZ
areas, permits that were found to
have been irregular in the opinion
of MEPA audit officer Joe Falzon.
While processing the application for Gozo’s Lidl supermarket,
MEPA received a number of objections from environmental NGOs
including Nature Trust, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, the
Ramblers’ Association, Flimkien
Ghall-Ambjent Ahjar and Din l-Art
Helwa.
But MEPA also received four letters from Gozitans urging MEPA
to approve the development, who
claimed that MEPA should bear in
mind the hardships that Gozitans
have to endure when regularly crossing over to the mainland to shop at
Lidl for its discounted prices.
When laug
Too much
bureaucracy and
problems of outof-stock medicine
means the verdict
is still out on
the otherwise
professional
Pharmacy Of Your
Choice scheme.
JACOB BORG
THE pharmacy of your choice
(POYC) scheme is either a roaring
success or a crashing failure depending on which political party is consulted on the subject.
No surprises there then.
The incumbent government is
naturally defensive of the scheme,
whilst Labour candidate Adrian Meli
weighs up the pros and cons of the
POYC based on both his experience
as a pharmacist and his political
leanings.
“The Pharmacy of Your Choice
scheme was another good idea that
was poorly managed and executed
by ‘GonziPN’. As a pharmacist, with
the recent addition of more pharmacies, I believe that the system is
now grinding slowly to a stop,” Meli
claims.
The government finds any criticism
of the scheme a very bitter pill to
swallow. When asked to pinpoint the
failings of the current system, POYC
chief executive Roseanne Camilleri taciturnly notes that the scheme
has been awarded ISO Standard
9001:2008 certification.
“This standard is based on quality
management principles and incorporates robust client-centric approach,
the motivation and engagement of
top management, the process approach and promotes continuous
No denial about
PAGE 1 > Reuben Caruana a director who owns 35% of the MFCC and
who, before the MaltaToday story
was published, was up in arms over
the fact that he had been effectively
kicked out of MFCC by Nazzarenu
Vassallo, suddenly changed tack last
Sunday and amended his version of
the facts as presented to this newspaper.
7
News
hter is not the best medicine
improvement. This manifests that
the POYC unit continuously strives
to improve its operations to meet
and possibly exceed its client expectations.”
Although ISO certification is akin
to a technocrat’s wet dream, it does
not necessarily mean that affairs
run smoothly on the ground, Meli
points out.
“To start with, the POYC department is understaffed. There has
been a roll-out across the remaining
localities, meaning that the number
of pharmacies taking part in the
scheme has increased. The POYC
department was already under great
pressure following a previous rollout in 2011. Staff numbers have not
increased in line with the increased
demands. This affected the running
of the whole scheme. Initially, pharmacies received their orders weekly.
Now, due to logistical problems,
deliveries are being carried out on a
fortnightly basis.”
Meli also claims that staff at the
department are being pushed to
their limits. “If a local pharmacist
needs to consult with a pharmacist
within the department we are usually asked to phone after 11am, as
the department would be too busy
to answer calls before then. There
are times when one needs to consult
on certain matters whilst dispensing
medicines to the patient so this is a
serious problem.”
When asked by MaltaToday
whether the current scheme was
serving patients needs, the ever
forthcoming Camilleri said: “Yes.
Today, the POYC Scheme is available nationwide from 208 pharmacies and has over 95,000 registered
patients.”
Asked the very same question,
Adrian Melia begs to differ. “In a
word, no. If the problem of out of
stock medicines had to be addressed
properly then patients would indeed
benefit from a better service. In the
last year, due to a large number of
medicines which were unavailable,
patients were often faced with the
harsh reality of having to go around
different health centres or the out
patient pharmacy at Mater Dei hospital in order to get their entitled
medicines.”
Asked whether the POYC scheme
carries too much red tape, the
POYC chief executive quoted lock
stock from a national audit report
on the effectiveniess of the scheme.
“The POYC Unit clearly emerged
as a professionally managed entity,
suitably equipped to administer a
scheme of this magnitude and importance,” Camilleri told MaltaToday. “The report concluded that
the system of standard operating
procedures employed by the POYC
Unit were commendable, ensuring
high levels of consistency thereby
contributing towards the reduction
of errors.”
But Meli sees scope for reduction in POYC beuracracy within
Labour’s pledge to cut red tape by
25%.
“Labour has already pledged to
introduce a system whereby a commissioner for bureaucracy will
ensure that efficiency is increased
across the board. There are various
ways where bureaucracy can be reduced and the POYC scheme is no
exception.”
One pharmacy owner speaking to
MaltaToday lamented the fact that
there are “no hard and fast rules and
no harmony, resulting in a free for
all.”
Meli delivers a very similiar assessment: “The problem with the POYC
scheme is that there is no hard and
fast rule as to how the individual
pharmacies run the scheme. Some
dispense the medicines immediately, offering a good service to the patient. But some pharmacies restrict
the days when a person can collect
his medicines.”
It would appear that the POYC
scheme has managed to square a
circle. It is both overly bureaucratic without introducing sufficient
standardisation in the ways that
individual pharmacies provide their
service. Perhaps laughter is the best
medicine after all.
MFCC’s expenses for PN activities
MaltaToday is refusing to budge
from its original story and in response to a libel action by PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier, Managing Editor Saviour Balzan called
for Borg Olivier to insist that the
libel is heard with urgency.
In a comment, Balzan said that
MaltaToday had nothing to fear and
would provide evidence to substantiate its claims.
Asked by MaltaToday to provide
the invoices of works provided by
MFCC, Paul Borg Olivier dodged the
question and simply referred to the
libel action.
On TVM this week, Labour MP
Chris Cardona confronted PN parliamentarian Beppe Fenech Adami
and asked him to provide invoices
for the work MFCC had carried out
for the Independence celebrations
since 2008. Cardona claimed that
every year the bill would amount to
around €160K.
Brussels to take
legal action if Marsa
shutdown does not take
place by 2013
MATTHEW VELLA
THE European Commission has
postponed a decision to take Malta
to the European Court of Justice,
six months after sending a reasoned
opinion on the operation of the
Marsa power station, to assess the
latest complementary information it
received from the Maltese Government in January 2013.
A government source privy to EU
policy affairs had told MaltaToday
in January that Brussels was mulling court action, six months after a
reasoned opinion to Malta calling on
the government to comply on industrial emissions.
The case relates to the government’s delay in closing down the
Marsa power plant, which is still
being operated because it still provides a portion of Malta’s energy
demands.
“The Commission is aware that
the Marsa power plant produces
some 45% of Malta’s electricity and
takes note of the measures taken by
Malta to build the necessary replacement sources of power generation,”
spokesperson Joe Hennon said for
the European environment commission.
“In this regard, the Commission
understands that a new generating
plant at Delimara has in the meantime been put into commercial operation and this has allowed Malta
to shut down two combustion plants
out of the four units at the Marsa
Power Station covered by the limited
lifetime derogation of 20,000 operational hours under the EU’s Large
Combustion Plant Directive.
“The Commission was further informed that the completion of the
ongoing Malta-Sicily electricity interconnector project will allow Malta to take the two remaining Marsa
combustion plants completely out of
service.”
Hennon said that according to the
information received, the completion of the interconnector and the
subsequent shutdown of the two
remaining plants is expected by the
end of 2013.
“The Commission will continue to
closely monitor progress in this case
and will not hesitate to take further
legal action if further delays in the
implementation of the programme
of works in relation to the taking out
of service of the plants concerned are
encountered,” Hennon said.
Back in June 2012, the Commission
said it was concerned that Malta had
not yet closed the power station,
issuing a reasoned opinion to the
government – the second step in an
infringement notice issued by Brussels.
Under the Large Combustion
Plants Directive, Marsa’s four combustion plants were not supposed to
exceed a 20,000-hour limit between
2008 and 2015, but all four plants
went over that ceiling in 2011. The
plant will have to be decommissioned by not later than 2015 – in
the meantime, the government pays
a daily fine for operating the power
station, due to its emissions.
Six months ago in June, the EC
claimed that Malta was “failing to
protect its citizens from pollution
emitted by the Marsa power station”.
The Marsa power plant was
brought back into operation in 2012
due to a delay in bringing the Delimara plant online, in violation of
the Large Combustion Plants Directive, the scope of which is to protect
human health by limiting harmful
emissions.
The government initially failed
to reply to a letter of formal notice
sent on 28 February 2012 within the
stipulated two-month period. The
formal notice is the first stage in a
process that may lead to the Commission pursuing litigation.
8
News
Education and youth policy
should be based on social
justice and inclusion – AD
IN a press conference held in
Birkirkara yesterday morning, Alternattiva Demokratika argued that
they should be based on social justice and social inclusion.
AD Chairperson Michael Briguglio
pledged that if elected to parliament, AD “will ensure that debate
on education focuses on social justice and social inclusion, especially
since Malta’s levels of early school
leavers, illiteracy and cross-class
representation at post-secondary
and tertiary levels remain low compared to the EU average”.
In his own address, AD spokesperson for Youth Reuben Zammit
AD Chairperson Michael Briguglio
called for the establishment of a
Youth Services Act, insisting that
this is needed to enforce the regularization of all youth centres.
He said that while youth centres
should be allowed to retain their
social identity, “youths need to be
safeguarded from discrimination
on the basis of gender, belief, sexual
orientation or ethnicity”.
He said that youth centres should
also act as a platform where young
people with disability can be socially included and feel part of a community.
AD Spokesperson for Education
Mario Mallia reiterated the need
for students to feel more included
in the educational process. Among
the measures that need to be taken, there is the need for smaller
schools, he said.
“It is in smaller schools that children feel cared for. In large schools,
children feel lost. This is having a
strong impact on learning. Just as
important is the need to ensure
that through making good use of
existing resources, the number of
children in our classes is smaller.
This should better enable us to
reach the aims of educational justice within the recent educational
reforms based on mixed ability
teaching.”
Mallia also pressed on the need
for more efforts with regards to
early intervention programmes,
illiteracy and the strengthening
of the CDAU so that educational
problems are identified at an early
stage as well more investment in
ancillary services including family therapy and other services that
support the family.
He also said that our educational
system seriously lacks policies on
multiculturalism, gender as well as
LGBT.
“The absence of such policies
means that there is no institutional
provision with the consequence
that everything depends on the will
of individuals in schools.”
Labour candidate Adrian Meli
board the auditor general’s re
Q&A Doors wide
Adrian Meli
What is your background?
I am the youngest of five siblings,
born and raised in Cospicua. My parents owned a pharmacy in the same
locality and we were known as ‘tal-
ispiżjar’. I graduated as a pharmacist
in 1996 and since then I have worked
as a community pharmacist in Cospicua. For the last three years, I’ve
been living in Tarxien.
Q&A Preventio
Nationalist candidates Mario
care and health precautions
Mario Rizzo Naudi
9
News
tells MIRIAM DALLI that with a good management of funds, the right priorities and taking on
commendations, sustainable free healthcare is guaranteed
e open
How did you get involved in politics?
I was never involved directly in politics before, although I always followed
the local and international scene with
interest. Up until the last election, I
considered myself an avid Nationalist
supporter and was a member of the
PN for a number of years. The Nationalist Party, under the leadership
of Eddie Fenech Adami, appealed to
me. Back in 1987, it offered a much
longed-for political alternative which
in my opinion was of great benefit to
our country.
Unfortunately, the party under Lawrence Gonzi is very different from the
PN I admired back then. The change
that accompanied the renaming of the
party to GonziPN resulted in an arrogance that in my opinion pervades
the party up until today. GonziPN
distanced itself from the pleas of the
middle and lower classes which were
subjected to great financial sacrifices,
while the Prime Minister and his Cabinet gave themselves a €500 weekly increase.
Looking back, it was this that made
me contact Joseph Muscat – I could
no longer passively observe what was
happening to my country. Joseph was
more than ready to listen to my views
of what was going wrong. After seven
months of correspondence and discussions, Muscat asked me to contest
the general election with the Labour
Party.
Why Labour?
As I mentioned before, my principles
never changed but the transformation
of the PN to GonziPN brought about
an erosion of the political expression
of these principles. At the same time,
the PL evolved under the guidance
of Muscat to a movement that had a
wide base and with the common goal
of bringing about change for the better
– for everyone, not just the select few.
This movement is not the lesser of two
evils – it is indeed an alternative to the
present style of government by an elite.
I personally feel that people are getting tired of this continuous fighting
between parties. The idea of joining a
movement which encompasses both
progressives and moderates whose
main aim is to see our country moving
forward appealed to me. We believe in
accountabilty, meritocracy, justice and
equal opportunities for everyone. It is
a movement which believes in helping
the worker to better his status and at
the same time making it easier for the
employer to invest and grow. Most of
all this is a movement where one’s political past is of no concern. Its doors
are open to everybody.
What will you bring to the table?
My enthusiasm to see my country
moving in the right direction together
with my experience in the health sector.
If elected, what will you be pushing
for?
Being a healthcare professional, I will
do my best to ensure that the patient
gets the best service as is their right.
Another thing which I will be pushing
for is to address the social problems
encountered in the harbour areas,
especially the Cottonera area. A new
government is committed to making
sure that everyone benefits from economic growth, cleaner air and better
health facilities.
In what ways will a Labour government improve the POYC scheme?
In the past 12 months, there has been
a continuous problem with medicines
being out of stock. My experience as
a pharmacist is very different to the
picture that health minister Joe Cassar
likes to portray.
A Labour government is committed
to decrease bureaucracy all across the
board. This will make the service much
more efficient. Both pharmacists and
patients will benefit from this. Our
proposals are aimed at addressing this
problem through reforms in the tendering, procurement and stock management processes. This will ensure
that the number of out of stock medicines decreases drastically.
There will alo be a process called ‘horizon scanning’ which simply means
looking closely at the protocols being issued by foreign bodies like the
Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in
the United States and the Medicines
and Healthcare products Regulatory
Agency (MHRA) in the UK to ensure
that drugs which are ordered do not
become obsolete in the near future.
This would save a lot of the tax payers’ money.
We are also proposing a scheme
whereby people over 70, those with
special needs and persons with mobility problems, will have their medicines
delivered at their home by means of
a system which is very similar to the
MMDNA. Our aim is to have more
services in the community and ensuring that the system is patient-oriented,
and not vice versa.
I am worried greatly by Simon Busuttil’s statement that it becomes
irrelevant to government whether
medicines are in stock or out of stock.
I know that many of the people who
need medicines are not in a position
to pay for them there and then. Also,
I have not heard a clear answer to a
number of questions regarding PN’s
proposal for out of stock medicines. I
want to know how much a patient will
be refunded for an out of stock item.
How will this refund be given? How
quickly will the refund be given? What
administrative steps will be involved? I
get the feeling that, rather than reducing bureaucracy, it will be increased
with this proposal. I also get the feeling
that the PN proposal is partially treating a symptom rather than solving the
problem.
With an ageing population, how
can any government guarantee sustainable free healthcare for all?
Unfortunately, the PN has been trying to scare the electorate that a Labour
government would not guarantee free
healthcare. This is completely false.
It would be naive to ignore the fact
that there is a problem with management of funds. One need only refer to
the auditor general’s report in 2008
which analysed a number of transactions carried out in the health sector
showing an inefficient accounting system with poor fund management.
Going beyond the deficiencies of
GonziPN in the health sector, one
needs to question how national priorities were selected. When we look at
the concentration of efforts on parliament and the roofless theatre, or the
bridge to nowhere, we realise that vanity projects by this government were
more important than core services.
Former health minister Louis Deguara said that it was irresponsible
of political parties to commit themselves to generous healthcare policies, adding that the health proposals were ‘a recipe for bankruptcy’.
What is your comment?
I don’t agree. What we need is better efficiency and not necessarily more
money.
How will a PL government ensure
that patients receive their care on
time and of quality?
A new government is committed
Adrian Meli
Age: 40
Profession: Managing
pharmacist
District: 2 & 3
Residence: Tarxien
to issue a patients’ charter which will
oultine their rights with regard to
maximum waiting times for any particular procedure. If this is exceeded,
the patient can have that particular
procedure carried out privately at
the expense of the government. This
can be done through a public private
partneship. The current appointment system has to be changed completely making it more efficient and
patient friendly. Patients can also
seek proper information through the
setting up of a dedicated call centre.
Most of all, a new government is intent on modernising and expanding
the primary healthcare infrastructure. Health centres should become
the patient’s natural first port of call.
Every time a public sector was
farmed out to the private, questions of transparency arose. How
will a Labour government ensure
transparency in the health sector?
A new government is committed to be transparent all across the
board. Every agreement will be open
to scrutiny from the auditor general.
Everyone will be accountable for his
actions. There are a number of policies that the Labour Party has proposed to ensure open government,
accountability and reduction of bureacracy.
Rizzo Naudi tells MIRIAM DALLI health will remain a priority, suggesting that primary health
should be addressed as an autonomous portfolio
n is better than cure
What is your background?
I have been a family doctor for the
last 30 years, practicing mainly in Hal
Ghaxaq, Gudja, St Lucija, Tarxien,
Marsaxlokk and Birzebbugia. I am a
keen sport admirer and administrator
who has focused on horse racing, football and water polo especially at nursery levels. Carpentry and village feasts
are my pastime passions. Since my
childhood, my parents have instilled in
me that education is the recipe for success. I have successfully passed on the
recipe to my sons and all the families
I visit.
How did you get involved in politics?
I was one of those students who have
fought for educational rights. With
others, I had chained myself to Castille
to defend our rights. Since then, I have
dedicated myself for the best of my
community. Proudly, I am one of the
founders of student group SDM (Studenti Demokristjani Maltin).
At a local level, I have served for two
consecutive terms on the Ghaxaq local
council as an independent councillor. I was also pretty much involved
campaigning for my uncle, Prof. Rizzo
Naudi, who was parliamentary secretary for the elderly under the PN administration lead by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami.
Why PN?
The Nationalist Party has always
been the catalyst of change. It gave
Malta a new dimension in standard
of living. Malta achieved a lot by joining the European Union, thanks to the
PN’s vision and determination.
Now it’s time to move forward not
backwards.
Emphasis on health and education
can be achieved because a PN government has focused on creating jobs,
protecting the economy while guaranteeing a stable financial situation
despite the global financial crises. For
a better future, PN is a guarantee.
What will you bring to the table?
One will see a positive, hard working
doctor who is very fond of our values
and families: a man for different generations; a father who wants the best
education for the children; a professional who admires quality of life; a
loyal Nationalist who knows his district’s requirements well.
If elected, what will you push for?
For sure, health is my profession
and passion. I will see that diabetes
and cancer are tackled through an
extensive medical, educational and
social campaigning and specific initiatives. Also, primary health care is to be
strengthened and better linked to the
upgraded general health system.
I will push forward programmes related to sports and projects to incentivise business, jobs and health care.
Culture has to be uplifted from being
a ‘leisure’ category to a protagonist in
Malta’s economy and education platforms.
As a candidate, I have made these
suggestions and they’ve been incorpo-
rated in the electoral programme of the
Nationalist Party. Now, I look forward
to implement them if my constituents
believe in what I believe.
As a doctor, what would you say is
the major concern of patients?
Patients have to rest assured that
general health care remains free while
primary healthcare becomes more efficient. The concerns of most people
are about their health: cures and medicine. I want to see that their concerns
change from cures and medicine to
preventive care and a better lifestyle.
With an ageing population, how
can any government guarantee sustainable free healthcare for all?
Ageing population is a sign of a
healthy population. Living more has to
be supported by better lifestyles, better
diets and remaining active by engaging in sports, and not more medicines.
Working with the private sector to offer free services and investing in private pensions since early years will see
a reform in budget distribution. Creating jobs will keep on strengthening the
economy to support the free health
services. Allowing pensioners to work
also contributes to our economy.
Former health minister Louis Deguara said that it was irresponsible of
political parties to commit themselves
to generous healthcare policies, adding that the health proposals were ‘a
recipe for bankruptcy’. What is your
comment?
For the Nationalist Party, health is a
Mario Rizzo Naudi
Age: 60
Profession: family doctor
District: 4 & 5
Residence: Hal Ghaxaq
priority. Just like we have always done
– even when former health ministers
shared the same concept – we will
keep on offering free health care for
all. Like Louis Deguara has stipulated:
health care is expensive. To tackle this,
we have to be innovative with the creation of jobs and cautious in the budgeting to secure free health care.
The PN proposals are well thought
out and estimated on ‘Finanzi fis-Sod’
(‘Strong Finances’) to achieve ‘Futur
fis-Sod’ (‘A secure future’).
[Opposition leader] Joseph Muscat
has warned aganst the PN medicine
refund proposal, insisting that this
was ‘the first step towards charging
for healthcare’. Criticism was also
directed towards the medicine procurement unit. What is the PN proposing to tackle the problem of outof-stock medicines?
Joseph Muscat has also warned us to
stay out of the European Union. Muscat has warned us that we should copy
Cyprus as our economic model. Muscat, five years ago, also warned us that
the Nationalist Party would tax health
care.
But we have kept offering free health
Care and increased the list of free medicines by 34 simply because we have
solid finances and didn’t adopt Muscat’s advices.
The PN is committed to refund any
out of stock medicines that can be
bought from a private pharmacy. The
Pharmacy Of Your Choice will enrich
its range of brands as to avoid onebrand limitations and out of stock issues.
The PN has long been talking about
a primary healthcare reform, meant
to alleviate the burden from Mater
Dei Hospital, but this failed to take
place. What do you think is the cause
of the problem and how can this be
addressed?
I believe that primary healthcare
and health precautions should be addressed in the next legislature as an
autonomous portfolio. This reform has
been one of the few promises, which
due to turbulences and lack of national
consensus, hasn’t been finalised.
For sure, all stakeholders are to ensure that the patient is given priority
and whoever doesn’t prioritise this policy shouldn’t participate in this reform.
As a doctor I tend to focus on remedies
then simply stop at the causes.
On the other hand, what Joseph
Muscat is proposing is dangerous and
a cover up to the professionals in the
medical field who practice parallel professions at the expenses of our taxes.
10
News
mt
survey
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Swing between big parties do
23% think the PN is the most honest party in
the campaign, while 39% opt for Labour
PN cuts haemorrhage to Labour
Ja
James
Debono
De
THE MaltaToday survey shows the
net swing from the PN to the PL reduced from 9.1 points to 6.4 points.
But while the PN has seen the
swing to Labour reduced, it now
faces a 3-point swing to the Greens
which is the highest registered in the
past year of MaltaToday surveys.
The survey was held among 650
respondents between Monday and
Wednesday.
The survey suggests that ongoing controversy over party financing and Muscat’s “no comment” on
claims by former PL Deputy Leader
Anglu Farrugia that the Labour Party had become too close to big contractors has slightly dented support
for Labour.
The survey was carried out before
the publication of Labour’s electoral
manifesto and the publication of an
edited telephone conversation in
which GWU general secretary Tony
Zarb speaking to a business operator, in which he alludes to favouring companies whose employees
are unionised, both for government
tenders and in the union press.
The survey indicates that the parties have returned to the same level
of support they enjoyed before the
beginning of the electoral campaign,
thus suggesting that the PN has not
made any inroads while Labour has
lost some of the momentum it had
at the start of the campaign.
The PL had widened its lead over
the PN from 11 points in the beginning of January to a record 14 points
in the third week of the campaign.
The increase in Labour’s gap came
in the wake of the oil kickbacks
scandal whose repercussions continued to be felt the following week
after Infrastructure Minister Austin
Gatt was called for questioning by
the police.
But over the fourth week, the gap
was cut from 14 to 12 points, which
has been the normal gap between
the two parties over the past year
except for December, when the PN
had managed to close the gap to 9
points. The fifth week of the campaign has seen the gap cut to 10
points, which is one of the lowest
gaps recorded in the past year.
At 1.8% the Greens reconfirm last
week’s percentage but are benefiting
from a larger swing from the PN.
The survey also shows that only
23% think the PN is the most honest party in the campaign, while 39%
opt for Labour and 4% opt for the
Greens.
Labour is still leading among new
voters and respondents who had
not voted in the 2008 election, even
if the PN has regained some lost
ground among the new voters.
The percentage of people who do
not intend to vote has continued to
drop to the lowest mark in the past
year: 1.7%.
Joseph Muscat continues to enjoy
a very high trust rating of nearly
46% against Gonzi’s 34%.
The survey shows the PN losing
8.8% of its 2008 voters to Labour
down from 10.6% in the latest survey. The percentage of PL voters in
2008 now shifting to the PN has increased from 1.5% to 2.4%.
The swing from Labour to the PN
is the highest one registered in the
past months.
This means the net swing between
the two major parties is down from
9.1 points last week to 6.4 points,
which is the lowest ever in the past
year of surveys.
But the survey now sees the PN
facing a new front, losing 2.8% of its
2008 voters to AD, which over the
past month has gained greater visibility in the media. The shift from
the PN to AD has trebled from the
first week of the campaign. Labour
only loses 0.4% to the Greens.
The survey sees the PN retaining
72% of its voters and the PL retaining 92% of its voters.
In this survey, AD only retains 29%
of its 2008 voters, losing 14% of its
support to Labour with the rest being still undecided.
But the party compensates for
these losses by attracting a significant amount of ex-PN voters, thus
increasing its vote share over 2008.
If AD manages to retain its past
voters – most of which are now undecided – it would be at 2.5%.
Significantly, the PN is not compensating its losses to Labour by
making gains among new voters,
as was clearly the case before the
2008 election. In fact, among this
category of first time voters, the PL
enjoys a 5-point lead over the PN.
But among this category, the PN has
managed to close the gap from 11
points last week to 5 points.
The PN is also trailing Labour by
31 points among another pivotal
category: those who did not vote in
the 2008 general election.
The 2008 election had seen the
MALTATODAY SURVEY
Whom do you trust most?
Difference since 27 January
Lawrence Gonzi 33.7%
Voting intentions of those who voted PN in
2008 general election:
PN
PL
AD
Not voting
13 Jan
66.9
11.3
1
3.2
27 Jan
72.9
8.9
1.6
2.4
3 Feb
70
10.6
1.8
2.2
Now
71.5
8.8
2.8
4.4
Don’t know
17.6
14.2
15.4
12.4
Voting intentions of those who voted PL in
2008 general election:
PN
PL
AD
Not voting
Jan 13
1.5
91
0
0.4
Jan 27
2
91.5
0.4
0.4
Feb 3
1.5
92.3
0
1.5
Now
2.4
91.3
0.4
0.8
Don’t know
7.1
5.7
4.7
5.1
Present voting intentions of those who did
not vote in 2008*:
PN
PL
AD
Not voting
Jan 13
0
14.2
2.9
17.1
Jan 27
10
32
4
12
Feb 3
12.1
34.7
4.1
14.3
Now
5.1
35.9
2.6
10.3
Don’t know
65.8
42
34.8
46.1
*results are only indicative as sample is too small
Voting intentions of new voters: *
PN
PL
AD
Not voting
Don’t know
Jan 13
37.5
37.5
5
0
20
Jan 27
27.4
43.4
4.3
4.4
20.5
Feb 3
29.6
40.7
3.7
3.7
22.3
Now
25
30
0
0
45
▲ +1
Joseph Muscat 46%
▲ +0.4
NONE
8.8%
▲ +0.5
NO
ANSWER
11.5%
▼ -1.9
IF PARTIES RECOVER ALL
RESPONDENTS
who voted for them in the 2008 election
who are now undecided, would not reveal
voting intentions or intend to abstain:
Dec 31.5%
Jan 13 35.1%
39.9%
Jan 27
Feb 3
39.1%
Now
38.8%
Dec 34.7%
Jan 13 41.6%
Jan 27
45.7%
Feb 3
46.7%
Now
44.7%
1.7%
1.6%
2%
2.3%
2.5%
Dec
Jan 13
Jan 27
Feb 3
Now
11
mttsurvey
y ey
surv
m
own from 9 to 6 points
lowest turnout since 1971, with the number
of non-voters increasing by 9,000 over 2003
levels. The survey indicates that 44% of nonvoters in 2008 will be voting in March, and the
overwhelming majority of these will be voting
for Labour.
New voters, which were pivotal to the PN’s
victory in 2008, are also shifting towards Labour, albeit at a lower rate than two weeks ago.
This category has been quite volatile in its
voting intentions, with the PN leading Labour
over most of the past year. Labour, however, has
gained an edge over the past weeks.
Significantly, the survey shows the PN still
trailing by 6 points (down from 8 points last
week) if it manages to recover all of its 2008
voters, who are still undecided or who do not
intend to vote. This suggests that new voters are
pivotal to the party’s electoral strategy.
enjoys a 12-point lead, down from 11 points last
month.
Both leaders are more popular than their respective parties. While Muscat’s trust rating is 5 points
higher than support for his party, Gonzi is 3 points
more popular than his party.
Gonzi registers his second highest trust rating in
the past year during the year but trails Muscat by a
staggering 12 points.
The survey suggests that Gonzi has still not
overcome his greatest hurdle for re-election: Muscat’s higher trust rating. This is a reversal of the
situation in 2008, when Gonzi was more trusted
than Alfred Sant.
But not all those who trust Muscat would vote
for his party. In fact 1% of those who trust Muscat
most would vote AD, 0.6% would vote PN and 7%
are still undecided.
9% of those who prefer Gonzi are still undecided
but none would be voting for another party. But
nearly half of these “undecided” voters who trust
Gonzi more than Muscat, consider AD to be the
most honest party in the campaign.
PN consolidates itself among younger voters
In this survey, the PN has seen its support increase among 18- to 34-year-olds increasing by
7 points, its support among 35- to 54-year-olds
decreasing by 4 points and its support among
over 55-year-old increasing by 1.5 points.
On the other hand, Labour has lost 4 points
among the youngest age group and has remained stable in the other two age groups.
The number of undecided have increased
among middle aged voters, where the PN registered its greatest losses.
The survey now shows the PN at level with
the PL among 18- to 34-year-olds, though it’s
still trailing by 14 to 15 points among older
respondents.
AD has registered a slight increase in
support among over-55-year-olds, and has
retained the same support among the 35
to 54 age group, experiencing, however,
a slight decrease among younger voters.
This suggests that over the past weeks,
the Greens have become a more attractive
prospect for more older voters.
Methodology
The survey was held between Monday 4 February
and Wednesday 6 February. A total of 901 respondents were randomly chosen from telephone directories and contacted by telephone. Of these 650 accepted to be interviewed. Results were weighed to
reflect the age and sex balance of population. The
survey has a margin of error of +/-4.1%.
PN
PL
AD
Did not vote
Were underage
38.3
38.7
1.1
5.8
3
Won’t tell
13.1
Which party is being the
most honest with the
electorate in this campaign?
PN
23.1
PL
38.7
AD
4
None
14.2
Don’t know
20
Which party is most honest according to present voting
intention?
PN
PL
AD
None
Don’t know
PL seen as the most honest party
In this survey, respondents were also
asked which of the three parties contesting the election is most honest. The PL
comes across as the most honest, with 39%
of respondents opting for this party. Only
23% think the PN is being the most honest
while 4% think the Greens are being the
most honest.
The large gap between the two major
parties is mainly attributable to the higher
conviction of PL voters in their party’s
honesty.
While more than a fourth of current PN
voters could not say which party is most
honest, less than 8% of the PL voters replied likewise.
In fact, while 92% of PL voters think their
party is the most honest, only 78% of PN
voters think the same about their party.
This could suggest that PL voters have
stronger conviction in their party’s honesty. It also suggests that PN voters are less
likely to have blind trust in their party.
Interestingly, 42% of those who regard
AD is the most honest party are either
undecided or intent on not voting. This
suggests that the Greens still have space
for further growth within the undecided
category.
In fact, the survey shows that AD enjoys
a higher credibility than the other two
parties among undecided voters and nonvoters.
For which party did you
vote for in the 2008
election?
PN voters
77.5
0
1
7.1
14.4
PL voters
0
92.1
1.1
0.7
6.1
Non voters
6.7
0
13.3
33.3
46.7
Undecided
2.2
2.2
7.7
25.3
62.6
Survey highlights:
• PN gains one point over last
week
• Labour loses 1.5 points for
second consecutive time
• Undecided increase by 1
point
• PL enjoys 10 point lead down
from 12.3 last week and
down from 13.7 from two
weeks ago
• PN losing 2.8% of its 2008
voters to AD up from 1.8%
the previous week
• PN losing 8.8% of its 2008
voters to Labour down from
10.6% last week
• PL losing 2.4% of its 2008
voters to PN up from 1.5%
last week
• Net swing from PN to PL
decreases from 9.1 points to
6.4 points
• PL leads among new voters
and non-voters in 2008
election
• 1.8% would vote for AD
• 78% of PN voters think their
party is the most honest
party
• 92% of PL voters think their
party is the most honest
party
• 4% of all respondents and
8% of undecided think AD is
the most honest party
• Gonzi trails Muscat by 12
points
• PN making gains among 18to 34-year-olds
Electoral Barometer
PN
50
PL
AD
Not Voting
No answer
1st week 2nd week 2nd week 4th week
Jan 12 Feb 12 March 12April 12 May 12 June 12 July 12 Aug 12 Sept 12 Oct 12 Dec 12 Dec 12 Jan 13 Jan 13
Feb 3
NOW
40
41.2
30
31.3
24
20
10
1.7
1.8
0
Muscat retains trust lead
In the trust barometer, Joseph Muscat
Trust Barometer
1st week 2nd week
Sept 11
Nov 11
Jan 12
Feb 12 March 12
April 12
May 12
June 12
July 12
Aug 12
Sept 12
Oct 12
Dec 12
Dec 12
Jan 13
Jan 27
Feb 3
Now
Lawrence Gonzi 27.5
30.8
34.8
28.3
30
27.8
31.8
31.2
32.1
28.3
33.1
30.5
28.7
25.2
30
32.4
32.7
33.7
Joseph Muscat 34.5
37.6
38.9
40.6
44.1
40.2
39.5
40
44.3
40
43.8
45.1
37.8
36.6
40.8
45.6
45.6
46
None
11.5
14.6
13.8
13
10.1
13.2
15.7
15.8
12.1
11.1
11.2
11.1
19.2
19.4
8
6.9
8.3
8.8
Don’t know
26.5
17.
12.5
18.1
15.8
18.8
13
13
11.4
20.6
11.9
13.3
14.3
18.8
20.7
15.1
13.4
11.5
12
Interview
By James Debono
Out of the tunn
I meet Chris Said on Friday afternoon, in his office in Palazzo Ferreria overlooking a busy Republic
Street in Valletta where the carnival
festivities have started. I find him
surprisingly confident and serene for
someone standing for a party trailing
in the polls by a considerable margin.
He does not doubt what the polls are
saying, but insists that the feedback
he is receiving in house visits is very
positive and encouraging.
“During house visits, nearly everyone recognises that the country has
prospered during the past five years
despite all the difficulties and storms
we faced…”
He refers to the awareness people
have of the difficult circumstances in
other countries where people have
to pay more for services like university tuition.
“Our track record speaks for itself…but ultimately the electorate
is sovereign, as it has shown in the
past, the electorate knows how to
evaluate and judge and as a party we
respect the choice voters will make
on 9 March.”
For the past year, Said has occupied
the hot seat of the Justice Ministry.
The latest case related to alleged
kickbacks on oil procurement is testing the country’s institutions during
an electoral campaign. The interview
takes place a few hours before the
Cabinet’s decision to recommend a
pardon to businessman George Farrugia in relation to these allegations.
I ask Said whether the government’s
failure to enact a whistleblower’s act
made it difficult for people to come
forward with information with the
consequence that the government
is now faced with the dilemma of
whether to grant a pardon to someone implicated in the scandal in order to expose the web.
Said immediately makes a distinction between a presidential pardon
and a whistleblower’s act.
While a pardon applies to someone
who is involved in the crime and is
meant to give a conditional pardon
with the aim of exposing the mastermind, the whistleblower’s act protects people like civil servants who
are not involved but seek protection
for reporting the crime.
But how far can one trust the government of the day on the eve of an
election to issue a pardon on such a
politically charged case?
“The politician takes decisions on
the basis of the written advice of the
Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police. The politician would
never dare to defy the advice of these
institutions. I would never dare to do
something like that.”
Said is open to suggestions of reform of the way presidential pardons
are issued and insists that nothing is
cast in stone.
“But someone, at the end, has to
take responsibility for the decision,
whether the decision is taken by a
court or a politician. But this is the
law which we have today.”
According to Said, in this particular case having had a whistle blower
act in place “could have helped” as
someone could have come forward
to report the case at an earlier stage
but he insists that the “the case is being investigated in a very serious way
BRAVING THE
STORM
“The PN’s
track record
speaks for
itself, but
ultimately
the electorate
knows how to
evaluate and
judge and as
a party we
respect the
choice voters
will make on
9 March”
by the police”.
Said insists that a whistleblower’s
act is necessary and a draft law
has already been presented in parliament even if it is yet to be approved.
I remind Said that this issue has
been on the agenda since the beginning of this legislature. Is it not
a big shortcoming that parliament
was dissolved before the law was
approved?
Said admits that work on a number
of laws had started but was not completed by the end of the legislature.
“This means that the bulk of the
work on these laws has been done…
one has to understand that the parliamentary process on such laws is
not simple.”
Said cites another law which has
not made it to the final stage, the
one which reforms the commission
against corruption. The proposed
law envisaged that the chairman
of the commission should have the
consent of a two thirds majority in
parliament and the appointment
of a prosecutor with the remit to
investigate cases of corruption.
This law has made it to the second
reading but is still not approved.
According to Said, the law was delayed because the government was
constantly seeking consensus with
the opposition which objected to
aspects of the bill.
But how does he reply to the perception that combating corruption
was not a priority for this government?
Said rebuts this perception by
pointing out that one of the first
laws approved by government was
the freedom of information act,
which he describes as a “vital tool in
fighting abuse”.
As parliamentary secretary responsible for public dialogue, Said
was responsible for piloting this bill
and creating the administrative set
up consisting of focal points in each
ministry, required for the functioning of the new law. The law came
fully in place in September 2012.
“It would have been useless to approve such a law without a setup.”
Another law which did not materialise is that on party financing.
The PN is now criticising Labour
over the sources of its lavish electoral campaign. Is this not a bit rich
coming from a party which failed in
getting this bill approved before this
election?
Said insists that this law will be
one of the first to be approved if the
party is re-elected.
“This is another case of works in
progress… and a lot of work has
been done by Franco Debono… a
draft was presented some months
before the dissolution of parliament.”
He points out the law needs a
“profound discussion in parliament”
as well as discussions with stakeholders but the bulk of the work has
been done.
The Labour Party has proposed
removing prescription in corruption cases involving politicians.
“The PN agrees. But we ask:
should prescription be removed
only for politicians as Labour is suggesting, or for everyone involved?
And should prescription be removed
only in cases of corruption or also for
other serious crimes?”
Said insists that these issues have
to be addressed through a thorough
discussion. But when I persist on the
argument on whether one should
distinguish between politicians and
non-politicians in corruption cases,
Said concurs with the view that politicians have a greater responsibility
in such cases, as they should be setting an example by actively fighting
corruption.
