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maltatoday
SUNDAY 6 JANUARY 2013 ISSUE 687 PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY

CAN THIS
MAN BE
MALTAS
NEXT PRIME
MINISTER?
He changed the aesthetics of the Labour Party and
transformed an ineffectual political force into an
organised campaigning machine. The big question is:
can this man deliver the beef?

mt survey

Labour lead as at 2008,


but swing doubles
LABOUR is practically at the same
level of support it enjoyed at the
end of January 2008 just before the
start of that same years electoral
campaign, when it enjoyed a sixpoint lead over the PN, MaltaTo-

day surveys show.


The comparison emerges in the
comparison between the last survey conducted before the 2008
electoral campaign in January
2008, and the last survey conducted before the beginning of the
2013 campaign in the second week
of December 2012.

The latest survey shows the PL


enjoying the lowest level of support
in 2012, during which support had
ranged from 31% in December to
41.2% back in September.
But while in 2008 Labour was six
points ahead of the PN, it now enjoys an eight-point lead.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 10

Newspaper post

JAMES DEBONO

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

Swing to Labour increases from 4 to 8 points,


as support remains at January 2008 level

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News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

More of the same dominates


deputy leaders debate
RAPHAEL VASSALLO

CONSIDERING the media hype


leading to yesterdays deputy leaders debate on TVM originally intended just to be a standard Dissett
interview with Labours Louis Grech,
but which had to change format to
accommodate Simon Busuttil after
much brouhaha involving the Broadcasting Authority expectations of
a high-profile showdown fizzled out
very quickly into the event itself.
Much of the hour-long exchange
was rooted firmly in the notion that
Grech and Busuttil, both MEPs, had
brought to the table a new and more
European way of doing of politics.
But while the overall tone of the debate was considerably calmer and
more polite than usual, in practice the
only discernable difference was one of
style, not of substance at all.
For instance: neither resorted to the
usual tactic of simply shouting the
other down, but there were still interruptions galore. Busuttil, for one,
made it hard for his counterpart to
get a word in edgewise leaving an
often visibly frustrated Grech to waste
much of his allotted airtime complaining about the lack of fair play.
Equally evident were all the usual
barrel-scraping gimmicks and techniques we have come to expect from
such televised debates perhaps
reaching their lowest ebb when Busuttil read out loud a series of quotes
regarding Labours former attitudes
towards the European Unionfor all
the world as if we were on the eve of
the 2004 election, and not 2013 at all.
But the biggest let-down (for those
who were expecting a genuine change
in approach) concerned the relevance
of what was actually said during the
debate. Veteran TVM presenter Reno
Bugeja may have been at his usual,
level-headed best certainly he cannot be blamed for asking his guests
any vague or irrelevant questions
but not even the most direct line of
questioning (eg. Yes but what will
you actually DO if elected?) managed to elicit anything resembling a
concrete and coherent answer from
either Grech or Busuttil.
As expected, Louis Grech was the
more guilty party in this regard.
For while Busuttil did at least have
a standard retort to fall back on
(Weve already presented our Budget, so you know where you stand with
us), Grech proved immensely effective at diagnosing the myriad flaws
of the current administration the
mismanagement, the piecemeal approach to problems, the fiascos, the
lack of clear policy direction on so
many issues, starting with energy,
etc but in the end, viewers were left
absolutely none the wiser regarding
the Labour Partys own proposed solutions for any of the above.
Instead, all we got was a standard
wait and see reply: hardly satisfactory, given the sheer proximity of the
election.
Besides, on the rare moments when
he was left free to talk uninterrupted

Simon Busuttil
and thus choose for himself the battle terrain Grech proved reluctant
to say anything worth reporting. For
instance, when talk turned to Air
Malta as it did fairly frequently
the former chairman of the national
airline limited his contribution only
to say: if you like we will discuss that
in another programme, just you and
I: adding that on this subject alone,
he had perhaps more insider knowledge than others.
All well and good, but... why was it
not possible to talk about the same
subject in slightly lesser detail yesterday? Inevitably, one gets the impression that Louis Grech was simply
unprepared or unwilling to talk about
it: which is not the sort of depth one
expects from a European approach to
such matters.
Then there were contradictions of
simply Biblical proportions on either
side. After accusing Grech of inconsistency, Busuttil went on to radically
reinvent his own partys former positions on a number of issues. Incredibly, he even cited the introduction of
low-cost airlines as one of the feathers
in the PNs cap quite forgetting that
the Nationalist government had actually resisted this development tooth
and nail for almost a decade, and only
very grudgingly accepted their introduction under intense pressure from
the tourism lobby.
But such was the reluctance of either deputy leader to provide concrete
details about his own partys proposals, that the bulk of the discussion
was limited largely to the standard,
ritual exchange of accusations and
calculated barbs (though admittedly

Louis Grech
couched in far less aggressive terms
than usual).
This was clearly more familiar territory for Busuttil, who often successfully put his opposite number on
the defensive: about his own election
at the expense of Anglu Farrugia
(who now seems to have become a
folk-hero for the Nationalists, of all
things), and also about the Labour
Partys highly dubious track record
on both employment and matters
concerning human rights.
Grech may have been somewhat
less eloquent at this level of the debate often his sentences trailed
away into incoherent mumbles
but he did give as good as he got in
return. At one point, he turned the
tables onto Busuttil over his own
partys much more consequential
internal problems a line of attack
which culminated in what was arguably the strongest line of the evening:
Your government has spent the past
year and a half in denial. (To which
Busuttil, it must be said, had no answer to give.)
But ultimately, Louis Grech was on
far safer and more comfortable territory when he tried to strike a more
conciliatory tone. Viewers of either
political hue will no doubt have sympathised with his claim that people
are simply fed up with divisive, confrontational politics. Many would
have also welcomed his appeal for
greater impartiality in our general
approach to such matters: it cannot be, he argued, that we still cling
to the old view that everything one
side does is automatically right, and
vice versa.

And even if his delivery was not


quite up to the word-perfect standard of Busuttil, the total upshot was
that Grech did come across as the
more sincere of the two speakers
yesterday.
But sincerity, on its own, is no substitute for clarity of vision. And neither provided this yesterday. Matters
came to a head when Bugeja paused
the programme to allow ADs Carmel Cacopardo to ask a couple of
generic questions. Again, these were
nothing if not direct: what is either
partys policy of drug decriminalisation, and illegal construction of the
Armier variety (to name but two)?
Neither question received an answer. The part about drugs was sim-

ply ignored by both sides; and when


it came to Armier, Busuttil seemed
to supply two totally conflicting answers at once. He started by insisting
that ALL illegal buildings must be
removed yet immediately qualified
that with an argument that can be
translated from Newspeak as some
illegal buildings are more equal than
others only without making it
clear precisely on what grounds (all
he would say is it depends on the circumstances).
Ultimately, however, what we were
left with was what both deputy leaders claimed they would remove from
their parties rhetoric: buzzwords and
empty catchphrases, or as Louis Grech
repeatedly put it more of the same.

Panel of international
experts to endorse
Labour plans
A plan to reduce electricity and water tariffs by the Labour Party will be
explained in a business breakfast next
Wednesday, during which a panel of
international experts will endorse the
Oppositions plans.
Labour sources stopped short of revealing any details about the plans, but
they insisted that it was not based on
the Sargas proposal, though they also
said they would not rule out Sargas.
The international experts who

were not named will be expected to


confirm that the tariffs for both electricity and water will reduce in a reasonable time frame. They are expected
to be present at next Wednesdays
public business seminar at the Intercontinental in St Julians.
The PL has promised to reduce the
utility tariffs if elected to power. The
PN has criticised the PL for not coming up with clear proposals on how
this can be done.

News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

More rights, please


Jurgen
Balzan

FOR the Chinese, 2013 will be the


year of the snake, for UNESCO, it is
World Water Year, for the Vatican,
the year of faith and for the European
Union, the year of the citizen. For
Malta, 2013 could turn out to be the
year of change or the year of permanence.
However, irrespective of the 9
March election outcome, the next 12
months could well prove to be a landmark year for civil rights in Malta.
Parliament has already approved the
IVF law, while cohabitation is expected to be one of the first bills discussed
during the next legislature.
Other issues such the decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs,
and gay marriage seem to have
squeezed themselves on the national
agenda, and Malta could follow recent developments in Europe and the
US, where the two issues have stirred
unexpected controversies.
In recent weeks, the Vatican has
gone on the offensive in response to
gains for gay marriage in the United
States and Europe, using every possible opportunity to denounce it
through papal speeches and its media
organisations.

This week, Pope Benedict said the


Vatican was ready to forge alliances
with other religions against gay marriage, saying the family was threatened to its foundations by attempts
to change its true structure.
In Europe, British Prime Minister
David Cameron and French President Franois Hollande faced a barrage of criticism over gay marriage.
Hollande came under fire for his
proposals to legalise gay marriage,
as street demonstrations illustrated
the deep divisions in French society,
while the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales issued a harshly worded attack on the
Conservative governments plans to
introduce same-sex marriage, lambasting them as shambolic.

Gay marriage
Despite valiant efforts to introduce
the cohabitation bill last year, the
draft law was a disservice to all parties involved. Cohabitation law and
gay marriage are two very different
pieces of legislation, however the
Civil Partnerships and Rights and
Obligations of Cohabitants Act tried
to intertwine cohabitation and rights
of same-sex couples together.
The first to propose the legalisation of gay marriage was the divorce
champion and outgoing MP Jeffrey
Pullicino Orlando, who once again
tested the limits of the Nationalist
governments Christian Democrat
credentials by floating the idea in
March last year.
In the forthcoming electoral cam-

paign, the PN and Labour will more


or less share the same position on gay
marriage, with both parties agreeing
on civil partnerships without granting full marriage rights enjoyed by
heterosexual couples.
Much to the dismay of the gay
community, in the aftermath of the
9 March election it is highly unlikely
that any of the two major parties explicitly endorse gay marriage.
Despite attempts to endear itself
with the LGBT community by flying
the rainbow flag over its headquarters in Hamrun and endorsing an
inclusive discourse, Labour and its
leader Joseph Muscat have repeatedly
declared opposition to gay marriage
and adoption by gay couples.
Labours position is slightly more
liberal than that of the Nationalist Party, which will not go further
than the cohabitation law which did
not make it beyond the first reading
in parliament. On the other hand,
Labour is in favour of civil unions,
which will most probably be modelled on the French PACS (civil solidarity pact) granting couples rights
and responsibilities, but less so than
marriage.
The inability of the conservative
hawks within the PN to come to
terms with the liberal nature of the
cohabitation bill led to a half-baked
law that insultingly treated same-sex
couples as some kind of second-class
citizens.
Alternattiva Demokratika is the
only party to date to unequivocally
support the introduction of gay mar-

riage, backing the Malta Gay Rights


Movements Gender Identity Act
proposal calling for expedient legal
gender recognition and for gender
reassignment procedures under the
national health care service.
Unless all political parties include
the proposal to introduce civil partnerships or gay marriage in their
manifestos, the country could be
called to voice its opinion in a referendum as other countries have in
recent times.
A survey carried out by MaltaToday
in May 2012 shows that 60% of 18 to
34-year-olds agree with the introduction of marriage for same-sex couples, while only 23% of those over 55
years are in agreement.
The survey showed that support for
gay marriage increased by 13 points
since 2007, when the first MaltaToday survey on this issue was conducted.
Overall, an absolute majority of
51.2% is opposed to the introduction of gay marriages while 42% agree
with gay marriage. Those in favour of
same-sex marriages included a significant 9% who specified that they
agree with the introduction of samesex marriage but disagree with these
couples adopting children.
To date, 11 countries have legalised
gay marriage. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first, quickly followed by Belgium. In 2005, Canada
and Spain followed, despite strong
protest by the Roman Catholic
church in Spain.
In 2006, South Africa became the

only African country to allow samesex marriage after enshrining gay


rights in its post-apartheid constitution in 1994. Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark have also legalised
gay marriage.
In 2010, Portugal followed Spain in
legalising gay marriage and Argentina became the first Latin American
country to allow same-sex marriage,
with Uruguay expected to follow suit
once the countrys Senate approves

News

Cohabitation Law
The greatest fault in the draft Civil
Partnerships and Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act was its
lack of clarity. Instead of defining a
framework of rights including property, taxation, social welfare and legal
rights, the bill championed by outgoing justice minister Chris Said went
completely adrift by defining differences between different types of
partnerships.
In an attempt to shoehorn in civil
partnerships for same-sex couples in
a cohabitation law, the Nationalist
government failed on two fronts. It
presented a discriminatory cohabitation law and failed to take heed from
the divorce debacle, while also missing out on an opportunity to table a
separate bill on civil unions.
The bill received an unenthusiastic
reception by an irate gay community,
which said it was misled about the
draft laws content and parts of the
bill were even branded discriminatory by some quarters.
In 2011, 22.7% of all births in Malta
were extramarital, however Gonzis
two administrations have procrastinated in introducing the law, despite
repeated promises that his government will honour an electoral commitment made by the PN in 1998 to
recognise the rights and obligations
of cohabiting couples.
Reports and indications that the bill
would recognise the civil partnerships of same-sex couples, gave the
gay community an impression that
the PN government was ready to go
beyond a mere recognition of same-

Drug legalisation
As anywhere else in the world,
Maltas drug policy is and has always been closely linked to political
manoeuvring. In recent months the
pro-legalisation lobby found new impetus with a number of well-attended
demonstrations held in Valletta and
compared to previous years, the issue
is no longer a taboo subject.
Pro-legalisation lobby activist David
Caruana had said the time had come
not only to decriminalise drugs,
but as both political parties said this
week, a reform is also needed for the
classification of drugs. Legalising
and regulating cannabis would place
government in charge of it, taking it
away from the criminals and out of
the hands of children.
Despite the fact that no party in
Malta supports the legalisation of
drugs, Alternattiva Demokratika is
the only party so far to openly support the decriminalisation of drugs
for personal use. The Greens argue
that this policy was successful in
countries like Portugal and that it results in more safety and less crime.
On the other hand, the PN and
Labour remain adamantly opposed
to the legalisation or decriminalisation of drugs. Although the Labour

PN and Labour remain staunchly opposed to the legalisation of drugs, while


AD have expressed support for decriminalisation
police officers, academics and
experts concluded that decriminalisation should be introduced.
The report by the UK Drug Policy
Commission, an independent advisory body, said possession of small
amounts of controlled drugs should
no longer be a criminal offence and
concluded the move will not lead to a
significant increase in use.
In November, on the same day
Americans voted for the re-election
of Barack Obama, voters in Colorado
and Washington legalised marijuana
in pioneering decisions that challenged the United Statess decadesold war on drugs. The amendment
makes it legal for individuals to possess and for businesses to sell marijuana for recreational use.
The annual marijuana crop harvested in the US is now the nations
most valuable, worth more than cultivation of corn and wheat combined,

according to an analysis by
the former head of the legalisation group NORML.
At an estimated $35.8 billion marijuana is by far the largest
cash crop in the United States when
compared to the average production values of other crops from 2003
to 2005.
Prison rights activist Fr Mark Montebello who recently spent some
time in the heart of Mexicos drugwar region had said that decriminalisation strikes at the root of the
problem adding that the current
tough policies only strengthen the
international drugs trade.
The outspoken Montebello had
claimed that the drugs trade is Maltas greatest business, saying that resistance to the idea of decriminalisation stemmed from the involvement
of powerful players in the illicit trafficking of drugs.

n
pu
of blic
fe at
r io

sex partners as cohabitees.


However, legitimate demands and
expectations for equal recognition
between heterosexual and homosexual couples were muted when the bill
authored by Justice Minister Chris
Said made a distinction between different-sex couples who do not want
to or cannot marry, and same-sex
couples relationships that meet the
criteria established in the bill.
The bill followed another controversial bill, the IFV law, which was
also lambasted in some quarters
for being half-baked. While the approved IVF Bill limits the treatment
to married or stable heterosexual
couples, the cohabitation bill was
shot down because it did not put the
union between same-sex partners on
a par with marriage.
The cohabitation bill failed to take
into consideration the situation of
children sharing the same household
and completely ignored fiscal issues.
If a new government is intent on
doing right by both cohabitating
couples and same-sex couples, two
separate bills must be presented. One
with a clear structure regulating fiscal, social and legal rights of persons
living together and a separate bill on
gay marriage, or civil partnerships or
unions as the two major parties probably prefer to call it.

SAYING IT AS IT IS SAVIOUR BALZAN

a law that would make all marriages


equal.
In Mexico, a same-sex marriage law
was enacted in 2010 but only in the
capital Mexico City while last
year voters in Washington, Maryland
and Maine became the first to approve gay marriage at the ballot box
in the US. They joined a list of states
recognising same-sex unions, including New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New York and Vermont, as well as
the District of Columbia. However,
31 States have amended their constitutions to prohibit same-sex marriage, North Carolina most recently,
in May.
Meanwhile, the US supreme court
also announced it would take up the
issue of same-sex marriage for the
first time ever, agreeing to hear two
cases that could decide whether gay
and lesbian Americans have the same
constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals.

e-

The absolute majority 51.2% is opposed


to the introduction of gay marriage in
Malta, while 42% agree with it in principle

Party has been somewhat


ambiguous in relation to
persons in possession of
drugs for personal use,
it has a similar stand
to the PN, which
have consistently
said that it has no
intention whatsoever of
decriminalising or liberalising Maltas drug
laws.
In the post-1987
years, former Labour
leader
Karmenu
Mifsud Bonnici had
startled even his own
colleagues by floating the idea of legalisation of all drugs to which the
Nationalist government of the day
responded by toughening up its antidrugs stance as did all succeeding administrations since then.
However, although all parties and
social partners agree on the effects
of drugs on humans, the tough antidrug policies, epitomised by the war
on drugs in South America and other parts of the world, are being put to
question.
In recent years, politicians the
world over have started doubting
whether the war on drugs waged
in all corners of the world was really
the way forward. Weeks ago, British
deputy prime minister Nick Clegg
admitted that politicians knew the
war on drugs was failing and urged
Conservative prime minister David
Cameron to show courage over the
decriminalisation of drugs.
Meanwhile, a six-year study of Britains drug laws by leading scientists,

Pr

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

T
I
G
N
SAYI S
I
T
I
S
A
ALZAN
B
R
U
O
I
V
A
S

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News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

The truce is over,


The Epiphany marks not just
the end of the Christmas
season, but also the shift
from a truce to the full-on
electoral campaign of 2013
Miriam
Dalli

ITS all systems go as the political


calendars most anticipated date is
upon us: tomorrow the House is dissolved and the electoral campaign for
the 9 March election officially kicks

off, with much hype set into Labours


plan to reduce water and electricity tariffs in the very first week of the
campaign.
It was supposed to be a Christmas
truce to prelude a campaign that
would determine whether the PN
government, currently trailing in the
polls, would somehow consolidate its
25-year reign, or see a seismic shift in
the countrys power network with a
Labour victory.
When Prime Minister Lawrence
Gonzi addressed the nation the day
after his government was brought

down by one of his own MPs,


he said his government was
giving back a country that is far
better than it was five years ago,
auguring a politics-free Christmas season.
But as both parties agreed not to
hold any mass political meetings,
the political events that unfolded
during the break made it practically
impossible for everyone to switch off
their political radar until the hiatus
was over.
I never expected there to be much
to the so-called political truce and I

was not disappointed,


the Times columnist and former
Labour minister Lino
Spiteri said.
The spirit just was not there as
various entries in the media and comments on social media showed.
The pundits on Facebook and online
news websites themselves seemed to
have ignored the Christmas truce,
truly making it out to be a gimmick

Michael Falzon

for the
parties to play to
a public sense of fair play during the
holidays. But not everyone agrees.
I think the truce was generally ad-

News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

let battle
ba
begin

hered
to except for the
fact that Labour had an internal election for deputy
leader. This, theoretically,
was not part of the electoral campaign In practice, we know it was!
MaltaToday columnist Michael Falzon, himself a former Nationalist
minister, said.
I dont think it was a gimmick.
It was a responsible decision and
my initial reaction was positive. I
am not disappointed with the way
things turned out.
Of a similar opinion was anthropologist Ranier Fsadni, formerly
chairperson of the PN think-tank
AZAD, who said the two major political parties adhered to the truce.
It was never meant as an agree-

ment not to conduct any campaigning whatsoever. It was an agreement


not to engage in polarising polemic
that would poison the festivities
and undermine Christmas shopping.
By and large, the parties adhered to this agreement in
any case it would have electorally damaged the party
that breached it, since
such a breach would have
been publicly criticised
and resented.
While Lawrence Gonzi
managed to complete his
five-year term in government, albeit losing a
minister and his permanent representative to
the EU, his threatened
one-seat majority and the
scheduled 2013 election
still meant that the parties
have long been preparing
for this years election.
Falzon says it wouldnt
have been in the Labour
Partys interest to push government to go for an election
before it was due.
I do think that the date suits
both parties. We now wait for them
to flesh out their proposals for the
future and hope that the ghosts of
the past have been laid to rest, Falzon said.
On his part, Lino Spiteri fears
that the general election is going to be snide, ill-tempered and
negative.
The scars and bruises it will
yield will take a long time to heal,
he said.
However, Falzon argues that all
is fair in love and war. Electoral
campaigns are battles in a neverending war of political ideas. I
would be glad if there would be no
dirty tricks, but these are to be expected, he said.
Falzon expects the Labour Party
to push for the future in its political message. Labours battlecry seems to be the all the good
of the present without the rotten
apples. On the other hand, the PN is
in a much more difficult position as
it has to defend it record, he said.
Falzon added that most probably,

Lino Spiteri

Ranier Fsadni
the PNs own battle-cry would be to
hammer that on the whole it was
good, and so it will remain with a
PN government opting for Labour is a risk.
Of the same opinion is Fsadni,
who believes that a certain segment

the PN.
Certain of Labours totemic symbols were particularly likely to be
associated with the memories and
myths that are the wellsprings of the
fear. I interpret Labours change of
its name, certain of its symbols and

Electoral campaigns are


battles in a never-ending
war of political ideas... I
would be glad if there would
be no dirty tricks, but these
are to be expected
Michael Falzon
of voters had opted for the PN in
successive elections more out of
a visceral fear of a Labour victory
than out of full identification with

colours to be an attempt to neutralize this fear, in the hope that this will
reduce of the PNs turnout, Fsadni
says, referring to the softer hues of

Labours once-militant red and the


moderation of party rhetoric.
Fsadni adds that the degree to
which this strategy can succeed
depends on the quality of Labours
programmatic proposals and the
PNs ability to persuade this segment of the electorate that the
changes are purely cosmetic and the
fear of Labour is rational.
However I expect that the campaigns standards of behaviour will
not be unusual or surprising at
this stage, one has to be speculative about the respective thrusts of
the parties, since the electoral programmes are still to be unveiled.
If the programmes contain no
great surprises, then I expect that
in general, the PN will emphasize
economic fundamentals, health and
education and how these are jeopardised by irresponsible spending
commitments which it will accuse
Labour of making.
In its turn, Labour will claim that
the fundamental difference between
it and the PN lies elsewhere: lower
utility bills and decision-makers
more in touch with social and cultural sentiment.

