Malta's Dickens a-la-carte is at it again. I had not even noticed that it's Thursday before stumbling upon Lorna's latest creation. It seems that the Dame of the Gramatically Challenged is miffed by a particular trait of Maltese democracy. Apparently 2/3 of Parliament is filled because the members making up such 2/3 have surnames that fall into the top half of the ballot paper. The alphabetical ballot is at the source of what irks Lorna VASSALLO. Following a chain of articles bemoaning the unavailability of modern cavaliers to date and the distressful state of unmarried, working women, TGIL suddenly exposes the biggest worry of them all.
I have no quibble with her reasoning this time. It could very well be that statistically the chances of being elected with a surname in the top echelons of alphabetical order are high. In fact this time I have no worry at all... although I must say that from personal experience the Z in Zammit has served its purpose and has its advantages - but maybe that is because being at the bottom is almost as good as being at the top of any given list.
If anyone has to worry it is those eligible bachelors whose surname starts with A. Abelas, Attards and Agius' of this world should beware. Lurking around the halls of Parliament to be lies a dame with very high aspirations. And it appears that unless the electoral law is changed she has nine months to find the right candidate to allow her to zoom up to the top of the list.
jeudi, août 24, 2006
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3 commentaires:
great minds or fools? have a look at my post jucks.
and as for her reasoning, it is true that many people give their lesser preferences alpahabetically, but it is also true that three out of the four most common maltese surnames happen to be borg, camilleri and farrugia.
her statistics are as farcical as ever and all it takes is a telephone directory to confirm that. unfortunately i don't have one here in aberdeen. anyone in malta care to tell us which letter is in the middle page of the maltacom directory?
:)
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