He also turns the tables on Labour by asking: “Should we also lift
prescription for proven corruption
in the issue of the institutional corruption in building permits before
1987?”
He also defends the PN’s record on
fighting corruption.
“We have always fought against
corruption, irrespective of how influential the persons involved were.
We have had people in very important positions, regardless of whether
one was a clerk issuing a license
abusively or someone occupying the
highest positions… whenever we received any allegation of corruption,
we immediately referred it to the
police.”
One issue where consensus exists
between the three parties contesting the general election is the need
of a reform of the way judges are appointed.
“One of the most difficult decisions
I face as the minister responsible for
justice is when it comes to nominate
members of the judiciary. It is a burden which I would readily do without… I can assure you that this is the
most time-consuming decision.”
One major difficulty he faced is
that it is far from easy to find someone who is prepared to give up their
job as a lawyer to become a magistrate. He points out that many of
those who are chosen do not accept
the post.
“This is not an easy role. These
people are bound by a code of ethics restricting their social lives. One
cannot continue living in the same
way as before.”
Moreover, highly successful lawyers are not ready to see a drop in
their income which comes upon
their appointment in the judiciary.
But Said has no readymade solution to this issue, and wants further
discussion with the opposition, the
chamber of advocates and other
stakeholders.
In the year he served as minister,
Said has managed to pilot the IVF
law, which has been approved and a
law regulating civil partnerships and
cohabitation which is still in draft
form.
Said is proud of his achievements
in the past year.
“In such a short political career I
have piloted a number of important
laws… some of which are in place,
like the freedom of information act
and the IVF bill, and others which
are at an advanced stage.”
Considering how two years ago,
the PN was against the introduction
of divorce, has the party moved too
swiftly in accepting civil partnerships
for gay couples not to raise suspicion
that it is simply responding to elec-
toral exigencies?
“As politicians we have an obligation to respond to social realities. In
the draft law which I was piloting
we not only honored our promise to
recognise cohabiting couples but we
also introduced the concept of civil
partnerships for same sex couples.”
I point out that the promise to recognise cohabitating couples was first
made in 1998. How come nothing
was accomplished on this front until
he was appointed Minister?
Said insists that this was not the
case as “a number of proposals and
internal discussions” had taken
place. He also notes that laws like
that on IVF require long discussions
due to divergent positions on ethical
issues.
But he does take some credit for
pushing things forward.
“When I became Minister last year
I found a number of challenges and I
was determined to meet these challenges… at least by producing a draft
law and thus initiate the process for
parliamentary approval.”
Said lists his various accomplishments in the past year, which include
the widening of the remit of the National Commission for Equality,
which now includes discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation, the
law against hate crimes, the approval
of the IVF bill. He also managed to
present a draft law on cohabitation
before the summer recess but parliament was dissolved before the discussion on the bill had even started.
Gozo – which is Said’s constituency – seems to be have occupied
centre stage in this campaign. Many
have speculated that this is because
Labour has a chance to strike a historic win in the sister island, something which has never happened
since 1956.
But Said is upbeat, and remains
certain that this will not happen.
“I get no such feeling during the
home visits I am making in all 14
Gozitan localities… during house
visits people recognise that never as
in these five years has Gozo seen so
much investment.”
Said notes that although Labour
organised its first mass meeting in
Gozo, the PN was the first to announce it proposals on Gozo during
the first week of the campaign. On
the other hand, the PL only presented its proposals at the last possible
moment before approving its full
electoral programme.
The main problem facing Gozo according to Said is that of double insularity. Said takes pride in the proposal for a tunnel connecting Gozo
to Malta.
“I am proud that I was the one who
proposed this idea to the cabinet…
and that the cabinet accepted to conduct a pre feasibility study…”
But isn’t the PN raising expectations of Gozitans sky-high by promising a tunnel, when studies have still
to determine whether this is feasible
or not and all that the PN is promising is yet another study?
Said points out that a fully EUfunded pre-feasibility study has already indicated that a tunnel is “doable”.
“We are not just saying that we will
do a study. We are saying that if the
13
In a year as Justice and Social Minister, Chris Said has delivered on a number of fronts: including
drafting of laws left pending for more than a decade. But how does he justify the perception
that the government has failed to buttress the institutions in the face of corruption?
nel’s mouth?
full feasibility study shows that this is
doable, we will proceed to do it.”
He also hints that while the preferred option is that of a tunnel connecting the two islands, the feasibility study could indicate another type
of permanent link.
According to Said, the full feasibility study is important for two reasons: that of determining the government’s final decision on this issue
and that of serving as a basis for cofinancing by the European Union.
I point out that the pre feasibility
study tags he price of the tunnel at
anything between €156 million to
€492 million, over a construction
period of five to seven years. Does it
make sense to dedicate a substantial
amount of our EU funding to such
a massive project, thus depriving
funding for other projects?
Chris Said points out that EU funding will not be the only source of
funds for this project.
“We are open to various options
for funding, including a private-public partnership, especially in view of
the fact that use of this permanent
link will not be free of charge and
costs can be recovered over a span
of time.”
He points out that the pre-feasibility study has shown that through
the imposition of a tariff, the capital
costs can be recovered in a relatively
short span of 15 to 20 years if the
amount of cars going to Gozo increases by 15%.
He also says that the amount of
funding required can only be determined when the feasibility study
determines the cost of the project.
Said also adds that apart from cohesive funds there are other specific
EU funds for creating such links.
The project has already been included in the TEN-T European network of roads.
When I point that the government
is still negotiating on the funding allocation for Malta, Said reminds me
that “the government had managed
to get 1.2 billion in the past seven
years and is doing its utmost to get
the best deal from the EU.
“Although the going is tough, we
are not a government which easily
resigns itself to fate in such matters.”
In fact, news – on Friday evening
– that Malta has secured 1.2 billion
funding vindicates Said’s optimism.
But while Said is confident that
the project is “doable” he qualifies
his optimism by adding that studies
are essential as it would be irresponsible to proceed with such a project
if it is not economically feasible. He
also points out that the studies will
also determine the environmental
impacts of the projects.
But the pre-feasibility study has
already determines that a tunnel
would save the country an annual
€10 million which is lost in “waiting
time”, i.e., the time spent by commuters waiting for the ferries. He
also points out that Gozo channel
ships which would cost more than
€100 million will have to be replaced in a few years time due to EU
directives.
Said confirms that MEPA permits
is a contentious electoral issue in
Gozo.
“MEPA is an authority which like
a court of law takes decisions. Those
who are not granted a permit like
are quick to point fingers... from my
experience as a lawyer; few are willing to admit that they lost a case because they were at fault. They blame
someone else.”
He also invites the Labour Party to
make its position clear on the Hondoq ir-Rummien project, which is
being recommended for refusal by
MEPA’s planning directorate.
Said claims that Labour has held
meetings with both the developer
and residents objecting to the development.
I point out that earlier this week,
Joseph Muscat has said that his party is opposed to the Hondoq project
as proposed, notably the yacht marina.
But Said insists that this was not
the “message” the Labour Party gave
in meetings about this project, with
developers and residents opposing
the project.
“If the Labour Party is against a
yacht marina, is it also against the
construction of 200 residential
apartments in the same place?”
But what is the PN’s position on
Hondoq ir-Rummien?
Said replies that unlike Labour,
which is hinting that the government should intervene in the planning process, the PN believes that
MEPA should decide on such issues
according to the policies set in the
local plan.
Said refers specifically to a local
plan policy on Hondoq.
“This application should be determined according to this policy.”
Said expects Labour to the same
and “stop wavering on this issue”.
I point out that the local plan does
refer to the possibility of a yacht marina. So does the PN favour a yacht
marina?
Said replies that “MEPA should
decide on this project on the basis
of its policies… is this the same position of the Labour Party? Otherwise,
it should say that it wants to change
these policies. God forbids that the
politician starts deciding on these
policies. We cannot afford to turn
the clock back to before 1987.”
14
Interview
By Raphael Vassallo
Welcome to the
“I am tired of being told things
like: why are you contesting with
the Labour Party? You come from a
PN background… and you look and
sound more like a Nationalist…”
We’re in Chris Cardona’s legal offices in Valletta, and the talk of the
town outside is still dominated by
what may yet go down as the single
most memorable quote of the electoral campaign: Simon Busuttil’s
ill-judged quip, aired the previous
night on PBS, that Labour candidate
Deborah Schembri has the “face of a
Nationalist”.
I have just asked Cardona what he
makes of the remark – with all the
inferred social and political ‘elitism’
it evokes – as someone who himself
hails from a recognisably Nationalist
background.
Does he feel he belongs to the ‘Deborah’ camp, too – i.e., the growing
number of formerly Nationalist sympathizers who now militate openly
in Labour ranks? And if so, how did
react to the apparent slur during that
televised debate?
Cardona laughs along with everyone else at what has ultimately assumed a life of its own as an online
meme. But he admits that while the
comment may not have been maliciously intended, the implications
remain decidedly unpleasant.
Nor is it just the handiwork of Simon Busuttil. Cardona also confirms
having constantly encountered the
same general attitude on his door to
door visits, in what is traditionally a
Nationalist stronghold (the 7th district).
“How long are we going to carry on
resorting to these stereotypes?” he
continues with an audible sigh. “Is
this a new form of apartheid?”
Extending the Simon Busuttil metaphor to its logical conclusion, Cardona reasons that: “To be PN, you
have to be pretty, presentable, have a
nice house with a pool, and maybe a
€30,000 SUV…”
And to be Labour? He replies without hesitating: “You have to be ugly,
short, smoke Du Maurier, and drive
a Hillman Imp…”
And apart from being (let’s face
it) rather insulting, the fact remains
that this ancient prejudice simply no
longer stands up scrutiny at all.
“The truth is that this is all yesterday’s politics. Today, there is simply
too much convergence between the
two parties to talk about ourselves
as being two different tribes. It just
no longer makes sense, and the more
the PN tries to emphasise this difference, the more they will simply
expose themselves as being out of
touch with reality...”
Chris Cardona takes visible pride in
informing me that the Labour Party
is becoming home to more Nationalist ‘refugees’ almost by the minute…
and ironically, part of what moti-
vates this wholesale migration to the
PL (he adds) is precisely the fact that
an entire substratum of Nationalist
supporters no longer approves of
this discriminatory view of politics.
On the contrary they hunger for a
more inclusive, less tribal system…
which they’re just not finding anywhere in the PN these days.
“The difference between the two
parties today is that we have no problems listening to these people. We
don’t slam the door in their faces just
because they’re not ‘one of us’. They
may come to us from different political backgrounds and disagree with
us on this or that; but this doesn’t
mean we won’t be willing to listen to
these people and to work with them.
Anyone who is willing to contribute
to a new government – be they businessmen, contractors, employers,
employees, whatever… we will gladly
listen to what they have to say.”
Predictably, this form of outreach
– for want of a better word – has also
attracted its fair share of electoral
criticism. Previously considered a
party inimical to private business
concerns, the Labour Party now
stands accused of cosying up to the
business class… in particular, of cultivating close relationships with individual contractors, on an unwritten
understanding (at least according to
the criticism) that a new Labour government will facilitate business for
‘friendly’ entrepreneurs.
Pre-empting my obvious next
question, Cardona – who incidentally is shadow minister for industry,
foreign investment, businesses and
the self-employed - declares that
while he has no problems meeting
businessmen, there are clear lines
that cannot be crossed.
“Like I said, we are willing to talk
to anyone who has genuine ideas for
the good of the country… but what
we don’t accept is corruption.”
15
Interview
Chris Cardona has the proverbial ‘face of a Nationalist’, yet he is also a frontrunner in the Labour
ranks. He talks about the emergence of a new culture of apartheid, and why more and more
former Nationalists have turned their back on the party that once fought for their rights
new apartheid
STEREOTYPES
“To be Labour,
you have
to be ugly,
short, smoke
Du Maurier,
and drive a
Hillman Imp”
And yet the PN is currently squeezing as much capital as it possibly can
out of recorded conversations with
GWU secretary general Tony Zarb,
who is heard on those tapes discussing the possibility of giving a ‘push’
to certain ‘friendly’ contractors bidding for public contracts...
Cardona however instantly sidesteps the issue. “The GWU has already come out with a statement denying the allegations… arguing that
the recording had been doctored…”
OK, but it wasn’t just a case of the
PN accusing the General Workers’
Union, with Labour accidentally
caught in the crossfire. Some of the
criticism is directed very specifically
at Labour… and not all of it came
from the PN.
Anglu Farrugia, himself a former
deputy leader (admittedly with an
axe to grind), has likewise criticized
Labour’s newfound closeness to
business recently… and up to a point
the party is inviting precisely such
suspicions itself, by promising things
that seem geared towards fast-tracking development projects (among
other issues).
As an example I cite the oft-repeated electoral pledge to cut down bureaucracy by 25%. Placed in the context of a number of proposed capital
projects (for instance, the PL’s own
plans for a new power station) that
have been framed within very tight
deadlines indeed… coupled with the
Labour leader’s confidence in tying
his own political survival to meeting
those same deadlines, or perish in
the attempt… what exactly is the Labour Party telling us here? That in a
bid to make sure capital projects are
concluded as fast as possible, it will
dismantle existing checks and balances? If so… what about the environmental impact of such projects?
Or for that matter issues such as
health and safety?
Chris Cardona hastens to assure
me that the bureaucracy reduction
target will not come about at the
expense of such concerns. In actual
fact he is confident that the opposite
will be the case – Labour’s plan, he
insists, will not remove checks and
balances, but instead will streamline
the authorities concerned under one
umbrella office, so that it no longer
takes excessive lengths of time to get
simple things done.
“At present, anyone who applies
to start up a new business has to
request permits from the police,
from health and safety, from Mepa,
and from all the other authorities
concerned. And there are no fixed
timeframes within which these permits have to be issued. They can take
weeks, months… and even worse, it
is the applicant who has to run from
here to there, to keep track of all
the paperwork. Ask anyone in business and they will confirm that it is a
major stumbling block to economic
growth. It is this unnecessary bureaucracy that stifles business, that
kills the entrepreneurial spirit. And
ultimately it affects jobs, too. If the
system makes it difficult for people
to start up businesses, than it will
also make it difficult for them to create jobs…”
Perhaps, but surely some of those
checks and balances are necessary…
if you remove all that in one fell
swoop, what will be left to safeguard
against an environmental or health
disaster?
But Cardona insists that Labour
has no intention of removing any of
those checks and balances. Instead,
he proposes that the authorities
concerned would be bound to observe strict deadlines, and to supply
detailed explanations in cases where
deadlines are not met.
“At present, applicants are often
just kept in the dark about the state
of their own application. There is no
excuse for this – the system has to
work for the citizen, not the other
way round.”
At this point he questions the inherent suspicion directed at Labour
for its dealings with businessmen.
“What I would like to know is: why
is business suddenly seen as something bad by Gonzi? Why only now?
I suppose I could make a guess: could
it be because he has lost a lot of support from people in business? Could
it be because the balance has shifted
away from the PN… and where these
businesses once trusted the PN more
than Labour, now it’s the other way
round?”
Chris Cardona draws an analogy
with earlier transformations in the
PN. He points towards the early
1980s, when Eddie Fenech Adami
understood that to similarly shift
the balance away from Labour at the
time, he had to create a new middle
class to counterbalance the burgeoning working class of the day.
“Today something similar is happening in the Labour party. Those
sectors that have been traditionally been close to the PN now feel
excluded; and yes, they sometimes
come to us. And we listen to them.
Why on earth shouldn’t we?”
Here he gives vent to a little private exasperation at the PN’s recent
rumour-mongering regarding the
‘fourth floor’ of the Labour HQ at
Mile End.
“The make it sound as though we’re
doing something really mysterious.
But I can assure you it’s just political activity as usual. I’m involved in
the strategy group of the PL, so I am
often on the fourth floor. It’s where
we meet to discuss strategy and campaign ideas. I’m in and out of there
all the time, and I never see any businessmen there: only party delegates
involved in strategy decisions.”
Here he shrugs expansively, as if
to say: since when is there anything
suspicious about a political party discussing strategy during an election
campaign?
“But if you ask me, what the PN is
really worried about is that we have a
much better strategy team than they
do in this campaign. Sometimes I
wonder whether they’re actually expecting us to do their work for them
as well…”
Coming back to the changing face
of Labour, he cites the sort of per-
son working behind the scenes on
the fourth floor as examples. Cardona sees more and more youngsters getting involved in the Labour
campaign… and many of them seem
to come from backgrounds you
wouldn’t have associated with Labour around 30 years ago.
And of course, people whose business initiatives and ideas had been
thwarted, suppressed or ignored by
the present administration seem to
suddenly have a lot time for Labour
too.
“The PN keeps accusing these people of helping us financially… which
is a bit rich, I’d say, coming from the
PN… but I’m involved in meetings
with such people, and we never talk
about money. They help us, yes…
with ideas. By telling us what they’d
like to see us to do. By explaining to
us the sort of issues they find themselves confronted by on a daily basis
in the course of their work…”
It is on the basis of these and other
meetings, Cardona adds, that many
the proposals contained in the party’s electoral programme were originally derived… including the targets
to reduce bureaucracy.
“When we held our party congress
last September, all representatives
from industry and commerce who
addressed the meetings had all said
exactly the same thing: let us work.
They don’t want a government that
interferes with their business. They
don’t even want a government that
‘creates jobs’. In today’s economic
model it is the private sector that
creates jobs. So all they want is a
government which creates the right
conditions for them to create jobs…
that does what it can to make their
lives easier, instead of the other way
round.”
Predictably, Cardona immediately
adds that this is exactly what they did
not get from GonziPN.
“A full list of everything they complain about would be too long. But
let give you a few examples. Two
years ago, Malta Enterprise suddenly
raised the service charge for industry
to €7 per square metre. You can imagine how this new expense would
impact businesses that have warehouses, factories and so on. For some
companies, it would have been a fatal blow. What we asked at the time
was: why now? Why come up with
such an imposition at a time when
businesses are already crippled by
the increases in utilities? And against
the backdrop of a global economic
crisis? It just didn’t make sense…”
Labour, he adds, responded by tabling a motion in Parliament to withdraw the charge, and government
– under pressure from the business
sector – eventually went back to the
drawing board.
Cardona holds this example up as
evidence of a government that just
doesn’t have a real plan for the economy, and which seems to be making
up the words and music as it goes
along.
“And there is plenty more. Unfortunately the present government has
followed a flawed agenda. Its priorities are wrong. Was it the right time
to create a Special Purpose Vehicle
to build a new parliament? I don’t
think so. I can think of a lot more
pressing priorities to spend €80 million on at the moment. Then there’s
the question of waste: millions spent
on unnecessary consultancies…”
The words ‘millions’ and ‘consultancies’ seem to inadvertently
conjure up another example, and
Cardona here drags in the recent oil
procurement scandal.
“First we have to see if these allegations are verified; but if so it would
raise very serious questions. The
problem is that government had
changed the law in a retrograde fashion, to accommodate the choice of
fuel. This goes beyond a question of
mere corruption… it raises concerns
environmental and health concerns.,
too.”
What all these decisions have in
common, Cardona suggests, is that
the government that took them
all just didn’t have a clear vision of
where it wanted to go. And that, he
insists, is where the real difference
between PN and Labour resides.
DIFFERENCE
“The
difference
between the
two parties
today is that
we have no
problems
listening to
these people.
We don’t slam
the door in
their faces
just because
they’re not
‘one of us’”
16
News
Beggin
The recent allegations of corruption
in Malta’s oil procurement
commitments have exposed a grey
area insofar as police, judiciary and
the executive arm of government
is concerned. RAPHAEL VASSALLO
explores the perilous labyrinth
called ‘Presidential pardon’
CASUAL observers of the ongoing oil corruption scandal will no
doubt have noticed a number of
peculiar contradictions and Uturns by a few of the major protagonists involved.
Within days of the original revelations two Sundays ago, Prime
Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that he would ‘guarantee’
a Presidential pardon (‘proklama’)
to anyone who stepped forward
with further evidence in this case.
The police initially objected, arguing that they already had all the
evidence they needed to proceed
against the main suspects. But they
would change tack within just a few
days, withdrawing their objection
soon after a formal request made
by one of the suspects involved
in the scandal: George Farrugia,
whose email correspondence with
Trafigura forms part of the body of
evidence pointing towards wrongdoing in this case.
It may of course be just a coincidence, but Farrugia’s lawyer turned
out to be none other than Franco
Debono – the disgraced government MP who has been hinting
darkly at corruption at the highest
levels of Cabinet for over a year.
All this must be viewed against
the backdrop of another apparent
volte-face. Since the 2008 election, an electoral promise to implement a whistleblower’s act has
never quite seen the light of day…
even though the law itself has already passed through all but the
final phases of parliamentary approval.
Admittedly, the two legal
instruments are by no means
identical: but this has never
quite deterred the prime minister from talking about them
for all the world as if they
were interchangeable.
For instance:
when the family of Nicholas Azzopardi (who claimed police brutality on his deathbed in 2007) urged
government to enact a Whistleblower’s Act to offer protection
to police sources willing to come
forward with intelligence about
the case, Gonzi’s response was to
declare that there was no need for
a whistleblower’s act as he had offered a pardon instead.
Yet in that case, nobody stood
accused of foul play: which technically means that there was nothing
in the way of an established crime
to actually pardon.
Moreover, by consistently offering pardons when he should really
have offered whistleblower protection – and in this case in particular, by pre-emptively offering the
pardon even before there was any
formal request for one – the Prime
Minister has arguably engineered a
situation whereby the granting of a
pardon became an inevitability.
All this naturally raises the question of why the Prime Minister felt
that a pardon was absolutely necessary in this case… even at a time
when the police force argued that
it was not.
When is a pardon not a pardon?
In cases such as these, Presidential pardons are granted only to
people who are already charged (or
about to be charged) with a crime,
but who are willing to spill the
beans on the involvement of other individuals who
would otherwise
slip
through
the net of justice.
[ N o t e :
There is another much
more common parameter
whereby
Joseph Fenech, aka
Zeppi l-Hafi, was at the
centre of a controversial
Presidential pardon
17
News
g your pardon…
pardons may be granted: that is, to
a convicted criminal on grounds
of clemency. This type of pardon
is however not applicable in this
scenario.]
Presidential pardons are therefore distinct from the concept of a
whistleblower’s act in one very crucial detail – most whistleblowers
are actually uninvolved spectators
of corruption; usually employees
of a company/government department (or comparable entity) who
report wrongdoing by their colleagues and/or superiors.
Famous international examples
include Mordechai Vanunu – the
Israeli nuclear power plant engineer who exposed a secret facility for the production of nuclear
weapons in the 1980s. Another case
(made into a classic movie starring
Al Pacino) was that of Frank Serpico, a New York police officer who
had lifted the lid on police corruption in 1971.
Applied to the ongoing oil scandal, the only ‘whistleblower’ involved was arguably this newspaper, which broke the news
(complete with copies of invoices,
etc) that commissions had been
paid on oil transactions. This
technically means that even if the
Whistleblower’s Act were already
in force, it would simply have no
direct bearing on this case at all.
This does not mean, however, that
no other comparable articles of law
can be invoked instead of a pardon.
Curiously, a law that has existed
since 1987 seems at a glance to
be tailor-made for this sort of circumstance: and unlike the thorny
issue of a pardon, which can only
be issued on recommendation of
Cabinet (a fact which creates uncomfortable political implications,
as outlined below), this particular
law would exclude the entire political class from the actual decisionmaking process.
The law in question is the Act
that established the Permanent
Commission Against Corruption
in 1987: i.e., Chapter 22 of the Laws
of Malta.
I quote from Article 19: “Subject
to the provisions of this article, the
Attorney General may, if in his individual judgment he is satisfied
of the advisability so to do, issue
a certificate in writing exempting any person mentioned therein
from any criminal proceedings on
condition that such person gives
evidence according to law of all
the facts known to him relating
to any corrupt practice or any offence connected therewith before
the Commission and, or, any court
of criminal jurisdiction, and on
the issue of such certificate and
the giving evidence in accordance
therewith by the person to whom
it refers, no proceedings before a
court of criminal jurisdiction may
be taken or continued against him
in connection with such corrupt
practice or any offence connected
therewith…”
Strangely, this article does not
seem to have ever been applied in
any comparable case, even though
there have been several instances –
some more controversial than others – when the Presidential pardon
mechanism was invoked instead.
This latest case is a classic example, and underscores existing queries surrounding the decision to
go specifically for a pardon, when
an apolitical alternative existed all
along.
Given that the above article that
would have kept the prime minister and his Cabinet at an arm’s
George Farrugia (right),
pictured with Minister
Chris Said (left)
length from the issue, one can only
wonder why the same prime minister insisted on involving himself in
a decision which – in part thanks to
the inauspicious timing – can only
entail a perilous political minefield.
‘Political hierarchy’
Now that the decision has been
taken, what remains to be seen is
what new evidence Farrugia will
bring to the table in exchange for
immunity from prosecution.
By requesting a pardon, he has already signalled his intention to implicate other suspects who have not
as yet been publicly associated with
the affair. The obvious question on
everybody’s lips is: who, exactly,
will George Farrugia incriminate?
Naturally we don’t know as yet…
but even from a distance one can
appreciate the extreme political
sensitivity of the possible answers.
At a glance, it is debatable whether even Gonzi himself knows whose
head he might end up affixing to the
battlements as a result of this pardon. But during a radio interview
yesterday morning, he appeared
to fleetingly hint that the resulting
revelations may well explode in the
Labour Party’s face.
“The Labour Party’s theatrics
will soon be exposed. The curtains
are falling down and balloons are
bursting because of the things that
happened and other things which
are happening. Keep your eyes
open for what is going on.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, rumours
are already in circulation that a
high-ranking Labour official may
be named in the investigation –
though it must be said that no concrete evidence has so far accompanied these backroom whispers…
and the same sources currently
spinning these rumours are not exactly the most reliable the country
has to offer.
But there are other indications
(equally unsubstantiated) that it
may just as well work the other way
round: starting with the role now
being played by Franco Debono
himself, who (let’s face it) is un-
likely to take a lead role in a legal
initiative if it will also contradict
his own repeated claims of an administration mired in corruption at
all levels.
According to this alternative
hypothesis, Farrugia intends to
implicate someone ‘higher up the
political hierarchy’ (to quote the
notorious BWSC email that now
assumes so much additional meaning). The possible repercussion of
such a revelation would be awkward enough at the best of times.
But halfway through an election
campaign in which the polls already see the PN trailing Labour
by a wide margin, the implications
suddenly appear explosive.
Either way, the case has once
again shone a spotlight on clear
and present flaws in the legal
mechanisms whereby such matters
are decided in the first place.
Leaving aside the sustained disregard for Article 22 of the Laws of
Malta since 1987, there are already
a number of well-documented
problems with the law governing
Presidential pardons in this country.
As the law stands today, such
matters are officiated by the Prime
Minister in consultation with Cabinet: a state of affairs that has already been called into question by
Opposition leader Joseph Muscat.
Reiterating a call for a whistleblowers’ act (though again, it remains unclear how such legislation
would apply to this case) Muscat
yesterday pointed towards a possible conflict of interest whereby
politicians take decisions that will
ultimately affect themselves or
their allies.
“Such cases cannot remain dependent on pardons given by the
politicians,” the PL leader said yesterday. “What if a politician is involved? This is the point which is
concerning me and people.”
Nor was this the first time that
the issue of a Presidential pardon
has been besmirched with allegations of hidden agendas.
Gonzi’s dilemma is in fact but
one in a string of similar (though
not identical) scenarios that have
plagued past administrations of
government.
Two high profile controversies
involving Presidential pardons
immediately spring to mind: both
having in their time served to raise
very serious questions regarding
exactly when, how and under what
conditions or circumstances such
measures should be pursued.
Unresolved controversies
The first case was the Presidential pardon granted to Joseph
Fenech (aka Zeppi l-Hafi), in return for evidence implicating
Meinrad Calleja in the attempted
assassination of Richard Cachia
Caruana in the early 1990s.
What made this case controversial was the involvement of the
Prime Minister of the day in various aspects of the police investigation. Eddie Fenech Adami at one
point seemed to assume direct responsibility for part of this investigation himself – for instance, by
meeting with the chief suspect in
private, and apparently negotiating
the terms of the pardon himself.
Apart from being absolved of all
charges connected to the attempted assassination, Joseph Fenech
also acquired immunity from
prosecution for other aggravated
crimes: including armed robbery
and drug trafficking.
To exacerbate matters further,
the Law Courts went on to disregard Fenech’s testimony altogether
and acquit Calleja: throwing the
Prime Minister’s involvement in
the whole case into disarray, and
also raising questions about the
‘conditions’ that had been tied to
the pardon (incidentally, these are
the same conditions that are now
attached to the pardon offered to
Farrugia yesterday).
Fenech’s pardons were ‘conditional’ on the truthfulness of his
testimony. Yet they were retained
in full, even after the same testimony had been rejected by the
courts.
George Farrugia’s pardon is likewise conditional on the truth of
his own testimony... but despite
the recent Zeppi l-Hafi experience,
there has been no attempt to address the grey area of what may or
may not happen in the case that
his testimony is discredited. Effectively, all the questions that were
unanswered in the Meinrad Calleja
prosecution, remain just as unanswered today.
The second case was not as immediately problematic, even though
its immediate aftermath was arguably more serious… having resulted in the lightning resignation
of a Cabinet minister (back then, a
rather unheard-of eventuality).
The case involved a Presidential pardon granted to a convicted
drug trafficker in 1997, against the
apparent wishes of Prime Minister
Alfred Sant (very soon after the
latter had made so much political
mileage from the Zeppi l-Hafi affair).
The result was the resignation of
justice minister Charles Mangion,
and the revocation of the pardon
in question. But like Fenech Adami before him, Alfred Sant left the
issue of regulating the mechanics of such pardons to succeeding
governments: though whether he
did his deliberately, or was simply overtaken by the crisis which
plagued his administration that
same year, will have to remain a
historical question mark.
Ultimately it seems that the experience of two botched Presidential
pardons was simply not enough to
impress upon the present government the need to reform this aspect of the Criminal Code.
As a result, the legal scenario remains exactly the same today as it
was in both 1994 and 1997, with
one difference.
Today, these questions loom large
on the horizon just weeks away from
a general election which has already
been coloured by the same scandal
in question. We may therefore be on
the threshold of yet another highoctane political clash in which the
instruments of law find themselves
wielded almost as weapons in the
thick of an electoral campaign.
18
Opinion
Saviour Balzan
Me? I have the face of someone who
is going to lick ass after 9 March
W
hen the PN deputy leader
Simon Busuttil’s ludicrous
‘Nationalist face’ comment
was making the rounds, Dominic
Gafa – a former Dom Mintoff
sycophant – was happy to see his
recording end up with Nathaniel
Attard of NET.
Busuttil’s ‘wiċċ ta’ Nazzjonalist’ is
comparable to Charles Mangion’s
‘DNA’ comment in the 2008
election. Back then, the poor (or
not that poor after all) Mangion
was taken to the cleaners and made
to look like Heinrich Himmler.
That Gafa frolics with those he
would otherwise classify as natural
enemies is obviously not expected
from someone who was basically
an extension of Dom Mintoff.
The former Air Malta loader is
the winner of several government
contracts where he is renowned to
pay his employees dismal wages
and offer them quite incredibly
horrible conditions.
They call his line of work as
‘precarious work’ and of course
Dominic Gafa does not feel at all
guilty that his capitalist approach
to business conflicts with his
supposedly Mintoffian legacy.
His latest contract was at the
Office of the Prime Minister at
the Auberge de Castille – where
he quoted an hourly work at a
rate which would mean that his
employees were paid below the
minimum wage – is, of course, of
no concern to Pawlu.
That contract took place last
summer, at about the same time
as he was recording the GWU’s
secretary general Tony Zarb.
Zarb, on the other hand,
committed a remarkable, grand
fuck up when he tried to convince
Gafa that his newspapers would be
more considerate if he allowed his
workers to unionise.
In other words, he said they
would not hit out at him if he was a
good boy.
He then indicated that he would
push for Mr Gafa’s companies to
win tenders with the government of
the day… suggesting of course that
it would be much easier if there was
a Labour government.
Now, I’m sure Muscat’s day got
a bit better when he heard the
recording.
And of course, NET had no hang
ups reproducing Zarb’s ‘ta’ l-ostja’
comments. It was quite funny, but
it would of course be welcoming if
they quoted expletives when they
come to other people.
You see, even NET can be liberal.
Now, that was unbelievably stupid
of Zarb. And if he doesn’t believe
he should resign, he should at least
appreciate that the whole episode
was horribly mishandled.
Now, some two days before
this story was screened by Net,
the queen of bile and character
assassination concocted a news
story and said that this company
(MediaToday) entered into an
agreement with the General
Simon
Busuttil
reminds me
of a fanatical
missionary
who invades
South
America and
attempts to
convince the
natives that
Catholicism is
the only way
forward
Workers’ Union to sell our media
publications after the 9 March.
Apart from the fact that she is a
big fat liar, the story is of course
completely fabricated and that it
was decided to take legal action
against the gossip writer and
apologist.
The coincidence was no
coincidence at all: the bile queen
published the big fat lie to coincide
with the Gafa tapes.
I have said this once and I will
say it again. I will be there to offer
the same measure of undesirable
comfort to any administration after
the 9 March.
And as I have not depended on
the government’s benevolence
in the past few years, I have no
intention of sucking up to any new
or old government to pay for my
bills.
Perhaps the queen of bile and all
her good hairy and fat friends who
enjoy pouring scorn on anything
that moves can say the same.
It does show however that when a
political party does not agree with
a media outlet or an individual,
it will do everything possible to
make the life of that person ‘hell on
earth’.
When Net got hold of the Gafa
recording, Paul Borg Olivier
decided to only invite TVM,
Independent and the Times to
listen to the tape. Not MaltaToday,
of course, or any other stations.
Norman Vella from TVM was
present too, of course… though
I’m not quite sure whether he
is subcontracted from a private
company to TVM, and what
relationship he has to Where’s
Everybody?
If there is someone who certainly
is biased, it is Norman Vella. His
contempt for the GWU is well
known: his father was a union
leader with the GWU who fell out
with the present leadership. But his
negativity – and more importantly,
his aversion to anyone who stands
in the government’s way – is
legendary. He also has a problem:
he thinks he’s funny (when he’s
really not), and he believes himself
to be journalist, when he’s little
more than a damn good gatekeeper.
Paul Borg Olivier believes that
being selective in the choice of
media is a prerogative he has every
right to exercise.
It is not, and it also shows a short-
sightedness nurtured by a siege
mentality that boxes people as with
us or against us.
It is so typical of politicians who
are stuck in time and are unable to
move on.
It just shows that with the
PN’s negative outlook to the
‘independent’ media is wrong. To
be fair, it is not only the PN that
share this malaise. The Labour
Party has all the traits of the PN
and so does Alternattiva – who are
unable to take criticism.
It is also very clear that the PN
thinks that for someone to be
trusted, they must be virulently
anti-Labour and foursquare behind
Lawrence Gonzi.
It has not crossed their minds that
while many people are not against
the Nationalist Party per se, they
do however have serious problems
with Gonzi and his cronies, who
promulgate his politics of evil
retribution.
And the same, I suppose, applies
to any party that structures itself in
a similar way.
Perhaps I should reveal that since
2009, Lawrence Gonzi has refused
to be interviewed by me, and has
refused several invitations to visit
the MediaToday newsroom to meet
our journalists.
He is perfectly entitled to do this,
but it just shows how clannish and
insular he is.
There is little doubt in my mind
that Gonzi thinks that we are
acting on someone’s behalf. It is
perhaps in the nature of politicians
to believe that everyone is against
them and that those who criticise
them are mannequins.
•••
There is one thing I am truly
missing from the Prime Minister’s
melodramatic Cabinet meeting.
I would have expected him to
blow a raspberry at the opposition
and boast of achievements in
getting a bloody good EU budget.
Instead, he went back to the oil
scandal and convened the Cabinet
to ask the President to issue a
pardon to George Farrugia.
Why at 10pm on Friday evening?
It simply makes no sense.
Of course, the PN strategy group
has been unforgiving when it comes
to the timing of the oil scandal.
It is their opinion that no one
p.a.
should have published such an
article. And that is, of course, if you
are not journalist and your first
allegiance is to a political party.
Thank God I have no political
party and my allegiance is to the
reader, and not to the politicians.
Of course, they do not believe
this.
Simon Busuttil is naturally of the
opinion that such things should
not be talked about. But then,
Busuttil is sounding more and
more partisan and to be very frank,
amazingly bigoted.
He reminds me of a fanatical
missionary who invades South
America and attempts to convince
the natives that Roman Catholicism
is the only real religion and a
stairway to heaven – which they,
sadly, ended up believing in, and
that is why today South America
remains of the best representations
of a deprived and class society.
Of course, it does not cross their
minds that we would have done the
same if this scandal were under a
Labour administration.
I can’t blame them for not
believing this. They simply cannot
believe that they are beyond
reproach, and surely they cannot
remember what I have written
in the past few years – probably
because they have been too busy
doing other things while we were
probing Labour.
In a normal country, we should
not be using precious time and
space defending our patch.
It is symptomatic of our stunted
understanding of the words
‘tolerance’ and ‘respect’. It is a
reflection of our small size and of
our tribal politics. It is a reflection
of our history of hypocrisy, and the
lust to remain in power.
•••
Have you downloaded the latest
MaltaToday mobile application
on your iPhone or android? You
should – it gives you the latest
news updates and much more.
And just in case you haven’t
realized, MaltaToday is the top
free download among iPhone
applications. And in just one
month, the number of page views
on MaltaToday has increased by
31%, whereas pagev iews on The
Times in the past three months has
increased by 3%.
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19
20
Opinion
Evarist Bartolo
Why our children deserve a
better educational system
A
number of Maltese children
aged nine years and above
participated in a number
of international studies where,
unfortunately, they ranked below
the Progress in International
Reading Literacy Study and Trends
in International Mathematics and
Science Study Scale Centerpoint
(500).
We need an effective strategy that
narrows the gap between girls and
boys in reading and literacy, with the
former performing better than the
latter.
Malta has the wider gap between
the two gender groups among all
participating countries in the PIRLS
study. The scenario in mathematics
is different, with the boys indicating
a slightly better performance than
girls, though we need to improve
the performance of both groups.
Unfortunately, our students
performed badly in scientific literacy.
We need to follow a number of
recommendations put forward by
these studies, including the need
for trained teachers in strategies in
reading, mathemetics and science,
further attention on the preparatory
education of our children, and
higher pre-requisites for the
teachers’ education and training.
There need to be more qualified
teachers with at least a bachelor’s
degree in education and other
training in the teaching of reading,
literacy, mathematics and science in
our primary schools.
Another recommendation which
needs to be followed is for our
children to achieve basic skills in
reading, mathematics and science
as early as possible. There is a
direct relation between children’s
inclination towards learning and
their achievement throughout the
years. These studies recommend a
curriculum that values reading and a
balanced programme that supports
quality time on the teaching and
learning of reading, improvement in
reading as a literary experience, and
reading with the scope of obtaining
and using information. Emphasis
is put on assessing the children’s
linguistic skills at an early age so
that their literacy skills are truly
identified and remedial steps taken
where needed.