19,000 new voters for 9 March elections


JURGEN BALZAN

AS the political parties are gearing up


for the final stretch of the 2013 electoral campaign, the Electoral Commission is silently preparing itself for
the massive job it has ahead of itself.
On Monday, not only will the political parties kick-start their official
campaigns following the bogus truce,
but the Electoral Commission will
also begin making preparations to issue over 500,000 voting documents,
receive candidates nominations and
enrol and train up to 5,000 persons
who will be running the show on 9
March.
As announced by Prime Minister
Lawrence Gonzi, parliaments dissolution and the date of the election
are expected to be rubberstamped
tomorrow through two Presidents
proclamations.
The Electoral Commission will then
commence the electoral process once
it receives the presidents authorisation through the issuing of the electoral writ.

The Electoral Commission said that


up to 19,000 persons will cast their
vote for first time in 2013 as the total number of voters has now reached
around 332,000.
The new voters are mainly composed of persons who turned 18 between March 2008 and March 2013.
First-time voters are considered to be
one of the pivotal electoral sectors in
determining the election results and
will be a main target for all parties.
The commission also confirmed
that the by the end of January, it will
have completed the process of verifying the electoral register, issuing and
printing of the voting documents, the
receipt and verification of candidates
nominations, the selection and training of Assistant Electoral Commissioners and other staff employed in
the electoral process.
Within three days of the publication of the writ, the commission will
publish a number of notices in the
Government Gazette. Nominations
cannot be received prior to six days
from the date of the publication of
the notice.

MARCH
ELECTIONS IN
FIGURES

175,000

Number of
eligible voters for Local Council
elections

5,000

9 March Election Day


10 March Counting of

The number of
persons who will assist the
Electoral Commission at the
polling booths and counting
hall

16 March Date assigned

for counting process of Local


Council elections

The number of days the


Electoral Commission has to
establish complete list of all
voters eligible to vote in 9
March elections.

332,000

19 The number of days

general election votes and


publication of results

Number of
eligible voters for General
Election 17,000 more then
2008
It is expected that by the third week
of January, the commission would
have processed the list of candidates
who will be contesting the 9 March

established by the electoral law


in which the voting documents
have to distributed.

elections.
On 9 March, local council elections
will be held simultaneously with the
general election in 34 localities. The

Number of parties
who have confirmed their
participation. However, other
parties could join PN,PL,AD in
coming days.

65

Number of seats to be
won, although the number
could increase if result is not
proportionally reflected in
number of seats obtained by
elected parties.

13

Number of districts
in which Malta is divided for
General Election purposes

34

The number of localities


in which Local Council
elections will be held.
total number of voters eligible for
this round stands at approximately
175,000 since EU citizens are also eligible to vote in local elections.

News

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Out goes the scarecrow,


in comes Mr Nice Guy
Joseph Muscat may have been ruthless
but his masterstroke checkmated
the PNs strategic move to pit Simon
Busuttil against the hapless Anglu
Farrugia turning a potential disaster
into an opportunity. Analysis by
JAMES DEBONO
ITS remarkable to note how it took
Lawrence Gonzi 10 whole months
to delicately elevate Simon Busuttil to the number 2 spot after first
anointing him his civil society envoy
in February 2012, and then vacating
the deputy leadership post to make
way for a credible contest to pit the
charismatic MEP against one of his
loyal ministers.
And it took Muscat just a matter
of days to neutralise the chess move
that was to attack him at his Achilles
heel, Anglu Farrugia.
It was nearly mission accomplished:
the PN strategy seemed driven at
evoking a contrast between Busuttil
and the prospective Labour deputy
minister, culminating in the flop performance on Xarabank, to endless
repeats on the public broadcaster.
Critical moments of that televisual
car-crash saw Farrugia, the former
police officer, mumble out halfbaked arguments, attempt to impress
viewers with graphs, and calling on
Busuttil to look him in the eyes
that raised the alarm bells among
middle-of-the-road voters, just in

time for perceptions to sink during


the Christmas festivities.
It might well have been a moment
of panic for Muscat, still reeling from
the effects of a previous decision: to
send Franco Debono instead of Farrugia to the same debate. And surely
he was caught wrong-footed by the
PNs strategic move to turn the election into a contest between deputy
leaders.
But unlike Alfred Sant, who was
easily cornered due to his refusal
to play according to the whims of
the PNs strategic games, Muscat
reacted by accepting to play along,
ruthlessly deposing his own deputy
leader and proposing the most affable candidate.
So in one strike Muscat substituted
a middle-class turn-off like Anglu
Farrugia with a magnet for MOR
voters nothing short of changing a
liability with an asset.
Even staunch Nationalists can admit that they can sleep well at night
with Louis Grech, the former Air
Malta chairman, as deputy prime
minister. And instead of talking

about Farrugia, at dinner tables the


chatter turned to Grechs investiture.
With the notable exception of his
anti-EU baggage, Grech incarnates
Muscats ideal of turning his party
into a safe haven for disgruntled Nationalist voters.
As anthropologist Mark Anthony
Falzon aptly put it, Farrugia had
come to resemble a scarecrow planted bang in the middle of Muscats
field.
Over and above the contrast with
Farrugia, Grech comes across as
smart, affable, good-looking and despite his age, appealing to women. In
fact he has something his own leader
lacks: Muscat can come across as
kitsch in his attempts to lure the
middle class but Grech oozes out
the patrician demeanour of a natural
gentleman.
Moreover, in a direct contest with
Busuttil, Grech could come across as
more modest and humble, yet more
politically savvy, contestant. After
his well fight them at the grocers
talk, Busuttil risks appearing divisive
and patronising.

Walking in the middle


Muscat may have overlooked one
factor in choosing Grech: while Simon Busuttil incarnates the yes to
Europe campaign, Grech had voted
against membership 10 years ago.
His first outing on TVM saw Grech
justifying his previous anti-EU stance
by referring to his concerns on Air
Malta, an argument which raises
questions on Grechs ability to see
the bigger picture.
Busuttil, on the other hand, comes
out on the right side of history (as
coined by Muscat himself on the di-

vorce campaign Labour supported)


in both the divorce referendum and
the EU.
Busuttils second advantage is that
Grech was clearly handpicked by
Muscat to play a role in this campaign and not to become his successor. On the other hand, Busuttil is
widely perceived as Gonzis successor, earning his place in a two-horse
contest and taking the plunge when
all polls showed his party trailing Labour by an insurmountable margin.
Grech still remains an asset to
Muscat. Farrugias criticism of a
magistrate became the lame reason
to ditch Labours liability. Its the
sort of ruthlessness traditional Labour voters must shudder at, but the
will to be in government is too big to
even bring about any deep-seated division. Dom Mintoffs own rebellion
left them unmoved, to say nothing of
the feeble an embarrassing Facebook status posted by Anglu Farrugias doting mother, in which she
took the opportunity to lash out at
Muscat. Inside the party, Labourites
know that Farrugia was removed for
his poor communication skills and
not for any divergence of principle,
as was the case with Mintoffs rebellion against Sant. Farrugia had been
part of the team for four years, with
Muscat never showing any sign of
being uncomfortable with his second-in-command.
Indeed, Farrugias weaknesses were
amplified by the inherent contradictions of a party obsessed with promising everything to all and sundry.
He was probably more honest than
Muscat the moment he said Labour
was not committed to decrease the
already dirt-cheap water bills.

Serving up the beef


For this reason, discerning voters
are unlikely to buy Labours spin,
which depicts Farrugias forced resignation as a sign of meritocracy or
accountability.
But it simply does not pay for the
PN to pounce on Muscats ruthlessness. For while MOR voters are intelligent enough to suspect that the
only reason Farrugia was removed
was that he stood as an obstacle to
Muscats presidential aspirations,
very few have shed any tears for the
same Farrugia who was vilified by
Nationalist media for the past years.
Moreover, the PN lost the powerful argument that a Muscat victory
would have meant elevating Farrugia to deputy prime minister. Now
they have to contend with the argument that by electing Muscat, voters would make Louis Grech deputy
prime minister.
Put simply: it is the PN which has
been caught wrong-footed by Muscats ruthless but shrewd decision.
So far the campaign has been dominated by the dance of the deputy
leaders. Come Monday, voters will
be waiting to be served the beef. Labout will surely carve it and serve it
with style, although the beef has already been cooked by others.
One major test facing Grech is his
ability to convince voters that Labour can actually bring utility bills
down. Much depends on how visibly
comfortable Grech will feel in selling policies concocted by others, and
designed to accommodate the list
of concerns emerging from opinion
polls Labour is so fond of.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Size

really does matter


With polls promising a convincing victory in 2013, Joseph Muscat may well be tempted to
rejuvenate the Labour Partys image by appointing young blood at the expense of party
veterans. But its a risk that will only pay off if he wins BIG. RAPHAEL VASSALLO ponders
Old Labours new dilemma

Rap
Raphael
p
Vassallo
Vas

IF optimism were a crime, Joseph


Muscat would probably number
among Maltas most wanted at the
moment. And who can possibly
blame him, when polls still indicate

an improbable 8% electoral advantage over the Nationalists so close to


the election date?
Yet Muscat is taking pains not to
appear overconfident: and not without good reason, for it remains a fact
that his lead has been steadily on the
decline since late last year (and will
certainly decline further as we approach D-Day).
Besides, with memories of the surprise result of the 2008 election still
so fresh in everyones mind, resting
on ones laurels cannot be considered a realistic option regardless
how very unlikely a last-minute re-

versal of fortunes may appear.


Nor is the Labour Party itself immune to precisely the type of gaffe or
electoral miscalculation that could
conceivably turn around such an
improbable advantage. Again, the
2008 experience points firmly in this
direction: with its echoes of Carmelo
Abelas repeater class proposal (as it
had been redubbed by Louis Galea),
or more to the point, Alfred Sants
failure to properly capitalise on the
Mistra affair literally hours before
the polling booths opened.
These and other memories illustrate how very easy it is for popular

perceptions to change dramatically,


over even relatively small electoral
misdemeanours. Still, by any stretch
of the imagination a Nationalist victory does remain a highly unlikely
scenario at the present time: so unlikely, that Maltas bookmakers are
reportedly offering equally improbable odds to match.

Winning not enough


But even if we accept a Labour victory as a foregone conclusion, winning alone might just not be enough
for Joseph Muscat. As we all saw in
the last year of Gonzis own term of

office and even more so, throughout Alfred Sants entire tenure between 1996 and 1998 the longterm success of any government
now depends not just on securing a
parliamentary majority to begin with
(as it did in 1987) but also on the
extent of the same parliamentary
majority.
Put bluntly: the state of present-day
Maltese politics, with its tendency
towards internal bickering and backbencher revoltss, is such that size
really does matter. Only a majority of
at least two seats ideally, three or
four can now create the parliamen-

10

News
tary cushion necessary to buffer any
potential future rebellions of the
kind that has become steadily more
frequent in the past two decades.
In this sense, one is forcibly reminded of that classic line from
Shakespeares Macbeth: To be thus
is nothing; but to be safely thus
And for Muscat in particular, winning on March 9 would in fact only
be a first step towards building a secure platform from which to govern
comfortably for the following five
years.
It is therefore highly unlikely
that electoral strategy discussions
at Mile End will be limited only to
electoral campaign issues covering
the next two months. Muscat and
his strategists will almost certainly
have their eye on the bigger picture:
looking towards a post-election scenario, and considering how best to
accommodate the right people in
the right positions, without unduly
upsetting any disgruntled backbenchers whose ambitions may be
thwarted by the Prime Ministers
choice of Cabinet (among other
possible pitfalls).

Moving to the middle


Inevitably, this consideration has
enormous implications for the type
of campaign we can expect to see
unfolding as of tomorrow.
Indeed it has already dictated practically all the choices made to date
by the Labour Party propaganda
machine from the imagery on its
billboards, to its campaign rhetoric,
all the way down to the dress sense
of his leader and his entourage:
Muscats choice of ties, for instance,
and the vaguely comical decision to
outlaw facial hair among party delegates.
A cursory glance at the sort of decisions currently being taken will also give an indication of what sort of
target audience Muscat has in mind.
Clearly, it is not the open shirt and
big buckle appeal of Dom Mintoff,
who had geared his entire party
machinery towards such epithets
as Il-Partit Tal-Haddiema (with
all its blue-collar connotations) in
the 1980s. On the contrary, Muscat
is clearly trying to look good in the
eyes of a smaller but very distinct
category of voter: the disgruntled
Nationalist, whose demands and
exigencies appear to have inspired
both the Labour Partys current
campaign direction, as well as the
so-called backbencher revolt that
had culminated in the defeat of this
years Budget at the hands of Franco
Debono.
And the same disgruntled Nationalist voter has also fuelled at least
part of the PNs counter-strategy

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013


which has included accusations
that the Labour leader is completely
besotted by polls and surveys, to the
point that all his major decisions (or
so the argument goes) are really just
responses to perceptions based on
fleeting statistics.
Naturally, one can always question the wisdom of basing ones
entire electoral strategy on such notoriously malleable things as online
statistics but at the same time,
these surveys and polls do in fact
illustrate that the largest category
of undecided voters overlaps very
neatly with the same category that
had voted PN in 2008.
This fact has clearly not been lost
on Muscat, who now knows that the
sort of three-, four- or even five-seat
majority he needs to govern safely
will just not be possible, unless his
party retains the apparent support
it has won among traditionally Nationalist voters. Another thing he
knows (or at least, has good reason
to believe) is that he can more or less
rely on the continued support of his
own party grassroots not just the
hard-boiled Labourites from hardboiled Labour districts, but the middle-of-the-road Labour voter too
regardless of what policy changes he
actually decides to effect.
For lets face it: after almost 25
years in Opposition, Labour voters
are highly unlikely to jump ship precisely now, on the verge of a victory
that many of them already take for
granted. Indeed, they are not likely
to care very much at all whether
Muscat moves his party away from
the left altogether, and encamps it
at the centre or even far beyond.
Practically any policy revamp will
do, so long as the so-called curse of
Opposition is finally lifted after well
over two decades, and the PL finds
itself back in government where it
evidently thinks it belongs.
So with the Labour vote safely
in his pocket, all that remains is
for Muscat to set his sights on the
disaffected Nationalist category.
And already we have seen considerable efforts in this direction. Where
Mintoff once railed that those who
are not with us are against us, Muscat now peppers the landscape with
billboards in which dreamy little
girls imagine A Future that Unites
Us. And where Lawrence Gonzi
appeared to entirely overlook the
existence of the middle class in his
own recent parliamentary rhetoric,
Muscat has made the same middle
class the fulcrum of practically all
his own speeches.
In all such initiatives, Muscat appears to be following a well-worn
path that has been trodden over the
years by practically all modern leftwing party leaders.
Like the UKs Tony
Blair in 1997, Joseph
Muscat appears to
have also concluded
that Old Labour
with the myriad skeletons in its closet, and
all the baggage that
still frightens the older PN voters (i.e., his
new target audience)
to this day had to
be politely shown the
door.
Even the less overtly threatening but
wildly unpredictable
Harvard image of
Alfred Sant, and the
Partnership
proposal that it instantly
evokes, is now firmly
a thing of the past.
Mindful of the need
to keep his newfound
voters firmly on
board, Muscat will
have to be careful
to steer his ship well
away from anything
that might remind
the electorate of any
previous Labour incarnation so like
the USAs Bill Clinton

mt survey

Labour starts
the race with the
advantage of having
a more trusted leader
CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1
The PN starts this years race 1.6
points below 2008 levels.
Support for the PN during 2012
ranged between 22% in December and
29% in September. Moreover, while
the February 2008 survey registered
a 3.6-point swing from the PN to the
Labour Party, the 2012 survey registers
an 8-point swing.
Back in 2008, the PN had succeeded
in wiping out Labours pre-campaign
advantage to win the general election
by a wafer-thin 1,500-vote majority.
The task now seems more daunting
for the PN, because the PL starts the
race benefiting from a higher swing in
its favour than in 2008.
But past surveys show that the electoral campaign itself can change the
political dynamics of the race.
MaltaToday surveys in 2008 had
shown the PN catching up and eventually overtaking Labour during the
final weeks of the electoral campaign,
mainly thanks to an increase in support for the PN among new voters,
which compensated for the swing in
Labours favour.
Moreover, contrary to 2008, Labour
starts the race with the advantage of
having a more trusted leader than Lawrence Gonzi.

Bigger swing than in 2008


While in February 2008, 6% of PN
voters in the previous election declared
their intention to vote for Labour, in
the latest MaltaToday surveys 9.6% of
PN voters in the previous election declare their intention to vote for the PL.
Moreover while in 2008, 2.4% of PL
voters declared their intention to vote
for the PN, only 1.5% of PL voters have
the same intention now.

in 1994, he has also concluded that


the secret to breaking a conservative partys 25-year stranglehold on
Maltese politics is to convince the
electorate that his own government
will in fact be no different from its
predecessor on any of the crucial
concerns.
Hence his otherwise remarkable decision to implement a failed
Budget that his own party voted
against. Applying the Clintonian
view that its the economy, stupid,
Muscat has clearly concluded that
the PNs economic track record
remains its strongest selling point:
and as it would make no sense to
challenge the PN where it is strong,
he simply decided to adopt the PNs
economic platform as his own.
Paradoxically it is the same conclusion that Eddie Fenech Adami
had drawn in distant 1977 when
the former PN leader understood
that breaking Mintoffs stranglehold
over the enormous working class
would require appealing directly to
that same category himself: hence
the move away from the right of the
spectrum, and towards an entirely
new, more socially-driven way of
doing politics.
Muscats move is arguably in the
clean opposite direction: appearing eager to appeal to the same

The eight-point swing registered


in MaltaTodays latest survey is even
more damning for the PN, because
while in 2008 the PN was defending
a 3.8-point majority which emerged
from the polls in 2003, the PN is now
defending a 1,500-vote majority of less
than a percentage point.
Green party Alternattiva Demokratika was slightly more popular in 2008
than it is now.
While on the eve of the 2008 campaign, AD enjoyed 2%, in the latest survey AD enjoyed the support of 1.4% of

voters the same level the party scored


in the 2008 election.
ADs support over the past year has
ranged between 1.3% in January and
2% in March and the first week of December.
Back in 2008, AD was also benefiting from a larger swing from the PN.
While today only 0.6% of PN voters
intend to vote for the Greens, in 2008,
3% of PN voters expressed the same intention. But this could well have been
the result of core AD voters returning
back to the party after having voted

   
  
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social categories that once ran into


the arms of the PN for protection
against the aggressive policies of
Old Labour. As such, the turnaround speaks volumes about the direction we can expect Labour to take
in the coming months. Anything
that sets the middle classs teeth on
edge is simply no longer welcome in
the front lines of the Labour team
nowadays; anything that reassures
the same middle class, on the other
hand, is welcomed with open arms.

Night of the long knives


Perhaps the clearest indication of
all this was the recent, rather brutal
decapitation of deputy leader Anglu
Farrugia: a man who was popularly
associated with Old Labour (perhaps
a little unfairly, seeing as he never actually formed part of those administrations); and above all whose gruff,
belligerent and at times incoherent
public outbursts were altogether too
reminiscent of the hurly-burly of
1980s politics for Muscats comfort.
Removing Farrugia so unceremoniously was always going to entail a
small risk for Muscat: for one thing,
he would have surely irked a certain
faction within the party; and for another he also projected the image of
a leader who pays too much heed
to criticism from across the floor

to the point that many interpreted


the move as having been dictated
directly by Farrugias opposite
number, PN deputy leader Simon
Busuttil.
But this has to be weighed against
the potential advantages: foremost
among which, the projected image
of a leader who brooks no nonsense
whatsoever from his erring lieutenants (an image that Gonzi, lets face
it, never quite managed to impart).
More cogently still, the removal of
Farrugia opened up a deputy leadership vacancy that provided Muscat
with an opportunity to virtually serenade the middle class under its own
balcony and stepping in to take up
that mantle was none other than
Air Malta chairman Louis Grech: a
man who enjoys significant respect
among the business community,
and among moderate Nationalists in
particular.
Elsewhere, the game of musical
chairs behind the scenes at Mile End
was not always quite so traumatic.
Shortly before Christmas, former
leader Alfred Sant abruptly announced that he would not be contesting the next election, but would
instead stand as Labours MEP candidate in 2014.
It is of course debatable whether
or not this move was dictated by

 

 
 
 

 
 



















11

News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

PL

PN

Profile

Leade

PL

Leader

PN

Leade

Joseph Muscat was born on 22


January, 1974. He received early
education at St Francis School
and later at Stella Maris School,
Balzan, secondary school at St
Aloysius College, where he also
attended Sixth Form.

t k
n
Don

Don

ne

t k
n

ne

ow

10

ow

No

% support

20

No

30

Leader

At a post-graduate level, Muscat


achieved a Masters Degree from
the European Documentation
and Research Centre within the
University of Malta in European
Studies and later a Ph.D from the
University of Bristol.

Which leader do
you trust most?
PN in 2003 because of the EU membership issue.
While AD started of the 2008
electoral campaign from the minimal 0.7% level of support gained in
the 2003 election, in 2013 the party
starts from the 1.3% level gained in
2008.
Interestingly the number of undecided voters and non-voters is
similar in both surveys although a
higher percentage of respondents
refused to state their intentions in
2008.

