Laboured Interpretations

I continue from my earlier post today. While we continue to dispute the significance of the Local Council results it is interesting to go through the dailies and examine what others are saying in the dead tree media.

Take Leo Brincat. He thrills in the fact that Gonzi is now the greatest loser in Maltese politics. The boxing round analogy is applied as Gonzi is seen to have lost four elections (from the contested EP result to the various Local Council rounds). I am still baffled whenever a party, be it PN or MLP, that has just won an election on a wave of dissatisfaction can slap the back of its secretary general and claim he is doing good work. Good work is winning against all odds. The only thing Jason Micallef could have done is lose this election. Otherwise it was just a matter of automatic pilot and bob's your uncle.

Then take Toni Abela on the red paper. The colourful hunter metaphors of RTO etc are understandable given the audience (yes Twan, I am patronising). The crooning and crowing of the statistical victor is also something I am prepared to concede. But then there is something infinitesimally dangerous in the tack Toni Abela takes. In his description of the dark ages that Malta has slipped into - I agree for example on the travel tax etc - there is a huge underlying implication. Essentially Toni is telling you that if you vote Labour trips abroad will be cheaper, aggressive Labour media (Manwel Cuschieri style) will continue to work, and Melita Cable will give you free football. The free market will be abolished and policemen will do their job. In essence the implication is just that under Labour all these ills will be righted. But he does not sya that outright. Which is sad. It is the typical paint it all ugly picture but not programme for change.

And then there is Lucky Luciano Busuttil preparing the way for his council's siege next year. The Hamrun boy is a former course colleague of mine and is the kind of Labourite I would trust. Unfortunately Luciano is one of the Labourites advocating for the LCA revolution (see previous post) and gives real signs of being one of the ears of wheat that has been inextricably linked to the chaff of the party. Arcibald is right... unfortunately when you vote you vote for it all wheat, chaff and fertiliser.

Then there's this bloke who chose the unhappy metaphor of penetration to describe Labour's gain in the last elections. It is difficult for someone like me to resist reminding readers what penetrates what the pentration that first comes to mind. That it reflects the two big parties in our country can only mean that Mr Chetcuti deserves a big bravo for a metaphor that hits the nail on the head.

Finally PN gurus are relatively silent. Joe Saliba had a moment of karma and pronounced that "The wealth of the country must begin to reach the people" (MaltaRightNow). Well, it is never too late is it. Talk about tautology. One wonders where the wealth (gid) was going before today. Did we get the slogan "Gid. Fiducja. Direzzjoni" completely wrong? And spare a thought for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who seems to have a point when attacking Harry on his policies but doesn't this picking on AD in times of dire need by a PN politician smack so strangely of deja vu?