It is recommended that more
children start their primary
schooling experience with basic
mathematical skills, higher
confidence in this learning area and
an awareness of its importance and
relevance. Thus, emphasis is put
on quality teaching time, a quality
curriculum, teaching approaches,
and on the effectiveness of the
educational system.
There is a need for a positive
attitude among children towards
science and a curriculum that
promotes science content and
the cognitive and investigative
processes. Here again there is a
recommendation for more time
to be allocated to the teaching
of science in the primary school,
more emphasis from schools on
the importance of science, on
We need
a strategy
that
narrows
the gap
between
girls and
boys in
reading and
literacy
CHECK OUT EVARIST BARTOLO’S LATEST COLUMNS ON
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/blogs
investigation, on an increase in
the number of students who are
interested in learning science, and
on the need for more facilities and
resources that facilitate the teaching
of science in primary schools.
These international reports show
the importance and influence that
both the home environment and
support and an early childhood
education programme have on the
children’s development of reading,
numeracy and science skills. Parents’
expectations on their children’s
education achievement needs to
improve since it is quite low. These
studies show how at international
level where expectations are high
the higher is the probability of
educational success in literacy,
numeracy and science among their
children.
Another clear relation is between
the socioeconomic background and
the language home background,
and their impact on the students’
educational achievements. We
2011
Maltese
78
English
64
Mathematics 77
2012
74
66
63
know that students coming from
advantaged economic home
backgrounds and a supportive
language (Maltese and English)
home background are in a better
position to succeed in their
educational experience.
It is recommended that school
headteachers are more adequately
prepared to lead their schools, have
more time for the development
and communication of the school’s
mission, and support students and
teachers in achieving the school’s
objectives. School headteachers are
recommended to secure discipline
and safety issues, coach their
staff, design and start initiatives,
and participate in professional
development.
Other recomendations which
we need to follow include the
improvement in teachers’ working
conditions such as the school
environment, the number of
students in the classroom, the
teaching hours, adequate workspace,
the teaching resources and
material necessary for the teaching
experience. These studies show
that there is a relation between the
working conditions and the students’
achievement in literacy, numeracy
and science. Other direct influence
on the students’ educational
achievments comes from adequate
school and classroom libraries, and a
variety of resources and material.
Good nutrition and enough
sleep are also related to higher
achievement in reading, literacy and
numeracy.
The current situation of our
schooling system is very worrying.
This is clearly indicated in the End
of Year 6 Benchmark Examinations
administered in 2011 and 2012
where the median in Mathematics
declined by 14%, 4% decline in
Maltese and an increase of 2% in
English as shown below.
Evarist Bartolo is shadow minister
for education
variation
-4
+2
-14
From the 1995 students’ cohort (4613) and 2011 registrations for the SEC examinations, the below
scenario transpires (January 2012 Report) in the basic subjects (English, Maltese and Mathematics):
English
Maltese
Mathematics
1995 Cohort
2011
Registration
1-5 from total
registrations
1-5 from
total cohort
4613 (100%)
4613 (100%)
4613 (100%)
3954 (85.7%)
3770 (81.7%)
3803 (82.4%)
70.2%
64.2%
64.6%
60.2%
52.5%
53.3%
The above table presents another worrying situation with regards to the number of students who did
nor sit for any SEC examination, or who sat for these examinations but did not obtain grades between
1-5. In a nutshell:
- Students from the 1995 total cohort: 659 did not sit for the English Language SEC examination;
843 did not sit for the Maltese SEC examination; and 810 fid not sit for the Mathematics SEC
examination.
- Students who registered but did not achieve grades between 1-5: 29.8% in English Language; 35.8%
in Maltese; 35.4% in Mathemetics.
- Students from the 1995 total cohort who did not achieve grades between 1-5: 39.8% in English
Language; 52.5% in Maltese; 46.7% in Mathematics.
- From the 1995 total cohort, only 44.5% obtained the necessary grades and thus were eligible to
further their studies in the VI Form.
- Only 38.6% of boys from the total cohort obtained the necessary results at the end of their
secondary schooling that qualified them to further their studies.
- Only 50.9% of girls from the total cohort obtained the necessary results at the end of their
secondary schooling that qualified them to further their studies
21
Opinion
Michael Falzon
micfal@maltanet.net
Where have all the red
flags gone?
A
friend of mine, commenting
on the aesthetic and
cosmetic makeover that
the Labour Party has undergone
under Joseph Muscat, told me that
nowadays one never sees any redfrocked peroxide blondes (loaded
with gold bracelets) mobbing
the Labour leader. Anyone who
recalls the KMB and the Alfred
Sant days know that this was
a very common scene during
electoral campaigns.
The big 2013 election campaign
question is how Muscat has
controlled the red flag wielding
crowd at bay and is always seen
surrounded with educated young
people and whether all this is just
a temporary campaign stance that
will disappear when the socialist
mob takes over again after a
Labour electoral victory.
The retort to all this is that if
one considers that the PN took
eight years to reform itself after
Mintoff ’s 1971 electoral victory,
people are not justified when they
react with incredulity to the idea
that Labour has taken 25 years to
reform itself, as if this could never
happen.
Some aspects about Joseph
Muscat’s Labour that stuck
out this week are yet another
indication that the change might
be more than cosmetic, after
all. One is Labour’s reaction
to accusations – sparked off
by Anglu Farrugia’s interview
on The Sunday Times – that it
is cosying up too much to big
business. According to Farrugia
– who obviously has an axe to
grind – several people who wield
power in Malta were getting too
close to Labour. Labour insists
that its ‘movement’ is a coalition
of workers and employers and
there are a large number of
businessmen who feel betrayed by
the PN and who are now in this
movement because they want to
have a chance of moving ahead in
a level playing field.
The PN reaction to all this is
patently hypocritical. How can
the PN adopt a stance of ‘shock
and disgust’ at this new Labour
way of doing things when in the
past it accepted money from
big business fed up with the
Mintoffian policies that stifled
all their initiatives? How can
it be wrong for big business to
support Joseph Muscat when two
successive PN general secretaries
are known to have taken holidays
on the yacht of a well-known
Nationalist entrepreneur and the
Minister of Finance is known to
have hitched a ride on a private
plane to go and see a football
match in Spain, with the ‘lift’
being given by courtesy of big
businessmen? The contradictory
message is that there is nothing
wrong for big businessmen to
support the PN but ‘contractors’
supporting Labour is an
abomination. I cannot understand
how the PN do not realise that all
this loose talk about Muscat being
at the beck and call of contractors
– as if contractors are the devil
incarnate – is continuing to
alienate businessmen from the PN
and is therefore a tactic that can
dangerously backfire during the
election campaign.
Tony Blair, whom Muscat
tries to emulate, was known to
regularly hold breakfast meetings
at 10 Downing Street with leaders
of the City’s financial institutions.
On a particular occasion, The
Architects’ Journal had run a
The term
‘workers’
movement’
no longer
figures in
Labour’s
new
language
story claiming that in one such
meeting the insurance giant,
Swiss Re, had complained about
the delays with the processing of
the building permit for its now
famous ‘Gherkin’ and that Blair
had replied he would see what he
could do. Are these the sort of
‘pleasures’ that are yet to come if
Muscat becomes Prime Minister?
And can Prime Minister Gonzi
say that he was never lobbied for a
building permit? Being lobbied is
one thing; succumbing to undue
pressure is another. Is Muscat
being accused of succumbing to
undue pressure even when he is
still Leader of the Opposition?
Whether there is a basis for this
serious accusation (that Muscat
denies) or whether the PN is
simply touting innuendos as part
of its scaremongering tactics is a
moot point.
But it is not only the red flags
and the red-frocked peroxide
blondes that have disappeared
from the Labour scenario.
The term ‘workers’ movement’
no longer figures in Labour’s
new language. Remember that
movement made up of the
MLP and the GWU tandem?
Apparently it is dead and buried
with ‘employers’ being considered
as part of Joseph Muscat’s
‘movement’ as much as ‘workers’
are!
This week, Labour has finally
published its impressive
electoral programme during
an extraordinary General
Conference in which the audience
was swathed in blue light and
Joseph Muscat spoke against a
blue background while sporting a
sky-blue tie.
My initial reaction to the
extensive document – described
by Muscat as a roadmap for
economic growth, and containing
837 proposals spread over 20
chapters – is that Muscat is
attempting to bite off more
than he can chew, and that his
commitment to do all he is
promising to do in five years is
not realistic. Even so, there are an
amount of proposals that are very
similar to ones in the PN electoral
programme.
Muscat has no experience in
administration and this, perhaps,
may make him think that he will
not encounter any problems with
doing things that look easy on
paper. However, he practically
admitted that delivering the
goods promised in his party’s
electoral manifesto (Labour still
uses that word!) is a daunting
task, when he announced that,
once in government, he will
be giving Deputy Leader Louis
Grech the task of coordinating its
implementation.
Comparing this manifesto with
the skimpy GWU document in
which the union put forward
its proposals to the political
parties is an interesting exercise,
because it exposes the incredible
ideological chasm between the
mentality of Joseph Muscat and
that of the GWU.
Speaking during a special
session of the National Council
of the GWU that met recently to
discuss its document outlining
its proposals to political parties,
Tony Zarb, the union’s General
Secretary, said that the new
government elected on 9 March
will have to make amends for the
injustices suffered by workers
at the hands of the current
administration. He insisted that
the new government should
reverse the decision on public
holidays falling on a weekend and
also expressed his hope that the
Labour will take adopt more of its
proposals.
Tony Zarb’s speech was followed
by Joseph Muscat, who ignored
Zarb’s pleas and simply said that
Labour is only making realistic
pledges while reiterating that
Labour’s plans are feasible and
not overly optimistic. The plot
thickened last Thursday, when the
PN released a recording in which
Tony Zarb was heard hinting
that the union can influence the
government tendering process
if Labour is elected to power.
Reacting to this story, Joseph
Muscat disowned Zarb’s words
by unambiguously declaring that
no one has the right to speak
on behalf of the new (Labour)
government.
Has Tony Zarb, and those whom
he stands for, been abandoned and
left alone practising his Marxist
rhetoric and bragging of his
political connections to no avail?
Only time will tell.
CHECK OUT MICHAEL FALZON’S LATEST COLUMNS ON
22
Opinion
The politics of Lifelong
Learning
T
he Directorate for Lifelong
Learning recently organised
an extremely well attended
seminar in connection with the
EU Agenda on Adult Learning
(Gzira Waterfront Hotel, Friday 1
February). The great turn out for this
meeting provides some indication
of the general interest in the field,
certainly as far as service providers
are concerned. The country has
certainly come a long way since I first
worked in the field in 1988. In many
ways, the emphasis placed by the EU,
through its funding structures, on
Lifelong Learning must have served
as a catalyst over the years.
There is however one worrying
aspect of the current discourse
that often makes it a far cry from
the UNESCO-espoused concept
of Lifelong Education of the 70s
and 80s. The switch from lifelong
education to lifelong learning is not
innocent. It places less emphasis
on structures and entitlement and
more on the individuals taking
charge of their own learning, often
at considerable expense. It is an
insidious discourse that minimises
the role of the State and leaves
everything to the market. Education
is therefore turned from a social
into an individual responsibility.
Policy documents promoting these
fashionable ideas should be the
subject of constant critical scrutiny
by discerning educators.
It was heartening to hear most
of the stakeholders at the seminar
focus on education as a public good
rather than the consumption good
that the shift in discourse, from that
Peter
Mayo
of UNESCO to the OECD and, to a
certain extent, the EU, has brought
about. Great emphasis was placed
on free and genuinely accessible
provision as a citizen entitlement.
What was however worrying is
the by now very conventional
emphasis on ‘employability’, on
‘learning to earn’, which renders
what was once an expansive concept
of education (Lifelong Education)
rather reductionist in scope. This
prevails throughout the educational
discourse worldwide.
I find it disheartening to hear trade
union officials, such as the UHM
representative at the seminar, speak
more of investment in training of
‘human resources’, that is ‘learning
to earn’ and become employable,
than of revitalising that long
standing trade union tradition of
adult education known as workers’
education. To my mind, this area
represents one of the richest
dimensions of the field. It was rich
enough to attract quite a range of
leading 20th century UK-based
intellectuals, such as Raymond
Williams, Richard Hoggart and
Edward P. Thompson, to engage
in and write about the field. They
wrote not of ‘employability’ but of
employee empowerment and access
to various types of knowledge. This
would allow persons to develop
beyond being simply producers and, I
would add, consumers, these days, to
becoming social actors, fully capable
of contributing, individually and
most likely collectively, to changing
the world around them.
‘Employability’ is at the heart of
the European Union agenda for
lifelong learning, never mind the
fact that employability does not
necessarily mean employment. In
Europe, it is particularly fuelled
through ESF funding on which many
organisations in adult learning are
increasingly becoming dependent.
Rather than admitting to the failure
to create sustainable employment,
spokespersons for industry and
policy makers place the emphasis
on people lacking the necessary
skills – a ‘jobs’ crisis’ couched as a
‘skills crisis’. The truth is that, in
many parts of Europe, youngsters
are gaining greater qualifications
than their parents ever dreamed of
obtaining and yet cannot enjoy their
standard of living. This has been
a recurring battle cry of the many
indignados occupying various parts
of the diminishing public spaces
in Europe and across the Atlantic.
The whole idea of lifelong learning,
as currently promoted, gravitates
around the notion of a ‘knowledge
economy’ which might not lead to
the level of employment and financial
rewards being anticipated, given the
global competition for the few high
paying middle class jobs available.
That there should be some link
between adult education and the
economy is understandable. The
setting up of the Employment
& Training Corporation (ETC)
and the re-establishment of the
Malta College of Arts, Science and
Technology (MCAST) are steps
in the right direction. Among
other things, they provide State
assistance to firms in developing
their personnel requirements. We all
know the difficulties experienced by
small companies, lacking economies
of scale, to render ‘in-house training’
a viable option; there is also the
danger of poaching by rival firms.
It is however still worrying to
see the dominant, all-pervasive
discourse regarding adult education,
in the context of lifelong learning,
worldwide, reduced to simply
learning for work. If anything, what
we really need are forms of education
which enable persons to learn to
engage critically with work. This
is the kind of education I would
expect trade unions to be providing.
It has been the staple of workers’
education in the past. The narrow
The anti-manifesto
A
s the weeks go by and the
political campaign lumbers
along, it has become amply
clear that the two main political
parties are committed to ignoring the
fact that our country has a significant
deficit which has led to our incurring
considerable debt – which means that
we desperately need to cut costs and
reduce expenditure while increasing
income and fostering growth.
I have already waxed lyrical about
the unsustainable elements of the
spending sprees that Joseph Muscat
and Lawrence Gonzi are proposing,
so this week I will be taking a turn at
playing ‘Prime Minister for a Day’ and
I will be making some suggestions
relating to our budget. It is clear that
we will be hearing or reading nothing
of the sort in the glossy manifestos
published by the two parties, so I
consider this my ‘anti-manifesto’.
I will start off with a tirade about
my bugbear – social services. The
aim of our social services should be to
move people out of poverty and into
prosperity, primarily by educating
them, keeping them healthy and
encouraging stable families. The
highest earners in the country usually
don’t need such help. All they need is
a good economy which allows them
to thrive and prosper.
If one views social services in this
manner it becomes impossible to
understand a system where even
the top 10% (in relation to income)
in the country receive a children’s
allowance. Wouldn’t that money be
more useful if it were spent ensuring
the children in the bottom 10% get a
decent education, thus lifting them
out of poverty? Similarly, would it
not make more sense not to give
Claudine
Cassar
educational stipends to the offspring
of the top 10%, while using the money
to fund research in University and
giving all students access to a better
quality education?
Free education for all is a vital pillar
of our society; however it is also a big
drain on our national budget. How
can we reduce costs without affecting
the quality of our educational
institutions? A potential solution
comes to mind when one looks at the
number of students sent to Church
schools or independent/private
schools. The parents of these children
are prepared to pay a little more
money in the case of the former and
substantially more in the case of the
latter to give them what they perceive
to be a better quality education. The
astonishing thing is that the cost
of schooling a child in a private/
independent school is actually lower
than the cost of educating students in
“free” government schools.
Why doesn’t the government offer
“vouchers” for parents to spend on
their children’s education? If the
government spends around €3,000
per annum to educate a student in a
public or Church school, would it not
make more sense to give out €1,500
vouchers so parents would be able to
choose their preferred school? This
incentive could also be means tested,
as people who can comfortably send
their children to such schools at the
moment don’t need an incentive.
One could even go one step further
by ‘privatising’ public schools to
create a healthy competition of
different schools vying for your
voucher. People at the lower income
bracket would get a ‘voucher’ for the
full value of their kids’ education.
All this would result in (1) saving
money, (2) a wider choice of public,
church or private education and
increased competition which should
lead to improved quality all round
and (3) government emphasis on
disadvantaged children who currently
end up illiterate or without a decent
level of education. In addition to
education, another area which needs
attention is healthcare.
The long-awaited system of
co-payment in healthcare was
aborted in 1998 – apparently a 50c
contribution that was targeted at
reducing waste was simply too much
for our citizens to bear. We now have
a situation where healthcare costs
have spiralled out of control. It is
clear that under no circumstances
should we envision a system which
burdens patients with unreasonable
costs, and we should certainly exempt
the poorer people from any form of
payment. However, making the top
earners pay a small fraction of the
cost of their medication and health
services (which in most cases would
be paid by their health insurance
anyway) is a no-brainer. Finally, we
turn to income tax – this is a double
edged sword for the government as
taxing people takes money out of the
economy. The problem is that people
need to understand that everything
from shiny new tablets and postgraduate bursaries to rubbish
collection and street sweeping costs
money. Money does not fall from the
sky – the government must collect
it in the form of taxes. The first
thing we need to do is set up a team
to look into tax cheats and ways of
identifying them, with the necessary
powers to investigate and catch
people in the act.
There is no doubt in my mind
that several millions in income
taxes are lost every year because of
unscrupulous individuals who stop
at nothing to cheat the tax man.
Another approach that we should
consider is linking taxation directly
to spending. The government could
give local councils the right to
impose local taxes, which would be
earmarked for particular projects
such as tarmacking roads or building
playgrounds. Local elections would
‘employability’ view of adult and
lifelong learning, which attaches
lots of importance to old and new
basic skills (most laudable) but which
ignores the very important notion of
‘critical literacy’, that is learning to
read the world critically, as well as
its construction through the media
(critical media literacy), ignores a
larger, albeit repressed tradition of
adult education. This tradition serves
to emphasise the role of the citizen
as social actor. It also emphasises
the role of learning as a vital activity
within social movements, including
labour movements. There is more to
adult learning than is internationally
celebrated at present.
Furthermore, an increase in
investment in adult education or
all education for that matter, with
economic returns in mind, without a
corresponding reciprocal investment
in the economic sector, perpetuates,
and probably exacerbates, the
situation of ‘education for export’
that has been a characteristic of
colonial and neo-colonial policies
to date.
Peter Mayo is Professor in the
Department of Education Studies,
Faculty of Education, University of
Malta. His recent books include
Learning with Adults. A Critical
Pedagogical Introduction (with
Leona English, Sense, 2012), Politics
of Indignation. Imperialism.
Postcolonial Disruptions and Social
Change (Zero Books, 2012) and
Echoes from Freire for a Critically
Engaged Pedagogy (Bloomsbury,
2012)
finally start meaning something and
we would have a proper ‘manifesto’
for the locality. Beats voting for the
candidate who happens to have a
colour you like next to his name.
Another way of linking taxation
to expenditure is by involving the
public directly in decisions regarding
capital (and maybe even recurrent)
expenditures. This is frequently done
in State elections in the USA, where
proposals by the government are left
to the electorate to decide. Let’s say,
for example, someone proposes a
€500 million solution to our traffic
problem. The way things stand at the
moment, the PN or PL would add a
glossy page in their manifesto and say
‘Gvern gdid immexxi minn Gonzi/
Muscat jonfoq 500 miljun biex jeqred
it-traffic jams’ (‘A new government
led by Gonzi/Muscat will fork out
€500 million to get rid of traffic
jams’). In the USA, the governor
would come up with a plan, costings
and where the funding would come
from and the people would vote for
the proposal.
In this example, one could propose
such a project financed by a €100 road
tax increase for five years. Would you
be willing to pay €100 a year for this
project? There can be a number of
such propositions with every election
and/or local election.
The ideas keep coming, but the
reality is that I am not a political
party. It is our politicians we need to
hear thinking outside the box and not
humble columnists.
CHECK OUT CLAUDINE CASSAR’S LATEST COLUMNS ON
23
Opinion
Raphael Vassallo
rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt
MY willy is bigger than
YOUR willy… so there!
T
his can’t be happening.
Seriously: it is just too much
to take on board all at once.
OK, a small clarification before
moving on to the “willies” part.
When I sat down to write an
article today, I imagined my
biggest dilemma would be
choosing between the many,
astounding and occasionally
outrageous issues to have
disrupted and derailed the election
campaign in the past few weeks
– to the point that the election
itself suddenly seems an unwanted
intrusion upon much more urgent
matters.
Well, as it happened my dilemma
was resolved almost without
any say on my part. There is a
television in the office these days
(note: to be frank I still haven’t
worked out whether it has always
been there, but never switched
on… or installed recently just for
the election campaign). Either
way, it’s on at the moment: and
Paul Borg Olivier’s voice has just
come floating to my ears above the
office hubbub, to inform me that…
the Nationalist Party’s female
candidates have more ‘substance’
than the Labour Party’s female
candidates.
What? Oh no, he wasn’t joking at
all. Dead serious, in point of fact.
As for what ‘substance’ he had in
mind, I’m afraid he didn’t specify.
I assume it couldn’t possibly have
been ‘oestrogen’… though I’ll spare
you my reasons for that deduction.
In any case: at this point I am
infinitely more concerned with
another substance altogether;
that which may or may not exist
between Paul Borg Olivier’s ears.
I have, after all, heard my fair
share of astonishing clangers in
all my years writing about Maltese
politics. But this? This is simply
ridiculous.
And it turns out that this
bold claim was not (as I at first
assumed) a mere slip of the
tongue, or the PBO version of a
‘blonde moment’ that was taken
out of context and exploited for
purely political reasons.
On the contrary: it was originally
a Facebook status update… which
also means that Borg Olivier had
all the time in the world to think
the implications through before
hitting the ‘Enter’ button.
And he was given every
opportunity to at least clarify
his position at the same press
conference, too. Still, he stuck
to his guns, insisting that:
yes, Nationalist women are
automatically superior to Labour
women, for no other reason
than the fact that… well, they’re
Nationalist. What else?
I am sorry to have to raise this
question at this stage, but… how
old is Paul Borg Olivier, anyway? I
seem to remember him attending
Sixth Form at the same school as
myself: which means he cannot
conceivably be younger than 40.
Yet there he was, on live TV,
sounding exactly like a 13-yearold boy who’s just discovered
that his pecker serves more uses
than mere urination. You may be
familiar with the sort of mentality
I’m talking about here - or at least,
you’d recognise it instantly if:
a) you’ve ever possessed a pecker
of your own, and;
b) you were once 13 years old,
and lived to tell to tale.
For the rest of you out there,
this mentality can be transcribed
in the following, ultra-mature
sentence: “MY willy is bigger than
YOUR willy… nya-nya-nya-nyahnya!”
How different is that sentiment
from the expressed by Paul Borg
Olivier last Friday? Well, to me it
sounded exactly like: “OUR women
have more substance than YOUR
Does it
matter that
the lunatics
running
today’s
asylum
happen
to be
Nationalist
instead of
Labour?
women, nya-nya-nya-nyah-nya!”
OK, I won’t bother asking Paul
Borg Olivier why he happens to
think that Theresa Comodini
Cachia and/or Claudette Pace have
more ‘substance’ than Deborah
Schembri and/or Marlene Mizzi to name but two on either side.
Nor will I ask him to list the
past achievements of PN female
candidates, and to weigh them
against, say, winning a divorce
referendum practically singlehandedly, and against all odds.
But there is a small question
Paul Borg Olivier will one day
have to confront, and it concerns
his own cognitive faculties. The
real trouble here is that the PN
secretary-general was not merely
expressing an odd little personal
prejudice of his own. On the
contrary, he was performing to
a detailed script that underpins
the entire Nationalist Party reelection campaign strategy…. and
arguably encompasses the entire
PN ethos, at least in the form to
which this ethos has degenerated
under the party’s present
leadership over the past 10 years.
If you haven’t already identified
this recipe for mental illness for
yourselves, this is how it usually
works in practice.
Repeat after me: “Nationalists
are automatically ‘better’ than
Labourites in absolutely every
aspect… not for any merit that
they actually possess, but simply
because they are Nationalists,
while the others are Labour,
FULL-STOP.”
And now learn this little
sentence by heart: “People will
always believe whatever the
Nationalist Party says, no matter
how nonsensical, ridiculous or
obviously untrue that may be…
not because they are in any way
convinced by the PN’s superior
logic or argumentation, but
merely on the assumption that
the Nationalists are automatically
right about absolutely everything,
while everyone who disagrees is
automatically wrong.”
And now for a small disclaimer. I
have never studied psychoanalysis
in any formal way; but in the
years I’ve been alive in this bad
wicked world I have encountered
occasional symptoms of psychosis
here and there. It’s a subject that
intrigues me, and which I have
read around for years in a nonprofessional capacity.
I obviously don’t claim to be
an expert… but I do recognize
delusion when I see it. And
this sort of mentality is clearly
delusional: it departs from a
totally illogical and untenable
premise, and much more seriously
it proceeds to break down the
barriers between what is ‘real’, and
what is merely ‘desirable’.
And that, I fear, is just the
beginning. Up until fairly recently
I assumed that this particular
brand of delusion was limited to
only in a few PN exponents here
and there… you know, the obvious
ones whose public profiles have
clearly gone to their heads, .
But as the campaign unfolds, it is
fast becoming evident that… well,
no. It’s not just one or two clearly
deranged individuals here and
there, but the entire party that has
been contaminated with the same,
extraordinary mental pathology.
I hate to say it, but… people
in that party really do think
like Paul Borg Olivier talks, you
know. In their heart of hearts
they really do believe in their own
fabricated credo of ‘inherent PN
superiority’... for all the world as
though ‘substance’ were a quality
that can somehow be imparted to
individuals merely by association
with the PN.
In other words, if a person
publicly aligns him or herself
with the Nationalist Party, this in
itself will be received as a mark of
superior intelligence, breeding,
culture, education, and many
other qualities beside.
I don’t know about you, but this
sort of attitude truly frightens me.
I mean that literally: it’s the sort
of thing that makes me want to
switch on all the lights and search
for hidden monsters under the
bed.
And of course, part of what
makes it so scary is that the same
people who genuinely and truly
believe this blatant nonsense, also
wield very real power over others
in our country.
One example I will not forget in a
hurry is the PN’s reaction to Cyrus
Engerer’s defection to Labour in
2011.
On the surface, Engerer had
resigned from the PN in protest at
the Prime Minister’s vote against
divorce in Parliament (and this
time round, let’s not get bogged
down in whether Gonzi was
right or wrong on that front – I
myself was every bit as shocked
and nauseated as Engerer, but
obviously others were not).
Immediately we were confronted
with two grisly illustrations of why
delusion among the powerful is
so goddamn dangerous. Within a
few days of the defection, Cyrus
Engerer’s father was arrested for
an alleged crime… a crime that
had been studiously ignored for
as long as his son had played ball
with the PN.
The second indication was
the instant change in attitude
towards Cyrus Engerer himself.
Formerly described as a “star”
and “the future of the PN” by
Daphne Caruana Galizia, the same
person was from one second to the
next demoted to the status of an
obsucure species of insect.
He was lampooned and held up
to public ridicule for the simple
reason that he no longer militated
within the PN, and therefore
no longer benefited from the
‘substance’ bestowed upon him
through mere association with
that party.
Again, the scary thing is that
the same people who had praised
him to the skies just a few weeks
earlier, proceeded to lead the
lynch-mob theselves. And this
can only mean one thing: just as
these people had believed their
own earlier words of praise,
they now believed the complete
opposite with equal fervour, and
without even noticing the blatant
contradiction.
The truth, of course, is that
people do not ‘change’ in any
substantive way just because they
cease to be Nationalist. To argue
otherwise is every bit as absurd
as to expect a person’s physical
appearance to also change upon
defection to Labour. And oh
look! That is exactly what Simon
Busuttil added to this entire
collage of insanity this week, with
an extraordinary little outburst of
his own.
It seems that it’s not enough
for Simon that his precious PN
is right about everything; or that
its people are automatically more
intelligent, more honest, more
reliable, more European and
ultimately more human than their
Labour counterparts.
No, they have to be betterlooking, too… which is why
Deborah Schembri has ‘the face
of a Nationalist’ (as opposed,
presumably, to people like Joe
Debono Grech, who have the face
of… something else).
Yet no matter how utterly
demented the thought processes
behind such crazed declarations
may be, the same clearly twisted
perspective now underpins every
single aspect of the Nationalist
campaign to date.
It lies at the heart of the endless,
empty boasts about how the PN
“has always been on the right
side of history”... when it most
definitely has nor. It is the same
force that motivates the instant
demonisation of people from all
works of life, whose only crime
is failure to share the warped
opinions of blatantly brainsick
bloggers.
Now Simon Busuttil and Paul
Borg Olivier have started playing
to the same tune… and this tune is
itself the inevitable consequence
of that ill-conceived ‘GonziPN’
motif, that had first set the
party onto the path of irrational
megalomania five years ago.
Meanwhile: do I need to remind
these same people of the truly
shocking irony in their own
metamorphosis?
Probably not, but here goes
anyway. The last time I saw
institutionalised mental illness
of this proportion and to this
degree was around 25 years ago…
specifically, during the last few
months of the Karmenu Mifsud
Bonnici administration, at a time
when the lunatics had very clearly
taken over the asylum.
Then as now we had a coterie of
people who genuinely believed in
their own intrinsic superiority –
that they could do no wrong, and
that anyone who opposed them
simply had to be stopped at all
costs, etc.
Does it matter that the lunatics
running today’s asylum happen to
be Nationalist instead of Labour?
Not to me it doesn’t. And does
it make a jot of difference that
today’s thugs no longer beat us
up at mass meetings, but instead
take pleasure in spreading lies,
rumours and filth about their
party’s ‘enemies’ and their family
members (and occasionally their
dearly departed, too) on their
ghastly blogs?
I fail to see why it should. But
then again I fail to see a lot of
other things too, so there you go…
People in
that party
really do
think like
Paul Borg
Olivier
talks, you
know
24
Opinion
Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Gay rights, PN style:
a gimmick to end all
gimmicks
T
he proposed Constitutional
amendment, as contained
in the Nationalist Party’s
electoral manifesto, is a step in the
right direction... but only a step, a
token gesture that in and of itself
will have little practical impact on
Malta’s gay and lesbian community.
Without legislation to back it
up, the proposed Constitutional
amendment is a mere gimmick, an
attention-grabbing and publicity
stunt, a trick that a government
indifferent to gay and lesbian
rights is playing on the island’s
community.
Proposal 99 of the electoral
programme foreshadows a
Constitutional amendment
that purports to have the goal
of protecting citizens from
discrimination on the ground of
sexual orientation by ensuring that
any law or administrative practice
that ‘permits’ such discrimination
may be declared null.
Most likely, a Nationalist Party
government will seek to amend
Sections 32 (Fundamental Rights
and Freedoms of the Individual) and
45 (Protection from Discrimination
on the ground of Race etc) of the
Constitution of Malta. Of course,
passage of the Constitutional
amendment would require the
support of a Labour Opposition.
No one seriously expects the
Nationalist Party to shoulder full
responsibility when it comes to
gay and lesbian rights! Or to make
the road to gay and lesbian rights
less complicated by introducing
legislation!
Section 32 of the Constitution
Section 32 currently provides that
every person in Malta is entitled to
fundamental rights and freedoms
whatever his (not her) race, place
of origin, political opinions, colour,
creed or sex. These fundamental
rights and freedoms relate to (a)
life, liberty, security of the person,
the enjoyment of property and the
protection of the law; (b) freedom
of conscience, of expression and of
peaceful assembly and association;
and (c) respect for his private and
family life.
Nonetheless, these fundamental
rights and freedoms are subject to
two important qualifications: the
rights and freedoms of others and
the public interest. And in a country
that pretends to be Christian
(however farcical that description
may be), with a Prime Minister
who only recently voted against
the introduction of divorce in
Malta, one can imagine numerous
scenarios where these alleged
may be deemed to impact adversely
on the rights and freedoms of others
or, maybe, even against the public
interest, however that interest is
defined and by whom! Should such
be subject to the rights and freedom
of others and to the public interest?
And how is such conflict – real or
imagined – to be resolved?
Section 45 of the Constitution
Subsection 45 (1) provides that
no law shall make any provision
that is discriminatory either of
itself or in its effect. The term
‘discrimination’ is defined in
sub-section 45 (3). Discrimination
means affording different treatment
to different persons attributable
wholly or mainly to their respective
descriptions by race, place of origin,
political opinions, colour, creed
or sex whereby persons of one
such description are subjected to
disabilities or restrictions to which
persons of another such description
are not made subject or are
accorded privileges or advantages
which are not accorded to persons
of another such description.
To start off with, why have
a cumbersome definition of
discrimination? Is it the case that
discrimination simply refers to (a)
treatment or (b) consideration of, or
(c) making a distinction in favour of
or against a person based on his or
her class or category rather than on
individual merit?
Section 45, however, contains
some significant exclusions. It does
not apply to any law in so far as
that law makes provision (a) for the
appropriation of public revenues
or other public funds; or (b) with
respect to persons who are not
citizens of Malta; or (c) with respect
to adoption, marriage, dissolution
of marriage, burial, devolution of
property on death or any matters
of personal law not earlier specified
in the Constitution; or (d) whereby
persons of any such description…
may be subjected to any disability
or restriction or may be accorded
any privilege or advantage which,
having regard to its nature and to
special circumstances pertaining
to those persons or to persons
of any other such description
and to any other provision of
this Constitution, is reasonably
justifiable in a democratic society;
or (e) for authorising the taking
during a period of public emergency
of measures that are reasonably
justifiable for the purpose of
dealing with the situation that
exists during that period of public
emergency. And what is justifiable
in a democratic society, may I ask?
And how do gay men and lesbians
impact on public emergencies?
Pathetic!
Types of discrimination not
protected
The Constitutional amendment
purports to protect persons from
discrimination on the basis of
their sexual orientation. It does
not protect – explicitly, at least –
persons from discrimination on
perceived sexual orientation (where
a person is believed to be gay but
is not) or personal association, the
basis of their status (e.g., persons
in a partnership or in a civil union)
or unwelcome sexual behaviour.
Significantly, it does not protect
persons who are intersex or
transsexual.
Direct and indirect discrimination
not defined and explained
Any government serious about
eliminating discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation
has a duty to provide a simple
and straightforward definition of
‘discrimination’. Put simply, it must
be in plain Maltese or plain English.
A Constitutional amendment
must also explain and set out what
amounts to direct and indirect
discrimination.
Confusion over what areas that
may be covered
only refers to laws and
administrative practice. What about
government policy?
fails to specify what areas
are covered. Does it cover all
employment, the provision of all
goods and services, the right to join
all trade unions, access to all places
and facilities, and all land, housing
and other accommodation? Does
it proscribe discrimination by the
private sector? Can the owner of a
guest house discriminate against
a person on the basis of his or her
sexual orientation or his or her
same-sex relationship?
Are complaints to be made in
writing? To whom? Is a complaint
procedure to be set up? Are
conciliation and arbitration
procedures to be introduced? How
is the government to monitor the
enforcement of this amendment? Is
it to be introduced into parliament
and then put out of one’s mind? Are
complainants to be driven to seek
redress before the courts and only
before the courts? What impact
will that have on those who do not
have the funds to pursue expensive
litigation?
***
This is a no brainer. Governments
that are truly committed to a
policy of non-discrimination
must do more than just amend
Constitutions. They must be
pro-active. They must educate the
public and do so continuously.
Introducing a Constitutional
amendment and failing to back
it up with legislation is to do a
Pontius Pilate. There are already
precedents in Maltese law: the
Equal Opportunities (Persons
with Disability) Act 2000 (Chapter
413 of Malta’s Constitution) and
the Equality for Men and Women
Act 2003 (Chapter 456 of Malta’s
Constitution). Both pieces of
legislation already provide a
format… for a government that
is serious about eliminating
discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation.
The plain fact is that the
Nationalist Party government
has a history of antagonism
towards gay men and lesbians
unless, of course, they happen
to be closeted and favoured sons
and daughters of the party. Only
a fool would take the promise of
a Constitutional amendment as a
serious attempt to deal with the
problem of discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation. It is a
half-hearted measure that has been
forced on the party by electoral
considerations. Nothing else!
Joseph Carmel Chetcuti is a
barrister and solicitor in the
Supreme Court of Victoria, and the
High Court of Australia.
25
Letters
Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075
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To vote or not to vote –
that is the question
The electoral campaign is well
under way. As things stand for the
moment, the majority of shareholders of the National Bank of Malta
are in a dilemma, meaning that
over 1,000 votes are up for grabs.
Machiavellian old Labour stole
our bank, but on the other side
the PN who promised justice for
all simply took us for a ride, quite
happy with the status quo where
the government is raking in the
handsome dividends it earns from
its Bank of Valletta shares.
The present government went
through motions of talking to our
representatives in order to try and
reach a fair compensation in an out
of court settlement, however we
are still waiting for such an offer.
After all we are only asking for
roughly the equivalent of what a
handful of government consultants
earn in a year.
Injustice is a great evil in eyes of
God, but obviously not in the eyes
of the Maltese government.
George Sclivagnotis
Sliema
Maltese link to Cali
cocaine cartel
10 years ago – 9 February 2003
A Maltese company was
linked to the notorious Cali cocaine cartel in part of a United
States extradition request being heard in Colombia.
According to Bogota’s newspaper El Tiempo, the Maltese
connection came to light when
documents showed a company in Malta had endorsed a
loan amounting to $3.2 million
for the purchase of a freighter,
The Harbour, which was later
used to smuggle copious
amounts of cocaine.
If successful, the US extradition request would see Cali
kingpin Joaquin Maria Valencia tried in a Florida court for
drug trafficking and money
laundering.
The Maltese company, which
Valencia’s four sisters were
thought to be involved in, remained unnamed.
Joaquin Maria Valencia was
arrested in Bogota, Colombia
last week. His arrest crowned
a massive international investigation into the cartel’s
operations. The investigation,
dubbed ‘Operation Panama
Express’ was one of the largest US drug probes ever. It
dates back more than a decade and has resulted in the
seizure of more than 180 tons
of cocaine.