Gonzi less trusted than in 2008


In 2008, Lawrence Gonzi was
more trusted than PL leader Alfred
Sant, but now he is less trusted than
PL leader Joseph Muscat.
Joseph Muscat is by far more
trusted than Alfred Sant was in
2008. While Sant enjoyed the trust
of 31% of respondents before the
start of the electoral campaign in
2008, Muscat now enjoys the trust
of 37%.
And while Gonzi enjoyed a 3-point
lead over Sant, Gonzi now trails

Muscat enrolled for a Bachelor


of Commerce degree at the
University of Malta, specialising
in Management and Public Policy.

JANUARY 2008
Muscat by 11 points.

A year of surveys
2012 started with Labour enjoying
a 9-point lead over the PN amid rumours of an imminent election after
Franco Debono threatened to bring
the government down following a
government reshuffle at the beginning of January, and ending with the
PL enjoying an 8-point lead after the
government lost the budget vote and
elections were called.
This suggests that little has changed
over the past months, with Labour
holding on to its lead.
But in reality, the prolongation of
the crisis after the government survived a confidence vote in January at
first worked in the PLs favour with
the gap increasing to a staggering 14
points in March; and then against
it, with the gap being narrowed to
11 points in May following the noconfidence vote in Carm Mifsud
Bonnici.
But expectations of an imminent
election boosted Labours fortunes
in Autumn, with the gap remaining

Muscat himself; but it does play


neatly to his advantage, in that it
spirits away a former leader who
might otherwise (like Mintoff before him) have cast a long shadow
over his own future administration
(if any) and this time, it happened
without any visible bloodletting.
The same move also frees up literally thousands of votes in the 8th
district and this in turn provides
opportunities for Labour to let the
electorate clean out its stables, by
electing younger candidates to fill
the shoes of the older veterans as
they quit the battle-field.
Another party veteran who likewise contests the 8th district is Joe
Debono Grech: a far more direct reminder of Old Labour than Farrugia
could ever hope to be. It remains to
be seen whether or not the septuagenarian will throw his hat into the
ring once more; if he does, however,
it will be unlikely that the party will
return the compliment by throwing
its own weight behind such a forceful living testament to the past
when it has younger candidates such
as Chris Cardona (among others) to
promote at the veterans expense.
And thats just at district level. Assuming Labour does go on to win
the election complete with the
comfortable parliamentary cushion

DECEMBER 2012
steady at 12 points in the months of
September and October. But the two
post-budget surveys have shown the
PN narrowing the gap first to 9 and
then to 8 points.
The PN reached its lowest ebb in
February just after surviving a confidence vote with the speakers casting vote and after Gonzi called for a
leadership contest in which he stood
as the sole candidate when the party
attracted the support of 22% of respondents.
Support for the PL peaked in
March (39%) and again in September and October when the party surpassed the 40% mark. But the party
registered its lowest level of support
in December when it garnered 31%.
This suggests that the party was fully
geared for an election after the summer recess, but the prolongation of
the governments life to December
has had a negative impact on Labour.
Support for the Greens remained
roughly the same, oscillating between 1.3 and 2.3 percent, with the
greens seeing a peak in support in

alluded to above the next major


shake-ups will be expected at Cabinet level.
A few faces from the old guard will
no doubt have to be retained: too
early to say exactly which, but it is
difficult to envisage a future Labour
Cabinet without, say, Evarist Bartolo, Karmenu Vella or Leo Brincat.
But Muscat will also have plenty
of as yet-untried candidates from
whom to pick and choose: Louis
Grech; Edward Scicluna; Manwel
Mallia these are all likely Cabinet
material, and not exactly the sort of
candidate one automatically associates with former Labour governments.
But while the electoral risk entailed
by such manoeuvres remains minimal, there is a danger that Muscat
may erode the image of a united party in the process. Even greater is the
risk that Muscat may simply be playing directly into the PNs hands
allowing the PN to pick and choose
his own Cabinet for him, through a
subtle process of elimination whereby Muscat simply gets rid of anyone
who has been targeted directly (or
too incisively) by the PN propaganda
machine.
In some respects he has already allowed this to happen, and on more
than occasion. Not only was Anglu

March on the eve of local elections


and in the beginning of December.
The number of undecided shot up
from 25% in October to 29% immediately after the budget to a staggering 39% after the government lost its
majority.
Surprisingly, Gonzi scored his
highest trust rating (35%) in January
at the peak of his first confrontation
with Franco Debono, but subsequently lost 7 points after surviving
the first confidence vote of the year
when Debono abstained and when
Gonzi called for an internal vote in
his party to confirm him as leader. In
the next months, his trust rating oscillated between 28% and 32%.
Both Gonzi and Muscat registered
their lowest trust ratings in the second week of December after the
government lost its majority in parliament.
On his part, Muscats trust ratings
peaked on the eve of local elections
in March and in October where his
trust rating surpassed the 45% mark.
But following the budget, Muscat saw
a 7-point drop in his trust rating.

Farrugia sacrificed to appease the


god of moderates, liberals and progressives but his replacement appeared to follow the pattern of the
PNs own recent deputy leadership
election: both Busuttil and Grech
having come from the same stable
that is the European Parliament.
Nor is this the only resemblance
between the two scenarios. Like Busuttil, Grech claims to have authored
part of the (as yet unpublished) PL
manifesto. And perhaps more significantly still: just as Lawrence Gonzi
ran against himself for the post of
party leader in January 2012, Grech
was likewise uncontested for the
post of deputy leader.
Leaving aside the hint of hypocrisy
surrounding the affair (Muscat had
joked about Gonzi beating Casper
the friendly ghost but somehow
failed see the funny side when his
own deputy leader did exactly the
same thing last month) the overwhelming impression from both parties today is one in which major decisions are taken behind closed doors
in the party headquarters and it is
left to democratic instruments such
as elections to merely ratify the previously-taken decision.
Yet the biggest potential drawback
is another. Under Muscat, the Labour Party strategy has to date been

fairly transparent to woo former


Nationalist voters by simply donning
the external garb of the PN itself.
But for reasons outlined above, this
is not entirely possible without irritating at least a few among his own
party faithful.
So unless his plans come together
to perfection (a la Hannibal Smith
from the A-Team), Joseph Muscat
could unwittingly be imitating Gonzi
on another level also engineering
a situation in which he himself will
be held to ransom by disgruntled
government MPs, who may have expected a promotion that never materialised.
Ultimately it is a mathematical operation. Muscats ability to override
any such obstacles now depends on
how many of his own backbenchers
he may be able to lose without also losing government in the process.
If the answer to that equation is
one as it was in Sants case (and
more recently Gonzis), Muscat will
be a hamstrung Prime Minister: unable to implement any lasting programme of change, and quite possibly unable to see his term out to the
full. If, on the other hand, the answer
is more than one, his position will be
secure and this security will only
increase in direct proportion to the
size of his government bench.

Before his election as leader


of the Labour Party, Muscat
was a Member of the European
Parliament for four years. He
became an MEP in the first
elections to the European
Parliament held in Malta in
2004, achieving the majority of
first-preference votes within the
Labour camp.
Muscat campaigned on a
wide range of issues, from
workers rights and taxation
to the environment and social
issues, among many others.
His contribution to the work of
the European Parliament also
included achievements in areas
such as the third anti-money
laundering directive, mobile
telephony and amendments to
the vehicle registration tax.
Muscat became leader of the
Labour Party in Malta in June
2008 at the age of 34.
The Labour Party, led by Joseph
Muscat, has developed into a
movement of moderates and
progressives with the aim of
creating a fair society.
Muscat has been active in
politics since 1994. He was
editor of Maltastar, the Labour
partys on line newspaper and
also a political commentator. In
2006, he was awarded the prize
of Outstanding Young Person
of the Year for his contribution
to political life. He received his
degree and masters from the
University of Malta, and a Ph.D
from Bristol University in the UK.
Joseph Muscat is married to
Michelle. They are parents of
twin 5-year-old daughters.
Interests
Sports, literature and music are
among Muscats interests. He
pursues his own fitness regime
regularly and enjoys playing
table tennis and football.
Additionally, he supports the
local national football team,
Rabat Ajax and internationally
the Italian Serie A club AC Milan.
Music
Muscats favourite music genre
is progressive rock, with some
of his favourite bands including
Genesis, Offspring, Bruce
Springsteen, Coldplay, Moby and
Marillion.
Favourite authors
Muscat is an avid reader and his
favourite authors are Philip Roth,
C.J. Sansom, Alexander McCall
Smith and Tracy Chevalier.

12

Interview

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

By James Debono

From union to

THE self-styled moderate Man-

wel Micallef openly clashed with


the militant faction of the General
Workers Union when he unsuccessfully challenged Tony Zarb in 2005
for the post of secretary-general.
Today, he feels perfectly at home in
Joseph Muscats Labour Party.
Perhaps Micallef always cut a figure apart from his mates inside the
GWU. With looks not weathered by
the ravages of manual work, a stylish
demeanour made more conspicuous
by his coloured spectacle rims, Micallefs image was miles apart from
the surly figure that Tony Zarb cut,
with his rasping shrieks beckoning
workers to stand up to government.
His fall-out with Zarb seemed to
have cemented the direction chosen
by the union: none of the cosmetic
diplomacy of modern politics, but
salt-of-the-earth militancy to keep
government on its toes.
Reflecting on the events of seven
years ago when he was attacked by
the so called militants of the union
for being a moderate alternative for
the position of security-general, it is
now Labour which fashions itself as
a moderate, yet progressive, outfit.
But Micallef thinks that although
the GWU has changed in a positive
way in the past few years, the change
is not as radical as that of the Labour
Party.
If I were to compare the pace of
change in the General Workers Union with that in that in the Labour
Party, I would say that the Labour
Party has changed at a faster pace
than the union. The Labour Party
is no longer what it used to be. Under Joseph Muscat, the party has
changed radically by changing the
mentality of its supporters, making it more inclusive. When Joseph
Muscat was elected, many ridiculed
him for saying that he would bring
about an earthquake in the party.
But this is exactly what happened in
the past few years.
But hasnt this transformed Labour
into a mere copy of the slick PN machine, albeit a more palatable option
than the Labour of yesteryear?
Micallef admits that both parties
have today become centrist and
that ideology is no longer a key
factor, replaced as it is by pragmatism. But Micallef still sees key
differences between Labour and the
PN.
The PL believes a lot in the welfare
state. But we no longer subscribe to
the view that this should come at the
cost of those who are already well
off Our priority to lift those at the
bottom upwards remains there, but
not by bringing others down.
When Micallef was deputy secretary-general, the General Workers
Union was the only trade union and
social partner to oppose EU membership in 2003. Was he then comfortable with this stand?
The GWU was not in principle
against EU membership. But it had
pointed out that in the circumstances of that particular moment in
time, the disadvantages outweighed
the advantages.
But what was Manwel Micallefs
personal opinion in 2003?

I used to see both the disadvantages and the advantages when I


spoke in the general conference on
this subject I called for a serious
analysis and avoided taking a stance
completely in favour or against.
But when further pressed to state
whether he was for or against membership, Micallef does not give a
decisive reply, simply saying that
what counts is the present and not
the past.
I am in favour of Europe and am
happy that Malta is part of the European Union this is all water under
the bridge. We should now focus on
being the best in Europe.
His fallout with the militant
faction in the union prompted the
widespread perception that Micallef
had changed his political allegiance
and became a Nationalist. There
then followed Micallefs foray in
the TV world, with numerous talk
shows, and then as head of news at
Favourite Channel, softening the
image of the union man that would

BUDGET TAX
CUTS

I dont
think that it
was fair to
think solely
of [richer]
taxpayers
we should
eventually
consider
revising the
tax bands in
their entirety

later become the Labour candidate


of Muscats new generation of politicians. I was never a Nationalist
but am known to be a very tolerant
person. That is my character and I
was always willing to give my contribution whenever there was an
opening.
His centrist conversion to Labour
still evokes a rift between the traditional core of left-wing union beliefs,
with the more business-friendly outlook of the new Labour he is joining. One recent controversy which
underlined the growing consensus
between the two major parties, was
the opposition to increasing the
minimum wage over and above the
cost-of-living-adjustment as recommended by Caritas.
Micallef justifies this reluctance
to touch the minimum wage due to
the ripple effect this would have
on social benefits and other wages.
What Joseph Muscat said is that we
need stability we should not rock
the boat and create waves which put
this stability at risk.
But would this simply mean that
the aim of the next Labour government would be that of retaining the
status quo? Micallef insists that this
is not the case.
We should first increase wealth
in the country through economic
growth and then we would be able
to increase social benefits and the
minimum wage. In this way Muscat is being responsible. Everyone
agrees that the basic wage level
should increase but we have to do
this at the right time, without undermining economic growth.
But would not increasing the minimum wage put more money in the
pockets of those on the lower end
and at risk of poverty, and increase
their spending power in a way that
this would have a positive impact
on the economy?
I understand that this argument
has a certain validity, for example,
by injecting money in the economy
and leaving more money in peoples
pockets, which is also the logic behind the tax cuts announced in the
budget. But the government had
promised to enact these tax cuts
in 2009 and even the tax cuts envisioned in the budget fall short of
the promise made before the 2008
election.
So is it socially fair to decrease
taxes in a way which would mostly
benefit high-income earners, as
happened in the last budget which
Labour also intends to retain?
I dont think that it was fair to
think solely of this category of taxpayers what we should eventually
consider is to revise the tax bands
in their entirety.
But Labour seems to have accepted the tax cuts promised in the
budget when it committed itself to
keep the framework of the present
budget if elected to power.
I understand this but it is
positive that we depart from the
mentality that we should demolish whatever has been erected by
the previous government. While
retaining the framework of the
budget, Labour will remove injus-

ON EU
MEMBERSHIP

I am in
favour of
Europe and
happy that
Malta is part
of the EU. We
should now
focus on being
the best in
Europe

tices like the imposition of income


tax on single people earning a minimum wage.
Eventually, it will be in a position
to revise the tax bands but only after
kick-starting economic growth.
But how exactly can Labour kickstart economic growth? According
to Micallef, this is the reason why
Muscat is so business-friendly.
Joseph Muscat is often criticised
for giving a lot of importance to
businesses and entrepreneurs in
reality, he is stating the obvious because it is entrepreneurs who risk
their capital to create jobs. One cannot ignore these key players simply
because they have capital and money, just to favour workers. We need
to help them diversify and to create
more jobs.
Micallef instead blames bureaucracy for hindering both local and
foreign investment.
We are not reinventing the wheel.
We have already done this in the
financial and gaming sectors. What
we are saying is to facilitate growth
in other sectors.
But concretely, what kind of bureaucracy would Labour remove?
The first example that comes
to Manwel Micallefs mind, is the
Malta Environment and Planning
Authority.
Instead of reforming MEPA we
have created a monster which is
criticised by developers, architects
and environmentalists alike.
He lambasts MEPA over its dou-

ble standards, for taking 14 years to


process an application for a shopping complex in Hamrun, and only a
few months to process a similar development in Qormi referring to
PN donor Nazzareno Vassallos new
supermarket endeavour.
But is there a risk that Labours
rhetoric against bureaucracy masks
an intention to disregard environmental standards in its bid to kickstart economic growth?
Micallef insists that this is not a
question of standards but a question of efficiency. What I mean is

13

Interview

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Former union man Manwel Micallef believes the key to the success of a future Labour
government is its ability to kick-start economic growth. The question is: how?

that planning applications should


be processed in an acceptable timeframe while standards are strictly
adhered to.
Next week Labour will finally
present its plan to reduce utility bills. But Micallef insists that it
would be a mistake for Labour to
make turn this issue in to its sole
electoral battlecry.
Our roadmap includes a number
of proposals which are equally as
important.
As regards the utility bills issue,
Micallef firmly believes that con-

crete measures already proposed by


the social partners and constituted
bodies years ago can be taken to alleviate the burden on business and
families.
One of the proposals made by the
social partners was to spread out
the impact of inefficiencies on the
bills over a longer period of time.
For example, there is the impact of
higher bills on tourist operators. Despite the record number of tourists,
they are still not reaping the returns
they would expect in such circumstances.

But is there a risk of a shift of the


burden from bills paid by the consumer, to a greater deficit which is
ultimately paid by the taxpayer?
Micallef points out that there are
clear safeguards against this, due to
increased EU scrutiny on the countrys budget. Ultimately one has to
find a balance.
So how can the country afford to
reduce utility bills over and above
the commitment to retain the tax
cuts announced in the budget?
This would be possible if we have
economic growth this is the key to

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

Labour

everything.
What will be the major challenge
of a Labour government?
Joseph Muscat says that Malta
should be the best in Europe. This
is not a clich. He wants quality of
life in Malta to be coveted by other
Europeans. To reach this aim we
need a solid and dynamic economy
in a fast-changing world which does
not allow us to depend on one particular sector.
But does not the present government have a merit in weathering the
international economic crisis and

sparing Malta from the fate of other


countries like Greece and Spain?
Micallef questions the validity of
such a comparison, pointing out
that Maltas financial institutions
and banks followed a completely
different philosophy than that in
these countries. Even our way of
doing business is different. It is the
inner strength of our businesses and
institutions, which has cushioned us
from the impact of the crisis. What
the government has positively done
was to encourage and consolidate
these strengths.

14

Feature

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

What they read in

50 Shades of Grey may have dominated the bookseller lists, but which books stro
of some of our most prominent personalities over the past year? TEODOR RELJIC i
a catastrophic love story running in
parallel to the sorrows of Dominican
history during the tragic and murderous 31 year dictatorship of Rafael
Trujillo, Diaz finds a humorous undercurrent in everything: depression,
obesity, prostitution, injustice, poverty, cruelty and despair.
The novel focuses on the viewpoint
of the diaspora from the Dominican
Republic, and the narration is a mix
of United States popular culture and
Dominican history.
Daz emphasizes sex as a key ingredient in being a Dominican male. The
Dominican male is characterized

Ruben Zahra
Musician, Artistic Programme Director for Valletta 2018
THE BOOK: Sin City The Complete Series by Frank Miller
WHY ITS SPECIAL: Spanning
seven comic book volumes, Sin City
showcases Frank Millers dark, violent and wholly, pathologically, noir
universe. Sin City is Millers longestrunning work set in crime-ridden
Basin City, dominated by booze,
broads and bullets and the struggles
over and concerning them.
In marvellous black and white studies, Miller parodies all the pulp essentials, shadow and absence dominating the books. If he can leave
something unsaid and suggest it via
a looming umbra, he will. He creates
a universe in which his art and words
work beautifully together to create
something powerfully unique.

Charles ic-City Gatt


Musician, painter, founder of the
Malta Jazz Festival
THE BOOK: The brief and wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot
Diaz
WHY ITS SPECIAL: Despite being

when the country was liberated from


the Khmer Rouge there was nobody
left to educate the survivors.
I chose to read this book because I
will be going out to Cambodia in July
to teach developmental drama and
English to orphans there. I have read
the historic accounts but I believe
you get a truer picture from those
who are left standing when the horrors end.

Ira Losco
Singer

as having power and charm, and is


physically attractive, sexually active,
and violent. Oscars lack of charm is
central to the novel; his goal throughout the novel is to have a woman return his affection.

Alan Montanaro
Actor, drama teacher, Panto Dame
THE BOOK: First They Killed My
Father by Loung Ung

THE BOOK: The Curious Incident


of the Dog in the Night-Time by
Mark Haddon
WHY ITS SPECIAL: Because my
days tend to start at 6.30am and fin-

ish at midnight, I dont often get the


chance to read as much as Id like to.
One book I did manage to read is
Mark Haddons critically acclaimed
mystery novel about a 15-year old
boy called Christopher Boone with
Asperger Syndrome who investigates
the murder of his neighbour, large
black poodle, all the while writing a
mystery novel about the incident.
He is the narrator of the story which
makes it all the more interesting and
tells the story from his perspective,
which is somewhat different to the
norm.
Its incredibly interesting to see how
Mark Haddon really excels at portraying the way this young boy sees
the world through his eyes. The series of events is so well written that
it is a pleasure to read. There are also
diagrams and equations the young
boy includes in the mystery novel he
is writing so that it makes it all the
more authentic. I think its a great
book and I also heard its a play now,
so Im dying to watch it!

Coryse Borg
Actress, Artistic Programme Director for Valletta 2018
THE BOOK: Actions: The Actors
Thesaurus by Maria Calderone and
Maggie Lloyd-Williams
WHY ITS SPECIAL: This year I
found myself extremely busy not
least due to a hectic theatre schedule and didnt end up reading as
much as Id liked. But it was during
one of the plays I was taking part in
Shakespeares A Winters Tale that I
was introduced by my director, Polly

WHY ITS SPECIAL: My book of


choice concerns a young girl who survived the horrors of Pol Pots Khmer
Rouge in the mid-70s in Cambodia.
Pol Pots regime wiped out the educated class of people and reduced the
peasantry to slavery to the extent that

I have got through loads of different things from biographies of my


sporting heroes to some really good
historical novels, via sci-fi and a couple of zany inspired-by-a drunken
bet tales. However without a doubt
one of the best things I read this year
was Ramon u z-Zerbinotti by Guze
Stagno.
This book is incredible. One of those
that I just could not put down, while
at the same time wanting to linger
on every single page. For any Maltese man who was at school in the
90s, this is a must-read. Even though
I never went to the Tal-Handaq lyceum where the story is based, everything the zerbinotti get up to there is
so familiar, so real, that Stagno could
have been talking about me and my
klikka!
While succeeding in taking the reader back to the 90s so well, this novel is
also incredibly funny with some real
laugh-out-loud moments. I loved it!
Right. Im off to read it again!

Leo Brincat
Labour spokesperson for the environment
THE BOOK: Ever The Diplomat by
Sherard Cowper-Coles

March, to this practical book for


thespians by a director (Calderone)
and an actress (Lloyd-Williams).
The book is geared towards actors and is basically a list of active
words which actors during rehearsal
may use to give more meaning to the
words they are saying. I found it very
useful, and I must say that it did help
to make the rehearsal period and
subsequently the performance extremely interesting.

Steve Hili
Radio DJ, actor
THE BOOK: Ramon u z-Zerbinotti
by Guze Stagno
WHY ITS SPECIAL: I am constantly reading. Throughout 2012

WHY ITS SPECIAL: Although I


am always inclined to try and read
as many books as I might manage to
do, I must confess that I have quite
a few to catch up with mainly Jack
Straws Last Man Standing, the Bruce
Springsteen biography and Bill Emmotts Good Italy, Bad Italy and yet,
I must confess that the best read so
far has proved to be Ever The Diplomat (Confessions of a Foreign Office
Mandarin) by former British Ambassador to Kabul, Sherard CowperColes. What drew me to read this
book was his first effort Cables From
Kabul, a sort of do-it-yourself

15

Feature

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

2012

oked the literary palate


nvestigates
Wikileaks about his own
stint in Kabul.
It is not often that one
comes across a foreign office mandarin with some
three decades on the diplomatic front line who can
write in a racy and highly
readable manner that does
not sound like a dissertation. Diplomats are usually
what they are meant to be:
diplomatic. Cowper Coles,
who now seems to be doing
well in the military industrial
complex too since his foreign
service retirement, has managed to put together a memoir
that is both entertaining and
even irreverent. He seems to
have had more than a baptism
of fire in terms of foreign policy
speech writing since some of his
assignments had even included
keynote speeches for Margaret
Thatcher arguably not the easiest of people to deal with. What
I found most intriguing and amusing
were the sequences relating to his
stint as Principal Private Secretary
of the late Foreign Secretary Robin
Cook. Being one who enjoys reading
anecdotes, this might explain why I
went over board for this book since
witticisms abound especially during
his sensitive postings in Saudi and
Israel too.
To cite an example the inside front
and back sleeves of his book are taken
up with reproductions of the various
titles he occupied by way of his own
previous visiting cards! He describes
the book in his own words as a long
love letter to an institution the Foreign Office.

Joe Tanti
Radio DJ
THE BOOK: Shake Hands with the
Devil by Romeo Dallaire
WHY ITS SPECIAL: I read true
stories, biographies, autobiographies

real life. How nations unite in indifference rather than action. How helpless you and I are. How frustrating it
is to want to be heard when youre
ignored by the people you thought
would understand.
If you want to understand the plight
of so many refugees to distant shores
like ours, first you have to know their
pain. A pain all to close to the Rwanda
story.

of threads that led to Irans Supreme


Leader himself.
These findings caught the German
government between Tehrans vengeful mullahs, whose interests it had
represented in Europe in exchange
for contracts with German business-

THE BOOK: On Education by Zygmunt Bauman and Riccardo Mazzeo


WHY ITS SPECIAL: My choice of
book is actually a conversation between the social theorist (Bauman)
and an Italian publisher (Mazzeo). A
few years ago, I read a similar conversation in a little book called Identity
between Bauman and another Italian,

Transmedia producer, Artistic Programme Director for Valletta 2018


THE BOOK: Assassins of the Turquoise Palace by Roya Hakakian

anything by anyone with a story to


tell. I stopped reading fiction in my
20s and now in my 50s, after half a
century of meeting people, I find that
I need to understand human beings.
The book I want to share with you is
by a relatively unknown Canadian soldier. In Shake Hands with the Devil,
Lt General Romeo Dallaire deals with
the failure of humanity in Rwanda.
This book is a must if you need to
understand just who the enemy really
is and how politics and power work in

Raphael Vella
Artist, lecturer, Artistic Programme
Director for Valletta 2018

Jean-Pierre Magro

WHY ITS SPECIAL: Named a


New York Times Notable Book of
2011, Roya Hakakians non-fiction
account is a daring and impressive
portrait of a ghastly political murder.
On 17 September, 1992, a group of
Iranian and Kurdish opposition leaders were assassinated in an obscure
Greek restaurant in Berlin.
Soon after the murder, three men,
one Iranian and two Lebanese men
with connections to Hezbollah, were
taken into custody. Despite immense
pressures to keep the investigation
at the lowest possible level, a German prosecutor unraveled a tangle

dissidents and lawyers who managed


one of that rarest of human achievements; an authentic victory for truth
and justice.

es like Siemens, and the hundreds of


thousands of Iranian dissidents who
had settled in Germany since the
revolution.
Roya Hakakian, a former associate
producer at CBSs 60 Minutes and a
recipient of Guggenheim Fellowship
in non-fiction, deploys all her skills to
narrate the human and political story
behind the news. This beautiful book
stands as tribute to the courageous

Benedetto Vecchi, and I found that


text so inspiring that I often return to
it and tell my students to read it.
On Education is also an engaging
read, not confined to the subject of
education in a narrow sense, but it
deals with the political and social uncertainties people, especially young
people, face in the world today, or,
to use Baumans term, in the liquid
modern world. Baumans replies to
Mazzeos questions and statements
are generally short but try to come
to terms with contemporary realities
like the Arab Spring, Facebook and
consumer markets.
I will very briefly describe only one
incident that Bauman analyses, an
incident involving Malta. He writes
about the plight of people living in
dictatorial regimes in the Arab world,
and of Europes support for their
safety and simultaneous fear of being
inundated with refugees. He refers to
deep sighs of relief in Europe, which
could be heard in the two simultaneously transmitted and reported news
items from blood-soaked Libya: of
the boat packed with British evacuees
mooring at Valletta, and the crowds
of Libyans running for shelter but
towards the Egyptian and Tunisian
borders.

16

Opinion

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Saviour Balzan

Waiting for the fun to start


I

have to confess that Im


feeling a little bit anxious.
This could have something
to do with the fact that the two
major parties have, for some
reason, decided to position their
deputy leaders Simon Busuttil
and Louis Grech as if they were
leaders proper which makes this
campaign all the more peculiar.
One has to admit that the
appointments of Busuttil and
Grech have enlivened both parties,
who were suffering from some
serious political fatigue.
It is clear that the focus of the
campaign will soon shift to the
political leaders and expect a
certain amount of metamorphosis
from both the two leaders.
Both Muscat and Gonzi have a
lot to lose, if they lose.
Yet I believe that Muscat has
much more to lose than Gonzi.
Everyone is expecting an end to
25 years in government, but no
one is expecting Muscat to lose.
If Labour lose this election, there
is a very realistic chance that the
party may well crumble. Being
relegated to the opposition for 25
years says something about the
PNs ability to keep the electorate
on their side.
Not all is to their credit.
Much of the success of the PN
lies with the failures of many of
the PLs political leaders. Karmenu
Mifsud Bonnici and Alfred Sant
failed to inspire faith in the
electorate.
And there were obvious reasons
for this. KMB as he was known
was way too bizarre to offer a
real opposition to Eddie Fenech
Adami, and Alfred Sant too
academic and stiff to counter the
PNs sexy vision most especially
when it came to Europe.
Now that is all pass.
We now have two political
parties with divergent styles but
no real ideological differences.
Yes, the Labour party is less
dependent on the Church for its
inspiration, and is far more liberal
on certain issues.
And on business incentives,
Labour has come a long way,
moving close to the centre and at
times verging towards the right.
When it comes to image, Labour
somehow appears to be more
Nationalist than the PN itself.
There are more designer clothes
at Mile End than at Stamperija, as
well as more eloquent and elegant

speakers.
These past two weeks, I visited
both HQs, and the contrast was
immense, if not shocking.
The Labour Party had
American-style posters hanging
everywhere, with new faces
strolling around, creating the
impression that something new
was happening.
When I arrived, I a smiling
face greeted me and wished me a
happy new year.
At the Stamperija, the reception
simply looked at me at addressed
with Hi. That is precisely what
I hate.
Yet even more sinister, was the
next question:
Who are you?
Now I do not expect to be
recognised by everyone but in the
political world I am what Dixan is
to a housewife.
Now that may sound
chauvinistic, most especially to
that silly government department
on equality, who always write
me letters obliging me to write
handyperson not handyman and
police officer not policeman and
chairperson not chairman.
The truth is that the Labour
Party has managed to cough up
more than a simple tsunami of
enthusiasm but an avalanche
of new faces, many of whom
would have comfortably landed
themselves in the PN.
It reminds me of the PN of
yesteryear, when people just
flocked to the Stamperija to be
part of the sea of change.
Today, I get the feeling that many
want to be part of the change.
Changing the old guard.
The worrisome thing about this
change is that it is not ideological.
Ideological change is more
permanent.
The change has very much to
do with denying Lawrence Gonzi
another five-year term.
People simply argue that they
would like to see a change.
Muscat is hoping for a pyrrhic
victory but it will be short-lived
if he does not provide the beef.
And the beef is all about longterm change.
Changing the foundations of
this country in such a way that the
mistakes of the past will not be
repeated with every change of the
administration.
Changing the car registration
tax regime or allowing for civil

marriages between gays will not


change the world around us. What
will change the world around us is
revisiting our institutions, and our
Constitution.
The real change will make
diversity a possibility and allow
for a level playing field to all those
who wish to venture into the
unknown.
If this does not happen, then it
will be all about exacting a little
bit of revenge against those who
have had it so good for such a long
time.
But really and truly, there is little
doubt in my mind that with one
set of sycophants out of the way,
it will only be a matter of time
before another set of minions will
appear on the scene and replace
those who make it their business
to take up posts or jobs despite
their incompetence.
***
Its about time that we start
looking at the voting numbers of
the 2008 election.
Its about time that we start to
realise that in 2008, the PN won
the election by a whisker, and that
Alfred Sant could well have been
Prime Minister.
I have to say that one should
acknowledge Jeffrey Pullicino
Orlandos theatrics for tipping the
balance. Needless to say, he was
aided by Anton Attard the man

The real
change
will make
diversity a
possibility
and allow
for a level
playing field

who now heads PBS.


JPOs contribution to shifting
1,600 votes towards the PN
was rewarded with a five-year
backlash.
If Sant had won, we would have
been treated to the arrogance
of many of his acolytes. Jason
Micallef, the former Secretary
General, comes to mind.
Thankfully, today he is no
longer seen as superstar by the PL
administration, though he is still
being allowed to stand for the next
election.
If I were Muscat I would ban
him. Finding a reason for blocking
him should not be too difficult.
Just see what happened when he
came to finding an excuse for
Anglu Farrugia to leave.
Muscat may have worked very
hard to improve the aesthetics
of his own party, but he is still
surrounded by some candidates
who do not have an idea about
what they are doing in politics
other than to offer washing
machines to ageing women from
Paola, or playing the part of Maria
Gorettis.
Some candidates and
parliamentarians should be told
that they have no part to play in
politics.
In other parliamentary systems,
candidates are chosen based on
what they can offer, and they are
often grilled by party committees
to see if they are suitable for
standing for election.
Electoral reform, if it ever does
happen, should address the way
party candidates are chosen and
not only on the issue of plurality
and diversity of political parties.
***
PN hopeful candidate Hermann
Schiavones press conference is
simply weird. Why should the
PN ask Schiavone to make a
declaration?
Rumour has it that Schiavone
was advised not to sign any
declaration.
Why?
And is Franco Debono putting
pressure on the PN if Schiavone is
allowed to be a candidate?
What the hell is happening?
Schiavones press conference
yesterday is one of those episodes
that should never have happened.
And we have not officially even
started the campaign.

17

Opinion

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Raphael Vassallo
rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt

Fantasy island
I

ve always wanted to run a series


of articles starting with the line:
You can always tell an election is
coming up, when
So um what I am waiting for?
Here goes: Camera, lights, and
ACTION!
You can always tell an election is
coming up, when people suddenly
gather round in small groups and
start talking about imaginary
countries.
No, seriously, it happened to me
the other day. I was in a group of
people for I still have a few human
acquaintances, you see and for
some reason the conversation soon
found itself revolving around this
truly amazing, magical and obviously
unreal place where everything was
simply hunky dory, all the goddamn
time.
On most occasions I wouldnt
really mind discussing such clearly
fictitious places. Makes a pleasant
change from the usual topic of
conversation, which tends to involve
a certain country we all know to be
very depressingly real.
Besides, I myself was brought up on
fantasy literature (not that youd ever,
EVER have guessed, but anyway)
and Imaginary Places happens to be
the title of one of the larger volumes
in my collection.
And guess what? A wonderful
escape from reality it still makes
to this day: with its detailed maps
of Samuel Butlers Erewhon, for
instance; or Frank L. Baums Oz; or
Skull Island from the movie King
Kong... even Castle Dracula from the
Bram Stoker novel (complete with
such helpful tips as: Visitors are
strongly advised against entering the
chapel crypt after dark, etc.)
But nowhere in this extensive
volume of fantasy realms was there
any reference to the magical land
described to me in the course of that
conversation: a land in which all
aspects of the everyday infrastructure
are simply flawless in their every
manifestation; in which the wheels
of justice revolve in perfect harmony
with the Music of the Spheres; and
needless to add it is also a land of total
transparency and unimpeachable
economic management throughout:
in which the common purse has in
past decades been administered with
such prudence and propriety, that it is
now simply unthinkable that anybody
other than the present Glorious Ruler
should have a stab at piloting the
same economy without instantly
running it into the ground.
And of course, in the very best of
fantasy tradition, all these imaginary
blessings are at once under threat
from an army of malevolent, twisted
imp-like creatures, who perhaps
having not quite got to that part
about the Divine Right of the
present Ruler to reign forever and
ever, without competition, Amen
conspire endlessly to usurp the
throne, squander all this bounteous
patrimony to the undying detriment
of future generations, and of course
(as one does, in fantasy novels) cover
the land in a second darkness, etc.
You may even be familiar with sort
of thing Im Tolkien about here. So
curiosity naturally got the better of
me, and I felt I just had to ask. What
imaginary place were we talking
about here, exactly? Can the books
be ordered via Amazon? And does
anyone know if Guilliermo Del Toro
will get to direct the movie.?
Ah. Mm. Ok. Meanwhile, in case

you were wondering about that rather


loud crash, bang and tinkle you all
just heard in the background well,
that was the sound of yours truly
coming back down to earth rather
more abruptly than I would have
liked.
Needless to add, however, the
rest of the people involved in that
conservation didnt accompany me on
my sudden, unexpected downward
trajectory. Oh no. Theyre all still up
there still inhabiting that vaguely
Celestial City, that Fantasy Island
inhabited by midgets and sprites,
without ever once pausing to ask
themselves Yes, but how much of
all this actually resembles this thing
called REALITY?
Time, I think, to take that proverbial
step back and fall off the precipice... I
mean, take a look at the same picture
from a slightly broader vantage point.
Those benevolent, omniscient,
and divinely anointed rulers who
administer the public purse with such
diligence and propriety, and all that
crap? Well, theyve been in power for
almost 25 years. Thats longer than
many individual first-time voters have
even been alive, you know. And its
not as though they simply waltzed
into government out of nowhere way
back in another galaxy, long long ago.
You may be forgiven for not
remembering this, but once the
orcs and trolls of the previous
administration had finished duly
ransacking, smashing and pillaging
the place, there was a rather clear set
of priorities for the guys who came in
afterwards armed with mops, brooms
and bucketsful of disinfectant.
Suffice it to say that the incoming
administration (led by Eddie Fenech
Adami, if youll remember) came into
possession of an entire infrastructure
which was still firmly plugged into
the fabric of pre-war Malta. We had
a power station that simply couldnt
supply power to all the country at any
one time; an airport that resembled
a Misurata ammunition dump after
a direct hit by a Scud missile; and a
veritable compendium of known or
suspected corruption cases dating
back to the Stone Age of malfeasance
(Building a block flats, are you? Jolly
good. Just remember: the top three
stories are mine. Fond regards, The
Honourable Minister, etc).
Elsewhere, we also had a massive
great big black hole where human
rights were supposed to be with a
police force that had even been found
guilty (albeit indirectly) of murder.
Oh, and to give all those orcs and
trolls their full due: they also left
a tidy bit of cash piled up in the
countrys coffers after almost 16
years of meticulous, dedicated and
quasi-pathological parsimony.
This, then, was the mess that Eddie
Fenech Adami and his band of merry
Nationalists came into power on a
very specific promise to clean up.
Personally I would have thought 25
years was time enough to sort out
at least the most pressing of those
issues. Like the police, for instance.
Or the electoral system that lies at
the heart of so very much that was
actually wrong with the situation
between 1981 and 1987.
Allow me to ask you the milliondollar question (without, of course,
also offering you the million dollars
that should go with it). How much
of all that was broken did this
so-called magical, infallible and
indispensable government actually
fix since coming into power in 1987?
And how much of the same mess

did it simply sweep under


the carpet, to be discovered
d
by successive generations of
unsuspecting citizens?
Well, hard as it is to
fathom, the answer to the
first question is: not nearly
enough. To the second? Way,
ay,
way too much.
Inhabitants of fantasy
islands do not like being
reminded of this, but
a quarter of a century,
one new power station
and literally hundreds of
millions of euros worth
of investment, and the
only significant difference
the Delimara extension
actually made was to
add a pervasive stench of
corruption throughout
(no longer of the Stone
Age variety, Ill grant you
more like the Yellow
Pages, if you take my
meaning.)
Yes, but what about
the power? Or has
nobody else actually
noticed that there have
on average been more
power cuts over the
past two years, than in
the corresponding last
two years of the pre-87
administration?
As for the black hole of human
uman
rights I mentioned earlier why,
having won an election on a very
specific promise of redressing the
situation faced by persons in police
custody, Fenech Adami (and Gonzi
after him) spent the next two decades
studiously avoiding introducing any
of the relevant rights. And when they
finally did succumb to pressure, and
grudgingly wrote some of the basic
rights into legislation by a huge
coincidence they managed to make a
pigs breakfast of the entire exercise:
with the result that you now have
the right to a lawyer at every stage of
proceedings except while under
interrogation, which is obviously
when you need one the most.
I wont go into much detail on
the various other areas that the PN
should really have done a whole
lot better and I mean a whole
UNIVERSE better, considering the
sheer amount of time theyve had to
work on things, not to mention the
stratospheric altitude of the moral
high horse they go galloping around
on but of all the cock-ups and
unlept electoral pledges, one sin of
omission is simply too consequential
to pass without comment.
To the enduring shame of successive
PN governments, Malta will in two
months time go into yet another
election against the backdrop of a
dangerously flawed and patently
undemocratic electoral system
despite endless forgotten promises of
electoral reform.
Apart from an inherent injustice
which limits parliamentary
representation to a prohibitive 16.6%
of any one district when most
normal electoral laws propose a much
lower threshold, and on a nationwide
basis Maltas electoral law also
results in an unacceptably massive
number of votes which end up simply
not being counted at all.
Thats right, folks. Every time you
are badgered and bullied into voting
because its so important, etc bear
in mind that there is a high possibility
that your vote will not even be lifted

Inhabitants
of fantasy
islands
do not
like being
reminded of
this, but...
out of the ballot box to be counted in
the end.
And with every passing election
the need to address this anomaly
grows ever more pressing. At
the last election, the number of
uncounted votes stood at around
4,000. Considering that the two main
parties were separated by only around
one-fourth that number, the fact
that so many votes were ultimately
bypassed in the counting process
can only raise very serious questions
about whether the result of that
election (or indeed any other since
Independence) was in fact an accurate
reflection of the will of the electorate.
Yet here we all are again, 25 years
after a promise to revise that same
system and we face yet another
election whose outcome will be
inherently questionable from the
outset.
And why, pray tell, did the
Nationalist government fail to fix
such a glaring bug in our system
despite the existence of broad

consensus on precisely
how
to go about fixing it? I imagine for the
same reason that Labour never did
much about it when the shoe was on
its own foot.
Its simply not in the incumbent
governments interest to have a fair
election result. The only thing that
interests an incumbent government is
to carry on governing. The will of the
electorate? That just gets in the way.
And oh look: if there is yet another
mismatch between votes and seats
(as there was in 2008), we will once
again fall back on a Constitutional
mechanism that was originally
concocted by the late Guido de
Marco and Dom Mintoff way back in
in 1986, with a view only to guarantee
majority rule in cases where the
number of seats does not reflect the
percentage of votes cast.
In other words, the Constitutional
mechanism which translated into
four extra PN seats at the last election
was originally intended only as
a stop-gap measure until a more
wholesome and permanent solution
could be found.
Yet 25 years later this same stopgap measure has now become the
norm: despite the inherently antidemocratic nature of a system which
simply awards Parliamentary seats
even to candidates who fail to meet
the required quota for parliamentary
representation.
But of course none of this really
matters, you know. The only really
important thing is that we get to
continue living in that beautiful
fantasy dream-world of ours: a world
in which our country is not actually
saddled with more debt that future
generations will ever be able to pay
(thats just enemy propaganda, you
know); nor is it not crippled by the
exact same infrastructural problems
we experienced before 1987.
Who can best guarantee the
uninterrupted continuation of that
illusion, in defiance of reality, for at
least the next five years? And THAT, I
greatly fear, is what this next election
is really all about.

18
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

For the very best upd

From tomorr
Reporter with Saviour Balzan
On Favourite Channel
Monday to Friday
Repeat on maltatoday.com.mt

Carmen Sammut & Michael Falzon


Election analysis
Monday to Friday
maltatoday.com.mt

James Debono
Asks the vital
questions of the
campaign
maltatoday.com.mt

Karl Stagno
Navarra
Tour of Malta
maltatoday.com.mt

19
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

date of elections 2013

row on maltatoday.com.mt

19
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

date of elections 2013

row on maltatoday.com.mt

20

Opinion

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Evarist Bartolo

MFSA and BOV: how many


of 2,250 compensated?
O

n Monday afternoon, the


Malta Financial and Services
Authority announced that
it will be forwarding to the Bank
of Valletta the list of investors to
be compensated for the money
they lost in the La Valette Multi
Manager Property Fund. But
MFSA has not said how many of
the 2,250 investors are going to be
compensated. A short press release
of the MFSA leaves the matter
still shrouded in mystery and has
plunged the investors into deeper
anxiety.
The Mazars exercise is an
investigation exercise executed
by the MFSA on the complaint
of investors. It is not BOV that
have carried out the exercise. For
these reasons the investors expect
to be informed by the MFSA and
not through BOV of the MFSAs
investigation results of their
complaint and an explanation for
every case why it got a positive or
negative decision.