Although the transaction implicating the Maltese company took place over 10 years
ago, a Florida court believes it
has sufficient evidence to tie
Valencia to the Harbour. The
freighter was seized in 1992
by the US Coast Guard off
Cuba en route from Valparaiso, Chile to Baltimore, USA
as part of the Operation. Five
kilos of cocaine were discovered hidden in the hold.
Like most activities in the
criminal underworld, and particularly those on the scale of
the Cali cartel, the tale is an
intricate web of aliases and
subterfuge.
The Tampa court believes it
can link Valencia to the Harbour through its purchase, the
testimony of colleagues in the
drug trade gathered by the
US Drug Enforcement Agency
and through declarations of
Chilean shipping industrialist
Manuel Losada.
Losada admitted that in 1992
he had formed a company
with a Colombian to purchase
the Harbour. He also testified
that when he went into business with Valencia, not yet
head of the Cali cartel, he had
presented himself as Oscar
Martinez, an entrepreneur interested in industrial fishing.
According to the authorities,
Losada and Martinez requested financing from Banalco, a
Panamanian banking organisation. The organisation requested a guarantee, which
was, in turn, supplied by the
Maltese company. Although
Valencia’s sisters were linked
to the purchase, they denied
any knowledge of it.
Before the Harbour was intercepted it left the port of Valparaiso empty, and proceeded
to El Callao, Peru where one
ton of cocaine was loaded,
while the remaining four kilos
were transferred aboard at
open sea. The cocaine seized
was identified as having originated from former Cali cartel
leader Jose Santacruz.
In April 2002, following ten
years of investigation, a DEA
agent established that the
true identity of Losada’s partner in the Harbour purchase
was Valencia, using the name
Oscar Martinez as an alias.
Valencia, also known as El
Joven due to the young age at
which he is said to have taken
over the cartel, has used the
alias several times in the past
and the name has turned up in
earlier cocaine seizures.
Many other cocaine seizures
followed that of The Harbour
and some 175 people have
been arrested as part of the
operation, for the most part
poor South American fishermen recruited by Cali cartel
middlemen.
Zaren’s €350,000
PN campaign
budget
€1.20
R
eference is made to the
article published in the
3 Februrary edition of
MaltaToday, wherein it was
stated that ‘MFCC has approved
a budgeted sum of €350,000 in
expenses for the Nationalist
Party’s electoral campaign in
a board meeting held on 11
January 2013’.
In the said article, there is also
mention that the company wrote
off debts due by the Nationalist
Party of almost €1 million.
The company’s current
and former shareholders and
directors categorically deny
the allegations made by the
newspaper and its directors
confirm that the above
statements are incorrect and
untrue.
The company, as a provider of
conference events and venues,
has provided its services to a mix
of companies and organisers,
including political parties.
This was a policy adopted
YOUR FIRST READ
CARMEL CACOPARDO,
DEBORAH SCHEMBRI
INTERVIEWED
Pgs 12-15
AND FIRST CLICK OF
THE DAY WWW.MALTA
TODAY.COM.MT
maltatoday
SUNDAY • 3 FEBRU
ARY 2013
• ISSUE 691 • PUBLIS
HED EVERY WEDNESDAY
AND SUNDAY
REVEALED: Despite €1 mi
llion bad debt write-off
ZAREN’S €350,000 PN
CAMPAIGN BUDGET
DOCUM ENTS seen
by MaltaToday have revealed
that construction magnate
Nazzareno
Vassallo, approved a
budgete
sum of €350,00 0 in expense d
s for
the Nationa list Party’s
electora l
campaign, through a compan
y he
bought into, when the
company
was crippled by almost
€1 million
in bad debts run up by
the PN.
The respective sums of
€250,00 0
for Februar y and €100,00
0 for
March under the entry
‘electora l
campaign’ were approve
d
the last company board during
meeting
of the Malta Fairs and
Conventions Centre (MFCC)
, of
Vassallo became chairma which
n and
director through his joint-ven
ture
with Corinthia Group
– ‘Catermax’.
The monies were approve
11 January, 2013 followin d on
g various board discussions
about
Nationa list Party’s pressing the
needs
to have tents, stages
and other
equipment set up for its
electora l
roadshow until voting
day on 9
March.
est debtors – the Nationa
list Party – with debts of almost
€1 million which were written
off since
the company’s inceptio
n.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 8
Vassallo, once PN mayor
Mosta and also a PN donor, in
over 65% of MFCC in 2011, took
the company – then run when
in partnership between Nexos
Lighting
and Sign-It Ltd – had
faced near
bankruptcy with one
of its larg-
PL and PN mt survey
to raise
Nationalist ing to Labo
ur
funds next increases bysw
9%
we k d
by the former directors and
shareholders of the company
and continued to be followed
by the existing directors and
shareholders.
Zaren Vassallo
MALTATODAY SURVEY
For which party will you
Change since January
27
vote?
Nazzareno Vassallo et al
MFCC
SEE STORY ON PAGE 1
‘Foreigners should not
roam the countryside’
The ‘demands’ – to the present or
future politicians – which were
made by the hunting/trapping
community recently would be
laughable if they weren’t so sad.
By their own admission, many of
them – and sometimes their dogs
as well – suffer from depression.
Now, who in their right mind
would allow a depressive person to
own a firearm, or a depressive dog
to run around without a muzzle?
So much for the physical safety of
anyone living, working, driving or
taking a stroll in the countryside
on these islands.
The fact is that the even the
Maltese and Gozitans themselves
are simply no longer safe in the
countryside. Be it walking on
public paths or roads, in their own
gardens or even sitting on their
own terraces or roofs!
I will not go into all the demands
here, however, the latest attack
on foreigners is quite ludicrous.
Perhaps someone should explain
to these wannabe dictators just
how much foreigners – such as
tourists, business people, factory
owners, medical staff, retired
ex-pats, etc. the list is endless –
contribute to the economy and
well being of Malta!
However, perhaps they do have a
point, if it wasn’t for the far reaching effects of a foreign community, many of the hunters/poachers wouldn’t be able to afford their
highly toxic, polluting ammunition and neither would many of
them be able to feed their families.
As a result, the advantage to the
countryside and fauna would be
enormous.
Malta does not have many
natural resources, but the climate
is one, especially in winter, when
the rest of Europe is freezing
and the beautiful countryside is
another. The fact that the majority
of its inhabitants are wonderful, friendly, helpful people is yet
another asset. An absolute magnet
to attract tourism and money to
the country if properly managed
and marketed.
So how is it possible that a
handful of morons are holding this county to ransom? It is
especially insulting to foreigners
who love the islands and who have
invested a lot of blood, sweat and
tears – not to mention money – to
make our homes here. However,
it is even more insulting to the
Maltese population who appear to
have no choice in the matter.
It appears easier for both parties to pretend that this very real
threat to the economy and wellbeing of the country simply does
not exist.
How degrading it must be for the
politicians to have to admit that
basically, they are being dictated
to by a bunch of maniac depressive Neanderthals.
Lesley Gail Kreupl
Gharb, Gozo
‘Gonzi offers no guarantee’
The political trouble and turmoil
by various Nationalist Members
of Parliament and PN’s candidates who were forced to endured
during the last Parliamentary
legislature was the fault of Prime
Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s way in
handling various disputes because
of his political arrogance.
Such political bad tactics and
anti-democratic behaviour by
Lawrence Gonzi resulted in dividing his PN government and party,
in this way the country faced economic and political instability for
a very long time. Malta was the
only country in the European Union with a government that had no
majority in parliament for months
and months. And thus Malta
was unique in the parliamentary
system in the whole world.
The false argument by the
Nationalists is that now the
political careers of such Nationalists MPs are over. And therefore,
as such MPs are not going to be
candidates on the PNs list in the
coming election. That the political instability within the PN is
now over.
But Lawrence Gonzi does not offer any guarantee of economic and
political stability, even at the next
legislature, if elected. Or that the
elected Nationalist MPs – old and
new – will not face the political
turmoil that various Nationalists
MPs had to face between 2008
and 2013. As Lawrence Gonzi is
not capable of unite a PN government behind him for various
political reasons.
Therefore, it is clear that if
Malta will once again face a
GonziPN government. Economic
and political instability will reign
once more, even with Simon Busuttil as Gonzi’s Deputy if Simon
Busuttil will be elected. Malta can
only have economic and political
stability with Joseph Muscat as
the head of the Maltese government.
C. Williams
Paola
26
Letters
Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075
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Green Youths demand space
for young musicians
develop their talents to the fullest.
This applies in particular to those
involved in the musical scene. Many
youths lack the basic resources and
space needed for practice and as a
result we have many promising bands
from all musical scenes, from rock to
folk, struggling to make ends meet, let
alone get a break.
Those in authority should stop
encouraging our mentality of ‘Eurovision takes it all’, where mainstream
music, more often than not monopolised by older established singers, is
allowed to choke out more creative
alternative genres. Having been an
avid follower of the metal music
scene in my teenage years, I have
heard various truly amazing bands
perform in countless concerts, and
more recently it seems as if folk music
is undergoing a revival as well. Yet to
date the only springboard to fame for
aspiring musicians of whatever genre
remains the Eurovision. Why should
all musicians face the choice of either
being filtered through the funnel of
Pr
e- L
pu as
of blic t
fe at
r io
n
As usual in such campaigns the
needs of our youth are being forgotten amidst tablets and a 101 other
promises meant to draw the adult
electorate by hook or by crook.
The young are a particularly vulnerable sector of society in Malta, often
having neither the experience nor the
financial independence to enjoy and
SAYING IT AS IT IS SAVIOUR BALZAN
T
I
G
N
I
Y
A
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S
I
T
AS I ALZAN
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SAV
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pop-music criteria or consigned to
relative oblivion?
So what can we do to tap this local
talent? First of all, the establishment
needs to update its definition of
culture. For the government, ‘culture’
has simply become a nationalistic
buzz-word meant to evoke knights,
auberges and pastizzi. At a time when
today’s young musicians are given
little to no incentive, perhaps because
the government has been too busy
running after errant DJs, student
newspaper editors and local writers
with truncheon and handcuffs, it
seems evident that the meaning of
culture is being hegemonised from
above and that our youth are simply
being excluded from participating.
Culture without dynamic change and
agitation becomes however an empty
shell. You cannot have the cake of
apathy and repression, and then eat
it as well.
A system of soft loans to help musicians for instance, such as that which
AD is proposing, would go a long
way toward galvanising our music
industry. Youth in particular should
be helped, perhaps even by reducing
utility bills and subsidising rent on
garages used for practice.
For another, national broadcasting should give more space to the
alternative music scene. Flowering
talents have from time to time been
given their opportunity to perform
on television, and that is a good start.
Most youths must however, like me,
find the lack of diversity astoundingly mind-numbing and off-putting.
Though modern music has its own
version of McDonalisation, MTVisation, in which every talent is drowned
in a sea of irrelevant corporate blandness and no sound can be truly called
distinct, there are countless other
scenes free from big business interests
in which Maltese bands can easily
compete with the rest.
The Maltese alternative scene
has enough variety, originality and
youthful zest to be able to rivet our
generation’s attention, replacing the
current sense of alienation and ‘cultural ennui’ experienced by most of
us. Of course, from the same national
channel still caught up in a 1960s
frame of mind which refuses to give
fair coverage to a third party, I guess
all we can expect for years to come is
more of the same.
A third but not final solution would
be the operation of non-exclusive
youth centres all over the island.
Such a project, even to the ambitious
extent of having one in every locality
as proposed in AD’s electoral manifesto, is not half as daunting as it may
initially seem. With the right kind of
help, local councils should not find it
exceptionally hard to set up and run
such centres, which would comprise
of a number of halls or rooms made
available upon booking to other youth
voluntary organisations, young musicians and other artists. Such centres
would first and foremost serve as a
recreational hub for youth, something
severely needed in a country where
the average 17-year old has already
grown jaded and tired of the same old
stale new nightclubs selling the only
relief from their tedium at prohibitive
prices in Paceville, which has long
stopped being the exhilarating Mecca
of old. Secondly, how can we ever expect to get out of our current rut unless we provide a much needed space
for our local talent? As if it weren’t
enough being cooped up in some ugly
modern flat where just tuning your
guitar is guaranteed to disturb some
ten other families living above, below
and around you.
Reuben Zammit
Chairperson
ADZ - Green Youth
27
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Editorial
The things one should never say
The content of the Toni Zarb tapes point
to issues of political correctness, good
governance and allegations of potential
peddling of influence relating to government tenders.
There can be little doubt that the tapes
reveal a sort of selling of direct access to
government, in offering to use his good
offices to influence a potential Labour government in the issuing of tenders. Whether
this is true is another matter.
The Union is selling itself as a privileged
partner of the Labour Party. Zarb’s own
words could point to blatant future influence-peddling, which certainly does not
augur well or allay fears people have had for
years; that in the issuing of tenders the very
process is not sufficiently transparent.
Equally condemning is Toni Zarb’s commitment to help tenderers via the union
newspapers with favourable copy and a
commitment not to publish material detrimental to the businessman’s companies in
the union’s newspapers.
It is true that the background to the whole
story probably refers to a situation where
the union could have been reasonably justified in confronting a business entity. But
Zarb’s comments were a mistake.
The whole matter relating to tender
awards needs to be addressed with radical
reforms and fine-tuning which will allow
people to have more faith in the system and
remain reassured that all is above board.
There are too many suspicions around
the issuing of tenders, its level of transparency, the specific wording of the tender,
and the criterion surrounding the final
choice made in the awarding of tenders.
There have been numerous tender awards
that have been highly controversial. While
generally speaking the issuing of tenders
interests just a select number of companies
who periodically apply for tenders, the accusations of improper behaviour do carry
consequences on our society in general.
The reactions to the publication of these
tapes are also noteworthy of comment. The
Nationalist Party was quick to announce
that Toni Zarb should resign from his top
post at the union for clearly having announced the union’s intention to favour
businesses close to the union when applying for tenders.
This call for resignation is rich, when one
recalls how silent the same party has been
when numerous occasions of incorrect
political behaviour by its exponents had
surfaced. Equally noteworthy is the way the
leader of the Opposition disassociated him-
self and simply dismissed this influencepeddling without condemning it with a
short one liner: that nobody has the right to
speak in the name of the new government.
It is also worth noting the attempt by the
union to dismiss this unsavoury affair as
simply a discussion to fight precarious
employment.
If, however, lessons are to be drawn from
this recording, all three protagonists – the
Nationalist Party, the Labour Party and the
union leader – rather than trying to make
political capital out of this issue, should
commit themselves to a serious debate
within the framework of their political
manifestos.
The revelations of this tape should, even
at this eleventh hour, drive both parties
to draw up a blueprint in the awarding of
tenders, for although the award system is
regulated by a contracts committee with
strict procedures, there is much room for
increased transparency in order for the
awards system to win public trust.
To date, once a contract is announced, a
call for an expression of interests is made.
Little information is published in the government gazette and all persons (including companies registered in the European
Union), have a right to apply for the tender.
It is also worth noting that once a tender is
announced, conspiracy theories and loose
talk starts immediately with rumours that
a particular tender is earmarked or tailor
made for a particular company with allegations of favouritism that the award is
simply a smoke screen to favour a person
or that the wording specifically favours one
particular tenderer. This cynical attitude is
not totally based on conspiratorial considerations.
There is no more effective way to address
it than by increasing the levels of transparency, in keeping with the maxim that
sunshine is the best disinfectant.
We would strongly suggest that the next
parliament discusses and issues guidelines
to make the award system open to more
parliamentary scrutiny via a further beefed
up public accounts committee and with
media scrutiny by allowing the press to an
open question-and-answer session relating
to the tender long before the final award
is made. This may put the citizen’s mind
at rest that all was done above board. It
will certainly put an end to the constant
accusations by the interested parties who
lose a tender that the contracts committee favoured the person the contract was
awarded to.
Quote of the week
“[The Labour Party] uses people like Deborah Schembri, who has the face of a Nationalist…”
PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil, commenting on the PL’s ‘makeover’
28
THIS WEEK
THIS WEEK
Queer happenings at St James
He made a pack of edible chocolate Baby Jesus statues, which
were consumed by exhibition visitors, and he’s crafted a
Virgin Mary out of Lego. Now, the young and always playful
artist Emanuel Bonnici speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about finding
a home in MILKSHAKE, a collective visual arts exhibition
challenging the accepted notion of gender roles at St James
Cavalier
TEODOR RELJIC
You’ve studied both in Malta
and abroad (like a lot of your
colleagues). How would you describe the difference between the
two countries from a visual arts
context?
Thankfully lecturers at the University of Malta are very inspirational although art resources are
very limited. Most lecturers are
also contemporary art practitioners themselves and have encouraged me to further my studies
overseas. The variety of resources
and specialisation is what makes
foreign universities look much
more vibrant! It is only natural
that a bigger country has more to
offer in terms of visual culture.
Big art events and exhibitions are
varied and more accessible. Malta,
although small, is lucky to have a
vigorous artistic community.
What attracted you to the
Milkshake project, and how
would you say your work fits into
their initiative?
‘The queer body’ is a very intriguing topic and queer (or ‘odd’)
objects were always part of my
work. I’ve also been fascinated
by the notion of cultural acceptance, homogeneity and stereotypes from a sociological point
of view. Perhaps it is only stereotypical judgement which makes
us believe that mundane objects
such as shoes convey minimal
but ‘revealing information’ about
their owners such as age, social
status and gender. What happens
when this ‘revealing information’
is smeared? Does it challenge our
stereotypical understanding?
You’re known to be a ‘playful’
artist. Could you give our readers a run-down of your most
notable works – some of which
concerned quite touchy cultural
topics. What kind of reactions
did your Chocat(h)olic and Collective Conscience inspire?
Most of my work is a playful
remodeling of familiar objects –
the ‘gardjola’ is merged with the
iconic British telephone box, the
Neolithic statue of the goddess of
fertility juxtaposed on the shape
of a burger while religious icons
are made of unexpected objects.
Chocat(h)olic – where I set up a
food stand with chocolate Baby
Jesus – was one of my earlier
works, which some considered to
be cheeky. I considered it more of
Last stre
Carnival
Despite the unfavourable weather
conditions, Carnival festivities will
continue in Malta and Gozo until Tuesday.
‘Asylum’-Gardjola
an experimental exercise. At the
time, I had just started reading for
my M.A and was intrigued by Jean
Baudrillard’s writings about simulacra and simulation. I wanted to
test its relevance in today’s world,
and thus set up the installation
in different locations – both in
Malta and abroad. The perception
of the installation changed from
blasphemous to artistic depending on the context it was exhibited
in and venue. In the case of Collective Conscience, I just wanted
to see how a Madonna built out of
Lego would look like!
How do you feel about your
fellow artists exhibiting in the
Milkshake exhibition?
It is always very interesting to
see how other artists express or
interpret a common topic.
Chocat(h)olic
Neol(eat)
hic-age’
The exhibition – which is supported by the Malta Arts Fund –
opens on 8 March.
Telephone
Box
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHOTO CITY
Collective
Conscience
CULTURE | TV | FILM
CINEMA LISTINGS
FOOD | WHAT’S ON
29
maltatoday,
PILOT
PROBLEMS
pg 34
etch for the
weekend
CRANBERRY
COOKIES
pg 37
PAMUK
PROSE
pg 36
The name is Bond…
Stage producer Adrian Buckle (Unifaun Theatre)
expounds on his passion for the plays of
notorious British theatre-maker Edward Bond,
ahead of Unifaun’s production of Bond’s own
Olly’s Prison – directed by Chris Cooper at St
James Cavalier over March 8, 9; 15-17 and 22-24
Edward Bond remains a controversial
theatre-maker, even in his own country.
Was the decision to stage one of his plays in
Malta – which is fresh from ridding itself of
a censorship law – something of a deliberate
choice (if not a direct affront) given Malta’s
current cultural climate?
I am doing an Edward Bond play because I
am an Edward Bond fanatic. I consider him to
be the greatest living playwright. The reason
I do the theatre I do is owed to the influence
Edward Bond has over me. It all started back in
2001, when I was still looking for my theatrical
voice. Edward was in Malta to give some workshops and I attended all of them. Such was the
effect of his writing on me that I quickly realised that this was the theatre I wanted to do. So
I founded Unifaun. I have been wishing to do
one of his plays for a long time but never found
the courage. Then I met Chris Cooper, who is a
Bond specialist director and we agreed to create this project which included work in schools
with pupils, work with teachers, actor training
and Olly’s Prison production. It was all thanks
to the Malta Arts Fund, the Malta National
Lotteries Good Causes Fund and the British
Council who supported this project.
Though a certain uncompromising intensity is what appears to tie Bond’s work together (and contribute to his notoriety), his
plays run the gamut of topics, themes and
imagery. What would you say is most striking about Olly’s Prison in particular?
Many consider Bond’s plays to be bleak and
dark. I find a lot of hope in them. Olly’s Prison is one perfect example. The characters go
through a torrid experience but at the end,
there is hope. Bond’s plays show how society
turns us into violent people. But the violence is
not celebrated in Bond’s plays. It is shown for
the ugly thing it is. At the end, even where no
hope is left, with Edward’s plays, the audience
itself is the hope that emanates from the text.
What was the process of selecting the cast
like, when it comes to such a tough, emotionally wrenching play?
Chris Cooper held a two-day workshop
where he worked on Olly’s Prison and another
play called Broken Bowl, where he got to know
the actors, their strengths and who would be
best playing which character.
Could you describe the various characters
that make up the play, and how they were
matched in the casting?
Everything revolves around Mike (played
by Manuel Cauchi). He is the central figure
and all characters exist in relation to him. We
needed an actor with experience and stamina,
and Manuel was an obvious choice. The other
actors fit in nicely too with their characters. I
remember Chris Cooper remarking how ac-
For a full list of events, log on to:
http://www.maltaculture.com/
SUNDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2013
Adrian Buckle
tors like Steve Hili, Victor Debono and Dave
Persiva not only were good for the role but they
were also physically adapted to play the given
roles.
As mentioned above, Bond has had a
rocky relationship with his native England
over the years, having then found solace in
France for a period. Taking into account
that the play will be directed by Bond ‘regular’ Chris Cooper, did you nonetheless feel
any pressure in producing a play by such a
notoriously ‘difficult’ writer and director?
We were lucky to have Chris Cooper directing, as it facilitated negotiations with the
agents. Bond doesn’t give his plays to just anyone. He wants to approve the director. Since
we had Chris Cooper, this was not a problem.
Other than that, it is an honour to be doing
one of his plays. We are even inviting him to
come to Malta for the first night to talk with
the audience after the show. Actors involved
will have the enviable opportunity of working
with him for a week.
A masterclass with Chris Cooper was organised in the run up to the play. How did local actors deal with the workshop, and what
kind of insight into Bond’s work did they display? Will this have a direct bearing on the
upcoming production of Olly’s Prison?
For many of the actors, this masterclass was
an introduction to Bond. Chris worked on
two texts (Olly’s Prison and Broken Bowl) and
workshopped different situations. He concentrated on the theory of Bondian Drama, that
is, you don’t play the character, but you play
the scene. It will definitely have a bearing on
the production because actors were cast in the
masterclass. Chris expects a different kind of
acting, one that moves away from established
practitioners like Stanislavski and Grotowski.
I think this approach is innovative and will
challenge the actors very positively.
“When there is no hope left, the audience itself is
the hope that emanates from the play” – Manuel
Cauchi and Jo Fuller in Olly’s Prison
Interview by Teodor Reljic
30
THIS
THISWEEK
WEEK
WHAT’S ON
NIGHTLIFE
TONIGHT
Homebakes vol. 16
Chilled out evening at Coach and
Horses, Valley Road, Msida, with
cupcakes provided by Christina
Desira. Mulled wine will also be
served. Doors open at 19:30.
MUSIC
FEBRUARY 13
Spotlight on violinist Nadine
Galea and pianist Christine
Zerafa
Violinist Nadine Galea, final year
BMus Hons student at the Royal
College of Music London, and
pianist Christine Zerafa, MMus
graduate of the Royal Northern
College of Music, team up once
again to form the “energetic and
passionate duo”, as they perform
at the Manoel Theatre. Starts at
20:00. Tickets are at €10. Bookings:
bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt,
21 246389.
THEATRE AND
DANCE
FEBRUARY 15-17; 22-24
Red
FM Theatre production of the play
about the American artist Michael
Rothko, written by John Logan
(Gladiator, Skyfall) and directed by
Simone Spiteri. Playing at St James
Cavalier at 20:00. Cast includes
Edward Mercieca and Jean Marc
Cafa. Tickets are at €17. Bookings:
bookings@sjcav.org, 21 223200.
FEBRUARY 14, 15, 16
Toi Toi Peculiar Children
Performance for children at the
Manoel Theatre, created by the
members of the Teatru Manoel
Youth Theatre and incorporating
physical theatre, dance and
puppetry, to an original score.
Directed by Denise Mulholland.
Shows start at 10:00 on February
14 and 15, 16:30 on February
16. Tickets are at €3. Bookings:
21 246389.
FEBRUARY 16, 17
Ma Kienitx Tigiega
Comedy by Anthony Lesser
adapted for the Maltese stage
by Frank Ganado at the Manoel
Theatre. Cast includes: George
Micallef, John Suda, Simon Curmi,
Renato Dimech, Angele Cristina
and Catherine Mifsud. Show starts
at 19:30 on February 16, 18:30 on
Maltese Naturalists in South
America – French Guiana
February 17. Tickets are at €20,
€15, €10. Bookings: bookings@
teatrumanoel.com.mt, 21 246389.
FEBRUARY 22-24
L-Indemonjati u Maltin Ohra
Play written and directed by Albert
Marshall and loosely inspired by
the events surrounding the figure
of Franco Debono. Playing at
the Manoel Theatre, 20:00. Cast
includes Sean Buhagiar, Mario
Micallef, Jane Marshall, Larissa
Bonaci, Kris Spiteri, Anthony Ellul,
Marvic Cordina, Clive Piscopo,
Duncan Azzopardi and Jamie
Cardona. Tickets are at €25, €20
and €15. Bookings: bookings@
teatrumanoel.com.mt, 21 246389.
MARCH 8, 9; 15-17; 22-24
Olly’s Prison
Olly’s Prison
Unifaun Theatre production of
Edward Bond’s play by British
director Chris Cooper at St James
Cavalier. Cast includes Manuel
Cauchi, Pia Zammit, Jo Fuller,
David Persiva, Victor Debono,
Steve Hili, Simone Spiteri, Joseph
Zammit, Philip Leone Ganado,
Michael Zammit Maempel and
Leander Schembri. Show stars
at 19:00 on March 8 after which
there will be a discussion with
Edward Bond at the venue. The
remaining shows begin at 19:30.
Tickets are at €10 and €12.
Bookings: bookings@sjcav.org, 21
223200. Supported by the British
Council, the Malta Arts Fund and
the Malta Lotteries Good Causes
Fund and is co-produced by
Unifaun Theatre Productions and
St James Cavalier.
MARCH 22-24
In-Nisa Maltin Jafu Kif
Marcelle Theuma directs a play
by Clare Azzopardi at the Manoel
Theatre. Produced by MTMC
and Mario Philip Azzopardi. Cast
includes: Marta Vella, Magda
Van Kullenburg, Maria Cutajar,
Marilu Vella, Sharon Bezzina,
Coryse Borg, Chris Degiorgio
and Claudio Carta. Show starts
at 20:00. Tickets are at €25, €20
and €15. Bookings: Bookings:
21 246389.
EXHIBITIONS
UNTIL FEBRUARY 16
Fourteen thoughts
Exhibition of poetry and
photography at the Centre for
National Culture in Mosta.
Opening hours are: Monday to
Saturday from 17:30 to 20:30;
Sundays from 10:00 till noon and
17:30 till 20:30.
UNTIL FEBRUARY 18
2112 – An Installation by Silvia
Camporesi
Video installation by Italian artist
31
THIS WEEK
WHAT’S ON
Silvia Camporesi at St James
Cavalier, Valletta. The title of the
exhibition, 2112, is a reference to
the supposed end of the world.
On the December 21, 2012, the
day the world should have ended,
Camporesi walked around the
island of Gozo, trying to register
what was going on during that
important day. Camporesi’s video
is a tribute to this quietness.
Everything is static in the video,
only the sea moves. Looking at the
video we can perceive the time
passing, waiting for something
that will never happen.
FEBURARY 23 – MARCH 31
Maltese Naturalists in South
America – French Guiana
Exhibition of photographs and
more at the National Museum
of Natural History, Mdina.
A small group of Maltese
naturalists composing primarily
of entomologists and one
ornithologist have visited French
Guiana three times (2009, 2011
and 2012). The exhibition will
feature photographs taken
by the participants, a short
documentary, a wide variety of
entomological specimens and
other material originating from
this little known country in the
north-eastern part of South
America.
UNTIL FEBRUARY 25
Private Art – Exploring the
relationship between art and
privacy
An exhibition and series of
events opening at St James
Cavalier, Valletta exploring the
relationship between individuals’
rights to privacy and artist’s
right to freedom of artistic
expression. In conjunction with
the exhibition itself, a round table
discussion – open to the public
– will also take place on January
26, 19:00, in which experts
discussing the various artistic,
historical and privacy issues
raised by the practice of street
photography. There will also be a
photographers’ weekend ‘Live-In’,
which will allow photographers
to explore the practice of street
photography on January 26.
Photographers should gather at
St James Cavalier at 10:00 for an
event that will run through the
weekend.
street of Floriana with a fireworks
display. Some of the events are
held inside an enclosure close to
Freedom Square in Valletta. The
events held here may be attended
against a nominal fee.
PUBLIC
LECTURES
FEBRUARY 14
Silent Voices from the Archives
Public lecture by Dr Joan Abela
organised by Din l-Art Ħelwa.
The lecture aims to highlight
the historical importance and
uniqueness of the documents
deposited at Malta’s Notarial
Archives. Lecture begins at 18:00,
and will be taking place at Din
l-Art Ħelwa, 133, Melita Street,
Valletta. Attendance is free of
charge but donations to DLĦ will
be appreciated.
FEBRUARY 15
Giants and Dwarves
Lecture by John J. Borg, Senior
Curator National Museum of
Natural History at the Museum in
Mdina, 18:30. This presentation
will look at the Pleistocene (Ice
Age) Fauna and the natural
environment in Malta and how this
effected not only the behavior such
as predator-prey relationships but
also changes in the physiognomy of
these animals. Some species such
as Elephants, hippos, lizards and
rodents shrank in size while other
species like Dormice, birds and
tortoises grew in size – hence the
title Dwarves and Giants.
FEBRUARY 15
Antonin Artaud: Inhabiting the
limit, Defining the limit
Public lecture by Dustin Cauchi
on the seminal French theatre
practitioner Antonin Artaud at
Alliance Francaise, Casa Sir Luigi
Preziosi, 108, Triq San Tumas,
Floriana. The lecture will focus
on the relationship between
autobiography and work, paying
particular attention to Artaud’s
final period (1935-1948). Cauchi
will be drawing on his MA
dissertation for the material of the
lecture. Starts at 18:30.
MCAST gets colourful courtesy
of international project
DULUX Paints, through its local
representatives, Vee Gee Bee Ltd,
chose MCAST Institute of Art and
Design students to introduce in
Malta the brand’s worldwide initiative, the ‘Lets Colour Project’.
The ‘Lets Colour Project’ is a
worldwide initiative aiming to “add
colour to people’s lives”. As Dulux
puts it, “we have the ambition to
make the world a more colourful
place. We believe that making our
surroundings more colourful has
a huge positive effect on how people live and feel. By adding colour
to people’s lives both in a physical
and metaphorical way we integrate
our economic with our social and
environmental ambitions”. This
project has also reached our shores
this year.
The MCAST Art and Design
Institute at Targa Gap, Mosta,
was chosen as the pioneer for this
project by giving an opportunity to
its students to liven up their three
main corridors within the Institute’s premises, which have so far
always been painted in white.
MCAST Higher National Diploma graphic design students
enthusiastically embarked on this
project, which was included as one
of the coursework assignments.
During the first semester of this
academic year, the students researched and developed various
vivid designs using different colour
options. A few weeks ago, a panel
of judges selected the winning design, which the students brought to
life using Dulux Paints during the
annual Progress Week. This week
marks the end of the first and the
beginning of the second semester.
Institute of Art and Design students take a break from the dayto-day schedule of their course to
engage in different hands-on tasks
in the community. This year, the
Higher National Diploma students
used Progress Week to embellish
the Institute’s corridors through
this project, thus improving the
Institute’s environment, where
hundreds of students spend most
of their times during the academic
year.
While visiting the students ‘at
work’, MCAST Principal and CEO,
Stephen Cachia expressed his utmost satisfaction for this project
and reiterated his support for similar initiatives entered into with the
collaboration of the commercial
sector. He thanked Vee Gee Bee
Ltd, local representatives for Dulux Paints for choosing MCAST for
this assignment.
Stephen Vella, Director of the Institute of Art and Design, thanked
the students for their dedication
and for producing excellent work
in this project. “Scientific studies have shown that individuals
are greatly affected by the colours
around them – our students and
staff will surely welcome this refreshing change in our environment.”
For more information about the
MCAST Institute of Art and Design, visit www.mcast.edu.mt. For
more information on Vee Gee Bee,
visit http://www.vgb.com.mt/
FAA host seminar on the
benefits of trees
FEBRUARY 22
FILM
SCREENINGS
FEBRUARY 13, 20
Date with Bonnie Prince Billy
US musician Bonnie Prince Billy
has selected a series of films to
be screened by Kinemastik at
The British Royal Legion, 111,
Melita Street, Valletta from
20:45. The screening is for
members only, but membership
can be purchased on the night
(€1 per screening; €20 yearly
membership).
CARNIVAL
FEBRUARY 8-12
Carnival in Malta and Gozo
Annual celebration of carnival
across the islands, taking place in
various venues across the island.
The Malta Council for Culture
and the Arts organise the official
Carnival festivities that take place
in Valletta from Friday until the
following Tuesday. Some of the
events are held inside an enclosure
and may be attended against a
nominal fee. On the last day, a big
Carnival defile ends in the main
Descent into Hades
Lecture by Prof. Peter Vassallo on
the mythical subject of the descent
into Hades at the Music Room, St
James Cavalier, Valletta. Organised
by the Malta Classics Association.
Starts at 18:00. Entrance is free.
TREASURE
HUNT
TODAY
Jeep Treasure Hunt
Treasure hunt organised by Sky’s
The Limit. Meeting point is at
Bugibba where participants will
get into their jeeps to drive to
Mtarfa. The treasure hunt will
then proceed to Baħrija and
Mtaħleb, go through Dingli and
finish off with Mdina and Rabat.
Participation is at €17 per person,
which will include the rent of
the jeep, petrol, ham and cheese
or tuna ftira and two bottles
of water. For more information
and to confirm booking, send an
email to: limitmalta@gmail.com.
You are also asked to provide
your name, mobile number, food
preference and whether or not
you’d be driving the jeep yourself
(must be over 25 years old).
FOLLOWING the public interest
being shown in local trees, especially when the general public becomes aware of mismanagement of
urban trees, the FAA Tree Group
is organising a seminar on Tuesday, 19 February in collaboration
with the Attard Local Council, on
the benefits and uses of trees.
Alfred E. Baldacchino, an environment manager and planner, will
discuss Maltese native trees, highlighting their natural environment
and their endangered status as well
as threats to such indigenous trees
from invasive species.
The seminar will also include information on the benefits of trees
in reducing air and noise pollution, in supplying oxygen and the
shade they give during the summer
months. Trees can also contribute to Malta’s economy through
boosting tourism and creating
green jobs.
Antoine Gatt, a landscape architect will speak on trees in Maltese
landscaping, with emphasis on
how trees can contribute and improve our physical and psychologi-
cal health, wealth and well being.
Baldacchino will also give a synopsis of the local regulations for
the protection of Maltese trees and
will be followed by time for discussion and refreshments.
The seminar starts at 18:00 at the
Attard Primary School, Ħal Warda
Street, Attard, however registration
for the seminar open at 17.30 and
participants are asked to be seated
by 17.45. Bookings are to be made
on sigar@faa.org.mt, or phone 27
318792, or 79 318792.
32
THIS WEEK
TELEVISION
Jungle 2 Jungle 18:30 Studio Aperto – Meteo 19:00
Così fan tutte 2 19:25 Man of the House 21:25 Le
Iene Show 02:00 Sport Mediaset 02:25 Studio Aperto – La giornata
TVM
07:00 L-Ghodwa T-Tajba 08:00 TVAM 10:30 Malta u Lil Hinn Minnha 12:00 News in Maltese 12:10
Hadd Ghalik 14:00 News in Maltese 14:05 Hadd
Ghalik (cont.) 15:30 Teleshopping 16:00 News
in Maltese 16:05 Teleshopping 16:40 Gadgets
(repeat) 17:10 Mixage (repeat) 18:00 News in
Maltese 18:10 Venere 18:40 TVHEMM 20:00 LAhbarijiet 20:45 American Idol 23:05 Ahbarijiet
fil-Qosor 23:30 Malta u lil Hinn Minnha (repeat)
RETE 4
06:30 Tg4 Night News 06:50
Mediashopping 07:20
Vita da strega 07:50
Super Partes 09:20 Slow Tour 10:00 S. Messa 11:00
Le storie di viaggio a... 11:25 Anteprima Tg4 11:30
Tg4 – Meteo 4 13:55 Anteprima Tg4 14:00 Tg4
– Meteo 4 14:40 DonnAvventura 15:25 Michele
Strogoff 18:50 Anteprima Tg4 18:55 Tg4 – Meteo 4
19:35 Il Comandante Florent 21:30 Un matrimonio
all’inglese 23:40 I Bellissimi di Rete 4
23:45
Parla con lei 01:50 Tg4 Night News 02:15 Smoking
TVM 2
07:00 News 08:20 Ghawdex illum 08:50 Kelma
l-hajja 09:00 Quddiesa 09:45 Sensilhena 10:30
TVAM (repeat) 13:00 Ruggers 13:30 Karnival
2013 18:00 Malta u lil hinn minnha 19:30 News
for the hearing impaired 19:40 Il-Harsa ta Ruzann 20:10 Documentaries 2 x 7’ 20:25 News
in English 20:30 Madwarna 21:00 Kontrattakk
23:00 Storjografija
NET TV
07:45 INT fuq NET 10:00 Ucuh 10:30 Futur fisSod 12:00 Distinti 12:30 Kisbiet 13:00 Telebejgh 14:00 Net News 14:05 Simpatici 15:00 Net
News 15:05 Telebejgh 15:40 NetWorks 16:25
Sport Extra 17:00 Net News 17:05 Sport Extra
17:30 Flusek (repeat) 18:00 Net News 18:10 Futur fis-Sod 19:45 Net News 20:30 Déjà Vu 21:30
Net News 21:35 Replay 23:00 Net News 23:30
Futur fis-So
BBC ENTERTAINMENT 300
06:00 Little Prairie Dogs 06:10 Nina and the Neurons
06:25 Gigglebiz 06:40 Forget-Me-Not Farm 06:55 Me
Too! 07:15 Little Prairie Dogs 07:25 Nina and the Neurons 07:40 Gigglebiz 07:55 Forget-Me-Not Farm 08:10
Me Too! 08:30 The Weakest Link 09:15 One Foot in the
Grave 09:45 Keeping up Appearances 10:15 Gavin and
Stacey 10:45 The Old Guys 11:15 Blackadder Goes Forth
11:45 After You’ve Gone 12:15 2point4 Children 12:45
The Weakest Link 13:30 One Foot in the Grave 14:00
Bleak House 14:30 Bleak House 15:00 Doctors 15:30
Doctors 16:00 Doctors 16:30 Doctors 17:00 Doctors
17:30 Keeping up Appearances 18:00 Gavin and Stacey
18:35 Carrie’s War [U] 20:05 Friday Night Dinner 20:30
Come Fly with Me 21:00 Zen 22:30 Waking the Dead
23:20 Kiss of Death
AXN 301
06:00 Torta di riso... 06:25 Torta di riso... 06:50 Torta di
Spot 07:50 Flashpoint 08:40 Flashpoint 09:30 Walker,
Texas Ranger 10:20 Walker, Texas Ranger 11:15 Il Clown
12:05 Il Clown 13:00 Torta di riso... 13:30 Torta di riso...