Article 19(2) of the MFSA Act


provides:
Where the Authority has
investigated any matter under this
article, it shall prepare a report
on that matter and (subject to
any obligation with respect to
professional secrecy) shall send a
copy of any such report to such of
the following persons as it thinks
appropriate, that is to say:
(a) any person to whom the
report refers or who appears to the
Authority to have an interest in the
matter to which the report relates;
(b) any person whose functions
under any enactment appear to
the Authority to be exercisable in
relation to that matter;
(c) any person who appears to the
Authority to be a person who ought
to take account of the report in
determining how to act in relation
to that matter.
BOV, which has mis-sold the
schemes to investors, should not
be the one informing its victims

Property fund investors in 2011 are


convened by Finco Treasury Management
to discuss the Bank of Valletta share offer.
Photo: Ray Attard/MediaToday

of MFSAs decision. It should be


MFSA itself. Having BOV inform
its victims lacks transparency.

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$xyXk8@k@_@b!b@}kXkNk__@k @b$xyXk8X@_
bkkbkXkbXkx!@kkk@NkkbNk!xk
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kkX@

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kXkxk@X@xkbkXkbXk1kk.kbkXk @b_XNkkb_
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X@xkkk.kbkXk @bNkkXkkbx1b "@@@x
1b@@@_3@@@Nk@X@@x1kb@z
@@_@k@@@Nkxb@bxkkxx@!kNk
xkX@NkXkXkbbkXxkk@kx k@b
@@kxx@
1kkX_XkNkxkkxkbkXkbXk_kxNk
!b@_1kb@_1b@@bb@Nkkkp@bX@@kNk@bk
@_ @k,@Xk_b_8@k@_kX@bX@NkXkXkbx_!k@/kk_8@k@
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1kkXk@kxXkXxkbkXkkbkb
xkkkk@kX@XpNk@k.kbkXkx@L

It is also discourteous towards


the clients who have legitimate
expectations to have the law
respected and to be advised by
the competent authority that has
investigated their complaint and to
be given the report with reasons for
the decision taken in their respect.
Last summer the MFSA said
that where it is established that
investors were not eligible to invest
in the Fund, the compensation
to be paid will amount to 1 per
unit, less any amounts previously
received for each unit. The
objective is to finalise the review
process and pay any further
compensation by the end of
December 2012.
The 2,250 shareholders in the
Property Fund still need to know
whether they will be receiving
additional compensation. MFSA
high officials have confirmed in
evidence given in open court that
the MFSA started investigations
into the said Fund only after clients
of Finco started filing judicial
protests in July of 2011.
The massive misselling of Bank of
Valletta as intermediary salesman
of the Fund and as established by
the detailed report of the MFSA on
4 June 2012, was also committed
against all investors, experienced
or not. It is not correct that a
regulatory authority such as the
MFSA adopts formal arithmetical
tests rather than substantive
criteria. Indeed, an investor who
has transacted US$50,001 may
in any case not constitute an
experienced investor who, in terms
of MFSA Rules, is an investor that
has the expertise, experience and
knowledge to be in a position to
his own investment decisions and
understand the risks involved.

Karin and Raymond

"1 1$"$ 3!"1/$./;3!/./


bkyX@bXkxkkk@_@bxkk@X@x@
@Nkkkxkbkx1k.kxkkX_@_xb@@__NkkbNk
kx,Xk_,X@@$xyXk_ k@@$xyXk"k@X@_
@k@kk@k@bbkbkyX@Xkk@bky@
X@Nkbkxkk@_kkb@@k k@@$xyXk_,Xkk@b@k_
@@x!b@b@Nkkkp@b@bNkkk@b@
k@/@b@Nkkkp@bxkkkX@kkk
"}}zk@XXkL

Labour leader Joseph Muscat


said on Friday 28 December 2012
that the murders of Karin Grech
and Raymond Caruana make
them brother and sister. Both
were killed by political intolerance
which is largely repudiated by many
Maltese and Gozitans. I believe
our people have become more
tolerant though we still have to

do more to have people embrace


and celebrate diversity. We will
continue to come here every year
to commemorate Karin. No family
should go through the pain that the
Grech and Caruana families had to
go through.
Fifteen-year-old Karin was killed
35 years ago when she opened a
parcel that was addressed to her
father. The parcel exploded and
injured her fatally. Her father had
come back to Malta to help during
a medical strike resisting the
introduction of the National Health
Service in 1977.
Raymond Caruana was a Maltese
Nationalist Party activist, murdered
at the Gudja club headquarters
on 5 December 1986, at the age of
26. While at the PN club in Gudja,
Malta, a car drove past the club,
firing several shots, one of which
hit Caruana.
Evarist Bartolo is shadow minister
for education

BOV, which
has missold the
schemes to
investors,
should not
be the one
informing
its victims
of MFSAs
decision

CHECK OUT EVARIST BARTOLOS LATEST COLUMNS ON


http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/blogs

21

Opinion
O

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Claudine Cassar

Saved by the Grinch?


T

his week we woke up to


the unwelcome news that
the government deficit
for the first 11 months of 2012
had increased by just under 64
million compared to the same
period the previous year. Bad
news indeed for all those who had
hoped that the deficit was in fact
under control and shrinking.
According to reports published
in the MaltaToday portal, the
widening in the government
deficit was the result of an
increase in total expenditure of
195.8 million. Unfortunately
the increase in revenue of 132
million was not sufficient to offset
the additional expenses, resulting
in a further deficit of 63.8
million. The total deficit for the
period was 342 million.
Judging by comments made by
the Minister of Finance, it appears
that Franco Debono has possibly
done the government a favour.
By shooting down the budget,
he has ensured that government
expenditure will decrease over
the first quarter of 2013, with
various initiatives such as the
increase in childrens allowance
not taking place, and government
departments being very careful
with their cash and not embarking
on any new initiatives. This
situation, the minister informs
us, will result in government
expenditure shrinking and the
deficit once again coming on
track.
I cannot help but question this
state of affairs. If the deficit is
increasing at such an alarming
rate (because an increase of 23%
is quite alarming, do you not
agree?) why were we presented
with a budget that was bursting
at the seams with freebies and
Christmas cheer? If revenue is
not growing at the same rate as
expenditure, why did the minister
suggest a reduction in income tax
rates for those at the top end of
the earning scale? I understand
that the underlying assumption
is that businesses will be paying
more corporate tax due to an
projected increase in profits, but
how realistic is this given the fact
that everyone is feeling the pinch
and that the great majority of us
are being very careful with our
hard-earned euros? The budget

did not include mention of any


major upcoming investments by
the government, which is another
indicator that things will be
slowing down in 2013 and that
an upsurge in corporate profits
is unlikely. My feeling is that we
have not hit the bottom yet, and
that things are going to get worse
before they get any better.
Is one to think that the people
who put together the generous
proposals the country was regaled
with last month were banking on
Franco Debono to save the day,
trusting him to take on the role of
the Grinch who stole Christmas?
]SUBHEAD[ Helping the
homeless
This year the Maltese people
have been exceedingly generous,
with record sums being collected
during L-Istrina and the Dar talProvidenza open day. These are
very worthy initiatives indeed
however, while we are still in the
festive spirit I would like to take
the opportunity to bring to your
attention another NGO that is
sorely in need of help. The YMCA
homeless shelter, Dar Niki Cassar,
is home to over 30 persons, a large
number of whom are kids. Their
food supplies are running low at
the moment so they have issued a
call for donations of food, which
can be dropped off at any Melita
Cable outlet.
A couple of years ago I visited
YMCA and I was impressed by the
work and commitment of the team
who manage this shelter. They
care for people who have truly hit
rock bottom, losing everything,
including a roof over their head.
We tend to be complacent about
homelessness in Malta, thinking
that it is something that only
happens abroad and not on this
little island of ours. A visit to Dar
Niki Cassar brings you face to
face with the harsh reality that
we do indeed have people who are
homeless and that if it were not
for the YMCA these people would
end up sleeping on the street at
night.
These people really need our
help. I urge you all to rummage
through your food cupboard
and fill a bag with some tins
and packets of food its a small
gesture that will go a long way at
Dar Niki Cassar.

CHECK OUT CLAUDINE CASSARS LATEST COLUMNS ON


http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/blogs

Is one to think that the people who put together


the generous proposals the country was regaled
with last month were banking on Franco Debono to
save the day, trusting him to take on the role of the
Grinch who stole Christmas?

22

Letters

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075
E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted.

What really goes on at MEPA


On Wednesday, 14 November
we were present to witness the
insertion of yet another nail into
a Maltese coffin already peppered
with them. A permit for the renewal
of PA3976/04 was granted (under
PA1248/12), ignoring the fact that
the MEPAs own Audit Officer had
declared that existing permits were
approved contrary to established
policy. However, we have learnt that
this means little to MEPA officials.
Ignoring the will of the interested
citizens, the preservation of access
to Maltese Cultural Heritage and
the ever-decreasing areas of open
green land, members of the Environment and Planning Commission
(listed below) decided with four

votes in favour and one vote against


to give the go ahead to the developer, Mr Joseph Said, to build three
villas with three swimming pools
on white land where no development should have been permitted;
on land which is partly ODZ and
lies within the Rabat Conservation
Area.
Environment and Planning Commission, Division A on 14.11.2012
Sandra Magro (Chair)
Elizabeth Ellul
Claude Borg
John Mangion
Fleur Ebejer
The chairperson rejected a request

YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY


www.maltatoday.com.mt

for the proceedings to be carried out


in English despite the fact that all
the documentation was in English.
At no point were we, two of around
114 registered objectors, invited
to contribute before the decision
was reached with a show of hands
by the five-member commission.
Although this was supposed to be
a public meeting, the proceedings
were conducted in sepulchral tones,
so quiet that, apart from the voluble
and legally valid objections to the
proposed renewal raised by Perit
Carmel Cacopardo on behalf of residents, we could only hear mumbling
noises from the panel. Even the
Maltese objectors who filled most of
the seating could not fathom what
was going on. In fact, the whole
hearing had a Kafkaesque quality
with an added farcical element: the
judges all sat, being served coffee,
while the supplicants, applicants or
objectors, had to stand, bowing to
explain their drawings/requests.

The applications to develop this


land began in 1994 when Mr Joseph
Said, of Medina Glass, assayed to
build 18 maisonettes with an appropriate number of garages. This
was refused. Mr Said reapplied in
1998 to build four villas, which
application was also refused. The
name of the developer then changed
to Joseph Baldacchino (murdered in
Valletta in 2010) who was granted
an outline permit in 2004, despite
all the irregularities cited by the
MEPA audit officer and many objectors.
Thereafter, Mr Said immediately
resumed his role as developer and
submitted a further application, this
time to build three villas. He was
granted a full development permit
just before the elections on the 26
February 2008.

MEPA officials are public servants, whose primary duty is to


protect the Maltese environment
for the sake of todays and future
generations of Maltese people. They
are responsible to us, to be objective, fair, detailed in their investigations and professional. If they are
not capable of fulfilling these duties,
please let them resign.
And surely, they should resign
because many of the decisions
they are taking at the moment, and
indeed for years now, bring disgrace
on themselves and on Malta. From a
land which was known for its bravery and honour, they are turning
Malta into a country increasingly
ashamed of itself.
Sonja and John Besford
Rabat

PN gambles on local
elections as referendum
date looms
10 years ago 5 JANUARY 2003
Cabinet was facing a challenge come 6 January, 2003,
as it was expected to discuss
the date for a referendum on
EU membership to decide on
whether to hold the local council elections, which are due on
8 March.
The decision to postpone the
local elections had to be taken
before 20 January when by
law, the Presidents writ is issued. However, on 3 January,
2003, then prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami gave a very
strong hint that he intended to
go ahead with the local elections.
The elections, which were to
be held in 23 localities, saw
one third of the electorate going to the polls. They served as
a barometer for the electorates
mood, even if localised issues
unrelated to national concerns
tend to influence the vote.
However, judging by the trend
witnessed over the three years
prior to 2003, local elections
were a bad omen for the Nationalist Party, and the decision
to go ahead with the forthcoming March elections was a big
gamble for them. It wasnt going to be easy for the prime minister to convince his cabinet to
tow the line and go ahead with
the March elections.
In 2002, the Labour Party
emerged victorious at the polls
with a clear majority of 52%.
Even if the majority of localities were Labour-leaning, the
victory was not to be ignored.
It gave a clear signal that the
Mintoff factor was no longer a
nuisance for the Labour Party
and that Labourites were shedding their scepticism on local
elections.

In 2003, the Nationalist Party


gambled on the fact that the
largest localities in the then
forthcoming group of elections
were Nationalist-leaning, comprising of Birkirkara, Sliema,
Naxxar and Rabat (Malta).
On 6 January, 2003, Cabinet
was made to weigh all these
options before deciding on
whether to forgo the local elections. However, it all depended
on the prime ministers decision
when to hold the referendum.
The Parliamentary debate on
the EU negotiated package
was held on 13 January, when
Parliament reconvened after
the Christmas recess.
Up to that point, all signs pointed to 22 February, 2003 is the
likely date for the referendum (it
was eventually held on 8 March
of that year).
On January 4, 2003, when addressing a reception organised by the Nationalist Party,
Fenech Adami said that he had
to give weight to the Oppositions views before deciding
on a date. The prime minister
was trying to ward off a Labour
Party boycott by projecting the
referendum as a national issue
that transgresses party lines.
However, the prime minister
had another important consideration to make when deciding
on the referendum date, and
that was whether the electorate
will have access to the final text
of the Accession Treaty before
the vote.
The Accession Treaty between
the EU and all applicant countries, including Malta will be
signed in Greece next April.
The Treaty would officially spell
out the conditions for membership.

23
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

24

Editorial

Can this man be our n


When, five years ago, the Labour Party faced
another electoral defeat, leadership change
was not up for question.
To be fair, Alfred Sant lost the election by
a whisker. But in elections, you either win or
lose.
The Labour delegates decided to choose
a young leader. At 34, Joseph Muscat was
elected over George Abela, a charismatic
politician but one who failed to siphon enough
support to win the contest.
Other Labour heavyweights who also
threw their hat into the ring included Evarist
Bartolo: a former education minister who also
had hands-on experience in government (a
claim that most young Labour politicians cannot really make today).
In a sense, the Labour Party delegates opted
for youth over experience, and one can more
or less understand their concern at the time.

Labour in 2008 was reeling from its fifth electoral defeat since 1981. Clearly, the time had
come for a radical rethink, and if necessary a
radical reform of the entire party. And it was
largely on this premise that Joseph Muscat
was preferred over his older competitors.
To say that Muscat has not since delivered
on this promise of change would be wrong.
From the very start, he surrounded himself
with his most trusted friends and collaborators. A closer look at his entourage will
uncover an uncanny resemblance to his
schoolmates at St Aloysius College. They are
all young, business-oriented and well educated men and women with a thirst to elect
Muscat into government.
Indeed many among the party faithful have
questioned the wisdom of keeping unelected
officials so close to his power base.
But Muscat has followed in the footsteps of

all modern political leaders. He is allowing the


technocrats to run the show.
In a rather short period of time, Muscat
addressed the issue the partys image. In fact,
he seems to have made the partys image his
primary concern. He went to great lengths to
do away with all the outdated anthems, flags
and all the trappings of aesthetic dilettantism
that had previously been the hallmark of past
Labour campaigns. Even the Labour partys
iconic torch found itself jettisoned after a
nationwide competition.
Has he done enough to clean his partys
image, in this sense? Probably not, but few
could deny that change at this level was, and
remains, a priority.
More importantly, Muscat moved his political and ideological base away from the loony
left and pitched tent on the far safer middle
ground: only venturing out of the politi-

cal centre to embrace liberal issues such as


divorce and same sex marriage.
Politically, Muscat based many of his
campaigns on what the public surveys were
saying, and indeed many of his campaign
drives have been linked to trends as they
emerge from the surveys with his conservative views on migration perhaps confirming
this habit.
Throughout the last five years, the government benches have provided Muscat with
ample opportunity to flog the government
and the Prime Minister.
Yet, on too many occasions he has allowed
the Nationalist backbenchers to take centre
stage and dictate his own political strategy.
In that respect, the criticism levelled at Muscat that he was simply waiting in the shadows
was rather justified. He rode over discontent
but failed to set the political agenda. He has

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

25
MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016
MANAGING DIRECTOR: ROGER DE GIORGIO
MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN
Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Fax: (356) 21 385075
Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt

next Prime Minister?


now promised to address this perception in his
political manifesto. One can only wait and see.
However, the repeated failure of the Gonzi
administration to address several issues, and
its propensity to mismanaging crisis situations, have elevated Muscats political stature
at Gonzis expense.
In his delivery, Muscat comes across as
moderate, composed, calm and very middleof-the-road.
His emphasis on the middle class was clearly
addressing the disgruntled Nationalist voter.
Media savvy as always, Muscat would steer
away from getting lost in controversy but he
did so by controlling the very appearance of
his lieutenants.
Throughout the year, he has been lambasted
for failing to come up with the beef and many
of his critics have accused him of being more
of the same.

Yet polls reveal that many voters are willing


to give him a try.
What Labour wishes to propose or intends
to propose and eventually implement will
presumably make itself known in the very
next days.
What needs to be done, however, is another
matter.
Muscats habit of giving the impression that
he can implement everyones wishes is also
not very helpful.
If Muscat truly wants to change this country
for the better, a simple change of faces will not
suffice though it will no doubt be welcomed
by many who have grown tired of the same
personalities who have dominated our life for
the past 25 years.
Apart from steering the country ahead,
there is little doubt in our mind that the country is in need of serious reform.

A reformist party, rather than a progressive


party, is what this country really needs.
What is needed is the courage to reform the
judiciary, the electoral system, to encourage
a level playing field for the business community, to do away with mediocrity and
embrace meritocracy, to upgrade our health
and educational services and to implement a
visionary energy and environmental policy
and more specifically, to making Malta more
competitive.
A tall order indeed more importantly
when it comes to investing in sustainable
economic growth for the benefit of future
generations.
This small country may have its problems,
but it has also been a relative success story.
Much of our success can be attributed to the
long list of politicians who have had the vision
and capability of translating their words into

deeds.
If Muscat does get elected, he will be one of
the youngest prime ministers and one with a
very tall order.
Ruling is very different from leading an
Opposition party through a campaign as
Muscat may well discover very soon.
If he fails to get elected he would have
condemned the Labour Party to a future of
great uncertainty and awarded the Nationalist
administration with another five years.
It would mean that the electorate prefers
familiar faces and the status quo. Polls have
another story to tell, but anything could happen.
Monday, 7 January marks the beginning of
the electoral campaign during which we
commit ourselves to provide a fair and objective reportage and analysis of the political
campaigning of all the political parties.

26

THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK
Graffiti: an unofficial legacy
to former servicemen in
Malta PART 1
Baroque Architecture researcher and illustrator DENIS
A. DARMANIN zooms in on examples of military graffiti
spread out across the Maltese island in this two-part series
ONE may not consider graffiti of having any historical value, but rather as
an act of vandalism, which in its rightful perspective is very true. Whether
scratched, written or daubed with
paint, graffiti is a means by which the
perpetrator passes a message, leaves
a statement or produces a likeness of
something on an external surface.
Those most common are usually
those left by some young lovers where
the lad scratches his name and of his
girlfriend along with a heart. Others
more common until recently were
politically orientated, while a great
number just show a name or nickname, and possibly a date.
However, graffiti in the soft Maltese
limestone goes back much farther
in time, probably to the pre-historic
period of our islands. My good friend
Joseph Muscat had dedicated a good
part of his life researching and giving
us numerous publications on ships
graffiti from the era of the Order of St
John in Malta. He was partially instrumental in kindling this interest in me,
but it is also a by-product of the wide
spectrum that I cherish when it comes
to Maltas vast military heritage, especially of the British era.
Many of these early graffiti come in
the form of a likeness of some galley or
man-of-war of the Order and concentrated on the external walls of chapels
and churches, very likely the result
of an ex-voto by some Maltese sailor
for having returned safely home after
completing a corso, or voyage. Others
could have been inspired by his safe
return after an engagement with an
enemy while at sea, or by his reaching
safe harbour in the aftermath of some
bad storm.
More are commonly found in former
residences of similar seamen from the
villages who had wished to record
a likeness of the ship that they had
served on. Some of my favourite graffiti of this era are located on the exterior
of the Sarria Chapel in Floriana, of the
post office at Zurrieq, the Cathedral
in Gozo, the Victory Chapel in Qormi
and a number of rural dwellings scattered around the island. These ship
graffiti give a first-hand impression of
what some of these vessels had looked
like in the eyes of the person who had
etched them, some in great detail, but
also in learning some of the names

CULTURE | TV | FILM
CINEMA LISTINGS
FOOD | WHATS ON

Drama go
St James C
St James Cavalier continues its
collaboration with the Metropolitan
Opera this season, with lavish new
productions being transmitted to
the St James Cavalier Cinema live
from New York.
LElisir DAmore January 13,
15:00

Galleon of the Order of St. John, Wied il-Qlejgha, l/o Mosta


of soldiers and sailors of the Armed
Forces of the Order of St John of the
time.
With the coming of the British and
Malta becoming a Crown possession,
this habit did not stop, but rather exploded. Naval and maritime graffiti in
the form of sailing ships and warships
remained, but now became more concentrated around the Grand Harbour
area. Luckily, many of these graffiti
have survived time, war and progress.
Of recently, the restoration and cleaning of the faade of the National Library or the Bibliotheca, brought to
light an array of graffiti that were
previously unknown or unnoticeable.
Many of these show vessels of the
early 19th century, but others depict
children playing, coat of arms, dates
and even names. Obviously, a larger
quantity is concentrated on the fortifications, forts and other former establishments used by the British while
in Malta, including some of their environs, just like those of ships dating to
the end of the 19th century outside of
Verdala Barracks.
For the last decade or so, I have been
recording and studying these more
recent graffiti and other military heraldry carved in the Maltese stones, a
subject by which I have become quite
fascinated. If we are to stop at the time
of the Order of St. John and deny these
later graffiti, we will be doing our history a great injustice as although in

Galley of the Order, the Cathedral, Cittadella, Gozo

modern terms graffiti is an act of vandalism, these later ones and in the context in which they appear, are pages
from our history that cannot be found
written or recorded in any book.
Due to Maltas strategic position as
Britains major garrison, ship repair,
transit, bunkering and victualing station in the Mediterranean, our islands
enjoyed the movement of many ships,
both naval and commercial, and the
movement of thousands of soldiers
from all corners of the Empire. Apart
from the Mediterranean Fleet, other
ships of the Royal Navy and its auxiliaries called regularly at our harbours
or were stationed here in duration.
Therefore, considering the number
of naval establishments in Malta with
their own personnel and the additional crews billeted while their ships
are being repaired or who were just in
transit, it is not difficult to find that
many sailors left a statement to their
presence on the island. Among my
favourites in former Royal Navy establishments can be found at Manoel
Island, Fort Ricasoli, Fort St Angelo
and Verdala Barracks.
Graffiti were not the product of seamen and sailors alone, as many others
were left by soldiers. During the Napoleonic and Crimean wars, Malta is
recorded as having been the station
or transit point of as many as 20,000
British, colonial and allied troops. A
number of them were stationed here
as a garrison force, plus our own Maltese regiments serving under the British Crown or as better known, the
Maltese Corps of the British Army.
Many of these soldiers were stationed in the same barracks within
the forts and fortifications built by the
Order where conditions were squalid
and very much confined, so graffiti by
British soldiers also adorn the walls of
many of these old buildings.
Denis A. Darmanin will be giving a
talk on military graffiti at the lower
section of Fort St Elmo in Valletta
on 10 January at 18:00, at The Judge
M. Caruana Curran Hall, Din l-Art
Helwa, 133, Melita Street, Valletta.
The second part of this article will be
published in the 9 January edition of
MaltaToday Midweek.

The Live in HD Matinee season opens with a new production


of Donizettis comic gem LElisir
dAmore, directed by Bartlett Sher
and conducted by Maurizio Benini.
Anna Netrebko makes her Met
role debut as the beautiful landowner Adina, with Matthew Polenzani
as Nemorino, the simple peasant
who falls in love with her. Mariusz
Kwiecien sings Adinas arrogant
fianc, Sergeant Belcore, and Ambrogio Maestri will sing the role of
the magic potion-peddling Doctor
Dulcamara.
LElisir dAmore is kind of two
operas at the same time, Sher says.
Its an opera thats a great entertainment, and its an opera that has
something else happening underneath. Its informed by when in Italian history it was written you can
see the early stirrings of a cry for
independence.
Tickets: 10
Concessions Children (under 12) 5

Otello January 20, 14:30


Verdis towering masterpiece,
based on Shakespeares tragedy,
makes its first Live in HD appearance.
Semyon Bychkov conducts an extraordinary cast led by Johan Botha
in the title role of the jealous Moor
of Venice, opposite Rene Fleming

Otello

in one of her greatest roles, Otellos


innocent wife Desdemona.
Falk Struckmann sings Iago, Otellos disloyal ensign, and Michael Fabiano is the captain Cassio.
Tickets: 10
Concessions :Children (under 12) 5

Un Ballo In Maschera January


26, 18:00 (Encore)
Verdis vivid drama of jealousy
and vengeance will be seen in a new
production by acclaimed opera director David Alden, returning to
the Met for the first time in more
than 20 years.
Fabio Luisi conducts his first Met
performances of the opera, which
stars Karita Mattila in her Met role
debut as Amelia, Marcelo lvarez as
Gustavo III, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as
Anckarstrm, Stephanie Blythe as
the fortuneteller Ulrica, and Kathleen Kim as the page Oscar.
Alden, whose production is set
in a dreamlike, early 20th-century
Swedish environment, says that Un
Ballo in Maschera is one of Verdis
greatest and most brilliant scores,
with a variety of different colours. It
alternates between the light and the
intensely melodramatic. Verdi pulls
it all together with unbelievable
theatrical energy. Ballo is theatrical
dynamite.
Tickets: 20
Concessions (Encore Performances

27
maltatoday,

GINGER
GRUB
pgs 34, 35

MAD
MOODS
pg 32

es digital at
Cavalier

LElisir DAmore

only )
Senior Citizens, Students, Unemployed, Special Needs: 10
Children (under 12) 5

The Tempest
British composer Thomas Ads
makes his company debut conducting the Met premiere of his opera
The Tempest, which has been widely
praised as a modern masterpiece.
Robert Lepages innovative production recreates the interior of the
La Scala opera house as the magical
island venue for the otherworldly
arts of Prospero, the exiled Duke of
Milan.
Simon Keenlyside sings Prospero,
as he did to critical acclaim in the
operas world premiere at the Royal
Opera, Covent Garden. The Tempest is an extraordinary, exquisite
composition.
Lepage says: The opera captures
the magic of Shakespeares last play.
It is a box full of magic tricks, which
makes it a gift for me and for the designers.
The opera also stars Isabel Leonard as Prosperos daughter, Miranda;
Toby Spence as his brother, Antonio; Audrey Luna as the spirit Ariel;
Iestyn Davies as the jester, Trinculo;
Alek Shrader in his Met debut as
the noble Ferdinand; Alan Oke as
the monstrous Caliban; and William Burden as the King of Naples.
The libretto, by Meredith Oakes,
is adapted from the original text of
Shakespeares play.

Un Ballo In Maschera

Tickets: 10 Concessions: Children


(under 12) 5
For a full list of performances, log
on to sjcav.org. Bookings: bookings@
sjcav.org, 21 223200

The Tempest

SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

VALENTINE
VACATION
pg 36

We are a
baroque
nation
Valletta International Baroque
Festival Artistic Director Kenneth
Zammit Tabona tells TEODOR RELJIC
that the upcoming showcase of
local and international music will
push Vallettas baroque roots to the
forefront once again

Kenneth Zammit Tabona

Why is Malta the ideal venue for


a Baroque music festival?
Well, we are a Baroque nation!
Were very much steeped in baroque,
perhaps without even knowing it. Its
in our architecture, our art, festas
all of these things derive from the
300-odd years we spent basking in
the baroque aesthetic introduced to
us by the Order of St John.
And though in other areas like art
and architecture this is very much
still at the forefront, I see the Baroque
Music Festival as filling in a missing
piece of our Baroque heritage, as the
music of the period seems to have
disappeared from our radar. Music
is of course, very much dependent
on whatevers fashionable at the time,
and just as some people still play The
Beatles today but the majority dont
baroque music also fell out of favour in more recent years.
However, it is undergoing something of a revival in Europe as we
speak, so really and truly the festival
could not have been kick-started at a
better time.
In a lot of way its about once again
consolidating Vallettas place as a hub
for baroque music, as it clearly must
have been in the past.
Youve said that the Festival will
aim to introduce Baroque music to
the masses how do you aim to accomplish this?
To be honest, we havent actively
set out to convert anyone to baroque
music, because the fact is that a lot
of people can instinctively recognise
certain key pieces of baroque music
they would have heard them on
adverts, while call waiting, and so
on. So if anything, its all about creating more awareness and ensuring
that people recognise and appreciate
the music they already may be familiar with. Because it is a very beauti-

ful form of music and, to go back to


Valletta, its particularly relevant to
us. Ive always said this, but Ill say it
again: not appreciating the baroque
element of our capital city is like living in an orange grove but never eating any oranges.
Some of the musicians at the festival
will be coming from France, where
the churches are predominantly in
the Gothic style, as very few of the
Baroque churches were reconstructed after the French Revolution.
So we should appreciate the fact
that Valletta is the Real McCoy, because we still have Baroque churches
all over the place starting with,
of course, St Johns Co-Cathedral,
where all the main events of the Baroque Festival will be taking place.
Why is the festival only just taking
place now?
Ive been trying to make this festival happen for a number of years,
but I only managed to persuade the
powers-to-be to get the ball rolling
around a year ago. The main selling
point from the tourism perspective
is, of course, the fact that its taking place during January, one of the
shoulder months (believe me when
I say that before these meetings, I
had no idea what a shoulder month
was!).
Our milder climate made it easier
to attract foreign musicians to our
shores, of course, but I also think
the festival comes at an auspicious
time, given that it will be taking place
right ahead of Malta holding the EU
Presidency in 2017 and Vallettas year
as European Capital for Culture in
2018.
I think baroque music is a great way
to kick all this off with
For more information log on to http://vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt/

28
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

THIS
THISWEEK
WEEK

MUSIC

maltatoday

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Is the resto:
Child-friendly
Comfortable

Yes

No

Yes

No

Does the restaurant have:


Yes
Wheelchair access
Al fresco dining
Yes
Smoking area
Yes
Yes
Views
Easy parking
Yes
Does the restaurant offer:
Complimentary nibbles Yes
Liquors on the house Yes
Yes
Take-away
Delivery
Yes

No
No
No
No
No

Celebrated Classical Arias


Classical song recital by Soprano
Adriana Yordanova Fenech at the
Oratory of St Francis, Valletta at
12:30. Featuring a programme
including Mozart, Rachmaninov,
Chopin, Handel, Puccini and Lloyd
Webber. Fenech will be accompanied
by pianist Sofia Narmania.
Tickets will be on sale at the door.
More information: 21 680952,
baroccomalta@gmail.com.

JANUARY 9-26
Valletta International Baroque
Festival
Festival of local and international
baroque music taking place for the
first time in various venues around
Valletta, including the Presidents
Palace, St Johns Co-Cathedral, the
Jesuitss Church and the Church
of all Souls. Featuring the Malta
Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera
Fuoco, La Sainte Folie Fantastique,
Toi Toi Baroque Bonanza, The
Goldberg Ensemble and The
Anon Ensemble, Jeune Orchestre
Atlantique, Cappella Sanctae
Catherinae, Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment, New Century
Baroque, Don Juan by Teatru Manoel
Players, Wayne Marshall Organ
Recital, Combattimento Consort
Amsterdam, Combattimento
Consort Amsterdam and Les Talens
Lyriques. On January 13 and 20, the
festival will be running a series of free
events.

such as Antonio Vivaldi, Franz


Schubert , Charles Dancla and Ignaz
Joseph Pleyel. Akos Kertesz plays a
cello made by Marino Capicchioni in
1944, on loan from The Netherlands
Musical Instrument Foundation.
Tickets will be on sale at the door.
More information: 21 680952,
baroccomalta@gmail.com.

JANUARY 29
Improvisations
Concert by percussionist Renzo
Spiteri and Scandinavian saxophone
player Thomas Agergaard at the
Manoel Theatre, Valletta at 20:00.
Tickets are at 20, 15, 10. Bookings:
bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt, 21
246389.

THEATRE AND
DANCE
TONIGHT
The Wizard of Oz
Christmas panto by MADC at the
MFCC, Ta Qali. Featuring Alan
Montanaro as The Dame, and
directed by Marco Calleja and Denise
Mulholland. Cast includes: Izzy
Warrington, Bettina Paris, Philippa
Cassar, Gianella Mazzola, Chantelle
Micallef Grimaud, Andy Catania,
Alex Gatesy Lewis, Ralph Mangion,
Chris Hudson, Paula Fleri Soler,
Maria Buckle and Chiara Hyzler.
Tickets are at 10, 17, 22 and 25.
Children 12 years and under get 5
euro discount (discount not available
on 10 ticket). Bookings: 79 796232 or
via http://www.madc.com.mt/.

JANUARY 15
No
No
No
No

How much for a starter, main, dessert


and bottle of wine (for two)
Less than 40

Between 40 and 50
Between 50 and 70
Between 70 and 90
Over 90

A violin and cello duet


Concert by violinist Giulia Tavano
(Italy) and cellist Akos Kertesz
(Hungary) at the Oratory of St
Francis, Valletta. They will be
performing some of the worlds
greatest music with an eclectic
programme, showcasing the works
of celebrated European composers

TONIGHT
The Curse of Snow White
Christmas panto by Masquerade at
the Manoel Theatre, Valletta. Written
by Malcolm Galea, with direction by
Anthony Bezzina, musical direction
by Kevin Abela. Choreography is
by Lee McCallion, vocal coaching
by Stephania Galea, costumes by

1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5

What was your favourite dish?


..................................................................
..................................................................
Why is it worth going? ...........................
..................................................................
Overall rating:
Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent

Your details:
Name: ___________________________________
Address: _________________________________
________________________________________
Phone Number: ____________________________
Email address: _____________________________

Send yo
your review to:
Restaurant Watch - MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann. SGN9016
Restau
Or ll it out, scan and email to rzammitcutajar@mediatoday.com.mt
Prize winners will be drawn every Thursday.

Final chance to catch MADCs panto The


Wizard of Oz at the MFCC, Ta Qali tonight

29
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

THIS WEEK

Colin Fitz will be treading the boards as the Dame in Masquerades panto The
Curse of Snow White at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta for a final show tonight

Ernest Camilleri. The cast includes


Colin Fitz, Rachel Fabri, Steve Hili,
Katherine Brown, Joseph Zammit,
Louis Casar, Andre Agius, Steffi
Thake and Joe Depasquale. For more
information: 21 246619, 79 793737 or
info@masquerademalta.com.

UNTIL JANUARY 13
Merry Poppins
Christmas panto at the Catholic
Institute, Floriana. Featuring Toni
Busuttil as Merry Poppins with
choreography by Felix Busttil and
Daron Galea (Yada Dance Company).
Bookings: Pawlu Testa Travel
21223340, 27223340; Catholic
Institute booking office 21238429,
21242551; Carmen Azzopardi
21454836; Tereza Bazaar 21892730.

Booking online: http://www.


kumpanijateatrurjal.com.

JANUARY 17
The Hard Rock Bar Comedy Club
First edition of Maltas only comedy
club, running every three weeks at the
Hard Rock Bar, Valletta Waterfront
from 21:00. Featuring: Steve Hili,
Colin Fitz, Dan Cass, Joe Depasquale,
Luca Mul Stagno and Nicola Abela
Garrett. More information: info@
wembleystoreboys.com, 99 992019.

EXHIBITIONS
ENDS TODAY

Laventure
An exhibition of selected artworks
from Hugo Pratts cult comic
book series, Corto Maltese at St
James Cavalier. Curated by comic
book historian Marco Steiner, the
exhibition features 40 prints from the
comics. Organised in association with
the French Embassy.

ENDS TODAY
Maltese Cribs and Christmas Art
exhibition
Exhibition at Auberge dItalie,
Merchants Street, Valletta. Opening
hours: 09:00 to 18:00 (Monday to
Friday), 09:00 to 16:00 (Saturday) and
09:00 to 12:45 (Sunday). Closed on
Christmas and New Years Day.

Corto Maltese, Ici Commena

Percussionist Renzo Spiteri will be performing alongside Scandinavian


saxophonist Thomas Agergaard at the Manoel Theatre on January 29

ENDS TODAY

17.00hrs.

The Brocktorff Mapmakers


An exhibition organised by The
Malta Map Society in collaboration
with Heritage Malta at the
Contemporary Hall, the National
Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta. The
exhibition will be showing rare
broadsheets, books and various
reports which were illustrated with
maps drawn and lithographed by the
Brocktorff family in the 19th century.
Opening times: 09:00 to 17:00.

UNTIL JANUARY 13
Caesar Attard H-ardcore
Mixed media exhibition by Caesar
Attard at the Upper Galleries of St
James Cavalier. Visitors will have
the opportunity to move from one
sub-theme to another as they walk
from one room to another. A talk
with the title What is so h-ardcore
about being out of time?, followed by
a discussion, will be held at a date to
be announced later.

UNTIL JANUARY 27
Folk Music Exhibition
An exhibition highlighting traditional
popular music as an integral part of
Maltese identity. Folk instruments on
display include: iz-Zaqq, iz-Zafzafa,
it-Tanbur, il-Flejguta, iz-Zummara
as well as guitars and their moulds.
There is also a video of a live
performance of musicians using
these instruments. At the Inquisitors
Palace, Birgu. Opening Times: 09.00-

Pan-European music group New Century Baroque will be among the


international musicians performing at the Valletta Baroque Festival

Classic Term Deposits

1000 Day Deposit

High interest rates


at fixed terms

A deposit account denominated


in euro on a xed term of 1,000
calendar days. Interest is payable
every 90 days with an option
to compound.

1 Year fixed
2 Year fixed
3 Year fixed

3.75% p.a.
4.00% p.a.
4.35% p.a.

Minimum deposit: 25,000


FIMBank p.l.c., Mercury Tower
The Exchange Financial & Business Centre
Elia Zammit Street, St. Julians STJ 3155, Malta
Tel: [+356 2132 2100 t Fax [+356 2132 2122
www.mbank.com

UNTIL JANUARY 27
Peasant Costumes: Insights into
Rural Life and Society
If you didnt catch this fascinating
exhibition in Gozo, you can now
visit it in Malta. An exhibition of
popular attire and their pictorial
representations in late 18th, 19th
and early twentieth century Gozo at
the Inquisitors Palace, Birgu. The
exhibition illustrates the historical
context and production processes
and materials for peasants dress
behind popular costume within rural
Malta and Gozo at the time. Opening
times: 09:00 to 17:00 (last entry
16:30). Admission to the exhibition
is included in the admission price to
the Museum: 6.00, 4.50, 3.00. HM
Members free.

UNTIL JANUARY 31
H.M. Bateman The man who
loved Gozo
An exhibition of paintings and other
works by renowned British cartoonist
and artist HM Bateman (1887-1970)
who spent his last years in Gozo at
the Salon at the National Museum
of Archaeology. Bateman was widely
acclaimed for his The Man Who
cartoons. There is also an exhibition
catalogue. Admission included in
the entrance ticket to the Museum:
Adults 5; Students 3.50; Children
2.50. HM Members: Free. Opening
times: 08:00 to 19:00.

High interest online savings account


with daily withdrawals and no fees
Log on to www.easisave.com now
and start benetting from
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Minimum deposit: 25,000

FREEPHONE: 8007 3110

Minimum opening deposit 50.


No minimum balance thereafter.

FREEPHONE: 8007 3388

FIMBank p.l.c. is a licensed credit institution in Malta with company registration C17003, is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority and listed on the
Malta Stock Exchange. The Bank is a participant of the Depositor Compensation Scheme in Malta. Terms and conditions apply.

30
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

THIS WEEK

TELEVISION
Bull Flying Beach 18:25 Studio Aperto 19:00 Come tu
mi vuoi 21:25 I guastanozze 22:55 Il principe delle donne
01:10 Sport Mediaset 01:35 Eli Stone

TVM
07:00 L-Ghodwa T-Tajba 08:00 The divine Michelangelo
Part 2 09:00 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 (repeat) 18:40 TVHEMM 20:00
L-Abarijie 20:45 X Factor 22:25 Only Fools and Horses
23:15 L-Ahbarijiet 23:35 Malta u lil Hinn Minnha (repeat)

RETE 4
06:40 Tg4 Night News 07:00 Mediashopping 07:30
Vita da strega 08:35 Storie di confine 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 Come si
cambia 15:20 Poirot 16:20 Tootsie 18:50 Anteprima
Tg4 18:55 Tg4 Meteo 4 19:35 Tempesta damore
21:30 Changeling 00:10 I Bellissimi di Rete 4 00:15
A Mighty Heart

TVM 2
07:00 News 08:00 Extraordinary dogs 08:20 Ghawdex
illum 08:50 Kelma l-hajja 09:00 Quddiesa 09:45 Sensilhena 10:30 TVAM (repeat) 12:00 The Divine Michelangelo 13:00 Ruggers 13:30 GFA Roundup 14:00 Starboard
14:30 Tigrijiet Biss 15:00 3 Pointer 15:30 Paq Paq 16:15
Mixage 16:50 Luxdesign 18:00 Malta u lil hinn minnha
19:30 News for the hearing impaired 19:40 Madwarna
20:25 News in English 20:30 Kuncert tal-Epifanija 21:45
Kontrattakk

NET TV
07:00 Net News 08:30 Telebejgh 10:00 Ucuh 12:00
Distinti 12:30 Telebejgh 14:00 Net News 14:05 Newsroom (repeat) 15:00 Net News 15:05 Simpatici 16:15
Kisbiet 17:00 Net News 17:05 Sport Extra 18:00 Net
News 18:10 Flusek (repeat) 18:40 NetWorks 19:30 Ghalik fl-Ewropa 19:45 Net News 20:30 Dj Vu 21:30 Net
News 21:35 Replay 23:15 Net News

RAI UNO
21:30 Changeling Rete 4

ONE
06:45 Pink Panther 07:30 One News 07:55 Promozzjonijiet u Reklami 08:00 Folji 09:35 Looks 10:20 Dance
10:40 Ilsien in-Nisa 12:10 Aroma Kitchen 13:30 One
News 13:35 Promozzjonijiet u Reklami 13:40 Ir-Rangers
(Omnibus) 14:30 Affari Taghna16:50 Telebejgh 17:30
One News 17:35 Promozzjonijiet u Reklami 17:40 Animae in Concert 19:20 Promozzjonijiet u Reklami 19:30
One News 20:15 Arani Issa 22:35 On D Road 23:05 One
News

CANALE 5
08:00 Tg5 Mattina 08:50 Le frontiere dello spirito 09:40

BBC ENTERTAINMENT 300


06:00 3rd & Bird 06:10 Nina and the Neurons 06:25
Tikkabilla 06:55 Me Too! 07:15 3rd & Bird 07:25 Nina
and the Neurons 07:40 Tikkabilla 08:10 Me Too! 08:30
The Weakest Link 09:15 One Foot in the Grave 09:45
The Royle Family 10:15 Gavin and Stacey 10:45 The Old
Guys 11:15 BBC Proms 12:45 The Weakest Link 13:30
One Foot in the Grave 14:00 Bleak House 15:00 Doctors 15:30 Doctors 16:00 Doctors 16:30 Doctors 17:00
Doctors 17:30 Shark Therapy 18:00 Gavin and Stacey
18:30 Apes in Danger 19:00 Royal Variety Performance
2010 21:00 Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk
Stocking 22:40 Waking the Dead 23:30 Michael McIntyres Comedy Roadshow

AXN 301
06:00 Torta di riso... 06:25 Torta di riso... 06:50 Torta
di Spot 07:50 Torta di riso... 08:15 Torta di riso... 08:40
Charlies Angels [15] 09:30 Walker, Texas Ranger 10:20
Walker, Texas Ranger 12:00 Torta di Spot 13:00 Torta
di riso... 13:30 Torta di riso... 13:50 Le spie [12] 15:30
Most Shocking Best Of 16:20 Chaos [15] 17:10 La
mummia: La tomba dellImperatore Dragone 19:05 Top
20 Countdown 20:00 Torta di Spot 21:00 Lincredibile
Hulk [12] 23:00 Torta di Spot