14:00 The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift [12] 15:50
Anaconda [15] 17:30 Most Shocking Best Of 18:00
Squadra Speciale Cobra 11 19:00 Squadra Speciale
Cobra 11 20:00 Action countdown 21:00 24 ore [15]
23:00 B...: Cattive ragazze 23:30 B...: Cattive ragazze
E! ENTERTAINMENT 306
06:00 THS: Friends 08:00 THS: Kate and Pippa 09:00
Opening Act: Von and Lady Gaga 10:00 Mrs. Eastwood &
Company: If the Nose Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It 10:30 Mrs.
Eastwood & Company: Mrs. Doubt Tyler 11:00 E! News
11:30 Tyra Banks 12:00 15 Awesomest Boy Bands 13:00
Kevin and Dani Jonas: Kevin and Dani Jonas 14:00 Katy
Perry 15:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Backstory 15:30
Taylor Swift 16:30 Carly Rae Jepsen: Carly Rae Jepsen
17:00 No Doubt: No Doubt 18:00 Countdown to the Red
Carpet: The 2013 Orange British Academy Film Awards
18:15 Live from the Red Carpet: The 2013 Orange British Academy Film Awards 19:15 Countdown to the Red
Carpet: The 2013 Orange British Academy Film Awards
19:30 Live from the Red Carpet: The 2013 Orange British Academy Film Awards 20:30 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got
Backstory 21:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Super Powers
21:30 Nicki Minaj: My Truth 22:00 Keeping up with the
Kardashians: The Dominican Republic 23:00 Love You,
Mean It With Whitney Cummings 23:30 E! News
FINE LIVING NETWORK 307
06:00 Yoga for Life 06:50 Pilates: From the inside out
2 Broke Girls Y2 Ep13: And The Bear Truth
19:20 on melita more (Channel 802)
RAI DUE
06:00 Due uomini e mezzo 06:30 Real School
07:00 I Cuccioli della Giungla 07:20 Cip e Ciop
07:40 L’Albero Azzurro 08:00 I Saurini 08:14 Cartoon Flakes Week End 08:15 Ultimate Spider-Man
08:35 Kung Fu Panda 09:00 New Art Attack 09:25
Alien Surf Girls 09:40 Cerchi alieni 10:10 Ragazzi
c’è Voyager 10:50 A come Avventura 11:30 Mezzogiorno In Famiglia 13:00 Tg2 – Giorno 13:30 Tg2
Motori 13:40 Meteo 2 13:45 Quelli che aspettano
15:40 Victoria Cabello in Quelli che 17:05 Tg2 L.I.S.
17:08 Meteo 2 17:10 Stadio Sprint 18:10 90*
minuto 19:35 Il Puma 20:30 Tg2 – 20.30 21:00
N.C.I.S. 21:45 Elementary 22:35 La Domenica
Sportiva 01:00 Tg2 01:20 Sorgente di vita 01:50
Meteo 2 01:55 Appuntamento al cinema
16:35 – Jungle 2 Jungle – Italia 1
RAI UNO
ONE
06:45 Pink Panther 07:30 One News 08:00 Folji
10:00 Xandira Politika – Malta Taghna Lkoll 11:00
Maratona gbir ta’ fondi b’risq il-Partit Laburista
13:30 One News
13:45 Maratona (cont.) 17:30 One News 17:45
Maratona (cont.) 19:30 One News 20:30 Maratona
(cont.) 23:15 One News
CANALE 5
06:00 Tg5 Prima Pagina 07:55 Traffico – Meteo.it
08:00 Tg5 Mattina 08:50 Le frontiere dello spirito
07:40 The Sweet Truth 08:05 Feng Shui Living 08:30
Curb Appeal 09:00 Mom Caves 09:25 Kitchen Impossible
09:50 Bathtastic! 10:15 Ground Breakers 10:40 Masters
of Luxury: Jewellery 11:10 State of Style: Spring/Summer Collection 11:35 Platinum Weddings 12:00 Bazaar 12:25 Naturally Delicious 12:50 Chasing the Yum
13:15 Drop 5 lbs with Good Housekeeping 13:45 Easy
Entertaining with Michael Chiarello 14:10 Reservations
Required 14:35 Curb Appeal 15:00 Mom Caves 15:25
House Hunters 15:50 If Walls Could Talk 16:15 Masters
of Luxury: Fashion 16:40 State of Style: Spring/Summer
Collection 17:05 Behind the Label 17:30 The Wandering
Golfer 18:00 Design School 18:55 Secrets From a Stylist 19:20 Divine Design 19:45 Mom Caves 20:10 House
Hunters 20:35 Selling New York 21:00 Selling New York
21:30 Selling New York 21:55 House Hunters International 22:20 House Hunters International 22:45 Chef
Abroad 23:10 Chef Abroad 23:35 The Wandering Golfer
ZONE REALITY 308
06:00 Lifeline 06:50 Half Body: Whole Life 07:40 True
Heroes 08:05 True Heroes 08:30 The Incurables 08:55
The Incurables 09:20 Scammed 09:45 Scammed 10:10
First In: Response Unit 10:35 First In: Response Unit
11:00 Resident Life 11:50 Lifeline 12:40 True Heroes
13:05 True Heroes 13:30 The Incurables 13:55 The Incurables 14:20 Scammed 14:45 Scammed 15:10 First
In: Response Unit 15:35 First In: Response Unit 16:00
Resident Life 16:50 Half Body: Whole Life 17:40 Rapid
Response 18:05 Rapid Response 18:30 True Heroes
18:55 True Heroes 19:20 Police Ten 7 19:45 Police Ten
7 20:10 The Real NCIS 21:00 FBI Criminal Pursuit 21:50
Crimes Down Under: Murder, Drugs and Gangs 22:40
Dark Waters of Crime 23:30 Forensic Investigators
ITV GRANADA 309
06:00 Seven Dwarves 07:00 Emmerdale 09:00 Coronation Street 11:00 Dancing on Ice 13:00 Coach Trip
15:00 Come Dine with Me Ireland 17:00 The Royal Variety Show 2012 19:30 The Adventurer’s Guide to Britain
20:00 Dirk Gently 21:00 Monroe 22:00 The Jonathan
Ross Show 23:00 Come Dine with Me Ireland
TCM 310
06:00 Northern Pursuit [A] 07:35 It Started with a Kiss
[A] 09:15 Doctor Zhivago [PG] 12:25 They Drive by Night
[PG] 14:00 Stay Away, Joe [U] 16:00 Billy the Kid [A]
17:35 Dial M for Murder [A] 19:20 Party Girl [A] 21:00
The Fixer [X] 23:20 Some Came Running [A]
MGM CHANNEL 312
09:40 TgCom 10:00 Zoo Doctor 10:55 Yellowstone
– Inverno
11:55 Melaverde 13:00 Tg5 – Meteo.it 13:40 L’arca
di Noè 14:00 Domenica Live 18:50 Avanti un altro
20:00 Tg5 – Meteo.it
20:40 Striscia la domenica 21:30 Alexander 00:50 Tg5 Notte – Meteo.it
02:20 Mariti in affitto
ITALIA 1
07:00 Super Partes 08:05 Gormiti – L’eclissi suprema
08:10 Gormiti – L’eclissi suprema 08:20 Beyblade
Metal Fury 08:45 Ben 10 09:35 G.I. Joe Renegades
10:35 Due magiche gemelle 13:00 Sport Mediaset
– XXL 14:00 Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan 16:35
06:40 Ring of the Musketeers [15] 08:10 The Private Life
of Sherlock Holmes [PG] 10:15 12 Angry Men [U] 12:15
Molly [15] 14:00 MGM’s Big Screen 14:20 The Hound of
the Baskervilles [A] 15:50 Hidden Agenda [15] 17:40
Equus [AA] 20:00 Last Tango in Paris [X] 22:05 The
Handmaid’s Tale 23:50 Rollerball [AA]
DIVA UNIVERSAL 313
06:00 Kojak 06:57 Kojak 08:00 Rex: A Cop’s Friend
08:57 Rex: A Cop’s Friend 09:55 Rex: A Cop’s Friend
10:55 Agatha Christie’s Marple 12:49 Parole D’Amore
12:55 Agatha Christie’s Poirot 14:53 La Prova 15:00
Law & Order 16:00 Law & Order 17:00 JAG 18:00 JAG
19:00 McBride: Dogged 20:45 Great Women 21:00 Law
& Order 22:00 Law & Order 23:00 Public Speaking
06:00 Da Da Da – Musica e Cinema 06:30 UnoMattina In Famiglia 07:00 Tg1 07:05 UnoMattina In
Famiglia 08:00 Tg1 08:18 UnoMattina In Famiglia
09:00 Tg1 09:04 UnoMattina In Famiglia 09:30 Tg1
L.I.S. 09:33 UnoMattina In Famiglia 10:05 MixItalia
Cormons e Aquileia 10:30 A sua immagine 10:55
Santa Messa 11:50 A sua immagine 12:00 Recita
dell’Angelus da Piazza San Pietro 12:10 A sua immagine 12:20 Linea verde 13:30 Telegiornale 14:00
Domenica in – l’Arena 16:28 Che tempo fa 16:30 Tg1
16:35 Domenica in – Così è la vita 18:50 L’ Eredità
20:00 Telegiornale 20:35 Rai Tg Sport 5 20:40 Affari Tuoi 21:30 Tutta la musica del cuore 23:24 Tg1
60 Secondi 23:25 Speciale Tg1 00:30 Tg1 – Notte
00:50 Che tempo fa
How Do They Do It? 07:15 Twist the Throttle: MV Agusta
08:10 Mythbusters: Waterslide Wipeout 09:05 Destroyed in Seconds 09:30 Destroyed in Seconds 09:55
Extreme Engineering: Turning Torso 10:50 American
Guns: Family Arms 11:40 Rattlesnake Republic 12:35
Auction Kings: Samurai Sword/Steamer Trunk 13:05
Auction Kings: Headhunter Ax/Vintage Coke Machine
13:30 Auction Hunters: The Real Thing 14:00 Auction
Hunters: Weapons of Past Destruction 14:25 Gold Rush:
Alaska: Gold Fever 15:20 Gold Divers: Eureka! 16:15
American Chopper: Senior vs Junior: The Last Build
17:10 Ultimate Survival: Romania 18:05 Man, Woman,
Wild: Aitutaki 19:00 How It’s Made 19:30 How It’s Made
20:00 Outback Truckers 21:00 Ultimate Survival: Borneo
Jungle 22:00 River Monsters: Russian Killer 23:00 Aircrash Confidential: Extreme Weather
THE STYLE NETWORK 352
06:00 Videofashion News 06:30 Videofashion News
07:00 Videofashion Daily 08:00 Kimora: Life in the Fab
Lane 08:55 Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane 09:50 How Do I
Look? 10:50 How Do I Look? 11:50 Big Rich Texas 12:45
Big Rich Texas 13:45 Tia and Tamera 14:40 Tia and Tamera 15:35 Tia and Tamera 16:30 Tia and Tamera 17:25
Giuliana and Bill 18:25 Giuliana and Bill 19:20 Giuliana
and Bill 20:15 Giuliana and Bill 21:10 Chicagolicious
22:05 Chicagolicious 23:00 Jerseylicious
FOOD NETWORK HD 372
06:00 Food Network Challenge 06:50 Kid in a Candy
Store 07:15 Unwrapped 07:40 United Tastes of America
08:05 Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics 08:30 Barefoot
Contessa: Back to Basics 08:55 Cooking for Real 09:20
Easy Chinese: San Francisco 09:45 Easy Chinese: San
Francisco 10:10 Mexican Made Easy 10:35 Mexican
Made Easy 11:00 Iron Chef America 11:50 Tyler’s Ultimate 12:15 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 12:40 Easy
Chinese: San Francisco 13:05 World Café 13:30 Easy
Chinese: San Francisco 13:55 Easy Chinese: San Francisco
14:20 United Tastes of America 14:45 Chopped 15:35
Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics 16:00 Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics 16:25 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
16:50 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives 17:15 Andy Bates
American Street Feasts 17:40 Tyler’s Ultimate 18:05
Guy’s Big Bite 18:30 Chopped 19:20 Chopped 20:10
Iron Chef America 21:00 Iron Chef America 21:50 Iron
Chef America 22:40 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives 23:05
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives 23:30 Andy Bates American
Street Feasts 23:55 Andy Bates American Street Feasts
DISCOVERY CHANNEL 400
06:00 How It’s Made 06:25 How Do They Do It? 06:50
The Handmaid’s Tale
22:05 on MGM Movies (Channel 312)
DISCOVERY WORLD 401
06:00 Revealed... 06:50 Revealed... 07:45 Survivorman:
Ten Days 08:35 Survivorman: Ten Days 09:30 Beyond
Survival with Les Stroud 10:20 Chilean Miners Rescue
11:10 Built for Champions: Constructing the High Tech
Arena 12:05 Reign of the Dinosaurs 12:55 Reign of the
Dinosaurs 13:50 Reign of the Dinosaurs 14:45 Mystery
Cars 15:10 Chasing Classic Cars 15:40 Mystery Cars
16:05 Chasing Classic Cars 16:35 When Disaster Strikes
17:25 When Disaster Strikes 18:20 When Disaster
Strikes 19:10 Showdown: Air Combat 20:05 Showdown: Air Combat 21:00 Hostage in Paradise 21:55 I
Escaped Death 22:50 Empire 23:45 Death Machines
DISCOVERY SCIENCE 402
06:00 Meteorite Men 06:50 Stunt Junkies 07:15 Stunt
Junkies 07:40 Through the Wormhole with Morgan
Freeman 08:30 Mighty Ships 09:25 Da Vinci’s Machines
10:15 Tech Toys 360 10:40 Tech Toys 360 11:10 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 11:35 Bigger, Better, Faster,
Stronger 12:00 Through the Wormhole with Morgan
Freeman 12:50 Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible
13:20 Da Vinci’s Machines 14:10 Weird or What? 15:00
Tech Toys 360 15:25 Tech Toys 360 15:55 Superships
16:45 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
17:35 Da Vinci’s Machines 18:30 Meteorite Men 19:20
Finding Bigfoot 20:10 Tech Toys 360 20:35 Tech Toys
360 21:00 Meteorite Men 21:50 Dark Matters 22:40
Squeamish 23:05 Squeamish 23:35 Weird or What?
TLC 403
06:00 Rich Bride/Poor Bride 06:50 Brides of Beverly
Hills 07:15 Brides of Beverly Hills 07:40 Ace of Cakes
08:05 Ace of Cakes 08:30 Cake Boss 08:55 Cake Boss
RAI TRE
06:00 Fuori orario. Cose (mai) viste 07:00 Kilimangiaro Album 07:15 La grande vallata 08:10
Norman astuto poliziotto 09:50 L’Ispettore Derrick
10:45 TGR Estovest 11:05 TGR Mediterraneo 11:30
TGR RegionEuropa 12:00 Tg3 12:10 TG3 Salute informa 12:18 Tg3 persone 12:25 TeleCamere 12:55
Prima della Prima 13:25 Passepartout Dopo la crisi
del progresso 14:00 Tg Regione 14:09 Tg Regione
Meteo 14:15 Tg3 14:30 MiniRitratti 15:00 Tg3
LIS 15:05 Alle falde del Kilimangiaro 18:00 Per
un pugno di libri 18:55 Meteo 3 19:00 Tg3 19:30
Tg Regione 19:51 Tg Regione Meteo 20:00 Blob
20:05 Laurel and Hardy 21:05 Ballarò 23:20 Tg3
23:30 Tg Regione 23:35 Sostiene Bollani 00:45
Tg3 00:55 TeleCamere
09:20 Cake Boss 09:45 Cake Boss 10:10 Say Yes to the
Dress 10:35 Say Yes to the Dress 11:00 Say Yes to the
Dress 13:05 Say Yes to the Dress 13:30 Ultimate CakeOff 14:20 Cake Boss: Next Great Baker 15:10 Cake Boss
15:35 Cake Boss 16:00 Six Little McGhees 16:50 What
Not to Wear 17:40 Ace of Cakes 18:05 Ace of Cakes
18:30 Toddlers and Tiaras 19:20 Long Island Medium
19:45 Long Island Medium 20:10 My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding 21:00 Brides of Beverly Hills 21:25
Brides of Beverly Hills 21:50 Secretly Pregnant 22:40
The Man with the 200lb Tumor 23:30 Strange Attractions 23:55 Strange Attractions
INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY 404
06:00 Killer Outbreaks 06:50 Street Patrol 07:15 Street
Patrol 07:40 Real Emergency Calls 08:05 Who on Earth
Did I Marry? 08:30 On the Case with Paula Zahn 09:20
Murder Shift 10:10 Disappeared 11:00 Killer Outbreaks
11:50 Street Patrol 12:15 Street Patrol 12:40 Forensic
Detectives 13:30 On the Case with Paula Zahn 14:20
Real Emergency Calls 14:45 Who on Earth Did I Marry?
15:10 Disappeared 16:00 Murder Shift 16:50 Forensic
Detectives 17:40 On the Case with Paula Zahn 18:30
Disappeared 19:20 Nightmare Next Door 20:10 Couples
Who Kill 21:00 Reel Crime/Real Story 21:50 Fatal Encounters 22:40 Deadly Affairs 23:30 Ghost Lab
ANIMAL PLANET 405
06:00 Meerkat Manor 06:25 Dogs 101 07:15 The
Crocodile Hunter 08:10 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip
09:05 Monkey Life 09:30 Dick ’N’ Dom Go Wild 10:00
Extraordinary Dogs 10:25 The Really Wild Show 10:55
Wildest Arctic 11:50 Wild France 12:45 Wild France
13:40 Shamwari: A Wild Life 14:05 Shamwari: A Wild
Life 14:35 Wildlife SOS 15:30 Too Cute! 16:25 My Cat
from Hell 17:20 Call of the Wildman 17:45 Call of the
Wildman 18:15 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz
19:10 Squid Invasion 20:05 Wildest Arctic 21:00 Untamed China with Nigel Marven 21:55 Wild Things with
Dominic Monaghan 22:50 Untamed and Uncut 23:45
Squid Invasion
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 406
06:00 Megafactories: Supercars: Nissan GT-R 07:00
Megafactories: Maserati 08:00 Strippers: Cars for Cash:
American Muscle 09:00 Nazi Twin Mystery 10:00 Nazi
Temple of Doom 11:00 Family Guns: Grim Reaper 12:00
Bid & Destroy: The Cash Factory 13:00 Apocalypse: The
Rise of Hitler: Becoming Hitler 14:00 Apocalypse: The
WWE Smackdown
19:30 on Melita Sports (Channel 701)
33
THIS WEEK
TELEVISION
ma à Fontainebleau 20:10 Clips musicaux 20:30 Simon
Rattle dirige le concert de la Saint Sylvestre de Berlin
2011 22:00 Simon Rattle dirige le Concert Européen du
Philharmonique 23:45 Marc Ribot y los Cubanos Postizos Live à Porquerolles Jazz
EUROSPORT 600
08:30 Ski Pass 08:45 FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping 09:45 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic Skiing: Almaty,
Kazakhstan: Gunderson [Live] 10:45 Live: FIS World Cup
Alpine Skiing: Schladming, Austria: Women’s Downhill
[Live] 12:15 FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping 12:45
Live: IBU World Cup Biathlon: Nove Mesto, Czech Republic: Women’s Pursuit [Live] 13:45 Live: FIS World
Cup Nordic Ski Jumping: Willingen, Germany: Team HS
145 [Live] 15:45 Live: IBU World Cup Biathlon: Nove
Mesto, Czech Republic: Women’s Pursuit [Live] 17:00 Ski
Pass 17:15 IBU World Cup Biathlon 18:00 Africa Cup of
Nations Football 18:30 Live: Africa Cup of Nations Football: Final [Live] 21:00 WATTS 21:15 World Title Boxing
23:00 FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping
EUROSPORT2 601
9/11 and The American Dream
9/11 touched almost every country in the world. The twin towers were home to one of the most diverse and ethnically mixed business communities in the
world. Fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters had all come to New York in search of a dream. On 9/11 their dream was shattered. This film, made to
mark the tenth anniversary, is a memorial to their loss. It is a record of tragedy and grief- but also of heroism and hope for the future. We tell the most heart
rending, powerful, uplifting and inspirational stories from all over the world..
20:00 (rep. at 22:30) on Nat Geo HD (Channel 421)
Rise of Hitler: Marching to War 15:00 Inside World War
II 16:00 Inside World War II 17:00 Inside World War
II 18:00 Ghost Ship: Resurrection 19:00 Lost Ships of
Rome 20:00 Lost Continent of the Pacific 21:00 Witness:
Japan Disaster 22:00 Costa Concordia Disaster: One Year
On 23:00 Superstorm New York: What Really Happened
NAT GEO WILD 407
06:00 Lion Battle Zone 07:00 Lion Ranger 08:00 Night
Stalkers 09:00 Secret Brazil 10:00 Timbavati: An Epic Cat
Story 11:00 Timbavati: An Epic Cat Story 12:00 Timbavati: An Epic Cat Story 13:00 Snow Leopard of Afghanistan
14:00 Puma 15:00 The Phantom Cat 16:00 The Unlikely
Leopard 17:00 Cheetah: Fatal Instinct 18:00 Man v
Monster 19:00 America the Wild 20:00 Lion Ranger
21:00 Man v Monster 22:00 Timbavati: An Epic Cat Story
23:00 Timbavati: An Epic Cat Story
NAT GEO ADVENTURE 409
06:25 LongWay Down 07:15 City Guide 07:45The Green
Way Up 08:10 Making Tracks 08:35 Food school 09:00
Food school 09:25 Dream Cruises 10:20 Exploring the
Vine 10:45 Exploring the Vine 11:15 Cycling Home from
Siberia with Rob Lilwall 11:40 Cycling Home from Siberia
with Rob Lilwall 12:10 Long Way Down 13:05 The Green
Way Up 13:30 Making Tracks 14:00 Food school 14:25
Food school 14:55 City Guide 15:20 City Guide 15:50
Taste of Life Travel 16:45 Travel Sick 17:10 Travel Sick
17:40 Nomads 18:30 City Guide 19:00 Long Way Down
19:55 Making Tracks 20:20 Making Tracks 20:50 Food
school 21:15 Food school 21:45 Dream Cruises 22:40
Deadliest Journeys 23:05 Deadliest Journeys 23:35 Cycling Home from Siberia with Rob Lilwall
TRAVEL CHANNEL 410
06:00 Globe Trekker 07:00 Off Limits 08:00 Off Limits
09:00 Essential 09:30 Airport 24/7 10:00 Departures
11:00 Bizarre Foods America 12:00 Bizarre Foods America 13:00 House Hunters International 13:30 House
Hunters International 14:00 House Hunters International 14:30 House Hunters International 15:00 Globe
Trekker 16:00 Planet Golf 16:30 Bert the Conqueror
17:00 Xtreme Waterparks 17:30 Bert the Conqueror
18:00 Bizarre Foods America 19:00 Hotel Impossible
20:00 Hotel Impossible 21:00 Bizarre Foods America
22:00 Globe Trekker 23:00 Inside Luxury Travel
BIO 411
06:00 Storage Wars: Dial C for Chupacabra 06:30 Storage Wars: The Fast and the Curious 07:00 Kalgoorlie Cops
07:30 Kalgoorlie Cops 08:00 Kalgoorlie Cops 08:30
Kalgoorlie Cops 09:00 Kalgoorlie Cops 09:30 Kalgoorlie Cops 10:00 Hoarders: Kevin/Mary 11:00 Hoarders:
Mike/Bonnie 12:00 Hoarders: Phyllis and Janet 13:00
Hoarders: Kevin/Mary 14:00 Hoarders: Mike/Bonnie
15:00 Hoarders: Phyllis and Janet 16:00 Kalgoorlie Cops
16:30 Kalgoorlie Cops 17:00 Kalgoorlie Cops 17:30
Kalgoorlie Cops 18:00 Kalgoorlie Cops 18:30 Kalgoorlie Cops 19:00 Kalgoorlie Cops 19:30 Kalgoorlie Cops
20:00 A Gypsy Life for Me 21:00 Duck Dynasty: Daddy’s
Got a Gun 21:30 Duck Dynasty: Fishin’ for Business
22:00 American Pickers: The Return of Hobo Jack 23:00
Storage Wars: Third Eye of the Tiger 23:30 Storage Wars:
A Civil Accordion
HISTORY 412
06:00 Ice Road Truckers: Chopping Block 07:00 American Pickers: The Mad Catter 08:00 Storage Wars: Not Your
Average Bear 08:30 Storage Wars: Hook, Line And Sucker
09:00 American Pickers: What Happens in Sturgis 10:00
Storage Wars: Operation Hobo 10:30 Storage Wars:
Blame It on the Rain 11:00 American Pickers: Jurassic
Pick 12:00 Storage Wars: Viva La San Francisco 12:30
Storage Wars: Highland Anxiety 13:00 American Pickers:
Pickin’ Perry-Dise 14:00 Storage Wars: Not Your Average
Bear 14:30 Storage Wars: Hook, Line And Sucker 15:00
American Pickers: The Mad Catter 16:00 Storage Wars:
Operation Hobo 16:30 Storage Wars: Blame It on the
Rain 17:00 American Pickers: What Happens in Sturgis
18:00 Storage Wars: Viva La San Francisco 18:30 Storage Wars: Highland Anxiety 19:00 American Pickers:
Jurassic Pick 20:00 Storage Wars: Operation Hobo 20:30
Storage Wars: Blame It on the Rain 21:00 Ancient Aliens:
Aliens And Mysterious Rituals 22:00 Mountain Men: Lost
23:00 Ax Men: Damage Control
DISCOVERY HD SHOWCASE 420
06:00 Sunrise Earth International 06:55 Man, Woman,
Wild 07:40 Life on a Wire 08:30 Reign of the Dinosaurs
09:15 Mythbusters 10:05 How Do They Do It? 10:30
The Mighty Mississippi with Trevor McDonald 11:15
Man, Woman, Wild 12:05 Chasing Classic Cars 12:30
Chasing Classic Cars 12:50 Chasing Classic Cars 13:15
Chasing Classic Cars 13:35 Mythbusters 14:25 Life on a
Wire 15:10 Cafe Racer 15:35 Cafe Racer 16:00 Deadliest
Catch 16:50 Killer Rain 17:40 Through the Wormhole
with Morgan Freeman 18:30 Mythbusters 19:20 Chasing Classic Cars 19:45 Chasing Classic Cars 20:10 Chasing
Classic Cars 20:35 Chasing Classic Cars 21:00 Deadliest
Catch 21:50 Killer Rain 22:40 Chasing Classic Cars 23:05
Chasing Classic Cars 23:30 Chasing Classic Cars 23:55
Chasing Classic Cars
NAT GEO HD 421
06:00 Headhunters of World War II 06:55 The Indestructibles 07:25 I, Predator 08:20 World’s Deadliest
Animals 09:10 World’s Deadliest Animals 10:00 World’s
Deadliest Animals 10:50 World’s Deadliest Animals
11:40 I, Predator 12:30 Headhunters of World War
II 13:20 World’s Deadliest Animals 14:10 The Border
15:00 Breakout 15:50 Huge Moves 16:40 Britain’s
Greatest Machines 17:30 Headhunters of World War II
18:20 I, Predator 19:10 Breakout 20:00 9/11 and the
American Dream 20:50 My 9/11 21:40 Breakout 22:30
9/11 and the American Dream 23:20 My 9/11
DISNEY CHANNEL 450
06:05 Phineas and Ferb 06:20 Prank Stars 06:30 Prank
Stars 06:45 Good Luck Charlie 07:10 Shake It Up 07:35
Jessie 08:00 Austin and Ally 08:25 ANT Farm 08:50
Gravity Falls 09:15 Girl vs Monster 10:40 Phineas and
Ferb 10:55 Wizards of Waverly Place 11:15 Minnie and
You 11:20 The Suite Life on Deck 11:40 Minnie and You
11:45 Good Luck Charlie 12:05 Minnie and You 12:10
Gravity Falls 12:30 Minnie and You 12:35 Phineas and
Ferb 12:45 Phineas and Ferb 12:55 Minnie and You
13:00 Jessie 13:25 Good Luck Charlie 13:50 Gravity
Falls 14:15 Wizards of Waverly Place 14:40 Phineas and
Ferb 15:00 Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure [U] 16:25
Prank Stars 16:35 Prank Stars 16:45 Phineas and Ferb
16:55 Phineas and Ferb 17:10 Wizards of Waverly Place
17:35 Shake It Up 18:00 Austin and Ally 18:25 Prank
Stars 18:35 Prank Stars 18:50 ANT Farm 19:15 Jessie
19:40 Jessie 20:05 Good Luck Charlie 20:30 Good Luck
Charlie 20:55 The Suite Life of Zack and Cody 21:20 The
Suite Life of Zack and Cody 21:45 Stitch 22:10 Stitch
22:35 A Kind of Magic 23:00 A Kind of Magic 23:25 The
Replacements 23:50 The Replacements
Bob the Builder 19:40 Fireman Sam 19:50 Barney and
Friends 20:20 Pingu 20:25 Pingu 20:30 Monkey See
Monkey Do 20:40 Tiny Planets 20:45 Tork 20:52 Tork
21:00 Monkey See Monkey Do 21:10 See The Sea 21:15
My Animal Family 21:30 Benjamin’s Farm 21:35 Jakers:
The Adventures of Piggley Winks 22:00 Bob the Builder
22:10 Thomas and Friends 22:17 Thomas and Friends
22:25 Bob the Builder 22:35 Fireman Sam 22:45 IglooGloo 23:00 Kipper 23:10 Dougie in Disguise 23:20 Barney and Friends 23:50 Wild Life 23:55 Lots & Lots
NICKELODEON 452
DISNEY JUNIOR 462
06:15 Bubble Guppies 06:40 Go, Diego, Go! 07:05
Little Kingdom 07:30 Bubble Guppies 07:55 Dora the
Explorer 08:20 Winx Club 08:45 The Fairly Odd Parents
09:10 Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness 09:35
The Legend of Korra 10:00 Turtles 10:25 The Penguins
of Madagascar 10:50 SpongeBob SquarePants 11:15
Winx Club 11:40 iCarly 12:05 The Troop 12:30 The Troop
12:55 Drake and Josh 13:20 Drake and Josh 13:45
SpongeBob SquarePants 14:10 SpongeBob SquarePants
14:40 Back at the Barnyard 15:05 The Mighty B 15:30
The Fairly Odd Parents 15:55 iCarly 16:20 Big Time Rush
16:45 Victorious 17:10 Supah Ninjas 17:35 SpongeBob
SquarePants 18:00 The Legend of Korra 18:25 Turtles
18:50 The Penguins of Madagascar 19:15 Victorious
19:40 iCarly 20:05 True Jackson, VP 20:30 Big Time
Rush 20:55 SpongeBob SquarePants 21:20 Avatar:
The Legend of Aang 21:45 Avatar: The Legend of Aang
22:10 The Penguins of Madagascar 22:35 The Penguins
of Madagascar 23:00 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron:
Boy Genius 23:25 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron:
Boy Genius 23:50 The Fairly Odd Parents
JIM JAM 458
06:00 Barney and Friends 06:30 Wobblyland 06:35
Pingu 06:40 Tiny Planets 06:45 Pingu 06:50 Jarmies
07:05 Lots & Lots 07:20 Angelina Ballerina 07:35
Thomas and Friends 07:43 Thomas and Friends 07:50
Bob the Builder 08:00 Fireman Sam 08:10 Barney and
Friends 08:40 Pingu 08:45 Baby Antonio’s Circus 08:50
My Animal Family 09:05 Benjamin’s Farm 09:10 See
The Sea 09:15 Slim Pig 09:25 Monkey See Monkey
Do 09:35 Kipper 09:45 Igloo-Gloo 10:00 Bob On Site
11:00 Lots & Lots 11:15 Oswald 11:27 Oswald 11:40
Jakers: The Adventures of Piggley Winks 12:05 Wild Life
12:10 James the Cat 12:15 Fluffy Gardens 12:23 Fluffy
Gardens 12:30 My Animal Family 12:45 Benjamin’s
Farm 12:50 See The Sea 12:55 Mio Mao 13:00 Mio Mao
13:05 Slim Pig 13:15 Monkey See Monkey Do 13:25
Bob the Builder 13:35 Fireman Sam 13:45 Thomas and
Friends 13:55 Thomas and Friends 14:02 Thomas and
Friends 14:10 Pingu 14:15 Tiny Planets 14:20 Pingu
14:25 Barney and Friends 14:55 Kipper 15:05 Angelina
Ballerina 15:20 Dougie in Disguise 15:30 Wobblyland
15:35 Monkey See Monkey Do 15:45 Pingu 15:50 Tiny
Planets 15:55 Pingu 16:00 My Animal Family 16:15
Benjamin’s Farm 16:20 See The Sea 16:25 James the Cat
16:30 Thomas and Friends 16:37 Thomas and Friends
16:45 Bob the Builder 16:55 Wobblyland 17:00 Bob
On Site 18:00 Slim Pig 18:10 Pingu 18:15 Tiny Planets 18:20 Pingu 18:25 Oswald 18:37 Oswald 18:50
Gazoon 18:55 Gazoon 19:00 Angelina Ballerina 19:15
Thomas and Friends 19:22 Thomas and Friends 19:30
06:00 Special Agent Oso 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:30
Little Einsteins 06:55 LazyTown 07:20 Imagination
Movers 07:45 Timmy Time 07:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:20 The Hive 08:30 Doc McStuffins 08:45 Zou
09:00 Jake and the Neverland Pirates 09:15 Cars Toons
09:20 The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 09:45
Art Attack 10:10 Disney Fairies 10:35 Lilo & Stitch
11:10 Timmy Time 11:20 The Hive 11:30 Doc McStuffins 11:45 Doc McStuffins 12:00 Zou 12:15 Jake and
the Neverland Pirates 12:30 Mouk 12:45 Lilo & Stitch
13:15 Cars Toons 13:20 The New Adventures of Winnie
the Pooh 13:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:05 The
Hive 14:20 Mouk 14:35 Zou 14:50 Jake and the Neverland Pirates 15:05 Jake and the Neverland Pirates 15:20
Doc McStuffins 15:35 Doc McStuffins 15:45 Zou 16:00
Zou 16:15 Zou 16:30 Zou 16:45 Zou 17:05 Mouk 17:20
Jake and the Neverland Pirates 17:35 The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 18:00 Cars Toons 18:05 Timmy
Time 18:15 Tales of Friendship with Winnie the Pooh
18:25 Doc McStuffins 18:40 Jake and the Neverland
Pirates 18:55 Jake and the Neverland Pirates 19:10 Zou
19:30 Mouk 19:45 Handy Manny 20:00 Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse 20:25 The Hive 20:35 The New Adventures
of Winnie the Pooh 21:00 Timmy Time 21:10 Animated
Stories 21:15 A Poem is... 21:20 Tales of Friendship with
Winnie the Pooh 21:30 Jungle Junction 21:45 Handy
Manny 21:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:20 Little
Einsteins 22:50 Special Agent Oso 23:00 Special Agent
Oso 23:15 LazyTown 23:40 Jungle Junction 23:55 Jungle Junction
MTV 500
06:00 Only Hits 07:30 Only Hits 08:20 Behind the Music
09:10 Top 10 10:00 World Stage 10:50 2012 VH1 Divas
12:30 Plain Jane 13:20 Plain Jane 14:10 Wake Brothers 14:35 Wake Brothers 15:00 Punk’d 15:25 Punk’d
15:50 Made 16:40 Made 17:30 My Super Sweet World
Class 17:55 My Super Sweet World Class 18:20 My Super Sweet World Class 18:50 Awkward 19:15 Awkward
19:40 Awkward 20:05 Awkward 20:30 True Life 21:20
Underemployed 22:10 Underemployed 23:00 The
Inbetweeners 23:25 The Inbetweeners 23:50 Jersey
Shore
MEZZO 510
09:30 John Nelson dirige ‘La Création’ de Haydn 11:15
Michel Corboz dirige Bach et Haendel 12:35 Clips musicaux 13:30 David Fray joue le Concerto num 22 pour
piano de Mozart 14:25 David Fray joue le Concerto
num 25 pour piano de Mozart 15:30 McCoy Tyner - Live
in Jazz in Marciac 2010 16:25 Clips musicaux 17:00
Wozzeck au Bolchoï de Moscou 18:55 Le Quatuor Dioti-
06:00 FIL World Cup Luge 07:00 Live: FIS World Cup
Nordic Skiing: Almaty, Kazakhstan [Live] 08:00 FIS
World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping 09:00 Live: Four Continents Championship Figure Skating [Live] 10:30 Four
Continents Championship Figure Skating 11:30 FIS
World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping 12:15 Live: Four Continents Championship Figure Skating [Live] 13:45 FIS
World Cup Nordic Skiing 14:45 Africa Cup of Nations
Football 16:30 FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping 18:00
FIS World Cup Nordic Skiing 19:00 Boxing 20:30 EHF
Men’s Champions League Handball 22:00 FIS World Cup
Nordic Ski Jumping 23:00 Africa Cup of Nations Football
ESPN CLASSIC 1 603
06:00 ESPN Big Fights 07:00 World’s Strongest Man
08:00 ESPN Big Fights 09:00 FIFA World Cup Classic
Players 09:05 FIFA World Cup Classic Players 09:10
FIFA World Cup Classic Players 09:20 FIFA World Cup
Classic Players 09:25 FIFA World Cup Classic Players
09:30 FIFA World Cup Classic Players 09:35 FIFA World
Cup Classic Players 09:40 FIFA World Cup Classic Players
09:50 FIFA World Cup Classic Players 09:55 FIFA World
Cup Classic Players 10:00 Basketball 11:00 A Decade of
Great Matches 11:30 A Decade of Great Matches 12:00
World’s Strongest Man 12:30 World’s Strongest Man
13:00 World’s Strongest Man 13:30 World’s Strongest
Man 14:00 World’s Strongest Man 15:00 Own Goals
and Gaffes 16:00 Premier League Heroes 18:00 FIFA
World Cup Stories 18:30 FIFA World Cup Stories 19:00
FIFA Mini World Cups 19:15 FIFA Mini World Cups 19:30
Ian Thorpe: The Swimmer 22:00 Jordan Rides the Bus
23:00 ESPN Big Fights 23:30 ESPN Big Fights
NAUTICAL CHANNEL 611
06:00 Yachting 06:30 Sailing Girls 07:00 Hot Water
Series 08:00 Des Top News 2012 08:15 Offshore Adventures 08:45 America’s Cup Series 09:15 America’s
Cup Series 09:45 Second To None 10:45 Des Top News
2012 11:00 Extreme Sailing Series 2012 11:30 Makoko,
The Black Venice 12:00 Kitesurfing 12:30 World Match
Racing Tour 2012 13:30 Des Top News 2012 13:45 Offshore Adventures 14:15 Inside Sailing 14:45 Sea Master
Sailing Series 2012 15:15 Yachting 15:45 Sailing Girls
16:15 Des Top News 2012 16:30 Extreme Sailing Series
2012 17:00 Jump on Board 17:30 Fleet Racing Tour European 18:00 Yachting 18:30 Vanuatu: Forgotten Pacific
19:00 Des Top News 2012 19:15 Offshore Adventures
19:45 Jose Ignacio, The Latin St. Tropez 20:15 Tonneres
De Brest 2012 20:45 Des Top News 2012 21:00 Jump on
Board 21:30 Fleet Racing Tour European 22:00 Des Top
News 2012 22:15 Extreme Sailing Series 2012 22:45
America’s Cup Series 23:15 America’s Cup Series 23:45
Des Top News 2012
ESPN AMERICA HD 622
07:00 SportsCenter 07:30 SportsCenter 08:00 SportsCenter 08:30 SportsCenter 09:00 College Basketball
10:30 College Basketball 12:00 College Basketball
13:30 College Basketball 15:00 College Basketball
16:30 College Basketball Live 17:00 NBA Tonight 17:30
SportsCenter Update 18:00 NASCAR Now 18:30 The
Sports Reporters 19:00 Live: College Basketball: Indiana
Hoosiers at Ohio State Buckeyes [Live] 21:00 Live: College Basketball: St John’s Red Storm at Syracuse Orange
[Live] 23:00 The X-Games
MELITA MORE 802
08:00 Hollywood Buzz 08:30 Private Practice 09:20 Private Practice 10:10 Private Practice 11:00 Private Practice 11:45 Private Practice 12:30 Glee 13:15 How I Met
Your Mother 13:40 How I Met Your Mother 14:05 How
I Met Your Mother 14:30 How I Met Your Mother 14:55
How I Met Your Mother 15:20 How I Met Your Mother
15:45 How I Met Your Mother 16:10 How I Met Your
Mother 16:35 How I Met Your Mother 17:00 How I Met
Your Mother 17:25 How I Met Your Mother 17:50 How
I Met Your Mother 18:15 How I Met Your Mother 18:45
How I Met Your Mother 19:15 How I Met Your Mother
19:40 2 Broke Girls 20:05 Whitney 20:30 Dallas 21:15
SMASH 22:00 VEEP 22:30 Suits 23:15 Person Of Interest
00:00 The Mentalist 00:45 Alcatraz 01:30 30 Rock
34
THIS WEEK
FILM
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ KNIGHT ★ ★ ★ ★ BRIGHT
★ ★ ★ FLIGHT ★ ★ TRITE ★ BLIGHT
IN CINEMAS TODAY
Dependable
Denzel is a
pilot with a
problem
St James Cavalier
Valletta
Tel. 21 223200
Amour (16)
15:00
Embassy Cinemas
Valletta
Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818
Cirque du Soleil (U)
10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00,
21:15
The Impossible (12)
10:30, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 21:05
Django Unchained (18)
17:40, 20:50
Les Misérables (PG)
10:15, 14:00, 17:30, 20:50
Lincoln (PG)
10:15, 14:15, 17:45, 20:50
Flight (18)
10:00, 13:00, 15:45, 18:30, 21:15
Eden Cinemas
St Julian’s
Tel. 23 710400
Lincoln (PG)
14:30, 17:50, 20:50, 23:45
14:20, 18:00, 21:15
Deceduti: Wara L-Ahhar Tad-Dinja
(PG)
14:15, 15:45, 17:15, 18:30, 20:15,
21:15, 23:00, 23:50
The Impossible (12)
14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40
Life of Pi (PG)
14:25, 18:15, 20:55, 23:40
Flight (18)
14:10, 18:00, 21:00, 23:50
Skyfall (PG)
14:20, 17:40, 20:45, 23:40
Rise Of The Guardians (U)
14:05, 16:20, 18:25, 20:45, 22:50
End of Watch (18)
14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 21:00, 23:20
Silver Linings Playbook (14)
14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10, 23:40
14:30, 18:00, 21:10
Gangster Squad (18)
14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05, 23:30
Playing for Keeps (PG)
14:05, 16:25, 18:40, 21:05, 23:25
Parental Guidance (U)
14:15 16:30 18:40 20:55 23:15
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
(PG)
14:25, 17:45, 21:05
Cirque du Soleil: World’s Away (3D)
(U)
14:15 16:30 18:50 21:10 23:20
Empire Cinemas
Bugibba
Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909
10:15, 13:45, 18:15, 21:25
Cirque du Soleil (3D) (U)
10:25, 13:00, 15:05, 18:00, 20:15
The Impossible (12)
10:30, 13:00, 15:30, 18:00, 20:30
Flight (18)
10:15, 13:05, 17:45, 20:45
14:00, 17:45, 21:00
Life of Pi (PG)
10:35, 13:20, 16:00, 18:45, 21:30
Lincoln (PG)
10:25, 14:00, 18:10, 21:15
(18)
F L IG H T
★ ★ ★
Hero or criminal? Denzel Washington’s pilot faces a dilemma in this Oscar-nominated
drama, after he saves most of his passangers and crew... while blind drunk
THERE are two things that remain constants throughout Flight
– a leaner, meatier Oscar contender than its somewhat flabby,
three-hour counterparts.
One: it stars Denzel Washington.
It stars Denzel Washington very
much. It very much stars Denzel
Washington, and he scored another Oscar nomination for starring the stuffing out of this film.
Two: it’s directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Polar Express), and it’s
meant to be his return to ‘adult
fare’.
The latter is made clear to us
from the opening sequence: blurry, exposed breasts come into focus to reveal the statuesque naked
body of Katerina Marquez (Nadine Velasquez) as she faces the
cold light of day in a hotel bedroom after what appears to have
been a heavy night.
As she dresses – taking her
sweet, sweet time – the camera pans to the messy bed where
Whip Whitaker (Washington) is
lying prostrate, hungover – and
slightly on chubby side. His pickme-up? A quick line of cocaine,
zapped into the nose as we discover – to our horror, and contrary to cliché – that Katerina is
not a prostitute, but a co-worker:
she’s a stewardess, Whip is her pilot, and they’re scheduled to fly in
a couple of hours.
Is Whip fit to fly? Even a nervous, wet-behind-the-ears co-pilot
(Brian Geraghty) suspects that
he may not be up to scratch. But
thankfully for most of the people
on board though, after disaster
strikes, Whip performs a daring
manoeuvre (to wit: flipping the
plane upside-down), suggesting
that being stoned might in fact
have endowed him with a nearsuperhuman genius.
Saving 96 lives (or ‘souls’) out of
By Teodor Reljic
the 102 on board, Whip is hailed
as a hero. But before long, a toxicology report unearths the truth
about his physical state on that
fateful day.
Will Whip be able to sail through
this one unscathed, even with
the help of his union rep (Bruce
Greenwood) and an intrepid,
seemingly fool-proof lawyer (Don
Cheadle)?
Despite its high-powered, highconcept premise, the real meat
has little to do with plane engine
malfunction, or tense legal wrangling (most of which happens offscreen, and largely courtesy of
Cheadle’s magic touch). The film
bounces an extra mile beyond
its expected trajectory when you
discover that, far from fishing for
cheap thrills, Zemeckis genuinely
wants to explore the destructive
effects of alcohol addiction.
Befriending a lost-soul photographer-cum-prostitute-cumcrack addict Nicole (Kelly Reilly)
while recovering from the incident
in hospital, Whip retreats into
his grandfather’s country house,
where we discover just what an
shambling, slovenly creature he
is. His addiction, now running
the risk of costing him his career,
has also wrecked his marriage and
caused irreparable damage to the
relationship he may have had with
his only son.
And dear, dependable Denzel
predictably belts out yet another
‘bold’, ‘gripping’ performance.
As these things generally go,
he’s at his best when Whip is at
his weakest. A scene in which he
proposes a romantic getaway to
Nicole – whom he has allowed
into his home – only to haul insults at her after she suggests he
eases up on the booze is one of
those pathetic but riveting turns
that tend to easily alchemise into
Oscar gold.
The problem is that despite the
irresistible premise, Zemeckis is
content to coast on Denzel’s skills,
shoving secondary characters to
the side – most clumsily, Nicole
herself – and allowing Whip’s
misery-memoir fodder to eclipse
what would otherwise have been
an air-tight thriller. Had his character not been so brash (almost
cartoony) you would hardly notice that John Goodman is in
this film, for example – playing
Whip’s gleefully amoral drug supplier Harling.
Flight’s heart is definitely in the
right place: Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatnis judiciously
place the dramatic onus on the pitfalls of addiction, bolstering their
project with Christian motifs and
allusions which would have been
heavy-handed in a more fanciful
film. But with a meat-and-potatoes drama of this kind, carefully
spliced-in references to the celestial are more than welcome.
Any kinks and twists and more
than welcome.
Because by the time the end
credits roll – set to yet another
too-obvious soundtrack choice –
you will have witnessed a story of
redemption that defaults to formula mere minutes after its spectacularly bumpy early climax.
This week’s
picks
DRAMA
LINCOLN
Steven Spielberg directs twotime Academy Award winner
Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, a
revealing drama that focuses
on the 16th President’s
tumultuous final months in
office. In a nation divided
by war and the strong winds
of change, Lincoln pursues
a course of action designed
to end the war, unite the
country and abolish slavery.
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis,
Sally Field and Tommy Lee
Jones.
DANCE SHOW
Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away
A young woman is entranced
by an Aerialist. When they
fall into the dreamlike
world of Cirque du Soleil
and are separated, they
travel through the different
tent worlds trying to find
each other. Starring: Erica
Linz, Igor Zaripov and Lutz
Halbhubner.
ACTION
DJANGO UNCHAINED
With the help of his mentor, a
slave-turned-bounty hunter
sets out to rescue his wife
from a brutal Mississippi
plantation owner in Quentin
Tarantino’s latest revenge
romp. Starring: Jamie
Foxx, Christoph Waltz and
Leonardo DiCaprio.
35
maltatoday,
THIS WEEK
Malta Arts Fund helps polish up
hundreds of projects
OVER €1.16 million were allocated
to a total of 268 art projects since
the Malta Arts Fund was launched
at the end of 2009. With a broad
spectrum ranging from film, music and dance to literature, theatre
and the visual arts, the fund aims
to support quality and excellence
in the arts.
The majority of the funds were
allocated to the performing arts
– (140 projects receiving just under half a million euro), followed
by the visual arts (€338,193 going
to 64 projects), multidisciplinary
(€210,985 going to 37 projects)
and literature (€113,609 to 27
projects).
As the funding mechanism of the
Malta Council for Culture and the
Arts, the Malta Arts Fund aims to
support artists and arts organisations in fulfilling and realising
their potential and in improving
their skills and level of profession-
alism.
Last year alone, over €420,000
were allocated to a total of 100
projects. Of these, 52 projects
in the Performing Arts received
around €144,422; 20 projects in
the Visual Arts received €134,036
while another 20 multidisciplinary
projects received around €119,000.
Eight literature projects received
just under €23,000.
Last November, a new literature
strand ‘Spreading Words’, was added to the Arts Fund Programme,
bringing the current number of
strands to four. With an annual
allocation of €20,000, Spreading
Words was devised to offer support to authors, translators and
publishers for the translation of
works written in Maltese. The aim
of this fund is to make Maltese literature accessible to new reading
communities, which will in turn
expand and strengthen the Mal-
tese literary scene. Application
deadlines for this strand close on
1 March.
The other strands are the Project
Support Grant, the Organisation
Support Grant and the Mobility
Grant. The Project Support Grant
is divided into two strands: large
and small projects. Projects with
requests for funding up to €5,000
qualify as small projects; applications for this strand are open every
three months. The large projects,
whose funding ranges between
€5,000 and €20,000 are allocated
on a half-yearly basis.
The Organisation Support Grant
caters for organisations seeking
funds to support their operation
in the arts sector in Malta and/or
to operate an artistic programme.
It provides organisations whose
aims are in line with the goals and
priorities of the National Cultural
Policy with funds towards both
programming and organisational
costs. The Mobility Grant caters
for outgoing artistic mobility for
short training courses, workshops,
participation in artistic activities
overseas, and international collaborations.
Submissions to the Malta Arts
Fund are competitive and therefore not all applications may be
awarded. Anyone interested in the
Arts Fund can attend ArtsTalk, a
series of open public discussions
related to the Malta Arts Fund.
These outreach sessions explain
the application process with examples of good practice.
A list of projects awarded to
date as well as application forms
and the new and updated guidelines are available from the website www.maltaculture.com or
from the MCCA offices at 230,
Republic Street, Valletta. More
info: 21 245168 or funding.
mcca@maltaculture.com
Four projects selected to give their presentation
at the press conference:
Applicant: Angela Tabone
Project Title: Stemperando 2012
Project Description: A total of 12 Maltese visual artists will
be representing Malta in Stemperando 2012 – Italy, a popular
event that offers creative artists an opportunity to showcase
their talents through the use of one of the finest materials in
art, namely paper.
Strand 1.2: Project Support Grant - Large Projects
Applicant: Chris Briffa (Justin Schembri gave the
presentation)
Project Title: Malta Design Week
Description of Project: 4 exhibitions, lectures, a
presentation by international design personalities and
workshops involving children, students and the creative
industry. It is aimed at establishing Malta as an international
design hub and possibly an annual event.
Strand 1.2: Project Support Grant - Large Projects
Applicant: Slavko Vukanovic
Organisation: Kinemastik
Project Title: The Great Tour of China
Description of Project: An application to take Maltese short
films to different festivals and regions in China.
Strand 3: Mobility Support Grant
Photography by Brian Grech
– part of the Malta Arts Fundsponsored Malta Design Week
Applicant: Albert Gatt
Project Title: Inaugural Hay – Beirut Conference
Description of Project: Participation in the Beirut Conference
Strand 3: Mobility Support Grant
36
FOOD
RESTO OF THE WEEK
takes a look at a
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ta
Cu
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d
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gs a recipe, wine an
restaurant and br in k.
delicacy of the weeur comments on
Write to us with yo it your own recipes
restaurant s or subm mediatoday.com.mt.
to rzammitcutajar@
Passionate about
dining
Bianco’s Mediterranean Grill
and Wine Lounge
A modern flair is added to the old architecture
to provide a fantastic venue for a casual lunch,
business dinner, romantic meal or family outing
As soon as you step inside Bianco’s, it’s evident that Lukan Borg
and Simon Gingell Littlejohn are
passionate about what they do and
their experience in hospitality and
catering is sure to add that little bit
extra to your dining experience.
No matter the time of day, there
are always one or two tables enjoying a snack and at peak meal times
it is advisable to book a table.
Whether you’re looking for a quick
snack, a fantastic pizza, drinks and
nibbles or a more lengthy meal surrounded by family friends and lots
of wine, Bianco’s has something for
everyone in a stylish venue overlooking Spinola Bay.
The food
The menu at Bianco’s is varied
enough to make sure you’ll always
find what you are looking for but
short enough to ensure everything
is fresh and perfectly prepared.
The usual starters or light snacks
of platters and bruschettas are
complemented with interesting
additions like stuffed poppadoms
with chicken satay and a crispy
home-made peanut butter sauce,
deep fried brie and crunchy foccacias.
For something a bit more warming, try the homemade pasta dishes
or the fantastic pizzas topped with
a variety of fresh ingredients, including mozzarella di bufala.
If a proper meal is what you had
in mind, there is also a selection of
fresh fish and meat dishes.
For a quick lunch there are a variety of warm and cold salads with
interesting ingredients to spice up
a boring healthy lettuce. Marinated
octopus, Maltese sausage and olives, warm asparagus and mushrooms and spicy beef are just some
combinations available.
Vegetarians are often left out
when eating out, but not at Bianco’s
– the vegetarian dishes are just
as mouthwatering as their meaty
counterparts. Try the brie and
green apple salad, topped with walnuts and a honey dressing on a bed
of rucola leaves or delicious gnocchi di patate served with a fresh napolitana sauce, topped with Parmesan shavings and fresh basil.
While many restaurants provide
a take-away service, not many will
deliver to your door and the ones
that will usually provide a range of
fast food any gourmand would turn
their nose up to. Bianco’s makes a
refreshing change with fresh, fantastic meals delivered to your door.
The ambiance
The stylish venue offers a mixture of old and new, with a modern
flair added to the old architecture
and paintings by local artists that
adorn the walls changing regularly
to keep the place looking fresh. Bi-
Enjoy a crunchy pizza base topped
with the freshest local ingredients
anco’s is the perfect venue whatever
you have in mind.
The atmosphere in the main dining room changes between lunch
and dinner time with diners enjoying quick, light lunches during the
day and longer meals in the evening
with friends.
If you are celebrating a special
occasion, why not make use of the
special VIP area that seats a maximum of 10 people.
The comfy sofas inside provide
the perfect spot to chill out with
a bottle of wine, from the extensive wine list and some nibbles or
a delicious pizza to share. Or why
not choose from the imaginative
cocktail list made with fresh fruit
and herbs. This also makes an ideal
spot to retire to after a meal in the
main area.
Sadly, they no longer play live music on a Sunday afternoon, however
it is still an excellent spot to enjoy
food, drinks and company on any
day of the week.
Address: St George’s Road, St Julian’s.
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday – Noon till late.
For further details on bookings, contact Lukan Borg or Simon Gingell Littlejohn
email: info@biancos.info
Telephone: 21359865
Web: www.biancos.info
WINE OF THE WEEK
La Tour Melas 2010 (92 points) – Central
Greece Valley (Organic Fine Red Wine)
La Tour Melas is a Greek, Organic vineyard/winery producing high
quality red wine. The winery was started by Kyros Melas in 1999,
by importing the vines from France and planting them in 2000. The
world renowned wine maker Mr. Panos Zoubulis, who studied in
Bordeaux helped the winery to reach the goal of producing one of the
best Greek red wines ever.
Name and label mentioning, would dare to say copy, top French
chateau. Fortunately the ‘straight’ report continues to blend
varieties of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, but also top quality wine,
that is certainly the closest in style to the right bank of Bordeaux,
has the Greek vineyard. If not try it we could not believe it! Product
Description Average volume + purple color. Warm, balanced
however with concentrated aromas of ripe fruits such as plum, with
the new barrel has a extra elegant texture.
Merlot 68%, Cabernet Franc 30%, Petit Verdot 2% - planted in
Central Greece about 15 years ago on clay/limestone; 30 hl/ha,
organic. Hand destemmed. Cold maceration for 12 days, fermenting
in stainless steel temperature controlled tanks. Separate vinification
of the different grapes with ambient yeast. 80% new French oak
barrels ageing for 18 to 20 month...s. Production: 4800 bottles.
Mid ruby with pinkish rim. Refined Bordeaux-like aroma of cassis
fruit, a touch of cedar and tobacco leaf, with more cedary dark fruit
on the palate and Cabernet Franc’s typical freshness. Elegantly
built but with a tannic grip and balance indicating this could age
for another 5+ years at least. I would never have put it in Greece if
I had tasted it blind. My one criticism is that you can feel the heat
a little on the finish, and the alcohol brings a slight hardness at the
end but it has very nice length. (JH)
17 Drink 2013-18
Packed in 6 bottle wooden cases, wrapped with red silk
Charles Grech & Co. Ltd., Valley Road, B’Kara
paper. This great wine retails at Charles Grech shops at
Tel: 2144 4400
€27.78
37
maltatoday
maltatoday
, SUNDAY,
, SUNDAY,
10 FEBRUARY
22 MAY 2013
2011
FINE FOOD OF THE WEEK
Not just for Christmas
Cranberries
Cranberries are synonymous
with Christmas, making the perfect sauce to accompany the big
bird. However they are available throughout the year in dried
or frozen forms and make great
snacks or additions to both sweet
and savoury dishes at any time of
year.
Cranberries are small red berries that grow on shrubs in Northern Europe, Asia and the United
States. These tart berries are complemented by sweet ingredients.
Cranberries have long been valued for their ability to help prevent and treat urinary tract infections. Now, recent studies suggest
that this berry may also promote
gastrointestinal and oral health,
lower cholesterol, aid in recovery
from stroke, and even help prevent
cancer.
North and native Americans
were the first to use cranberries as food. Native Americans
used cranberries in a variety of
foods, especially for pemmican,
wound medicine and dye. They
introduced the berries to starving
English settlers in Massachusetts
who incorporated the berries into
traditional Thanksgiving feasts.
In the 1820s, cranberries were
shipped to Europe. They became
popular for wild harvesting in the
Nordic countries and Russia. In
Scotland, the berries were originally wild-harvested but with the
loss of suitable habitat, the plants
have become so scarce that this is
no longer done.
Fresh cranberries, which contain
the highest levels of beneficial
nutrients, are at their peak from
The bright red colour of
the little berries make are
more than just a Christmas
ingredient. Try them as
dried snacks at the office or
tart additions to both sweet
and savoury recipes
October through December, just
in time to add their festive hue,
tart tangy flavour and numerous
health protective effects to your
holiday meals.
Cooking with cranberries
Cranberries are too tart to be
eaten on their own and require
gentle cooking. Most cranberries
are processed into juice and jams
and are available as a sweetened
dried variety. They are also avail-
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Cranberry,
white chocolate
and oatmeal
cookies
Makes approx 24 cookies
Ingredients
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
150g butter
130g brown sugar
2 large eggs
90g old-fashioned oats
180g flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
400g dried cranberries
200g white chocolate
Directions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Preheat oven to 190ºC.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and
sugar together in a medium mixing bowl
until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, mixing well.
Combine oats, flour, baking soda and
salt in a separate mixing bowl.
Add to butter mixture in several
additions, mixing well after each
addition.
Stir in dried cranberries and white
chocolate chunks.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto
cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden
brown. Cool on wire rack.
able fresh throughout cranberry
season between September and
December and frozen all year
round.
• Take advantage of cranberries’
tartness by using them to replace vinegar or lemon when
dressing your green salads.
Toss the greens with a little
olive oil and then add colour
and zest with a handful of raw
cranberries.
• To balance their extreme tart-
•
ness, combine fresh cranberries with other fruits such as
oranges, apples, pineapple or
pears. If desired, add a little
fruit juice, honey or maple syrup to chopped fresh cranberries.
Combine unsweetened cranberry in equal parts with your
favorite fruit juice and sparkling mineral water for a lightly
sweetened, refreshing spritzer.
For even more colour appeal,
•
•
•
garnish with a slice of lime.
Add colour and variety to your
favorite recipes for rice pudding, quick breads or muffins
by using dried cranberries instead of raisins.
Sprinkle a handful of dried
cranberries over a bowl of hot
oatmeal, barley, or any cold cereal.
Mix dried cranberries with
lightly roasted and salted nuts
for a delicious snack.
38
maltatoday,
THIS WEEK
Visiting grandmother
ANY book coming from Turkey’s
Nobel Laureate, Orhan Pamuk,
is bound to cause a stir. More
so when this does not happen to
be a new book, as it was written
nearly 30 years ago. Silent House,
which was originally published
in 1983, has only now been published for the first time in English translation.
Readers who are acquainted with
Pamuk’s work will find it interesting to compare an early work –
this being his second published
novel – with his later well known
novels like My Name is Red, and
Snow. The book serves to shed
light on the author’s evolution as
a novelist for it has many ideas
that Pamuk will expand later with
great mastery.
Set just before the military coup
of 1980, in a resort not far from Istanbul, three siblings make their
annual visit to their 90 year old
grandmother, Fatma. She lives in
a decaying villa built by her physician husband, now long dead.
The dwarf Recep, who we are told
is the illegitimate son of her husband, looks after her.
Of the three grandchildren,
Faruk, the historian, is absorbed
in his writings like his father
and grandfather before him, and
is researching 16h century archives. His sister, Nilgun, is a
leftist, reads the daily communist
Rose
Lapira
newspaper when she is not reading Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons,
and spends most of her time on
the beach. The younger brother,
Metin, fritters away his time in
madcap adventures with his rich
friends and dreams of selling his
grandmother’s villa to be able to
go to America.
A pivotal character for the eventual tragic development of events
is 18-year-old Hasan, Recep’s
nephew, who goes around with
violent militants full of anti-western resentment ready to beat up
anyone who does not share their
views.
Perhaps the reason why this
novel was not translated in English until now was because it was
seen as ‘parochial’, and apart
from that, knowledge of Turkish
politics of the time is essential to
understand what happens in this
story. Party politics dominated
Turkey before the military coup of
1980, when violence was the order
of the day with people being shot
and beaten everyday.
FONDAZZJONI
AVVENTURA
Ă
Dramm Dokubuffu
22, 23, 24 ta’ Frar 2013, 8pm
Teatru Manoel
ǯ
Albert Marshall

Teatru Manoel u Mario Philip Azzopardi
¾
Sean Buhagiar, Jane Marshall, Mario Micallef
Jamie Cardona, Larissa Bonaci, Clive Piscopo, Duncan
Azzopardi, Anthony Ellul, Marvic Cordina u Kris Spiteri
www.teatrumanoel.com.mt
Culture Card Accepted. 50% Discount for under 25s, Students & Karta Anzjan Holders.
7HDWUX0DQRHO%RRNLQJ2I¿FH7
This was a time when the
he
country was sharply divided
d
between rightists and leftists,
s,
the anti-communists who weree
in favour of extreme national-ism and the leftists. There iss
a reference in the book about
ut
how the daily paper defined
d
the politics of the person, and
d
being seen reading the wrongg
paper in the wrong placee
could have fatal results. Peo-ple looked up the obituaryy
pages to find out how manyy
from both sides died violentt
deaths daily.
Politics and history are always on Pamuk’s agenda. In
Silent House, which is recounted in 32 chapters by
five of the main characters,
we get a broad cross-section
of the culture and politics at
the time. As is standard with
Pamuk, even in an early work
like this, he presents different viewpoints, very convincingly, which are narrated
in a stream of consciousness
by the different characters,
and accompanied by an inner dialogue.
The style can be dense
at times, which can make
awkward reading. This may
be partly due to the not-sosmooth translation by Robert Finn. One misses the
brilliant translation of later
books by Maureen Freely.
Literature and writing
play fundamental roles in
Pamuk’s work. In Silent
House, Faruk is absorbed
in his writing as was his father and grandfather before him.
him
Fatma’s husband was writing an
encyclopedia on everything, and
wanted in particular to explain
the difference between east and
west and the non- existence of
God.
Pamuk believed in the importance books play in making a difference to one’s understanding of
life. In his acceptance speech for
the Nobel Prize in 2006, he talked
about the meaning of literature
and about how much he was indebted to his father’s love for
books and to the literature he had
read when he was young.
It is significant that Pamuk ends
Silent House with the grandmother reminiscing about the time
when as a child she treasured a
copy of Robinson Crusoe. Talking to herself, she says: ‘You can’t
start out again in life, that’s a carriage ride that you only take once,
but with a book in your hand, no
matter how confusing and perplexing it might be, once you’ve
finished, you can always go to the
beginning; if you like you can read
it through again, in order to figure
out what you couldn’t understand
before, in order to understand
life.’
At times
times, when
talking about books, I find that
some people are quick to point out
that they have no time for fiction.
But I fully concur with Orhan Pamuk who believes ‘literature to be
the most valuable hoard that humanity has gathered in its quest
to understand itself ’.
SILENT HOUSE
By Orhan Pamuk
Faber and Faber, 334pp
ISBN: 978-0-571-27594-6
39
40
maltatoday,
THIS WEEK
Saxophonist Val Valente passes away
JACOB BORG
MALTA’S premier saxophonist Val Valente
passed away on Friday.
Valente used to be an
iconic fixture in Valletta’s once bustling nightlife, serenading many a
tipsy punter with his dulcet tunes.
Valente’s fame was
not only limited to our
shores. In 2002, Valente
had the honour of sitting
on an international panel
judges for the first Saxophone Competition in
Kiev, Ukraine.
Malta had indeed lost a
one-of-a-kind musician.
In a statement, Labour’s
spokesman for culture
Owen Bonnici said Val
Valente was synonymous
with the saxophone and
is closely tied with the
history of Valletta, back
when the capital city was
full of life and energy.
“Val Valente is well
known for mentoring
youngsters looking to
sharpen their musical
acumen and learn from
this excellent maestro,”
Bonnici said.
Saxophonist Val Valente (Photo: BOV 2011 calendar,
‘Tribute to Maltese Musicians by Joe P Smith)
Why Europe needs binding targets for 2030 – Urgency
339. SHOVELER
Tackling climate change is becoming more urgent all the
time. The predicted consequences of not acting are becoming more tangible and the
window for taking effective
action is closing fast.
Recent developments make
the urgency even clearer.
Scientists produced new evidence linking recent examples of extreme weather – for
example, droughts leading to
crop failures and wildfires,
or megastorms like Hurricane
Sandy – to human activity.
When biology students study adaptations, birds’ beaks often
feature, and for a good reason. A beak is the bird’s hand, tool,
weapon and cutlery. The beak is so well adapted to a particular
food that from its shape you can roughly guess what the bird
eats. A duck uses its flat beak to pull up underwater vegetation
from shallow lake habitat, and the most bizarre beak of the
duck family is surely the shoveler’s. That extra-large, extra-flat
beak may look grotesque but it serves its purpose well, and
adds to the fascination of this handsome bird. The shoveler
(M: palettuna) is one of our scarcer ducks, showing up - often
singly or in pairs - in wetlands like Għadira or Is-Simar nature
reserves throughout winter.
Text Victor Falzon
Photo Denis Cachia
At the same time, NASA announced that Arctic sea ice
levels had reached a record
low. Greenland’s ice sheet is
losing mass at about 300 cubic kilometres per year.
We cannot afford not to act
now.
GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 240: Valentine flower
power – Instead of intensively-produced, cut flowers, why
not buy your valentine a living plant or tree. If you have a
bit of creative flair, you could make simple paper flowers.
Alternatively, choose a floral inspired gift such as wildflower
seeds.
Visit Friends of the Earth’s website
for more information about our
work, as well as for information
about how to join us
www.foemalta.org.
You can also support us by
sending a blank SMS donation on
50618070 (€4.66) or
50619223 (€11.65).
41
maltatoday,
THIS WEEK
The energy and colour of China
Guangzhou China
KNOWN as Canton in the era of
tea clippers, Guangzhou is the third
largest city in China after Beijing
and Shanghai.
Wrapped in a perpetual haze of
pink smog and flashing neon lights,
the city overwhelms with its energy,
colour, and sheer size. Influenced
by neighbouring Hong Kong, consumerism has swept up the city in
a head-spinning frenzy, but scratch
away Guangzhou’s glittery surface
and you’ll find a place quite special
among China’s major urban centres.
The city is famous for foreign trade
and business and holds China’s largest trade fair, the “Canton Fair”.
However, in between the seemingly
endless skyscrapers, shopping malls
and building sites there is a lot of
culture and history. It was also part
of the so called “Maritime Silk Road”
that linked southern China with India, South-East Asia, the Middle East
and Africa. As a result of its links
with the Middle East, a mosque was
established in the city in 627 and a
small Muslim community continues
to live in Guangzhou to this day.
What to do?
Perched on top of Yuexiu Hill,
the five-story Zhenhai Tower (also
known as the Five-Story Pagoda) was
built by Zhu Liangzu, one of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
in testimony of his power.
Visit Xiaozhou Village, a centuries
old now revitalized district with restaurants, galleries and shops about
one hour from Sun Yat Sen University by bus. For nearly half a century,
Xiaozhou People’s Hall has been a
national landmark. This community centre for cultural activities has
hosted local folk artists and their
works, attracting many young artists to share their creative passions.
Also known as the Guangdong
and Canton river, the Pearl River is
the third largest river in China. It
is called Pearl River, because it has
a stone island resembling a huge
pearl. A cruise along the Pearl River
in Guangzhou City has become a
must for tourists.
A must-see attraction is the Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family, with
a history of more than 100 years and
still in its original shape. The buildings are famous for their exquisite
and mythical decorations, such as
the brick carvings of historic figures.
The temple also functions as a museum under the auspices of Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, exhibiting
a variety of folk arts and crafts.
A visit to the Memorial Garden to
the Martyrs is a surreal experience.
A statue commemorates the uprising and the murders of 5000 people
during the 1927 communist uprising
in the city. The mass tomb is a sobering site, a stark contrast to the local
folk that use this shady park area for
dancing, exercising, and Tai Chi.
The China-Korea Friendship Pavillion and Russia-China Friendship
Pavillion are also worth a look, both
commemorate the foreign nationals killed during the uprising. The
Guangzhou Uprising Museum on
Qiyi Lu near the Beijing Lu shopping
street explains the events of 1927 in
further detail. The Victorian manse
was a police station and the communist headquarters during the uprising. All the exhibits and captions are
in English as well as Chinese.
Not recommended for the faint
hearted, Quingping market, the
largest street market in Guangzhou
features 2,000 stalls, the most infamous section being the meat market where live chickens, cats, dogs,
turtles and anteaters are frequently
slaughtered on the spot to provide
customers with fresh meat.
The centuries old Xiaozhou
Village has recently been
revitalised with restaurants,
galleries and shops
commodation.
Where to stay?
The Grand Hyatt Guangzhou hotel is located in the centre of Pearl
River, New City in Tianhe District,
Guangzhou’s new central business
district (CBD). It combines stunning
architectural design and unique
character in 350 rooms and suites,
five star restaurants, a bar, pub and
24 hour room service. The Sky Lobby, located on the 22nd floor provides spectacular views of the Pearl
River and the new CBD.
Surrounded by two parks, The
Marriott Hotel Guangzhou is located in the city centre across from
the Guangzhou Jinhan Exhibition
Centre. With a metro station in
front of the hotel and easy access to
the China Import and Export Fair
Complex (Canton Fair), it offers incredible convenience and elegant ac-
Where to eat?
The exquisite Bingsheng Restaurant is full of surprises. This exquisite Cantonese restaurant surprises
us every time we visit, and the price
is right! Shùndé (a town south of
Guăngzhōu) cuisine is the speciality
here, where freshwater fish is prepared in many different ways. The
doufuhua zhengxiègao (bean curd
with crab roe) and hailu cìshen (sea
bass sashimi) are outstandingly tasty.
Also try the cuipi chashao (crispy
barbecued pork). It has a handful of
branches in town but the newest one
in Zhujiang New Town is by far the
best. No English menu; grab a Chinese friend to communicate.
The sweet and savoury flavours of
the Jiangnan region are the specialty
at Shanghai and Suzhou Restaurant,
The Ancestral Temple of
the Chen Family is over
100 years old yet is still
in its original shape
Quingping market is not
for the faint of heart:
live chickens, cats, dogs
are killed on the spot
a stylish yet unpretentious restaurant on Shamian Island. Some good
dishes are the shrimp with tomatoes (xiaren fanqiè) or the Shanghai
steamed buns (xiao longbao).
Mock-meat specialities and other
vegetarian fare are served at Shuiyuntian, a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant.
There’s an excellent lunch buffet for Y22 a person. The English
menu is good for a giggle – anyone
for ‘Vegetarian shrimp in bamboo
underwear’?
How to get there?
Emirates offer daily services between Malta and Guangzhou with a
stopover in Dubai. Flights departing
from Malta on 22 February and returning on 8 March were priced at
€831.62, including tax, at the time of
going to print.
Built by one of the rulers of
the Ming Dynasty between
1368 and 1644, the Zhenhai
Tower is a testimony of his
power
Dried coiled snakes at
Quingping market, the
largest street market in
Guangzhou
42
Information Technology
Blogging your way to the top
Joan Bishop Magro
Although web surfers are spending
the majority of their time on social
media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest,
blogging is still keeping its chunk
of importance for every respectable
online marketer. Blogs are the personal voice of a company. Through
blogs, companies can keep in touch
with their users. Blogs provide an
interactive channel from where the
company can discuss topics that
need not be directly related to its
products or services, but that can be
somehow of interest to their target
market.
Blogs are an investment for the
company, not so much in setting
them up (there are free blogging
sites that can be easily setup by users with basic computer skills) but
more in their updating and maintenance. It is always a challenge for
the company to find the time and
resources to update the blog on a
regular basis. But in the end, blogs,
if done skilfully, pay you back.
Blogs are meant to educate, or to
give a personal opinion of a particular field of expertise. This is content
that people look for when browsing
the internet. It is also one of the reasons why shop owners place knowledgeable persons on their front
desks. Persons need encouragement
to buy a product, and sometimes, a
little advice tip is what makes a sale.
But before the advice is accepted,
the potential customer needs to
trust the salesperson, and this trust
is built over the image that the sales
person has. When a woman goes
shopping for clothes, she will look at
the salesgirl helping her and subconsciously (or even in full consciousness) judge the fashion taste of the
salesgirl from her clothes and how
they are worn. If she looks shabby
and ungroomed, her advice in helping you choose an evening dress will
be dismissed as sales talk, and will
not have any positive effect. But if
the sales person is looking good and
stylish, and to top it all also appears
regularly on TV talk shows giving
style advice, then yes, her advice will
be taken up gratefully.
This is what happens online too.
When you continuously turn to a
particular blog for help or information on a topic, you are more likely
to buy what the blog offers you at
some point in the future, because
you have already built your trust in
the blogger. Blogs are meant to attract those persons who are not even
looking at purchasing your products
or services right now. They will in
due time.
Blogs also provide interesting content for your social platforms. Posting promotional links from your
commercial site for your Facebook
users to see will not work in the long
run. Facebook users demand more
than that from you. They want your
gossip, your truly felt opinions over
a particular aspect, they want you
to share your knowledge and will
not accept anything less than that.
Blogs provide the perfect content
to encourage Facebook and Twitter engagement. Pages which provide interesting statuses and tweets
make their fans and followers look
out for them and even share them
with their friends.
Blogs also help your search engine results. Google prefers websites which are recently updated
over those which have been placed
online and forgotten. It therefore
gives more prominence to your site
if every week there is new content
coming up. Apart from that, you can
also be wise enough in the choice of
your blog content to target the right
keywords. Blogs give you the possibility to add content, so make sure
that the content you are uploading is
keyword rich. This will attract more
traffic to your site as you are more
likely to appear in search results for
particular keywords. Speak to your
web consultant about an ideal list
of blog articles that should appear
on your website, to target the right
keywords. Then use the advertising
space of your blog to present your
related products/service.