E! ENTERTAINMENT 306
06:00 THS: Michael Jackson 08:00 Forbes Top 20 TV
Cash Queens 09:00 Opening Act: Twentyforseven and
Gym Class Heroes 10:00 Mrs. Eastwood & Company:
A Band of Eastwoods 11:00 E! News 11:30 Fashion
Police 12:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Backstory 12:30
Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Bridal 13:00 Ice Loves Coco:
Baby Got Baby? 13:30 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Birthday
14:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Business 14:30 Ice Loves
Coco: Baby Got Family 15:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got
Vows 15:30 Ice Loves: Baby Got Birth 16:00 Ice Loves
Coco: Baby Got Bad News 16:30 Ice Loves Coco: Baby
Got Besties 17:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Third Wheel
17:30 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Backseat Driver 18:00
Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Separation Anxiety 18:30 Ice
Loves Coco: Baby Got Guest Star 19:00 Ice Loves Coco:
Baby Got Godparents 19:30 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got
Sundance 20:00 Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Hawaii 20:30
Ice Loves Coco: Baby Got Puppies 21:00 Ice Loves Coco:
Baby Got Haters 21:30 A-List Listings: Le Palais - The
Crescent Palace 22:00 Keeping up with the Kardashians: Whos Your Daddy? 23:00 Love You, Mean It With
Whitney Cummings 23:30 E! News

FINE LIVING NETWORK 307

Smash Y1 Ep12: Publicity


21:15 on melita more (Channel 802)

06:00 Pilates: From the inside out 06:50 Yoga for Life
07:40 Everybody Nose 08:05 Fed up! 08:30 If Walls
Could Talk 09:00 Divine Design 09:25 Kitchen Impossible 09:50 Bathtastic! 10:15 Ground Breakers 10:40
Platinum Weddings 11:10 State of Style: 2012 Fall/
Winter Collection 11:35 Behind the Label 12:00 Chef
Abroad 12:25 Naturally Delicious 12:50 Chasing the
Yum 13:15 Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
13:45 Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello 14:10
Reservations Required 14:35 Feng Shui Living 15:00
House Hunters International 15:25 House Hunters International 15:50 House Hunters International 16:15
Masters of Luxury - Design 16:40 State of Style: 2012
Fall/Winter Collection 17:05 Behind the Label 17:30
Chef Abroad 18:00 Suggs Italian Job 18:25 Bazaar
18:55 Reservations Required 19:20 Eating Art 19:45
Secrets From a Stylist 20:10 Divine Design 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 Chef Abroad

ZONE REALITY 308


06:00 Childrens Hospital of Orange County 06:50 Who
Do You Think You Are? 07:40 111 Emergency 08:05 111
Emergency 08:30 The Incurables 08:55 The Incurables
09:20 Grimefighters 09:45 Grimefighters 10:10 Medical Detectives 10:35 Medical Detectives 11:00 Resident
Life 11:50 Childrens Hospital of Orange County 12:40
111 Emergency 13:05 111 Emergency 13:30 The Incurables 13:55 The Incurables 14:20 Grimefighters 14:45
Grimefighters 15:10 Medical Detectives 15:35 Medical
Detectives 16:00 Resident Life 16:50 Who Do You Think
You Are? 17:40 Rapid Response 18:05 Rapid Response
18:30 111 Emergency 18:55 111 Emergency 19:20 Police Ten 7 19:45 Police Ten 7 20:10 The Real NCIS 21:00
The Killing of Sophie Elliott 21:50 Nightmare in Suburbia 22:40 The FBI Files 23:30 Forensic Investigators

ITV GRANADA 309


06:00 Brainiac: History Abuse 07:00 Emmerdale 09:00
Coronation Street 11:00 Popstar to Operastar 12:30
Youre Wearing That 13:00 Paul McCartney and Wings:
Band on the Run 14:00 Brainiac: History Abuse 15:00
House Gift 16:00 The Chase 17:00 Marcos Kitchen
Burnout 18:00 When Kate Met William: A Tale of Two
Lives 19:00 Murdoch Mysteries 20:00 Appropriate
Adult 22:30 The Adventurers Guide to Britain 23:00
House Gift

TCM 310

TgCom 10:00 Il quarto re 11:55 Melaverde 13:00 Tg5


Meteo 5 13:40 Larca di No 14:00 Se cucini ti sposo
16:00 Luomo bicentenario 18:50 Avanti un altro 20:00
Tg5 Meteo 5 20:40 Il Signore degli Anelli Il ritorno del
Re 00:30 Tg5 Notte Meteo 5 01:00 Amiche davvero!
02:15 Nan

ITALIA 1
07:25 Provaci ancora Gary 07:50 Gormiti Leclissi suprema 08:05 Gormiti Leclissi suprema 08:20 Spider-Man
08:45 Ben 10: Forza Aliena 09:10 Ben 10: Forza Aliena
09:35 G.I. Joe Renegades 10:05 Naruto Shippuden
10:35 Magia del lago 13:00 Sport Mediaset XXL 14:00
Edward mani di forbice 16:05 Ice Gal Bolzano 17:50 Red

06:00 Da Da Da In musica 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.
09:35 Concerto dellEpifania 10:30 A sua immagine
Speciale Epifania 10:55 Santa Messa 11:50 A sua immagine Speciale Epifania 12:00 Recita dellAngelus
12:10 A sua immagine Speciale Epifania 12:20
Linea verde 13:30 Telegiornale 14:00 Domenica
in lArena 16:28 Che tempo fa 16:30 Tg1 16:35
Domenica in Cos la vita 18:50 LEredit 20:00
Telegiornale 20:35 Rai Tg Sport 5 minuti di recupero
20:40 Affari Tuoi 21:30 La prova del cuoco Speciale
Lotteria Italia 23:20 Tg1 60 Secondi 23:24 La prova
del cuoco Speciale Lotteria Italia 00:30 Tg1 Notte
00:50 Che tempo fa 00:55 Testimoni e Protagonisti
Ventunesimosecolo Jovanotti

RAI DUE
06:00 Due uomini e mezzo Lezione tra fratelli 06:30
Real School Il Divertinglese 07:00 LAlbero Azzurro
In fretta, in fretta 07:15 Princess Lillifee 07:25 Le
nuove avventure di Peter Pan Penna 07:50 I Saurini
e i viaggi del Meteorite Nero 08:04 Cartoon Flakes
Week End 08:05 Ultimate Spiderman 08:25 New Art
Attack 08:50 Classici Disney 09:00 Tarzan 2 10:07
Cartoon Flakes Week End 10:10 Ragazzi c Voyager
Fai la tua domanda 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 Cops 20:30 Tg2 20.30 21:00 N.C.I.S.
22:35 La Domenica Sportiva 01:00 Tg2 01:20 Protestantesimo

RAI TRE
06:00 Fuori orario. Cose (mai) viste 07:35 La
grande vallata 08:25 Lultima carrozzella 09:55
LIspettore 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 Se una farfalla batte le
ali... 13:25 Passepartout Cera una volta 14:00
Tg Regione 14:09 Tg Regione Meteo 14:15 Tg3
14:30 in 1/2 h 15:00 Tg3 LIS 15:05 Alle falde
del Kilimangiaro 18:55 Meteo 3 19:00 Tg3 19:30
Tg Regione 19:51 Tg Regione Meteo 20:00 Blob
20:10 : Che tempo che fa 21:30 Presa diretta
21:33 Ladridipartito 00:05 Tg3 00:15 Tg Regione 00:20 TeleCamere 01:10 Meteo 3

06:00 Movie 10:00 Movie 14:00 Movie 18:00 Movie


22:00 Movie

Drive-Ins and Dives 23:05 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives


23:30 Heat Seekers 23:55 Food Network Challenge

Space Pioneer 22:40 Space Pioneer 23:35 Ways to Save


the Planet

MGM CHANNEL 312

DISCOVERY CHANNEL 400

TLC 403

06:10 The Alamo [U] 08:50 Tom Sawyer [PG] 10:20 No


Greater Love [PG] 11:50 Wicked Stepmother [PG] 13:25
Perfect Body 14:55 MGMs Big Screen 15:10 Sleeping
with the Devil 16:40 Undercover Blues [12] 18:10 The
Handmaids Tale 20:00 Valley Girl [15] 21:40 Peters
Friends [15] 23:20 Texasville [15]
DIVA UNIVERSAL 313
06:00 Ironside 06:55 Ironside 07:50 Rex: A Cops Friend
08:50 Rex: A Cops Friend 09:50 Rex: A Cops Friend
10:45 Polizia, Femminile, Singolare 11:00 Wolffs Turf
11:55 Wolffs Turf 12:55 McBride: Its Murder Madam
14:40 Great Women 14:50 Law & Order 15:50 Law
& Order 16:50 JAG 17:50 JAG 18:50 JAG 19:50 JAG
20:50 Great Women 21:00 Law & Order 22:00 Law &
Order 23:00 Agatha Christies Poirot

06:00 How Its Made 06:25 How Do They Do It? 06:50


How Do They Do It? 07:15 Twist the Throttle: Honda
08:10 Mythbusters: Spy Car Escape 09:05 Destroyed
in Seconds 09:30 Destroyed in Seconds 09:55 Extreme
Engineering: Tunneling Under the Alps 10:50 American
Loggers: Blood and Greenhorns 11:40 Dirty Jobs: Glass
Maker 12:35 Auction Kings: Beatles Butcher Album;
Fire Grenade 13:05 Auction Kings: Redneck Chariot;
Japanese Antique Daggers 13:30 Auction Hunters: Auction Hunters, Ink 14:00 Auction Hunters: Early Bird Special 14:25 Gold Rush: Alaska: No Guts, No Glory 15:20
Gold Divers: Paydirt 16:15 American Chopper: A New
Company 17:10 Ultimate Survival: Mexico 18:05 Dual
Survival: Out of Africa 19:00 How Its Made 19:30 How
Its Made 20:00 Around the World in 80 Ways 21:00 Curiosity: Devils Triangle 22:00 Ultimate Cops 23:00 River
Monsters: Untold Stories

06:00 Jon & Kate Plus 8 06:50 Brides of Beverly Hills


07:15 Brides of Beverly Hills 07:40 Ace of Cakes 08:30
Cake Boss 08:55 Cake Boss 09:20 Your Style in His
Hands 10:10 Your Style in His Hands 11:00 Your Style
in His Hands 11:50 Your Style in His Hands 12:40 Oprah
Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls 14:20 Say Yes
to the Dress: Bridesmaids 14:45 Say Yes to the Dress:
Bridesmaids 15:10 Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids
15:35 Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids 16:00 Say Yes
to the Dress: Bridesmaids 16:25 Say Yes to the Dress:
Bridesmaids 16:50 What Not to Wear 17:40 Ace of
Cakes 18:05 Ace of Cakes 18:30 Secret Eaters 19:20 My
Crazy Obsession 19:45 My Crazy Obsession 20:10 My
Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding 21:00 Rich Bride/Poor
Bride 21:50 Secretly Pregnant 22:40 Royally Obsessed
23:30 Strange Attractions 23:55 Strange Attractions

THE STYLE NETWORK 352


06:00 Videofashion News 06:30 Videofashion News
07:00 Videofashion Daily 08:00 Videofashion Daily
08:55 Designer Marathon 09:50 Videofashion News
10:20 Videofashion News 10:50 Big Boutique in the
City 11:20 Big Boutique in the City 11:50 Videofashion
Daily 12:45 Open House 13:15 Open House 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 Iron Chef America 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 The Fat Spa Chef Challenge 10:10 United Tastes
of America 10:35 Unwrapped 11:00 Iron Chef America
11:50 Tylers Ultimate 12:15 Andy Bates Street Feasts
12:40 Everyday Italian 13:05 Healthy Appetite 13:30
The Fat Spa Chef Challenge 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 Kid in a Candy Store 17:40 Tylers Ultimate
18:05 Guys Big Bite 18:30 Chopped 19:20 Iron Chef
America 20:10 Food Network Challenge 21:00 Diners,
Drive-Ins and Dives 21:25 Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
21:50 Unwrapped 22:15 Unwrapped 22:40 Diners,

INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY 404


DISCOVERY WORLD 401
06:00 When Weather Changed History 06:50 Titanic:
The Aftermath 08:35 Anatomy of a Combat Force 09:30
Anatomy of a Combat Force 10:20 Trashopolis 11:10
Trashopolis 12:05 Trashopolis 12:55 Trashopolis 13:50
Ottomans vs Christians 14:15 Ottomans vs Christians
14:45 Ottomans vs Christians 15:10 Ottomans vs Christians 15:40 Ottomans vs Christians 16:05 Ottomans
vs Christians 16:35 One of a Kind 16:45 One of a Kind
17:00 One of a Kind 17:10 One of a Kind 17:25 One of
a Kind 17:35 One of a Kind 17:50 One of a Kind 18:00
One of a Kind 18:20 One of a Kind 18:30 One of a Kind
18:45 One of a Kind 18:55 One of a Kind 19:10 The Ultimate Climb 20:05 Rowing the Pacific 21:00 Conquering the World 21:55 Anatomy of a Combat Force 22:50
Anatomy of a Combat Force 23:45 Solved

DISCOVERY SCIENCE 402


06:00 Ways to Save the Planet 06:50 Prophets of Science Fiction 07:43 Stunt Junkies 08:10 Stunt Junkies
08:40 Man Made Marvels Asia 09:30 The Future of...
10:20 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
11:10 Mega World 12:00 Junk Men 12:25 Junk Men
12:50 The Future of... 13:45 Ways to Save the Planet
14:35 Things That Move 15:03 The Tech Show 15:30
The Tech Show 16:00 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman 16:50 Scrapheap Mega Challenge 17:40
The Future of... 18:30 Space Pioneer 19:20 Space Pioneer 20:10 Space Pioneer 21:00 Space Pioneer 21:50

Arranged (2007)
21:00 on Sundance (Channel 314) & Sundance HD (Channel 331)

06:00 Mystery Diagnosis 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 Undercover 10:10 Disappeared 11:00 Mystery
Diagnosis 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 Undercover 16:00 Disappeared 16:50
Forensic Detectives 17:40 Street Patrol 18:05 True
Crime with Aphrodite Jones 18:55 Who on Earth Did
I Marry? 19:20 Nightmare Next Door 20:10 Couples
Who Kill 21:00 Exorcist Files 21:50 Great Crimes and
Trials 22:15 Great Crimes and Trials 22:40 Deadly Affairs
23:30 Police Women of Memphis

ANIMAL PLANET 405


06:00 Meerkat Manor 06:25 Dogs, Cats, Pets 101 07:15
The Crocodile Hunter 08:10 Nick Bakers Weird Creatures
09:05 Dick N Dom Go Wild 09:30 Breed: All About It
10:00 Deep Into the Wild 10:25 The Really Wild Show
10:55 Wildest Africa 11:50 The Animals Guide to
Survival 12:45 Speed of Life 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 Gator
Boys 19:10 The Sharkman 20:05 Biggest and Baddest
21:00 Shamwari: A Wild Life 21:25 Shamwari: A Wild
Life 21:55 Wildest Islands 22:50 Untamed and Uncut
23:45 Animal Cops Philadelphia

Deadliest Catch
14:00 on Discovery HD Showcase (Channel 420)

31
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

THIS WEEK

TELEVISION
14:35 Wake Brothers 15:25 Made 16:15 Made 17:05
Wake Brothers 17:30 Wake Brothers 17:55 Awkward
18:20 Awkward 18:45 Plain Jane 19:35 Plain Jane
20:25 Teen Mom 21:15 Teen Mom 22:05 Awkward
22:30 Awkward 22:55 Ridiculousness 23:20 Ridiculousness 23:45 Jersey Shore

MEZZO 510
09:30 Ensemble Psalentes : Beghinae In Cantu Instructae 10:15 Beethoven : Missa solmenis 11:45 Valery Gergiev dirige Szymanowski et Brahms avec le LSO 13:20
Clips musicaux 13:45 Pierre Boulez dirige Wagner,
Schnberg et Berg 15:10 Clips musicaux 15:30 Gregory
Porter live at Nice Jazz Festival 16:30 Clips musicaux
17:00 Roberto Alagna chante Francesca da Rimini de
Zandonai 19:15 Clips musicaux 20:30 Gergiev dirige
Brahms et Szymanowski avec le LSO 22:30 Gergiev dirige les symphonies 10 et 9 de Mahler Pleyel

EUROSPORT 600

Royally Obsessed
Royally Obsessed is an insightful documentary that takes us on a tour into the homes of some of the worlds most fanatical Royal collectors. From high end
items to tacky trash, we try to understand why these people are so royally obsessed. In this episode we learn how Janet and Phillip Williams have turned
their home into a royal museum. From a cheap mug that her mum bought her to celebrate the Queens first Australian visit in 1954, the subsequent 58 years
have seen Janet spend over $200,000 on plates, pictures, figurines and even life size models of the Royal family. She has more than 12,000 pieces in all, and
not a day goes by without a new piece of royal memorabilia being delivered to Victoria St, Woonona.
22:40 on TLC (Channel 403)

06:00 Dive Detectives: Submarine Graveyard 07:00


Man Hunt: Death Blow 08:00 Hooked: Monster Fishing: Deep Sea Demons 09:00 Monster Fish: Kamchatka
Salmon 10:00 The Egyptian Job 12:00 Witness: Japan
Disaster 13:00 Super Storm Sandy 14:00 My Gorilla
Life 15:00 Wild Russia: Arctic 16:00 Wild Russia: The
Great Divide 17:00 Untamed Americas: Mountains
18:00 Doomsday Preppers: I Hope I Am Crazy 19:00
Doomsday Preppers: Back to the Stone Age 20:00 Costa
Concordia Caught on Camera 21:00 UFO Europe: Untold
Stories 22:00 The Border: The Human Stash 23:00 Border Wars: Desert Breakdown

Hoarders: Deborah And Jim 15:00 Barter Kings: Barter


Up 15:30 Barter Kings: Shake Your Money Maker 16:00
Barter Kings: Home is Where the Barter Is 16:30 Barter
Kings: Talkin Turkey 17:00 Barter Kings: No Cash No
Problem 17:30 Barter Kings: Barter Up 18:00 Barter
Kings: Shake Your Money Maker 18:30 Barter Kings:
Home is Where the Barter Is 19:00 Barter Kings: Talkin
Turkey 19:30 Barter Kings: No Cash No Problem 20:00
Celebrity House Hunting: Ice-T and Coco 20:30 Celebrity House Hunting: Verne Troyer 21:00 Duck Dynasty:
Redneck Logic 21:30 Duck Dynasty: Family Funny Business 22:00 American Pickers: Odd Fellas 23:00 Storage
Wars: More Like Wrong Beach 23:30 Storage Wars: Alls
Fair in Storage and Wars

NAT GEO WILD 407

HISTORY 412

06:00 Crimes Against Nature 07:00 My Life is a Zoo


08:00 Python Hunters 09:00 Shark Invasion 10:00
Crocodile King 11:00 Dangerous Encounters 12:00
Freaks and Creeps 13:00 Dangerous Encounters 14:00
Lizard King 15:00 Man v Monster 16:00 How Big Can
It Get 17:00 Killer Dragons 18:00 Man v Monster 19:00
Expedition Wild 20:00 Wild Nights 21:00 Man v Monster 22:00 Expedition Wild 23:00 Hooked: Monster
Fishing

06:00 Ice Road Truckers: No Way Out 07:00 American


Pickers: The Possum Trot 08:00 Storage Wars: Blame It
on the Rain 08:30 Storage Wars: Viva La San Francisco
09:00 American Pickers: They Boldly Go 10:00 Storage
Wars: Highland Anxiety 10:30 Storage Wars: Santa Ana
Street Fight 11:00 American Pickers: Keep Out! 12:00
Storage Wars: Buyers on the Storm 12:30 Storage Wars:
Pay the Lady 13:00 American Pickers: The Emu Chase
14:00 Storage Wars: Highland Anxiety 14:30 Storage
Wars: Santa Ana Street Fight 15:00 American Pickers:
They Boldly Go 16:00 Storage Wars: Buyers on the Storm
16:30 Storage Wars: Pay the Lady 17:00 American Pickers: Keep Out! 18:00 Storage Wars: Blame It on the Rain
18:30 Storage Wars: Viva La San Francisco 19:00 American Pickers: They Boldly Go 20:00 Storage Wars: Buyers
on the Storm 20:30 Storage Wars: Pay the Lady 21:00
Ancient Aliens: Unexplained Structures 22:00 American
Pickers: Odd Fellas 23:00 American Restoration: Tylers
Promotion 23:30 American Restoration: Blast Off!