Blogs are a commitment. It is very
difficult to find the time to write
when you are busy doing other daily
tasks. Splitting the work amongst
different authors makes it a little
better, and ensures that the users
see blogs coming up on a regular basis. This will drive your website and
image to the top.
Joanne Bishop Magro is a Conceptual Analyst in the Web Design and
Development division of Alert eBusiness (www.alert.com.mt)
Alert Solutions is a provider of enterprise IT solutions, delivering sustainable
value through business consulting, software and IT implementation.
Alert Solutions delivers business solutions in key areas such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),
Document Management Systems (DMS), Business Intelligence Solutions (BI), Customer Relationship
Management Solutions (CRM) and Point of Sale Systems (POS).
258, Cannon Road Santa Venera SVR 9034 Malta
Tel: +356 2060 1234
www.alertsolutions.com.mt
MEMBER OF THE
43
Events
Chance eau tendre by Chanel
MADEMOISELLE Chanel
always believed in her
chance. She knew that her
real chance was of her own
creation, a state of mind,
a way of being. Chance is
unpredictable, it appears
where you least expect it
and can alter the course of
your life.
with a Grapefruit-Quince
accord, Jasmine Absolute
and a White Musk note.
A trail of chance
Bring gentleness into
your Chance eau tendre
ritual with a hair mist and
a deodorant to prolong the
fruity-floral notes of the
fragrance and Chance will
never leave you.
Chance eau tender – a
soft, endless embrace
A surprising Fruity-Floral
fragrance in a whirlwind
of tenderness intermingled
hair without drying it. Take
it wherever you go to refresh
your fragrance throughout
the day. Spray bottle, 35 ml.
Deodorant
Enjoy the soft, light touch
of an instant veil of freshness. Spray, 100 ml.
Chanel is exclusively distributed by Alfred Gera &
Sons Ltd
Hair Mist
An enveloping mist that
delicately perfumes your
Banif Bank credit card
holders get fee refund
BANIF Bank customers are getting
their annual credit card fee back
through a scheme intended to reward clients for their custom. By
simply using their credit card for
regular monthly spending at supermarkets, retail outlets, restaurants,
online or even when paying for their
utility bills, card holders can get a
full refund of their annual credit
card fee.
The scheme is open to all Classic
Card, Hello Kitty Classic Card and
Gold Card holders. To be eligible,
cardholders must use their card for
an average of €459 worth of purchase transactions a month with
a Classic or Hello Kitty or €1,459
monthly with a Gold Card, over a
12-month period.
“Banif strives to give its customers
extra value along with its products
and services,” said Stephen Grech,
Head of e-Channels at Banif Bank
(Malta) plc. “We value our customers and we believe such initiatives
show our appreciation for their
business.”
Banif also offers a free Purchase
Protection Insurance in all its credit
card packages. Eligible purchases
made with credit cards are automatically protected from accidental
damage or theft for up to 90 days
from the moment of purchase.
Credit card holders who buy their
travel tickets with their card also
benefit from free travel insurance
for them and their family. They will
be covered against any losses, damage or incurred medical expenses
through the Bank’s travel insurance
policy.
Terms and conditions apply. More
information can be obtained from
the Bank’s website banif.com.mt.
Alternatively one can contact Customer Care on customercare@banif.
com.mt or on 2260 1000, or visit any
Banif Bank branch around Malta
and Gozo.
Emirates launches special
Economy Class fares to
selected destinations
Emirates, one of the world’s
fastest-growing airlines, is
offering business and leisure
passengers from Malta special Economy Class fares to
seven selected destinations.
The Emirates fares starting from €724 are for travel
from Malta to Bangkok
in Thailand; Mumbai and
Delhi in India start from
€798 and €820 respectively;
Beijing, Guangzhou and
Shanghai in China from
€832, while fares to Manila
in The Philippines start
from only €857. The special
promotion runs until 28 February
2013 for travel between today and
31st May 2013. Customers are being encouraged to plan ahead and
book early to enjoy these great fares.
Prices include airport taxes and fuel
surcharge and local terms and conditions apply.
“Emirates is already known for
providing superb value for money.
The special fares make it even more
attractive to embark on that trip of a
lifetime, visit a relative or friend, or
explore a new market for business,”
said Paul Fleri Soler, Emirates’ Mal-
ta Manager.
Emirates operates flights to 129
destinations in 75 countries and
in 2012 launched a host of exciting
new destinations: Dublin, Rio de
Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Dallas Fort
Worth, Seattle, Lusaka, Harare, Ho
Chi Minh City, Barcelona, Lisbon,
Erbil, Washington DC, Adelaide,
Lyon and Phuket. Warsaw, Algiers
and Tokyo International Airport
(Haneda Airport) will join the Emirates’ network in 2013 under its new
“Hello Tomorrow” banner. Also in
2013, Emirates’ ambitious expan-
sion plans are being supported by the opening of the
world’s first purpose-built
A380 concourse in Dubai.
Passengers flying with
Emirates throughout its
global route network benefit from a range of services, including ice, Emirates’ award-winning inflight
entertainment system with
up to 1,400 channels of entertainment across all cabin
classes and gourmet chefprepared dining options.
Luggage allowances are
amongst the most generous
in the industry with 30kg of checkin baggage permitted in Economy
Class.
Emirates operates flights on a
daily schedule from Malta to Dubai
with an option of stopping in Larnaka, Cyprus using a larger Boeing
777-200 aircraft.
For more information on Emirates,
including bookings, kindly contact
Emirates Sales Office at MIA (Departures Lounge) tel 25577255 or
the local travel agent or visit: www.
emirates.com/mt
President George
Abela inaugurates
Vodafone’s Head
Office
Vodafone has officially inaugurated
its new head office at SkyParks Business Centre. The office was officially
opened by President George Abela,
President of Malta and Balesh Sharma, CEO of Vodafone Malta.
Vodafone’s new Head Office offers
all of its employees an open plan environment where team members from
different departments are working
together in a brand new corporate
setting that enhances productivity,
teamwork and improves organisational communication. Customers
were also kept in mind with different meeting room designs including
areas for lounge and business meetings and for casual meetings, state
of the art multimedia facilities and
handset displays.
“Vodafone is forward-looking and
innovative not only in technology
but also in designing a new form of
office organisation and employee accomodation. This is what seems to
lie behind Vodafone’s move to SkyParks Business Centre.” said Abela
during his speech to all those who
attended the launch. “This modern
centre provides a friendly environment that is comfortable to employees and hence conducive to better
corporate communication and higher productivity. It is an indicator of
offices of the future that already
operate today. I think the smooth
way in which Vodafone’s move to
SkyParks was made deserves commendation. I believe one can look
forward to further innovations by
Vodafone that will keep the Maltese
market up-to-date with the newest
technology in the sector.”
Technology was given paramount
importance in the design of the new
office. Vodafone made sure that it
provides a wireless environment
with no desk phones and wi-fi services available throughout including
the terrace area. Sustainability was
also on top of the agenda in designing Vodafone’s new Head Office.
The A+ equipment, with the choice
of lighting and light sensors incorporated to reduce utilities usage also
played an important role in ensuring
efficiency and sustainability.
In his speech at the official launch,
Vodafone’s CEO Balesh Sharma said
that Vodafone made this move to the
new Head Office to be more efficient
and to introduce new and innovative concepts. “This move helped us
introduce sustainability measures
which we have always been aiming
for. Today we have a paperless office, open plans and hot-desking,”
he said. “Our idea to have a fluid
concept, an open plan office with no
boundaries between different teams
now became a reality. Ultimately
we are one team working to address
our customers’ needs and requirements and this is what we want to
achieve.”
Through its new Head Office Vodafone managed to create a positive
working environment that brings
people closer together and instil
trust and the right atmosphere that
promotes collaboration under one
common brand.
Vodafone’s CEO, Balesh Sharma
showed his satisfaction in seeing the
employees embracing change and
feeling energised working in this
new environment. His Excellency
Dr George Abela congratulated the
management and employees of Vodafone on their success and wished
them an even more fruitful outcome
for their endeavours in this attractive new environment at SkyParks
Business Centre.
44
Events
Portman International launches new website
and colours
“Portman International has had a
dynamic business evolution ever
since its inception in London in
1986 and we have now reached
another milestone in our history”,
said David Marinelli, CEO of the
Portman International Group. He
added, “In the past three years we
have made a substantial investment
in rationalising and restructuring
the business”. The PI Group is a
European financial services group
operating mainly from its offices
in Floriana, with satellite offices
in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland and
London, UK. Marinelli explained
that risk management had become
a very costly overhead. Moreover,
rules and regulations multiplied
beyond what a normal business
could cope with effectively. The
business had to be downsized in
order to make it more manageable.
Portman International is now a
more focussed business and employs 40 professionals. PI’s major
asset is its international expertise
and particularly in Malta, Ireland
and the UK.
The PI Group offers turn-key
support to international business.
He continued to say that the economic environment in the EU and
the world had changed dramatically and PI had to change with the
times in order to continue to offer
relevant services to its clients. In
view of its wealth of international
experience, PI has now decided
to expand into two specific areas. The first is assisting Maltese
businesses go international. It is
felt that Maltese businesses interested in expanding internationally
would benefit greatly from having their international advisors
in Malta. The second is attracting
FDI to Malta. It is considered that
Malta has much to offer, being a
safe haven in the midst of a region
in crises. These services will be
launched later this year.
PI’s website, www.portmaninternational.com, has been upgraded
to better reflect its further specialisation and its market positioning as a boutique European
financial services firm. The logo
colours were also changed from
blue and steel to burgundy and
gold. Mr Marinelli further explained that “The blue and steel
are young colours. We are now an
established and strong business.
Burgundy and gold better reflect
our status”. He concluded by saying “Our choice of business model
and direction is not coincidental.
Our country is sailing through
stormy waters and we are proud to
be able to contribute and be part of
the solution.”
Choose and own your favourite iPad
GO has just launched yet another
not-to-be-missed offer exclusively
for its Pay Monthly customers. The
iPad mini and the new retina display
iPad are now made affordable with
3 months FREE Internet and an allinclusive Pay Monthly plan.
GO has now extended its recently launched smartphone payment
concept onto the latest iPad range.
Pay Monthly subscribers can order
an iPad with an all-inclusive Pay
Monthly plan without the pain of a
costly upfront device charge. GO is
also giving 3 months FREE Mobile
Internet with every subscription to
thank its Pay Monthly subscribers
for their loyalty. Subscribing to the
offer is simple and can be done online through the GO website.
The offer comes in the wake of another offer ‘win a smartphone a day
with GO’ giving Pay As You GO customers the chance to win an iPhone
a day by simply topping up with €10
or more – an offer which runs till
Valentine’s Day – the perfect day to
win!
This new offer consists of a choice
of 2 iPads– the Apple iPad Mini
ing GO Pay Monthly On the Move
data plan that is not yet benefitting
from a term agreement. In addition,
eligible customers are expected to
subscribe to one of the tariff plans
for a minimum term of 24-months
and commit themselves to pay the
monthly access fee via credit card
mandate.
To benefit from one of the two
offers, customers just need to preorder by sending their personal
details – name, surname, mobile
number, ID card and e-mail address
– and choose their preferred tablet.
All customers submitting their preorder will be contacted by GO representatives after the 15 February to
call at a GO retail outlet and activate
the subscription.
16GBand the Apple iPad 16GB WiFi & 4G with Retina display and is
only available by pre booking.
The Apple iPad Mini 16GB with
Mobile Internet is offered at €29.99
monthly all inclusive, while the
Apple iPad 16GB with Retina display with Mobile Internet comes at
€39.99 monthly all-inclusive. Both
all-inclusive packages include 5GB
Mobile Internet monthly. Moreover,
both offers include 3 months FREE
Mobile Internet with a 2 year agreement.
The offer is available only to GO
mobile customers who are new to
GO Pay Monthly On the Move data
plans or for those who have an exist-
For further information on how
to pre-order the iPad or iPad Mini,
subscribers are welcome to call Customer Care on 146 (free of charge)
from their GO mobile connection or
79 222146 from any other network.
Or, they can opt to go directly to the
website: www.go.com.mt. Terms and
conditions apply.
Atlas Staff raise another
€2000 for the Appogg
Children’s Fund
The staff at Atlas Insurance PCC
Ltd collected €1,000 during their
annual Christmas Charity collection, which is always doubled
by the company. Atlas and its
staff have an ongoing agreement
with Appogg, where requests are
made by an Appogg board and
sent to Atlas. The Children’s
Funds are then used to purchase
necessities for children in need.
The funds go towards providing financial help to children
whose families cannot afford
certain necessities, such as
groceries, clothes, educational material, spectacles, sports
equipment and uniforms, items
which so many of us may take for
granted.
45
Events
‘Election Fever’ sale at
Perfumes&more
It is no coincidence that the
Perfumes&more team have
come up with the Election Fever Sale. Given the time of the
year, it is the most appropriate
title that one could come up
with!
As part of the election fever
sale, Perfumes&more are giving away any second purchase
at half the original price, irrespective of the amount spent
on the first item. A wide range
of perfumes and jewellery,
both for men and women,
make Perfumes&More worth
a visit during this fantastic
sale. Perfumes&more is one of
the retail brands operated and
owned by the ROCS Group
– where one can buy any perfume the heart desires for affordable prices and also giving
you an exquisite selection of
high-end fashion jewellery for
all ages and trends.
Making sure Perfumes&more
are always giving you more, we
currently also have a Facebook
campaign in which all those
who like our Facebook page,
‘Perfumes & more Malta’, will
get a perfume of their choise
totally for free.
Rachel Vella, ROCS group director commented, “It’s a pleasure for us to offer our clients
the best quality at affordable
prices. The Perfumes&more
Election Fever Sale is a great
sale to make sure our clients
always have MORE to spoil
themselves!”
Do not miss out on this
super sale and we promise
that Perfumes&more will offer you the best! Visit the
Perfumes&More outlets in The
Strand, Sliema or St. Joseph
High Street, Hamrun. For
more information, call ROCS
on 20 151515 or email directly
on manager@perfumesandmore.com.mt. ROCS also offer
online shopping services via
our website: www.perfumesandmore.com.mt or our Facebook page Perfumes&more
Malta.
Estetika launches all-inclusive hair removal
service online
The new website of Estetika The
Cosmetic Clinic went live on 25
January. The launch of the new
website, which offers quick and easy
access to essential information on
the medical aesthetic treatments
available at Estetika in Sliema, is
part of the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance the quality and
availability of excellent service to
existing and future clients in Malta and Gozo.
The website, designed by Logix
Communications after a study of
international sites of other aesthetic clinics, boasts a modern user
friendly design and is divided into
sections such as who we are, what
we do and what we offer . Each
page provides detailed information on Estetika’s vast treatments;
both cosmetic and clinical. One
can browse through a particular
problem listed on our site and read
through the frequently asked questions or have a look at a very useful
summary of what every treatment
entails; information which everybody would like to know.
Estetika has taken advantage of
its website launch to showcase the
introduction of its innovative all
inclusive laser hair removal service. This excellent opportunity
offers comprehensive laser hair removal treatments for a whole year
for a fixed one time price.. Another
smart idea from Estetika delivering
value !
Check us out on www.estetika.
com.mt. Any suggestions or comments are welcome.
MAPFRE assistance launches computer
support product in Uruguay
MAPFRE Assistance, which operates in Uruguay since 1996, has
begun to commercialize its “Asistencia PC” (PC Support) product in
the country to provide Technical
Support to personal computer users. The service includes personalized attention for computer problems or breakdowns by a technical
specialist, as well as advice about
other terminals such as video consoles and smartphones, and on use
of social networks.
‘Asistencia PC’ offers telephone
support, remote assistance on the
client’s computer by Internet and,
if necessary, provides service at
home. It includes repair service for
breakdowns, hardware and soft-
ware configuration, data recovery,
computer maintenance, parental
control of contents, virus removal
and other services.
MAPFRE Assistance is the leading company in the 24-hour assistance market in Uruguay. It commercializes this product through
its partners in the country, which
include financial institutions and
telecommunications operators as
well as companies that specialize
in computer sales. These companies offer their clients the ‘Asistencia PC’ scheme as a supplement to
their products that allows them to
differentiate themselves from the
competition. MAPFRE Assistance
currently has over 50 corporate cli-
ents and 100 contracts in Uruguay
with insurance companies, financial institutions, automobile makes
and security companies.
MAPFRE Assistance is the commercial brand of MAPFRE Asistencia, a leading company in the
markets of Assistance and Travel
Insurance schemes. It offers comprehensive solutions to its clients
in four main sectors: insurance, automobiles, finances, and travel and
tourism. MAPFRE Asistencia has
a direct presence in 44 countries
and over 1,550 corporate clients. It
operates throughout the world and
195 million persons benefit from
its services.
MAPFRE is a multinational in-
surance group that conducts its
activity in over 45 countries on
the five continents. It is a leader in
the Spanish market and the NonLife Insurance market in Latin
America, and holds sixth position
in this sector in Europe. MAPFRE
has nearly 35,000 employees and
over 23 million clients throughout the world. In 2011 it obtained
a net profit of 963 million Euros
and income exceeding 23,530 million Euros. MAPFRE is listed on
the Madrid and Barcelona stock
exchanges and is a member of the
IBEX 35. MAPFRE is represented
in Malta by Middlesea Insurance,
which is a member of the MAPFRE
Group.
Sweet treats
and flowers at
The Plaza this
Valentine’s
Customers heading down to The
Plaza Shopping Centre in Sliema on
13 and 14 February will be treated
to free Chocolate Fondue courtesy
of Stella’s Coffee Shop as well as
scrumptious Cinnabon muffins as a
special Valentine’s treat.
In addition, Derek Garden Centre will be setting up a Flower Stall
at the Plaza on 13 and 14 February
for customers willing to purchase
bouquets or single roses for their
loved ones. Candylicious, will also
be present from 11 to the 14 February selling special Valentine’s sweets
and chocolates.
Other cheeky surprises are in store
for shoppers on the 13th and 14th
February, including the chance to
win instant
YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY
www.maltatoday.com.mt
46
Events
€1,800 won
by a BINGO75
Enthusiast
in the House
Category
The recent enhancements to BINGO75 which came into effect on 21st
January 2013, already reaped positive results to players as on Saturday
a lucky BINGO75 winner took home
€1,800 by matching one of the game
categories – the HOUSE category.
The new BINGO75 has now more
winning opportunities, the minimum jackpot a player may win is
€250,000 when matching the
SNOWBALL and if not won it will
increase by a minimum increment
of €100 everyday. MALTCO is committed to give the best value to its
players through the continuous revamping of its games.
BINGO75 has other winning possibilities when matching either the
CORNERS or the CROSS categories
with the fixed prizes of €10 and €40
respectively.
BINGO75 can be played everyday
and enthusiasts can watch the draw
presentation is transmitted at 6.15
p.m. either on Smash television, the
MALTCO’s website www.maltco.
com or at MALTCO’s outlets which
are located across Malta and Gozo.
For more information one can also
phone MALTCO’s Helpline Centre
on 2388 3333.
ITS signing a Memorandum of Understanding
with the Seychelles Tourism Academy
The Institution of Tourism Studies
(ITS) and the Seychelles Tourism
Academy (STA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which
promotes an exchange programme
for students and lecturers between
the two countries. The Memorandum of Understanding will also help
to enhance the educational experience and the cross-cultural understanding of students and lecturers
from both institutions.
The signing ceremony took place
at the Institution of Tourism Studies campus in St Julians and the
memorandum was signed by Adrian
Mamo, Executive Director, ITS and
the Principal of STA, Falvien Joubert in the presence of Joseph Tanti,
Deputy Chairperson of ITS, James
Perry Deputy Director at ITS, Mrs
Eveline Labonte, Senior Human Resources Officer, Manager of Studies, Merna Mathiot of STA and Dr
Simon Mifsud, LL.B. (Hons) LL.M.
Hon Consul of The Republic of the
Seychelles in Malta.
Speaking at the signing ceremony,
Mamo said that “we are pleased to
be signing this agreement with the
Seychelles Tourism Academy as this
will continue the add to our list of
countries where our students and
lecturers can conduct their work
placement, in a country outside the
European Union, which is focused
and looks forward to closely working together.
The MOU will provide for students
exchanges on a yearly basis, whereby ITS will have the opportunity to
send two of its second-year students
to conduct a six-month internship
in a high quality five-star resort. In
return, the STA will be given the opportunity to send two second-year
students per year to carry out their
studies at the ITS. Each student will
be entitled to one semester of study,
which will be undertaken in accordance with ITS academic policies and
procedures.
ITS and STA will also be exploring
the possibility of exchanging lecturers for a period of two weeks. During
this period, lecturers would deliver
specialized modules, the contents of
which will be negotiated prior to the
exchange taking place, according to
the needs of ITS and the STA.
Falvien Joubert, Principal of STA
and Adrian Mamo, Executive
Director of ITS
on tourism.” Mamo added that he
foresees wonderful opportunities
and ventures between ITS and STA
Global College
Malta to Offer
Complementary
Courses for
Business
Professionals
Global College Malta (GCM), provider of internationally reputed
degree programs, has announced
that it will offer complementary
management courses to business
professionals. This program of six
courses, to be offered at no charge
for middle and senior management,
is to celebrate the inauguration of
the college, which will officially
open at SmartCity Malta in September 2013.
Well-suited for managers seeking
to hone their people management
and soft-skills, the courses will include Emotional intelligence, CrossCultural Competence, Creativity &
Innovation, Critical Conversation,
Diversity & Inclusion and Supervisory Skills.
The courses will be delivered by Dr
Ashok Srivastava, Senior Lecturer
at GCM. He has over three decades
of experience in Human Resource
Management and Business Communication (including Self-communication). He has taught Marketing,
HRM, Strategic Management and
Business Communication in MBA
Programs. In addition, he is a certified management trainer from USbased Huma-Next; a premier management training and consultancy
organization.
In today’s economic environment
where countries compete on basis of
human capital, both Global College
Malta and SmartCity Malta recognize that strengthening the human
resource pool is a key component in
fuelling the growth of knowledge industries in Malta. SmartCity Malta
aims to create a dedicated education cluster where international
students, institutes of various educational fields and hiring companies all operate within a synergetic
business environment – creating a
network of opportunities.
The complementary management
courses will be offered from 20 to
27 February, between 6.00pm and
9.00pm at GCM’s campus at SmartCity Malta. The institute’s degree
courses are to start in September
2013.
For more information, please send
an e-mail to enquiries@gcmalta.
com or call on +356 2180 1252. Applications will be accepted on a firstcome first-serve basis.
47
Classifieds
ALUMINIUM WORKS
MANUFACTURERS of aluminium security roller shutters for windows and
doors. Aluminium shutters for garages
(roller or ceiling systems). All types of
aluminium, apertures, aluminium thermal insulation, PVC apertures, security main doors, aluminium railings for
stairs and balconies (chrome/stainless
steel finish). A45 Industrial Estate,
Marsa. Call on 21226320, 99891899.
Email: horvin@waldonet.net.mt. Visit
www.horvin.eu
VIN Aluminium (ex-Joevin), manufacturers of doors, windows, insect screens,
etc. We also make repairs. Call on
21898999, 99465666
ANTIQUES
BARGAIN Prices: For sale large gild
ormolu mirror, Maltese mahogany
desk, marble dressing table, chiffonier,
biscuttin table, marble chest of drawers with grotesque lions, pair Victorian
chairs, glass domes, clocks under
domes, lusters, opalin and ceramic
vases, figurines, Persian carpets and
more. Call on 21415949, 99420241,
77415949
POMSKIZILLIOUS Museum of Toys toys from late 18th centuray till mid
20’s/ at 10, Gnien Xibla Street, Xaghra
Gozo. Open February on Saturday
mornings only from from 10.30am till
1pm. Groups by appointment. Now in
our 21st year. ‘Keeping yesterday for
you to enjoy today’. Call on 21562489
or email on sueandedwin@gmail.com
RAGS AND RICHES BUY AND SELL
- the shop dedicated to quality second hand furniture. Our items can
be viewed on our Facebook page:
rags and riches buy and sell. Call on
21661983, 79593666
AUTO GAS CONVERSIONS
99441297. Visit www.autogas.com.
mt
AUTO-AIRCONDITIONING
TECNOPLUS LTD, for auto air-conditioning. Check and prepare your airconditioning now, repairs, servicing
and parts. Avoid summer rush. Call on
21468402, 79468402, 99468402,
99498371
Tribunal gives green light to
extension to an old rural structure
A development application contemplating alterations and additions to an old rural structure (with
the intention to provide additional
space for agricultural storage) was
initially refused by the Environment and Planning Commission
after it held that the proposed interventions alter drastically the
vernacular character of the existing
building. The Commission made
express reference to paragraph (v)
of Section 8.2 contained in the policy document entitled Development
Control Guidance – Developments
Outside Built Areas to support their
argument. On his part, applicant
appealed the said decision, contending that he is a genuine farmer
tilling more than 11 Tumoli of land
in the immediate vicinity of the
SMART CARS – parts and accessories. Genuine new and second-hand
parts and accessories including alloys,
tyres, forge D/V, S-Mann Kits and
exhaust K & N filters, EBC disks and
pads and loads more. Contact the
number one Smart Cars specialist:
Autoray on 21388456; email: rvella@
autoraymalta.com. Visit www.autoraymalta.com
CAR REPAIRS
BAKERY
SAN Quintin Bakery, prop. Mario
Micallef, Maltese & fancy bread - fresh
daily. Visit us at Censu Borg Street,
Hamrun. Call on 21251410. G al ob
ta’ veru!
BOATS
A good selection of sailing yachts for
sale from €25,000 up. To view visit
Used Boats on bjmarine.net or call
27019356
FAIRLINE Targa 34 for sale, 1994
model. Powered by twin Volvo 230HP
engines. Built-in generator, davits and
many extras. Sleeps six. Comfortable
and airy boat. Very wll-maintained. Call
owner on 99887741
CAR PARTS & ENGINES
A.G.R. Auto Japanes Parts, wholesaler & retailer. Supplies for Japanese
& Korean parts such as Kia, Toyota,
Isuzu, Daewoo, Mitsubishi, Honda and
Subaru. Importers of oil/ air filters,
shock absorbers, brake pads, clutches, etc. Genuine parts. We also do
servicing & repairs on all types of cars.
Call on 21446839, 99474504, fax
21470295. Visit us at Triq in-Nassab,
Qormi. Email on alex@agautoparts.
com
KONI SHOCK ABSORBERS, lowering
kits and coil-overs, Koni bus, truck and
trailer shocks; Powerflex polyurethane
suspension bushes; 123 ignition for
classic cars and parts for Italian vehicles. Call on 21371801. Visit www.
twinsparkgarage.com
MEPAwatch
CONVERT to LPG Gas and reduce
your running costs by 40%.We convert all petrol engines. Acheck Ltd VRT
Station, San Pawl Tal-Qlejja, Triq TasSriedaq, il-Mosta. Call on 21432656,
EUROSTAR is an expert in car body
repair and collision repair for all types
of vehicles. Our body shop guarantees
your car’s body repair. Being in the
business for over 50 years, we have
established a reputation respected by
many insurers. If you require any of
our services, call or visit our collision
centre in Qormi for a free estimate
on any accident repair or auto body
repair. Eurostar Automotive Repair
Centre, Triq l-Industrija, Qormi, Malta.
Call on 21490735, 21490500 or Paul
Ciappara Jnr 99426161, Louis Micallef
7941959. Email: info@eurostarautomotive.com, Web: www.eurostarautomotive.com
ITALIAN VEHICLE SERVICING, diagnostics, mechanical repairs and electric
power steering repairs. Hydraulic power steering repairs on removed racks,
boxes and pumps of all brands. All
work guaranteed. Call on 21371801.
Visit www.twinsparkgarage.com
JOHN’S Garage Auto repairs since
1958, for panel beating and spraying, contact Louis Sajeba. Visit at
342, Naxxar Road, Birkirkara. Call on
21444533, 79444533, 9946 4654.
REGENCY PANEL BEATERS - don’t
look any further. Panel beating, spray
painting, mechanical repairs and
also car hire. Visit us in St Margaret
Street, San Gwann. Call on 21376784,
99427296, 79891013
SUNRISE GARAGE, panel beating and
oven bake spray painting. Full accident
repairs, chassis alignment. Mechanical
works and colour mixing. MSA
approved. Prop. Joseph Mifsud, 57,
Triq il-Ballut, Mosta. Call on 21436054,
9949 2047. Visit www.sunrisegaragemosta.com
CAR WASH
GERMAN MAKE EHRLE TOUCHLESS
CARWASH operated round the clock
at Galea General Services Ltd, Mgarr
Road, Xewkija, Gozo. Self-service
with no brushes and hence spotless
wash and no scratches. Other washing
equipment available. For trade enquiries call on 21561122, 99494618; fax
21554277; www.ggs.com.mt
CLEANING SERVICES
ECOLOGICAL Cleaning Services:
cleaning of all water culverts, drainage pipes, emptying of cesspits &
wells. Also cleaning & repairs of grease
traps and inspections of drain pipes by
CCTV. Call on 21651029, 99421954,
99499714
TOTAL CLEANING AND RESTORATION
SERVICES LTD, cleaning of all kinds of
carpets, upholstery and curtains (on
site) and fire places. Insurance claims
for fire and water damage accepted.
Call on 99455152 or email info@
tcrcleaningmalta.com
COMPUTERS
ALL computer problems, 24/7 express
service, free antivirus given. Brand new
computers and laptops also for sale.
Call Chris on 99424703,
ENCOUNTERING computer problems?
Repairs on spot, on the same day?
Cleaning from viruses and spyware?
Swift-Tec is your answer. Renowned
for upgrades, new system installations
and distribution of the high quality laptops. Installation of antivirus for free.
Swift-Tec. Call on 27886633
COURSES
KEUNE PROFESSIONAL HAIRDRESSING
COURSES for beginners and advanced
including hair extensions. Limited
number of students accepted. Courses,
given by hairdressers trained over-
seas, mornings and evenings both in
Maltese and English. For bookings call
on 2143 4636, 99476170. Keune Hair
Centre, St Michael Street, Lija. Salons
worldwide: Amsterdam, Berlin, London,
Sydney and Tokyo.
ENTERTAINMENT
NIGRET NIGHT CLUB in Labour Avenue,
Rabat, Malta. We cater for all kinds of
functions: coffee mornings, lunches,
dinner dances, hen’s/bachelor’s and
wedding parties. For more information call on 21454858, 21454908,
79454908. Freddie Portelli in attendance every Friday and Franz Grech
every Saturday with line-dancing/ country music and 60’s music.
FOR HIRE
CHAIRS AND TABLES for all occasions
including children’s parties, weddings,
Gala dinners, etc.Variation of chairs
and tables of any colours and sizes.
Call Gino ta’ Hal Qormi on 99492732,
7949 2732, 21472838. Facebook:
Gino ta Hal-Qormi
TOP Hat Wedding Hiring Service:
wedding suits, Holy Communion,
Confirmation suits, coloured suits,
graduation gowns, bridesmaids. Visit
us at 210, St Edward Street, Qormi.
Call on 21488241, 79488241
FOR SALE
ADULT NOVELTIES and lingerie, ideal
to brighten up hens’ nights, bachelor
parties or for your intimate moments.
Discreet free delivery. Available online
from www.toysfourplay.com. Arbiv
Marketing, PO Box 26, St Julian’s.
e-mail: info@toysfourplay.com. Call on
9943 2019. Visit www.toysfourplay.
com
CLOVER (silla), a stock of 65 bales
at the price of €5 per bale. Call on
79031640
COLOUR bulbs or clear 15w filament.
See-through or matt light bulbs, ideal
for feasts, festoons, holders, LEDs,
etc. Call on 99497336
Robert Musumeci’s Weekly
landmark decisions
site. Applicant maintained that he
feels “frustrated” since the existing
structures are not considered “adequate for his current agricultural
needs” in view of the existing configuration (shape and layout) as well
as the size of the existing openings.
Applicant explained that his operations require a garage-like structure with a relatively wide opening,
where he can place his agricultural
implements. Even so, applicant underlined that, contrary to what the
Commission alleged, the existing
building does not feature any vernacular characteristics.
In fact, applicant described the
building in question as a “box like
structure, roofed with a concrete
slab” which lacks any vernacular
qualities. Applicant retained that
the proposal does not contemplate
any increase in the existing footprint. On its part, the Authority
Applicant says he is ‘frustrated’ since the
existing structures are not ‘adequate for his
current agricultural needs’
rebutted that the proposed alterations include part demolition of an
existing rural building along with
an extension towards the frontal
part of the building. Against this
background, the Authority reiterated that any structural work must
respect the vernacular character
of the original building in keeping
with its overall architectural integrity. Following a site inspection, the
Environment and Planning Tribunal held that the request could be
nonetheless entertained, maintaining that the proposed structural
works could in effect be undertaken
without obliterating the current
scale and building proportions. The
Authority was ordered to issue the
permit subject to a method statement.
48
Classifieds
SNOOKER and Pool tables, foreign,
made in solid mahogany. Complete
with accessories. Professional and
commercial cues, soccer tables and
air hockey tables. Maintenance and
recovering of all types of tables. Call
on 21227209, 99475092 or email on
mr.snooker147@yahoo.com. Visit us
on http://houseofsnooker.wordpress.
com or 25, Market Street, Floriana
FURNITURE
C.BORG FURNITURE, joinery works
including interior/exterior doors, kitchens, bedrooms, wall units, shoe cabinets and more. Excellent prices and
quality workmanship. Borg Garage,
St Katerina Street, Gharghur. Call on
21413327, 99452554
FAIR DEAL FURNITURE where you
will find bedroom prices starting from
€1,375. Leather sofas at unbelievable prices. Fair Deal Furniture, Mdina
Road, Zebbug. Call on 27282828 or
visit www.fairdealfurniture.com.mt
SITTING room suites for sale at moderate prices. Part exchange accepted.
Also second hand ones and re-upholstery. Call 21374823, 99824139
GENERAL
LAPTOP coolers, 2-fan cooler for €8,
3-fan for €15, heavy duty aluminium
coolers from €22 till €25. Call on
99485899
TEDDY’S Detergent Shop at 590, St
Paul’s Street, St Paul’s Bay. Best prices in town. We also offer free delivery
to nearby areas. Find us on Facebook.
Call on 27333357
TEDDY’S Fashion on 571, St Paul’s
Street, St Paul’s Bay. Latest women’s
fashion at lowest prices. All items
under €20. Find us on Facebook. Call
on 27889987
HEALTH & BEAUTY
BEAUTY Culture Centre, in Santa
Venera, offers professional waxing,
beauty kits, couches and equipment
including pressotherapy lymphatic and
slimming machines. Sale of portable
couches, steamers and beauty equipment at favourable prices. Special
offers on student packages. Ask for
the special offer of the month. Smart
=
€3
cards accepted. Call on 21440424
79592764
FULL body relaxing massage by caring, attractive female therapist. Call
on 99017954
TA’
Rummiena
Holiday
Accommodations - If you are looking
for a premium holiday on the Island of
Gozo, staying in an authentic Gozitan
farmhouse rented directly from owners, this is the right place for you.
We can guarantee you a memorable
holiday in style in one of our luxury yet
traditional farmhouses in Gozo at the
most competitive of prices. Call on
21554466, 99821550, 79821550.
Email: contact@farmhouseingozo.
com, Website: www.farmhouseingozo.
com
MADAME MARIE Health and Beauty
Salon, for all beauty treatments and
make-up for all occasions. Visit us
at 96, Triq il-Kbira, Qormi or contact Claire Chetcuti on 21495103,
99423894
NEW beauty Spa ‘Honey Girl’ is now
open from Monday to Saturday, offering oriental massage, nail art, etc.
Slimming treatments also available.
New Chinese masseuse available. 37,
Valley Road, Balzan. Contact Ms Lin on
99210180, 27556688
NEW Chinese masseuse available
in Huaxia Chinese massage centre in Pitkali Road, Attard. Call on
79800298
SILHOUETTE HEALTH AND BEAUTY
SALON: facials, electrolysis, manicures, pedicures, waxing, make-up
for any occasion, gel & acrylic nails
& slimming treatments. Visit us St
Sebastian Street, Qormi. Call on
21485716, 99450829
THE Nail House for gel nail extensions,
Makea nail products, waxing, Accura
lifting systems, semi-permanent make
up, fat busting, slimming treatments,
laser hair removal. Nails by Mariella at
22, Marina Street, Marsascala. For an
appointment call on 99451294
HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION
GOZO, XLENDI
apartments. Call
new furnished
on 21555026,
HOME IMPROVEMENTS
AGIUS Decorations Ltd for all types
of gypsum works, PVC Wall panelling, PVC soffits, 60 x 60 soffits,
folding doors, coving, ceiling roses,
roller nets, blinds, curtain rails &
laminate floor. Supply and install.
Agius Decorations Ltd - Shop, Valley
Road, Qormi. Call on 21472068,
21803654, 99476936, 79253740.
Email on agiusdecor@onvol.net
DEO’S Interiors: turnkey contractors, gypsum works, importers/suppliers and installers of Italian material, including coving, ceiling roses
and interior decorations. Showroom
at Testaferrata Street, Ta’ Xbiex. Call
on 21334323, 99475239 or email on
deos@maltanet.net
W.P. LTD Specialists in waterproofing membrane. Ten-year guarantee.
For free estimates and professional
advice call on 21438326, 99445527,
99493840; email: william@go.net.mt;
www.wpmalta.com
HYPNOTHERAPY
HYPNOTHERAPY, qualified help to
quit smoking, self-esteem, phobias,
panic attacks, depression, impotency,
jealousy, anger management, weight
control, positive thinking, social interaction and stuttering. Phone C. Barlow
MAPHP, MNRPC on 27339320,
99881165
LETTING
ATTARD - converted townhouse,
located in the centre. Accommodation
includes a living room, kitchen/dining
room, bathroom, shower, two bedrooms, courtyard, washroom and own
roof. Long let. No agents. Call on
77406889
BAHRIJA - situated in ally. Two bedroom, kitchen, dining, bathroom, very
large front yard. Fully furnished to a
very high standard. Price €250 monthly. Must be seen. Call on 21570123,
99428930
BIRKIRKARA - new furnished first
floor maisonette with two bedrooms.
Situated within walking distance to
Mater Dei hospital. Includes lounge/
dining/ kitchen, bathroom and own
roof with washroom. No agents. Long
let. Call on 77406889
CENTRAL areas, properties for long
rent from 1, 2 or 3 bedroom. Visit
our website www.baronproperties.org
or call on 99442756, 79706219,
99443311
MARSASKALA – store/ car spaces/
warehouse; 16 courses high and 21ft
by 90ft. Street level in Gebel Hanxul
Street. Call on 99226842
2 CLASSIFIEDS
FOR 3 WEEKS
Choose category. Fill in the boxes provided. Write in block letters. Your advert will appear for three weeks in both MaltaToday and MaltaToday Wednesday.
This offer does not apply to Real Estate agents. Send your form to:
MaltaToday Classifieds, Media Today, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016.
Together with a €3 cheque payable to MediaToday Co. Ltd.
Name: ________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________________
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ANTIQUES
BOATS
FURNITURE
GENERAL
LETTING
PETS
PROPERTY
SITUATIONS WANTED
SITUATIONS VACANT
SERVICE
TUITION
VEHICLES / PARTS
WANTED
ANTIQUES
BOATS
FURNITURE
GENERAL
LETTING
PETS
PROPERTY
SITUATIONS WANTED
SITUATIONS VACANT
SERVICE
TUITION
VEHICLES / PARTS
WANTED
ALL PRICES INDICATED FOR YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE MUST BE IN EURO
49
Classifieds
MGARR - new ground floor maisonette, three bedrooms fully furnished,
back balcony, airconditioned. Price
€350 monthly. Must be seen. Call on
21570123, 99428930
PAOLA – upper level of accessories
shop. Ideal for the services of nail technician, beautician, massage parlour,
etc. Call on 99440819, 99406865
QAWRA - two bedroom flat for rent.
Long lets. Price €350 per month. Call
on 99468110
SWIEQI - first floor office in Swieqi
Road. Includes three large rooms,
kitchen and garden. Approx 70
sqm. Price €390 per month. Call on
99804121 or send an email on joe.
cross@computinguk.co.uk
ZEBBUG - 2 or 3 bedroom apartments
in Vjal il-Helsien. Shop in Birkirkara
in Old Church area. Call owner on
99486496
MARINE
PRIVATE
EXCLUSIVE
YACHT
CHARTERS: why not charter one of our
sailing yachts or motor boats for a day
around the Maltese Islands? You may
also charter for longer periods and
sail to Sicily. We provide fully insured
and licensed yachts, which may be
chartered with or without a skipper.
Contact Nautica Ltd on info@nautica.
com.mt, 21345138, 99496510. Visit
www.nautica.com.mt, www.yachtchartermalta.com
VISIT Glassfibre Industries for all your
boating needs including resins and
fiberglass, rubber fenders, made to
measure canopies and a large variety
of boat accessories being sold at discounted prices. Glassfibre Industries,
San Gwakkin Road, Mriehel. Call on
21470282
MEAT SHOPS
PRIME MEAT SHOPS offer you the
best variety of fresh beef, pork, chicken and other meats for any occasion.
Try our oven-ready specials, marinated
meats, fresh rabbit, succulent steaks,
tasty sausages and kebabs . PRIME
MEAT SHOPS are located in Marsa,
Qormi, Paola, Zejtun, Naxxar, Sliema,
Qawra, St Paul’s Bay, Mellieha and
Ghajnsielem. For more information,
contact us on 21242650, 79478452
or browse www.primemalta.com. You
may also view James’ recipes on
Facebook group PRIME RECIPES 4 U
or join our mailing list by sending an
email on james.muscat@primemalta.
com
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
MUSIC LINK - We stock a huge
range of musical instruments such
as Acoustic and Electric Drum Kits,
Cymbals, Percussion, Digital Pianos,
Baby Grand Pianos, Digital Sound
Mixers and Sound Cards, DJ equipment, Sound Systems, Electric,
Acoustic and Classical Guitars, Bass
Guitars, Brass Instruments, Wood
Winds, Violins, spare parts and loads
of accessories. We also stock Music
Tuition Books: ABRSM, LCM and
Trinity. Kindly call at Music Link, 262,
Fleur De Lys Road, Birkirkara. Call on
21482796
PIANOS Upright/Grand: Hyundai,
Kohler & Campbell, Seiler, Schulze
Pollmann. For hire and for sale at easy
monthly payment terms. Keyboards,
synthesizers, digital pianos: Farfisa,
Viscount. Jazz organs: Hammond.
Church organs: Viscount, Ahlborn.
Drum kits: Ludwig, Tamburo. Cymbals,
gongs: Ufip, Istanbul, Wuhan. Acoustic
guitars: Alhambra, Strunal. Electric guitars: G&L, Burns. Trumpets, clarinets,
saxophones: Selmer Paris. Strings:
Pirastro Other musical instruments and
accessories: concert harps, hand held
percussions, Latin percussion, violins,
violas, mouth organs, piano accordions, recorders, melodicas, amplifiers
and sound systems. Apply Barbara
Music Shop, Triq Misrah il-Barrieri,
Santa Venera. Call on 21484151,
21485343. Email: barbara.trading@
go.net.mt
NAUTICAL LICENCE
INTERNATIONAL Marine Licence for
small crafts. RYA Day Skipper licence
courses that gives you the possibility
of sailing beyond our territorial waters.
This licence satisfies the requirements
of the Italian, Greek and French Coast
Guard. Contact us on 79432526,
info@maltasailingacademy.com, www.
maltasailingacademy.com
NAUTICAL Licence courses, costing €120 + €35 exam fee + €23.18
Licence for a total of €178.18.
Alternatively join us for a two day RYA
Powerboat Level2, course fee €300.
Exam done on second day. Contact us
on 79432526, info@maltasailingacademy.com, www.maltasailingacademy.
com
NURSERY SCHOOL
VICTORIA Nursery school in San Pawl
Tat-Targa. Playgoup/Kindergarten.
Ages between 18 months to 5 years.
Accepts registrations for October
2012. Qualified teachers. Spacious
classrooms/playground. Arts, crafts,
singing, playing, etc.Caring environment. Call on 21419740, 79431813.
Webpage: Victoria nursery school
Malta
NURSING
CARE AND CURE GROUP LTD - Trained
nurses, caring assistants, nannies,
companions, home help and night sitters. 24-hour service. Wheelchairs,
hoists, commodes, walking frames
and Hospital beds for hire. Call on
21376946, 99470178
OPTICIANS
SPECTACLE
FRAMES, contact
lenses and solutions, sunglasses,
with eye specialists in attendance.
Prop. Mario Cassar and Annabelle
Cassar, Shop 3, Regent Place, Tumas
Fenech Street, Birkirkara. Call on
21494198, 27494198, 99884445;
fax: 21677916; email: annabelcassar@gmail.com
THE CATHEDRAL OPTICAL one-hour
service, frames start from €27.96.
Attard: 21418315; Guardamangia:
21226020: Fgura: 2167 3332;
Zebbug: 21465768; Birkirkara:
21490213; Naxxar: 21431152;
Rabat: 21450845; Luqa: 21895248;
Pinto Opticians (Qormi): 21488950;
San Gwann: 21383947. We are now
open in Birzebbuga: 21421976. Polar
and Cebe sunglasses.
PAINTS
INTERIOR/EXTERIOR PAINTS, water
based and acrylic, graffiato, silicato,
tiles, adhesives, plastering, liquid membrane, anti-humidity plastering products, etc. Any colours. Wholesale prices sales direct through an Italian company. Call on 21240027, 99490964.
Email on info@muracel.com.mt
PEST CONTROL
COCKROACH CONTROL services
using Goliath Gel. Long-term effect.
Do-it-yourself pest control products
for sale. Ortis Ltd, Ta’ Qali (next to
the new American Embassy). Call on
21420305; email: info@ortis.biz
PROPERTY FOR SALE
BAHAR IC-CAGHAQ - garage in Triq
il-Lampara, size 32x9 x11ft high, with
window leading to road semi basement.
Price €30,000. Part exchange with
cars accepted. Call on 99262807
BIDNIJA - well over 2 tumolo of
land, ready to be used as a weekend
retreat, being sold as freehold. Call
owner on 99492448
CENTRAL areas, properties for sale
from 1, 2 or 3 bedroom. Visit our
website www.baronproperties.org
or call on 99442756, 79706219,
99443311
GHARGHUR - terraced house with
three bedrooms. Finished with sea
and country views. Freehold. Price
€337,000. Call on 21423900,
79071873
HAMRUN - 3-car garage. Call on
79996880
IKLIN – detached house with pool,
four bedrooms, double-glazing, etc.
No agents. Price €800,000. Call owner direct on 99461502
MARSASKALA – two car garage,
street level. Freehold. Price €32,000
ono Call on 79058166
MQABBA - flats with three bedrooms,
lounge, bathroom and ensuite. With
a balcony in front and one at the
back, which overlooks a green area.
In a quiet area. Price €95,000. Call on
79996880
NAXXAR - corner detached bungalow with mature gardens, large pool
and deck area, over 1,200 sqm. Must
view. Asking €740,000. Call owner on
9939 5225
OVER 2 tumolo with 3 small rooms
and many mature trees with water
reserviors and vertical well (spiera) l/o
Rabat accessible through lane, with
Importers of hand-knotted Oriental carpets
THE FLYING CARPET - OLD RAILWAY TRACK, ATTARD
.PO5VFT5IVST4BUBNoQNt8FEOFTEBZNPSOJOHDMPTFE
.PO'SJoQNQN
*NQPSUFSTPG7BSJPVTIBOELOPUUFEDBSQFUTBOE,JMJNT
/PO4MJQ6OEFSMBZ%SZBOE-JRVJETIBNQPP.PCJMF/P
50
Classifieds
surrounding rubble walls. Being sold
freehold. Call on owner 99492448,
99875540
Depiro Street, centrally located. Price
€130,000 or nearest offer. Call owner
on 21805729
SANTA KATERINA – limits of Rabat,
almost 1 tumolo of land in a very
quite area, surrounded by rubble walls.
Land has numerous fruit trees and a
good sized girna. Also has a reservior
and vertical well (spiera) being sold
freehold. Call owner on 99492448,
99875540
SLIEMA - new apartment 88sqm with
two bedrooms. Very bright with open
views from front balcony. Main bathroom and ensuite to main bedroom.
Price €145,000. Call on 99476945
for a private viewing.
SLIEMA – furnished holiday flat with
two bedrooms, on the second floor, in
ZEBBUG - 2 or 3 bedroom apartments in Vjal il-Helsien. Call owner on
99486496
PROPERTY WANTED
BUNGALOW sought after in the areas
of Birguma, Mosta or San Pawl tatTarga. Plot also considered but finished bungalow is preferable. Call on
99476945 for viewing the property.
Reaady to buy.
SERVICES
CALIGARI Spray Painting and Pane
Beating specialising in 2K, metallic
and water-based paints. Low back
booth and computerised mixing room.
MSA insurance approved. De La Rue
Avenue, Gzira. Call on 27333879,
99426198 or email on caligari@onvol.
net
MICHELLE
Colombo, daughter
of Victor Galea, funeral director, St
Gregory’s Sacristan; 24-hour service.
Apply 43, Blanche Huber Street, Sliema.
Call on 21339579, 99490846
MINICABS 24/7, minicabs and
mini buses. Competitive rates. Call
Wembley’s on 21374141, 27374141,
79374141
SITUATIONS VACANT
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SELLER of beauty products. Avon
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Work the hours to suit your lifestyle
and have a pleasant & friendly way of
earning money. With Avon, the company for women, you’re in business for
yourself. Not by yourself. Exclusively
represented by Nova Company Ltd,
51, Old Mint Street, Valletta. Call on
21235199, 79837983. Email: avonladiesmalta@gmail.com Website: www.
avon.com.mt
STONE WORKS
J. VELLA STONE WORKS (Ta’
Comba), for all types of stoneworks
(lavur), columns, troughs (hwat), balustrades, fireplaces, fountains, etc.
More than 30 types of stone cladding,
old building stone and imported stone.
Also flagstone (cangatura), stone slabs
(xorok) and doors for farmhouses.
Open from 7am till 4pm at Triq irRazzett l-Ahmar, Iklin. Showroom: 19,
Main Street, Mosta. Call on 21432352,
21412216, 99477167
TOILET SEATS
WE manufacture any kind of toilet
Property for Sale in Lija.
1. Fourth-floor 2 bedroom
penthouse in shell-form
- €115,000.
2. Third floor 2 bedroom
apartment in shell-form €60,000.
Groundfloor apartment
in central Lija, next to the
Local Council in a block of
six. Apartment is finished
to a high standard, with two
bedrooms, one en suite, a
bathroom and kitchen/living
room.
Properties enjoy marvellous sea
& country views, use of lift and
finished common parts. Finishing packages are also available.
Propery also enjoys a goodsized courtyard.
Price € 100,000FH.
Property for Sale in M’forn.
For viewing or other enquities, call 7949 3021 or 7748
1592 or 2155 6021
For viewing or other enquities,
call 7949 3021 or 7748 1592 or
2155 6021
NADUR
GUARDAMANGIA
Plot of land in village core
485 sqm with 14.5m frontage
St Luke’s Road
ground-floor maisonette in
shell-form with garden
Suitable for commercial development
Price negotiable.
€133,000
Call 79426883, 77461445
Call 79493021, 77481592
seats, made to measure, complete
with fittings. For more information call
on 79675053, 21675053
TOOLS
TOOL CENTRE, Naxxar Road, Birkirkara
wishes to announce they have discounts
on items including S.I.P and Awelco
welding equipment, Sparky power
tools, Omega and Wintecc Hydraulic
equipment, Climax Safety equipment,
Mobile Plastic Storage bins and cabinets, Impex wall chasers (no dust),
Evolution Metal Cutting machines, Fiac
Air-compressors, safety shoes. Call on
21499908, 99475348
TUITION
ORAL and listening comprehension
practice for Italian and English Matsec
exam. Apply now as exam is close, so
there will be very few sessions. Also
Matsec courses and Forms 1-5: Italian,
French, English and Maltese. Call on
21697187, 99804695
PIANO and theory lessons for all ages
and levels up to grade 8. Small groups
with individual attention. Experienced
teacher. For more information call on
79377429 or email joannaellul@gmail.
com
SCHOOL leavers and adults – English
classes for better jobs or to sit for
exams. It’s never too late! We can help
you now! Also Forms 1 to 5: English,
Italian, French and Maltese. Primary
classes: English, Maths and Maltese.
Lessons in Paola. Call on 21697187,
99804695
TURNKEY PROJECTS
WOULD you like to save money? Do
you need turnkey services, alterations
and maintenance for your business?
Professional and immediate work. Free
quotation. Call on 79422835
TV REPAIRS
ON the spot, expert professional
repairs for tv’s, LCD’s, plasma, LED’s,
microwaves and any other electronic
equipment. Call on 99446918
VEHICLES/PARTS
ATTENTION ALL ROVER AND JAGUAR
OWNERS: we supply new and secondhand Rover and Jaguar parts. We also
carry out service and repairs on all
types of Rover and Jaguar. We also
have close to manufacture diagnostic tool for Jaguar. Apply at British
Car Specialist. Call on 21483024,
99425122
BMW 530D Model (E39) Diesel (ta’
Malta) six cylinder, four doors, year
1999, colour Silver, A/C, sunroof,
automatic & manual, alloy wheels,
full black leather, four electric windows, radio/Cd changer etc. In perfect condition, license paid till July
2013. Part exchange accepted. Call
on 99262807
TRANSIT VAN, double wheel, white,
year 1981 (diesel engine D1) with
Luton box. In very good condition.
Price €2,300. Call on 99262807
TWO hydraulic piston motors at €465.
Call on 79031640
WANTED
ALTO saxophone in good working condition. Call on 99892496
COLLECTIBLE items such panini
albums and loose stickers, old postcards and posted envelopes, medals, militaria, coins and paper money,
books, toys, stamps, badges, etc. Call
on 21310238, 99246632
51
Sport
SPORTTODAY
FOOTBALL
Sliema end first round
on a positive note
Sliema Wanderers ...... 3
Balzan ....................... 2
SLIEMA scored three goals in the
first 11 minutes of the second half to
ensure them victory over Balzan in a
match that ended 3-2.
Sliema will be starting the Championship Pool on 15 points. Balzan will
be starting the Relegation Pool on 14
points.
Balzan were the better side in the
first half when they had a number of
attempts on goal from Firas Aboulezz
and Aaron Agius.
Sliema took the lead two minutes
after the start of the second half. Alex
Muscat served Matias Muchardi who
then went on to beat goalkeeper Dani
Miguelez with his shot.
On the 48th minute, Sliema managed to double the score. Ian Zammit
served Substitute Stanley Ohawuchi
who then went on to score Sliema second goal of the match.
Balzan managed to get back into the
match when they scored on the 51st
minute. Ryan Darmanin beat goalkeeper James Abela with his shot.
On the 56th minute, Sliema managed to restore their two-goal lead.
Alex Muscat beat goalkeeper Daniel
Miguelez Martinez with his shot.
On the 79th minute, Elton Alexandre
da Silva scored Balzan’s second goal to
make it 3-2. Off a pass by Aaron Agius
Elton Alexandre da Silva beat goalkeeper Jason Abela with his shot from
the left.
Matias Muchardi was voted BOV
Player of the Match.
BALZAN Daniel Miguelez Martinez, Aaron Agius (89’ Gianfranco
Micallef, Jacob Borg, Stefan Giglio,
Yessous Camilleri, Matthew Mendy,
Jamie Pace, Firas Aboulezz, Christian Caruana (70’ Jonathan Francica), Elton Alexandre da Silva, Ryan
Darmanin.
Subs not used: Fredrick Tabone,
Daniel Spiteri, Juan Carlos Corbalan,
Matthew Mifsud, Andrew Cassar.
Coach: Joseph Borg
SLIEMA WANDERERS James Abela, Alex Muscat, Paltemio Barbetti,
John Mintoff, Ian Zammit (60’ Miguel
Ciantar), Luigi Ruggiero (46’ Stanley
Ohawuchi), Ivan Woods, Shaun Bajada (89’ Beppe Muscat), Josef Mifsud,
Matias Muchardi, Stefano Bianciardi.
Subs not used: Glenn Zammit, Arial
Laudisi, Alain Faccini, Ryan Dalli.
Coach: Alfonso Greco
Asst. Coach: JoJo Bajada
Referee: Paul Caruana
Assistant Referees: Mitchell Scerri,
Roberto Vella
Fourth Official: Clayton Pisani
Yellow Cards: Elton, Muchardi, Agius, Mintoff, Ohawuchi, Aboulezz,
Mifsud, Francica
Scorers: 47’ Matias Muchardi, 48’
Stanley Ohawuchi, 51’ Ryan Darmanin, 56’ Alex Muscat, 79’ Elton
Alexandre da Silva
BOV Premier League table
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Hibernians
Valletta
Birkirkara
Sliema W.
Tarxien R.
Mosta
Qormi
Balzan
Floriana
Hamrun S.
Melita
Rabat A.
P
21
21
21
22
21
21
22
22
21
21
22
21
Pts
44
43
40
37
37
34
30
27
24
16
14
8
52
Sport
Qormi comeback from
behind to defeat Melita
Melita ................1
Qormi .................. 2
QORMI earned a well deserved victory after they cameback from one
goal down to defeat Melita 2-1.
After both teams coming close to
scoring in the opening minutes of
the match, Melita managed to take
the lead on the 34th minute.
Off a cross by George Bribbon,
Luke Micallef ’s header went in the
direction of Daniel Cabanillas Ayllon who beat goalkeeper Steve Sultana with his low shot.
Even though Melita had the lead,
the first half would not end in a
positive note after they were reduced to ten men. Karl Vella Petroni was immediately sent off for
ironically applauding the referee’s
decision.
Five minutes into the second half,
Qormi started to take advantage of
having the extra man.
Qormi’s Edison Bilbao Zarate hit
the woodwork with his powerful
shot.
Qormi managed to score the
equaliser on the 71st minute.
When cross by Leighton Grech was
partially saved by goalkeeper Guillermo Gabilondo Garcia, Melita’s
Ivan Tufegdzic deflected the ball
into his own net.
Roderick Sammut almost scored
Qormi’s second goal when his effort hit the woodwork.
One minute from time, Qormi
scored the winning goal when off a
cross by Edison Bilbao Zarate, Moises Avila Perez headed the ball past
the Melita goalkeeper to make the
final score 2-1.
Leighton Grech was voted BOV
Player of the Match.
MELITA Guillermo Gabilondo
Garcia, Manuel Ramon Sierra Camacho, Karl Vella Petroni, George
Gribbon, Ivan Tufegdzic, Michael
Martin, Nigel Rizzo, Luke Sammut (73’ Michael Valenzia), Daniel
Cabanillas Ayllon (60’ Jorge Veloso
Lourido)(80’
Rudi Alhinho),
)(
) Luke
Micallef, Matthew Borg.
Subs not used: Andrew Abela, Jean
Pierre Attard, Marco Calleja, Marc
Attard.
Coach: Patxi Salinas
Asst. Coach: Alejandro Martinez
Lopez
QORMI Steve Sultana, Kris Thackray, Joseph Chetcuti, Moises Avila
Perez, Luke Sciberras, Matthew
Gauci, Edison Bilbao Zarate, Duncan Pisani (84’ Matthew Bartolo),
Christian Cassar (59’ Roderick Sammut), Stephen Wellman, Leighton
Grech (90’ Alessio Cassar).
Subs not used: Matthew Farrugia,
Farr
Gilmore Azzopardi, Ismael Borg,
Dylan Borg.
Coach: Jesmond Zerafa
Asst. Coach: Joe Brincat
Referee: Chris Lautier
Assistant Referees: Thomas Debono, Ingmar Spiteri
Fourth Official: Trustin Farrugia
Cann
Yellow Cards: L. Micallef, Vella
Petroni, L. Sammut, M. Borg, R.
Sammut
Red Cards: 43’ Vella Petroni
Scorers: 34’ Daniel Cabanillas Ayllon (M); 79’ own goal Ivan Tufegdzic
(Q); 89’ Moises Avila Perez (Q)
FOOTBALL
53
Sport
FOOTBALL
Southampton put three
past Manchester City
INEXPLICABLE mistakes by Joe
Hart and Gareth Barry gave Manchester City’s Premier League title
hopes a potentially decisive blow
as they lost 3-1 Southampton, who
secured their first win under Mauricio Pochettino in style.
City goalkeeper Hart admitted
in the build-up that anything but
victory at St Mary’s would all but
end any their hopes of retaining
the title, with leaders Manchester
United already boasting a ninepoint cushion.
Roberto Mancini’s side simply
did not look like a side in need of a
victory, conceding after just seven
minutes when Jason Puncheon
slotted home.
Hart could have possibly done
better with the shot that led to the
opener, but there was no doubting
his culpability for Southampton’s
second.
Excellent team interplay put
through Rickie Lambert, whose
fierce drive squirmed through
the England international’s grasp,
allowing Steven Davis to bundle
home.
Edin Dzeko reduced the deficit as
half-time approached, although a
two-goal lead could have been restored on the stroke of half-time
had referee Martin Atkinson not
waved away Jay Rodriguez’s penalty
appeals.
That was soon forgotten, though,
as Barry passed into his own goal
unchallenged to put Saints on
course for a first win since Pochettino replaced Nigel Adkins at
the helm.Frank Lampard issued
another timely contract reminder
to Roman Abramovich as Chelsea
eased the pressure on boss Rafael
Benitez with a 4-1 win over Wigan
at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard lashed his 198th career goal for the Blues in the 86th
minute to settle his side’s nerves
after the visitors had briefly threatened to pile more misery upon Benitez.
Ramires put Chelsea in front in
the 23rd minute and Eden Hazard
returned from his ball boy suspension when he struck a low right-foot
shot to increase the home side’s
lead after 56 minutes.
But Wigan reduced the deficit
Juventus too
strong for
Fiorentina
Alessandro Matri celebrates
his goal for Juventus
Steven Davis capitalises on Joe Hart’s
error to put the Saints 2-0 up
when Shaun Maloney scored from
a tight angle on 58 minutes, and
the Latics threatened before Lampard intervened to effectively seal
the three points.
The home side gave the final
score a slightly lop-sided look
when late substitute Marko Marin
headed his first goal for the club in
injury-time.
The result lifted Chelsea back
to third after Tottenham had earlier replaced them with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle at White Hart
Lane.
Gareth Bale beat Tim Krul with
a 25-yard free-kick to open the
scoring for the Londoners and he
then sealed the win with a superb
break-away goal that ended with
him slotting the ball between the
Newcastle goalkeeper’s legs.
Newcastle’s goal came from Yoan
Gouffran, who was later carried off
on a stretcher with a serious-looking leg injury.
Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech
Szczesny produced some late heroics as the 10-man Gunners were
forced to cling on for a 1-0 win
over Sunderland at the Stadium of
Light.
Arsene Wenger’s men played the
last half-hour with 10 men following Carl Jenkinson’s sending-off for
a second bookable offence.
Santi Cazorla made the decisive
breakthrough in the 35th minute
with a low shot past Simon Mignolet, who had earlier saved well from
Aaron Ramsey.
Theo Walcott hit the post early
in the second half but Sunderland
finished in style with both Steven
Fletcher and Adam Johnson denied
late on by superb saves from Szczesny.
Rock-bottom QPR sunk closer to
relegation after a dismal 4-1 defeat
at Swansea.
Michu set the Swans on their way
to victory with his eighth minute
opener and Angel Rangel increased
the home side’s lead from closerange in the 18th minute.
Despite substitute Bobby Zamora
briefly reducing the deficit, Pablo Hernandez restored Swansea’s
two-goal cushion on 50 minutes
before Michu slid home his 15th
league goal of the season to seal an
easy win.
Robert Huth headed his first goal
since April last year to send Stoke
on their way to a 2-1 win over relegation-threatened Reading at the
Britannia Stadium.
Huth nodded the opener in off the
bar in the 67th minute and Cameron Jerome smashed home the
Potters’ second nine minutes from
time. Adrian Mariappa grabbed a
late consolation for the Royals.
Norwich stretched their winless Premier League streak to nine
games after a low-key 0-0 draw
with Fulham.
The result also means Martin
Jol’s Cottagers have won just two
from their last 10.
JUVENTUS will not be caught at
the top of the Serie A table this
weekend after first-half goals from
Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro
Matri sealed a comfortable 2-0 win
over Fiorentina on Saturday.
The Bianconeri knew that failure
to condemn Fiorentina to a third
straight away defeat would leave
the door open for Napoli to close
a three-point gap with any points
earned at Lazio.
Juve boss Antonio Conte had
played down talk of a fierce rivalry
between Turin and Florence and
there was precious little evidence
of competition on the pitch as Vucinic was left unchallenged to slam
home the opener.
Matri lost his boot when swinging at Arturo Vidal’s canny pass
but his socked foot guaranteed Juve
all three points before what turned
out to be an insipid second half.
Napoli lost valuable ground on
Juve but it could have been worse
as Hugo Campagnaro salvaged the
latest of draws at Lazio.
Walter Mazzarri’s men needed to
win in Rome to stay in touch with
Juve, who had opened a six-point
gap at the top with victory over
Fiorentina.
But Napoli looked like being
sucked towards third-placed Lazio
when Sergio Floccari opened the
scoring early on.
The game grew more and more
frantic as time ticked away, with
Campagnaro emerging as a key figure all over the pitch, and the Napoli defender would have the final
say with an audacious finish three
minutes from time.
Fast, Reliable, Economical
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54
Sport
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAYMOND CASSAR
BOXING
Mark Cutajar lands a left upper cut to the face of
Michael ‘Hurricane’ Carter in the second round
Clayton Vella celebrating his
win over Richard Vella
A great right hook from Michael ‘Hurricane’ Carter in the semi final
against Santos Rossi putting him through to the final by way of KO
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLEAVEN DELIA
ON Friday, 1 February 2013 at the
Dolmen Hotel in Bugibba, a boxing
tournament was held by Prize Boxing Promotion.
More than 1000 boxing fans were
not left disappointed as the night
was full of top level boxing by local
athletes.
A number of semi-professional
bouts were held with four of the
fighters fighting in the heavyweight
division.
Mark Cutajar who managed to win
the Prize Boxing Promotion heavyweight championship took home
€1000 and also now has the opportunity to fight as a professional.
Each heavyweight bout consisted
of three rounds with each round
lasting three minutes.
The format of the fights were a
knockout tournament.
In the first fight, Mark Cutajar defeated Josef Hazzouri by unanimous
decision.
In the second fight, Michael ‘Hurricane’ Carter defeated Santo Rossi
when the refree stopped the fight 44
seconds into the second round.
Mark Cutajar earned his second
victory of the night when he defeated Michael “Hurricane’ Carter with
another unanimous decision.
In other fights, Clayton Vella defeated Richard Vella by split decision.
Manuel Degiorgio defeated Brian
Farrugia by unanimous decision.
Garth Galea was victorious over
Warren Azzopardi by unanimous
decision.
Chris Schembri defeated Ali when
the referee stopped the fight one
minute and 15 seconds into the second round.
Mads the ‘Mad Man’ Abela defeated Joseph Abela by split decision.
The next boxing event will
be the Rumble in the Med on
16 May, 2013.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEITH ELLUL
Mark Cutajar is the new Prize Boxing
Promotion heavyweight champion
55
Sport
CRICKET
Melita back on track for title
THE third round of the Cricket
Winter league came to an end
this weekend with the Melita
C.C team playing against the
Marsa C.C. Melita needed to
win this game to have any hope
of winning the title. It is going to
be tough to topple the Krishna
team who are going for their
fifth title.
The Melita team batted first
and disaster struck. Daniel
Galea bowled probably one of his
best balls to date which bowled
Simon Lavendar in the first ball
of the game. Justin Brooke and
Matt Mckeogh steadied the ship
with Brooke top scoring with
thirty runs from twenty balls
which include two fours and a
six. Mckeogh went on to make a
contribution of seventeen runs.
Sumair Khan played a good innings blasting three fours on
the way to twenty three runs
and Andy Naudi remained unbeaten on twenty four runs as
the Melita team were bowled out
for 125 runs. Tony Azzopardi
and George Agius both took two
wickets while Derek Ali took one
for the Marsa team. 125 runs is
very attainable and the Marsa
lads were confident of making
the runs. A fine bowling spell
from Andy Naudi spoiled their
party taking three wickets , all
LBW, of the main Marsa Batsmen, Frank Spiteri (nineteen
runs), George Agius (twelve runs
0 and Derek Ali (forty two runs).
Joy Ghoseroy chipped in with
twelve runs as well as the Marsa
team were bowled out for 106
runs. Sumair Khan and Robert
krishna were the other wicket
takers for Melita.
The Melita team earned nine
points for their win which keeps
them in touch with the league
Justin Brooke playing an Off Drive
leaders Krishna. The Melita
team will need to win both of
their last two games , starting
next Saturday against the Krishna team. The Marsa team earned
two points from the game.
Saturday morning the Sunoco
cricket academy will be from
9:00 am till 10:30am.
Weather & Crosswords
WEATHER: Partly to rather cloudy with showers locally with
hail at times and thundery first
VISIBILITY: Good except in some showers
WIND: West Northwest force 4 to 5 locally force 5 to 6 at first,
becoming South Southwest force 6 to 7 locally force 5 to 6.
SEA: Rough becoming locally very rough
SWELL: Low to moderate West Northwest becoming low in the
morning, and becoming low West Southwest locally low
12/70
PARTLY
CLOUDY
150/90
FAIR
UV: 2
UV: 2
TODAY
TOMORROW
PHARMACIES OPEN TODAY
GOZO FERRIES
DAILY OPERATION TIMES
USEFUL TELEPHONE
NUMBERS
COLLIS Williams Pharmacy, 15, Triq ir-Repubblika, Valletta
ST. Gaetan Pharmacy, Triq il-Kappillan Mifsud,
Ħamrun
BROWN’S Pharmacy, 278, Triq il-Vitorja, Qormi
ST. Jude Pharmacy, 213, Triq il-Wied, Birkirkara
ST. Anthony Pharmacy, 56, Triq San Gużepp,
Gwardamanġa
PEMBROKE Pharmacy, 87, Triq Giuseppe
Malfeggiani, Pembroke
EDWARD’S Pharmacy, 115, Triq Manwel
Dimech, Sliema
ST. Mary Pharmacy, 2, Triq Antonio Schembri,
Attard
MĠARR Pharmacy, Triq il-Kbira C/W Triq Vitale,
Mġarr
QAWRA Pharmacy, Earl’s Court/1, Triq l-Imħar,
Qawra
DE Paola Pharmacy, 36, Pjazza Antoine De
Paule, Paola
WHITE Cross Pharmacy, Shop A, Block 1, Fuq
San Pawl, Bormla
CILIA’S Pharmacy, 303, Triq Haż-Żabbar, Fgura
GUDJA Pharmacy, 9, Triq San Ċiru, Gudja
SALUS Pharmacy, 21, Misraħ ir-Repubblika,
Żurrieq
SPIŻERIJA Ħal-Mula, Triq Dun Salv Ciappara,
Żebbuġ
NOVA Pharmacy, 142, Triq il-Kulleġġ, Rabat
BATU Pharmacy, 38, Triq Palma, Victoria
LAURETANA Pharmacy, 36, Triq l-Imgarr,
Għajnsielem
Emergency,Police,Fire,
Ambulance ...................... 112
Appogg 24hrs Supportline .179
Sedqa 24hrs Helpline.........151
Social policy info centre .... 159
Malta Red Cross ...... 21922645
St John Ambulance .. 21945740
Maltacom enquiries .........1182
Go Mobile enquiries......... 1187
Vodafone enquiries .........1189
Government info service ....153
Telephone faults ................133
Gozo ferry
schedule ..................21915111
MEPA..................... 22900000
MIA flight
enquiries ................ 21697800
MIA Weather
forecast ................. 50043333
Enemalta faults
report......................21923601
Water Services Corporation
Freephone .............. 80072222
www.gozochannel.com
Chess
MALTA & GOZO: 9 A.M. – NOON
Solution to last week’s problem
Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Sunday
Solution to last week’s crossword
Sudoku
8
7
8
6
7
5
6
4
3
5
2
4
1
3
A
2
1
H
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Mate in four or more moves
B
C
D
Nxb6+
Nxb7+
Ne7+
Ne5
Qxf7#
Kb8
Kc8
Kd8
Kxe7
.....
Nb6+
Rd8#
Rxe7
Kb8
E
F
G
H
Last week’s solution
Sudoku rules are extremely easy: Fill all empty squares so that the
numbers 1 to 9 appear once in each row, column and 9x9 box.
Across
1. Powerful dog (7)
4. Paving substance (7)
8. Superb (11)
12. Increase in size (4)
13. Yellow metallic element (4)
14. Toss (5)
15. Bequest (6)
17. Purchaser (5)
22. State in the central United States (4)
23. Make amends (5)
24. Canines (4)
25. Seraglio (5)
28. Minister (6)
30. Men (5)
32. Apparatus for weaving (4)
34. House rodents (4)
35. Using obscene language (4-7)
38. Sunset (7)
39. Opposes (7)
Down
1. Margarine (5)
2. Melt (4)
3. Amusement (3)
5. Not sweet (3)
6. Suspended (4)
7. Most tender (9)
8. Additional (4)
9. Indolently (4)
10. Charged particles (4)
11. Member of the Conservative Party (4)
14. Fragment (5)
16. Wine fruit (5)
18. Unwarranted (5)
19. Blind (9)
20. Leap on one foot (3)
21. Fruit (5)
26. Upper covering of a house (4)
27. Injury (4)
28. Republic in W South America (4)
29. Stated (4)
31. Trials (5)
33. Emotional state (4)
34. Lake or pond (4)
36. Not high (3)
37. Label (3)
News
Questions on Nicholas Azzopardi
case remain unanswered
JURGEN BALZAN
THREE months into the latest enquiry into the Nicholas Azzopardi
case, the family of the man who died
in April 2008 after suffering grievous
injuries while in custody of the Police
at the depot in Floriana, are anxiously
waiting for news on the outcome of
the investigations.
In November 2012, Magistrate Antonio Vella had been asked by the At-
torney General Peter Grech and Police
Commissioner John Rizzo to reopen
the inquiry for the umpteenth time
since the incident in 2008, this over
the CCTV footage used.
A number of witnesses were called
to testify in November, however Azzopardi’s family are still awaiting
news on whether the fourth inquiry of
its kind has been concluded and what
conclusions were reached.
A number of factors led to reservations on the way the case was dealt
with from the very beginning, staring
from the alleged child abuse claims
leading up to his death bed at hospital.
Apart from a police investigation
initiated just hours after the incident,
Judge Albert Manche was appointed
to hold an inquiry by former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici,
in conjunction with the magisterial
inquiry held by Magistrate Anthony
Vella in 2008. All inquiries concluded
that there was no wrongdoing and
the evidence presented by court
experts corroborated the police’s
version of the incident.
Early on in 2012, Magistrate
Vella was appointed to reopen the
inquiry after it emerged that a key
witness in the case, shamed former
Police officer Adrian Lia, was arrested in March over the theft
of €30,000, originally confiscated
from illegal lotto booths from the Floriana Depot.
The case resurfaced after Prime
Nicholas Azzopardi recorded his
allegations at Mater Dei Hospital
Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced
amnesty and protection for whoever
has information on what led to Nicholas Azzopardi’s death in October.
Thirteen persons were revealed to
have fallen from the bastions beneath
the police headquarters’ CID offices,
in a reply to parliamentary question to
the Prime Minister which opened up
new speculation on the Nicholas Azzopardi case.
In November, Attorney General
Peter Grech confirmed that Commissioner John Rizzo had requested
to have the inquiry referred back to
Magistrate Vella to “examine whether
persistent allegations about the alleged doctoring of CCTV footage are
justified”.
This shed doubt on the footage prepared and analysed by court expert
Martin Bajada and fuelled suspicions
that investigations, evidence and conclusions reached by all inquiries were
flawed.
The new inquiry was expected to
include Bajada as a witness in which
he was expected to answer questions
over the authenticity of the footage
presented and explain and provide
the audit trail he kept for the omitted
CCTV footage and explain whether
the original unedited footage is still
available.
This week, Labour leader Joseph
Muscat said: “We do not want to hear
of any more deaths at the Police Depot
or of people falling off.”
Speaking on Wednesday during the
Labour Party’s launch of its electoral
manifesto, Muscat also said that a
new Labour government would ensure greater surveillance in the Police
depot through surveillance systems,
even in lock-ups “to ensure that no
abuses take place”.
On 8 April 2008, Nicholas Azzopardi, 38, was called into the Police
Headquarters in Floriana on allegations of domestic violence filed by
his estranged wife. After being kept
at the depot overnight under arrest,
Azzopardi was interrogated by police
sergeant Adrian Lia and PC Reuben
Zammit, under supervision of Inspector Graziella Muscat.
Following the six-hour interrogation, the police claimed that Azzopardi had injured himself while trying
to escape. He was rushed to hospital
suffering severe injuries to the chest,
head and nape.
On 18 April 2008, Azzopardi told his
family that he had been severely beaten by the police – referring specifically
to two unnumbered officers “in blue”
after regaining consciousness.
Azzopardi died on 22 April, barely
two hours after testifying before Magistrate Antonio Vella, however his
deathbed testimony was not recorded.
Assistant Commissioner Michael
Cassar was also present for this interrogation, despite being administratively responsible for the concurrent
internal police inquiry.
The autopsy later pointed toward
thrombosis as the cause of death.
However his family insisted they had
been prevented from entering Azzopardi’s ward on the day he died. They
also claimed to have purchased medication specifically for thrombosis, but
this was taken away from them on the
promise that it would be administered
by hospital staff.