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 406

NAT GEO ADVENTURE 409


06:25 Long Way Down 07:15 City Guide 07:45 The
Green Way Up 08:10 The Green Way Up 08:35 Market
Values 09:00 Market Values 09:25 Death by Natural
Causes 10:20 Departures 11:15 Treks in the Wild
World 11:40 Treks in the Wild World 12:10 Long Way
Down 13:05 The Green Way Up 13:30 The Green Way
Up 14:00 Market Values 14:25 Market Values 14:55
Death by Natural Causes 15:50 Departures 16:45 Treks
in the Wild World 17:10 Treks in the Wild World 17:40
Long Way Down 18:30 City Guide 19:00 Long Way
Down 19:55 The Green Way Up 20:20 The Green Way
Up 20:50 Market Values 21:15 Market Values 21:45
Dream Cruises 22:40 Departures 23:35 Treks in the
Wild World

TRAVEL CHANNEL 410


06:00 Globe Trekker 07:00 Off Limits 08:00 Globe
Trekker 09:00 Worlds Greatest Motorcycle Rides 10:00
Worlds Greatest Motorcycle Rides 11:00 Culinary Asia
12:00 Culinary Asia 13:00 Destination Weddings 13:30
Destination Weddings 14:00 Inside Luxury Travel 15:00
Inside Luxury Travel 16:00 Cruising the South China Sea
17:00 Destination Weddings 17:30 Destination Weddings 18:00 Worlds Greatest Motorcycle Rides 19:00
Bizarre Foods America 20:00 American Times 21:00
Globe Trekker 22:00 Inside Luxury Travel 23:00 Globe
Trekker

BIO 411
06:00 Storage Wars: Scoot-A-Toot, Toot! 06:30 Storage
Wars: Smoke Em If You Find Em 07:00 Heir Hunters:
Perkins & Routledge 08:00 Barter Kings: Barter Up
08:30 Barter Kings: Shake Your Money Maker 09:00
Barter Kings: Home is Where the Barter Is 09:30 Barter
Kings: Talkin Turkey 10:00 Hoarders: Bob and Richard
11:00 Hoarders: Deborah And Jim 12:00 Hoarders: Gail
And Warren 13:00 Hoarders: Bob and Richard 14:00

DISCOVERY HD SHOWCASE 420


06:00 Sunrise Earth 06:55 How We Invented the
World 07:40 Life on a Wire 08:30 How Do They Do It?
08:55 Mythbusters 09:40 Man on Earth 10:30 Inside
West Coast Customs 11:15 How We Invented the World
12:05 Life on a Wire 12:50 Worlds Top 5 13:35 Mythbusters 14:25 Worlds Most Expensive Rides 14:50
Worlds Most Expensive Rides 15:15 Inside West Coast
Customs 16:00 Deadliest Catch 16:50 River Monsters
17:40 How We Invented the World 18:30 Mythbusters
19:20 Meteorite Men 20:10 Meteorite Men 21:00
Deadliest Catch 21:50 River Monsters 22:40 Worlds
Most Expensive Rides 23:05 Worlds Most Expensive
Rides 23:30 Worlds Most Expensive Rides 23:55
Worlds Most Expensive Rides

NAT GEO HD 421


06:00 Extreme Ice 06:55 Mad Scientists 07:25 Wild
Russia 08:20 Worlds Deadliest Animals 09:10 Monster
Fish 10:00 Monster Fish 10:50 Monster Fish 11:40 Wild
Russia 12:30 Extreme Ice 13:20 Monster Fish 14:10 The
Border 15:00 NASCAR: Racing to America 15:50 Big,
Bigger, Biggest 16:40 Secrets of the 10 Plagues 17:30
Extreme Ice 18:20 Wild Russia 19:10 NASCAR: Racing
to America 20:00 MegaStructures 20:50 Engineering
Connections 21:40 Lockdown 22:30 MegaStructures
23:20 Engineering Connections

DISNEY CHANNEL 450


06:20 My Babysitters a Vampire 06:45 Gravity Falls
07:10 Austin and Ally 07:35 Shake It Up 08:00 Good
Luck Charlie 08:25 Wizards Of Waverly Place: The Movie
09:55 Phineas and Ferb 10:05 Austin and Ally 10:30
My Babysitters a Vampire 10:55 Gravity Falls 11:20
Jessie 11:45 Wizards of Waverly Place 12:10 Wizards
of Waverly Place 12:35 Phineas and Ferb 12:45 Phineas and Ferb 13:00 Gravity Falls 13:25 Austin and
Ally 13:50 Shake It Up 14:15 Good Luck Charlie 14:40
Austin and Ally 15:00 The Lion King 2: Simbas Pride
[U] 16:20 Good Luck Charlie 16:45 Wizards Of Waverly
Place: The Movie 18:10 Phineas and Ferb 18:25 My Babysitters a Vampire 18:50 Gravity Falls 19:15 ANT Farm
19:40 Jessie 20:05 Jessie 20:30 Fish Hooks 20:40 Fish
Hooks 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

NICKELODEON 452
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 Monsuno 09:35 Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness 10:00 The Legend of Korra
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 Power Rangers Samurai 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 CatDog

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 Antonios Circus 08:50
Monkey See Monkey Do 09:05 Benjamins 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 Thomas and
Friends 11:00 Lots & Lots 11:15 The Hoobs 11:40 Jakers: The Adventures of Piggley Winks 12:05 Wildlife
12:10 James the Cat 12:15 Fluffy Gardens 12:23 Fluffy
Gardens 12:30 Monkey See Monkey Do 12:45 Benjamins 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 Monkey
See Monkey Do 16:15 Benjamins 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 Thomas and Friends 18:00
Slim Pig 18:10 Pingu 18:15 Tiny Planets 18:20 Pingu
18:25 The Hoobs 18:50 Gazoon 18:55 Gazoon 19:00
Angelina Ballerina 19:15 Thomas and Friends 19:22
Thomas and Friends 19:30 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 Monkey See Monkey Do
21:30 Benjamins 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 Igloo-Gloo 23:00
Kipper 23:10 Dougie in Disguise 23:20 Barney and
Friends 23:50 Wildlife 23:55 Lots & Lots

DISNEY JUNIOR 462


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 Mouk 09:15 Mouk 09:30 Handy Manny 09:45
Art Attack 10:10 Disney Fairies 10:35 Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse 11:00 Tales of Friendship with Winnie the
Pooh 11:10 Timmy Time 11:20 The Hive 11:30 Doc McStuffins 11:45 Doc McStuffins 12:00 Zou 12:15 Mouk
12:30 Mouk 12:45 Jungle Junction 13:00 Handy Manny 13:15 Animated Stories 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 15:30 Animated Stories
15:35 Mouk 15:50 Mouk 16:05 Animated Stories
16:10 LazyTown 16:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 17:05
Mouk 17:20 Jake and the Neverland Pirates 17:35 The
New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 18:00 Animated
Stories 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 19:25 Tales of Friendship
with Winnie the Pooh 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 23:05 Special Agent Oso 23:15 LazyTown 23:40
Jungle Junction 23:55 Jungle Junction

MTV 500
06:00 Only Hits 07:30 Taylor Momsens Top 50 Style
Icons 08:20 Taylor Momsens Top 50 Style Icons 09:10
Behind the Music 10:00 World Stage 10:50 Room Raiders 11:15 Room Raiders 11:40 Room Raiders 12:05 My
Super Sweet 16 UK 12:55 Wake Brothers 13:20 Wake
Brothers 13:45 Wake Brothers 14:10 Wake Brothers

08:30 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic Skiing: Schonach, Germany [Live] 09:15 IBU World Cup Biathlon 10:30 Live:
FIS World Cup Alpine Skiing: Zagreb, Croatia: Mens Slalom 1st Leg [Live] 11:45 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic Skiing: Val di Fiemme, Italy: Womens 9km Freestyle [Live]
12:30 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic Skiing: Schonach, Germany: Gunderson [Live] 13:15 Live: IBU World Cup Biathlon: Oberhof, Germany: Womens Pursuit [Live] 14:00
Live: FIS World Cup Alpine Skiing: Zagreb, Croatia: Mens
Slalom 2nd Leg [Live] 14:45 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic
Skiing: Val di Fiemme, Italy: Mens 9km Freestyle [Live]
15:30 Live: IBU World Cup Biathlon: Oberhof, Germany:
Mens Pursuit [Live] 16:15 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic Ski
Jumping: Bischofshofen, Austria: HS 140 [Live] 18:30
Live: FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping: Schonach, Germany: Womens HS 106 19:00 European Tour Snooker
20:00 Live: European Tour Snooker: Munich, Germany:
Final [Live] 22:00 FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping
23:00 Rally Raid: Dakar 23:30 IBU World Cup Biathlon

EUROSPORT2 601
07:00 FIA European Championship Rally 07:30 FIS
World Cup Nordic Skiing 08:00 ITSF World Cup, Table
Soccer 09:00 Live: FIL World Cup Luge: Koenigssee:
Mens, 1st Run [Live] 09:45 Live: FIS World Cup Nordic
Ski Jumping: Schonach, Germany: Womens HS 106
[Live] 11:15 FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jumping 12:00
FIL World Cup Luge 12:30 Live: FIL World Cup Luge:
Koenigssee: Team Relay [Live] 13:30 Live: ITSF World
Cup, Table Soccer: Mens Semi-Final [Live] 15:00 Live:
European Tour Snooker: Munich, Germany: Day 3 [Live]
17:00 Live: ATCO PSA World Series Squash: Final [Live]
20:00 Live: World Championship Darts: Frimley Green:
Day 2 [Live] 23:00 ITSF World Cup, Table Soccer

ESPN CLASSIC 1 603


06:00 Champions and Challengers 06:30 Champions
and Challengers 07:00 UEFA: The Story of the European
Championships 08:00 The Two Escobars 10:00 Basketball 11:00 Basketball 12:00 Basketball 13:00 Tour de
France 14:00 Tour de France 15:00 Tour de France 15:30
Tour de France 16:00 Premier League: Season Highlights
17:00 Goals of the Season 18:00 Prem Classics 18:30
Prem Classics 19:00 Prem Classics 19:30 Prem Classics
20:00 Prem Classics 20:30 Prem Classics 21:00 The Announcement: Magic Johnson 22:30 Worlds Strongest
Man 23:30 Champions and Challengers

NAUTICAL CHANNEL 611


06:00 Storm Surfers 07:00 Hot Water 08:00 News
2013 08:15 Offshore Adventures 08:45 Americas
Cup Series 09:15 Americas Cup Series 09:45 Flavours
10:15 Perch 10:45 News 2013 11:00 Danger on the
Beach 11:30 Yachting: Les Voiles de Saint Tropez 2012
12:30 Volvo Ocean Race, Yachting 13:30 News 2013
13:45 Offshore Adventures 14:15 Sea Master Sailing
Series 2012 14:45 Extreme Sailing 2012 15:15 Storm
Surfers 16:15 News 2013 16:30 Danger on the Beach
17:00 Jump on Board 17:30 Yacht Fever With Andy
And Chelsey 18:00 Salon Nautique de Paris 2012 18:30
Yachting: Tour de France 2012 19:00 News 2013 19:15
Offshore Adventures 19:45 P1 Superstock UK Championship Powerboat Racing 20:15 Rolex Spirit of Yachting
20:45 News 2013 21:00 Jump on Board 21:30 Passion
de mer 22:00 News 2013 22:15 Danger on the Beach
22:45 Americas Cup Series 23:15 Americas Cup Series
23:45 News 2013

ESPN AMERICA HD 622


07:00 SportsCenter 07:30 SportsCenter 08:00 SportsCenter 08:30 NFL Football 11:00 NFL Football 13:30
NFL Primetime 14:30 NBA Tonight 15:00 SportsCenter
Update 15:30 NFL Matchup 16:00 Sunday NFL Countdown 19:00 Live: NFL Football: Playoff Wild Card Game
[Live] 22:30 Live: NFL Football: Playoff Wild Card Game
[Live]

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 Fringe
14:00 Fringe 14:45 Fringe 15:30 Fringe 16:15 Fringe
17:00 Fringe 17:45 Fringe 18:30 Fringe 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

32
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

THIS WEEK

FILM
IN CINEMAS TODAY

GOLD SILVER
BRONZE COPPER CASH-FOR-GOLD
Mad love: Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper
wrestle with their inner demons in this uplifting
comedy-drama

Embassy Cinemas
Valletta
Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
(3D) (PG)
10:30, 14:00, 17:30, 20:50
Parental Guidance (U)
10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00,
21:15
Skyfall (PG)
16:10, 18:00, 20:55
Life of Pi (PG)
10:20, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:10
Jack Reacher (14)
10:30, 13:20, 16:00, 18:35, 21:10
Rise of the Guardians (U)
10:00, 12:05, 14:10, 16:00, 18:55,
21:00
Eden Cinemas
St Julians
Tel. 23 710400
Parental Guidance (U)
11:15, 14:05, 16:20, 18:40, 21:05,
23:20
Rise Of The Guardians (3D) (U)
11:15, 14:00
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
(3D) (PG)
16:20, 20:00, 23:20
Skyfall (PG)
11:20, 14:30, 17:40, 20:45, 23:40
Jack Reacher (14)
11:30, 14:30, 18:20, 21:00, 23:40
Tinkerbell and the secret of the
wings (U)
11:10, 14:00, 16:00, 18:15
House at the End of the Street (16)
20:50, 23:00
Life of Pi (3D) (PG)
11:30, 14:20, 18:15, 21:00, 23:40
Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger (U)
11:20, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:55,
23:05
Pitch Perfect (PG)
11:20, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 21:05,
23:25
Taken 2 (14)
11:00, 14:10, 16:25, 18:50, 20:55,
23:00
Deceduti: Wara L-Ahhar Tad-Dinja
(PG)
11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 14:15, 14:45,
15:45, 17:15, 17:45, 18:30, 20:15,
20:50, 21:15, 23:00, 23:35
Alex Cross (18)
11:20, 14:05, 16:20, 18:40, 21:15,
23:30
Silver Linings Playbook (14)
11:20, 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10,
23:40
Rise Of The Guardians (U)
11:10, 14:05, 16:15, 18:25, 20:45,
22:50
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn
Part 2 (12)
11:10, 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:10,
23:35
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
(3D) (PG)
11:00, 14:25, 17:45, 21:15
Empire Cinemas
Bugibba
Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909
Rise of the Guardians (3D) (U)
10:45, 16:15, 20:35
Tinkerbell and the Secret of the
Wings (3D) (PG)
14:00, 18:25
Life of Pi (3D) (PG)
10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:40, 21:25
Parental Guidance (U)
10:40, 13:40, 16:05, 18:25, 20:55
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
(3D) (PG)
10:15, 13:45, 17:15, 20:45
Skyfall (PG)
14:00, 18:00, 21:10
Jack Reacher (14)
14:10, 18:00, 20:50
Alex Cross (18)
13:30, 16:00, 18:15, 21:05

Oscars, here
we come
THESE days, you can sniff an Oscar
contender from a mile off. If your
film focuses
on major
historical
fil
f
j
hi t i l
events/figures with sombre seriousness, tackles some form of disability
or illness and generally allows for the
actors to flex their dramatic tendons
in the most showy way possible,
youre in with a shot.
Director David O. Russell (Three
Kings), previously a persona non
grata in Hollywood after his on-set
histrionics alienated him from colleagues, appears to know this all too
well.
Recovering from a mid-career
slump after 2004s awkward philosophical comedy I Heart Huckabees
with Rocky-like boxing drama The
Fighter (2010), Russell follows up the
Christian Bale-Mark Whalberg shaggy dog story with a similarly scrappy
if ever so slightly manipulative
tale of common people fighting to
overcome maddening obstacles.
But its good luck that Silver Linings Playbook adapted from Matthew Quicks debut novel of the same
name has a thick streak of comedy
running through the drama, making
it not only a more bearable, but also a
more interesting ride through mental
illness, depression and familial strife
in middle-class Philadelphia.
Perhaps sniffing the projects Oscar-friendly potential (Playbook has
already secured all the major Golden
Globe nominations), Hangover star
Bradley Cooper tears down his defences to play Pat Solitano, a former
high school teacher suffering from
bipolar disorder. Emerging from an
eight-month stint at a mental health
facility after a violent episode involving his unfaithful wife Nikki (Brea
Bee), Pat is keen to get better, and salvage his marriage.
But despite the best efforts of his
long-suffering parents Patrizio
(Robert de Niro) and Dolores (Jacki
Weaver) Pat is convinced that he
can manage his illness without any
pharmaceutical aid, which puts a
damper on his hope to reach out to
Nikki, who has since placed a restraining order on him.
But Pats precarious existence is
pushed into even headier territory

By Teodor Reljic
when he meets his friends sister-inlaw, the attractive but equally broken
Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). There
is never any doubt that Playbook is
primped for success from its opening
minutes we are, after all, watching
two of Hollywoods most charismatic rising stars making merry with a
Pandoras Box of human emotions in
a story that will elicit sympathy from
even the hardest of hearts.
But theres also genuine feeling
here, which is not surprising when
you discover an illuminating biographical nugget from the previously
maligned David O. Russell: his son
suffers from bipolar disorder. Perhaps this is the reason why, at its
best, Playbook eschews the polished
veneer that maims any award-friendly films of their artistic edge, with
Russell shooting key moments with
almost documentary-like loose camerawork. Its also evident that he gives
the actors plenty of room to loosen
into their often conflicted roles, suggesting that he may have put his past
as an on-set drama queen behind
him (unfortunately, YouTube is not
so forgetful, or forgiving).
No matter how crappy the films
he starred in were, Cooper always
brought an energetic charisma to
every role, and seeing him redirect
that towards a more vulnerable outlet is interesting to watch. Much like
Christian Bales yo-yoing drug addict
pugilist Dicky Eklund in The Fighter, Pat is a slave to his mood swings,
making him an unpredictable character who instantly ratchets up the
tension both dramatic and comic.
It then falls to Lawrences Tiffany

to provide the softening romantic


foil to the hot mess that is Pat at
least
l t youd
d think
thi k so. But
B t Playbook
Pl b k
is banking everything on being a
romantic comedy with a difference,
and far from being a mellowed out
saviour-figure, Tiffany turns out to
be as much in need of a shoulder to
cry on as Pat.
Much like a younger Natalie Portman, Lawrence, now a superstar
thanks to her involvement in The
Hunger Games franchise, manages
to walk the fine line between being a
desirable screen presence while also
fooling you into thinking she could
be your best friend.
Its an actors trick that fits the role
of Tiffany like a glove, as the leads
ambivalent romantic chemistry depends on that very same push-and
pull-dynamic.
Russells keen understanding of
what makes his cast tick extends to
the supporting players too.
De Niro, disgracing himself recently in phoned-in performances
for disposable fare like Meet the
Parents, thankfully plays a rounded
human being once again. If his bumbling bookmaker doesnt reduce you
to tears during a particularly candid
and rare bonding session with his
troubled son, you could very well be
clinically comatose. But perhaps the
biggest revelation here is Chris Tucker the former Rush Hour star and
arguably the most annoying actor
in the world, here employed as Pats
loony-bin buddy Danny. Thankfully,
we get no shrill histrionics from him
here, but a tender portrayal of a man
who means well but could very easily succumb to his demons with the
slightest misstep.
And come the nail-biting climax
involving a baffling mix of sports
betting and dance which has to be
seen to be believed its precisely
this subtle understanding of how
vulnerable it can sometimes be to
simply exist that elevates Russells
psychological opus into something
more than your typical or worse,
pretentiously quirky rom-com.
The Playbook may be gunning for
the spoils, but its efforts leave us with
plenty to enjoy in the meantime too.

S
L IN IN G
S ILV E R
)
4
1
(
K
O
P L AY B O

This weeks
picks
ADVENTURE
LIFE OF PI
Director Ang Lee adapts Yann
Martels award-winning novel
about a young man who survives
a tragic disaster at sea and is
hurtled into an epic journey
of adventure and discovery.
While marooned on a lifeboat,
he forms an amazing and
unexpected bond with the ships
only other survivor a fearsome
Bengal tiger. Starring: Suraj
Sharma, Irrfan Khan and Adil
Hussain.

ACTION
JACK REACHER
When a gunman takes five lives
with six shots, all evidence
points to the suspect in custody.
On interrogation, the suspect
offers up a single note: Get
Jack Reacher! So begins an
extraordinary chase for the
truth, pitting Jack Reacher
against an unexpected enemy,
with a skill for violence and a
secret to keep. Starring: Tom
Cruise, Rosamund Pike and
Robert Duvall.

COMEDY
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
Artie and Diane agree to look
after their three grandkids when
their type-A helicopter parents
need to leave town for work.
Problems arise when the kids
21st-century behaviors collide
with Artie and Dianes old-school
methods. Starring: Billy Crystal,
Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei.

33
maltatoday,

THIS WEEK

A man out of time


Rose
Lapira
SOME buy a book because of the cover or the blurb. Others are influenced
by reviews. I often buy books according to their author. Like many others,
I was impressed by Norwegian author
Per Petterson when I read Out Stealing Houses. This was a small literary
gem.
That is why recently I read I Curse
the River of Time by the same author,
translated into English by Charlotte
Barslund and the author. I suppose
many would have been attracted as
well, by the eye catching title. This
comes from a poem by Mao Tsetung:
Fragile images of departure, the village back then.
I curse the river of time; thirty two
years have passed.
In this novel Per Petterson depicts
a Northern world, very foreign to the
Mediterranean one, and yet one can
empathise with the lonely soul of the
Scandinavian protagonist.
The novel is set in 1989, when important events are taking place in the
life of Arvid Jansen. His marriage is

In Pettersons
sparse and
lucid novel,
what is left
unsaid is more
important
than what is
actually said

Nowegian novelist Per Pettersons


I Curse the River of Time presents a
complex portrayal of a mother-son
relationship

over, his mother is dying, and the Berlin wall is coming down. Arvid feels
lost. He cannot understand what is
taking place around him and he falls
on memories of past events to try to
comprehend the present.
I was searching for something very
important, a very special thing, but
no matter how hard I tried, I could
not find it. His sense of loss is acute.
I am 37 years old. The Wall has fallen.
And here I sit.
He remembers his communist membership and admiration for Mao, and
how he abandoned his university studies to follow his beliefs and become a
factory worker much to the chagrin
of his mother, who had worked hard
all her life in similar factories.
Arvid accompanies his sick mother
on a final trip to her birth place in
Denmark, and yet he cannot really
communicate with her at all. Though
deeply aware that she had always preferred her other sons to him, he tries
to bridge the gulf between them, but
both are incapable of communicating
their feelings. She did not pay attention. She turned her attention to other
things. Petterson presents a sensitive
portrayal of a complex mother-son relationship.
Arvid hungers for his mothers love
and this encounter is his last chance
to show his feelings. His mother is a
strong but dour character who has
had little patience with her weakling
son. Now, faced with the prospect of
imminent death, none can breach the
gulf that separates them.
Petterson describes the characters
of mother and son with great insight.
By the end of the book, we literally get
under Arvids skin. We know that he
is standing on the edge of a precipice.
I had read somewhere that fiction is
not exciting unless you sense an abyss
beneath the characters, and this is
what Petterson depicts so masterfully
in this novel.
This is a moving story, finely written in the authors typically spare and
lucid style. It is filled with silences.
There is little dialogue, but what is
left unsaid is more important than
what is actually said. The novel has
beautifully sensitive passages showing insight into the frailty of the human condition.

I Curse The River Of Time


By Per Petterson
Vintage Books, pp 233
ISBN : 978-0-099-53602-4
Reflecting on death, Arvids only
preoccupation is that he will pass
away without having been the person
he had really wanted to be, and which
he knew he could have been. Faced
with death, you suddenly realise that
every chance of being the person
that you really wanted to be, is gone
for ever, and the one you were, is the
one those around you will remember.
He had wanted to be different from
his parents. I wanted to make a difference but I did not, and it suddenly
dawned on me that what I had tried to
do might not be possible I was a man
out of time.
Petterson is no stranger to tragedy,
for he lost both his parents and brother when the ferry between Oslo and
Friderikshaven burned and sank in
1990. But it speaks about the resilience
and optimism of the man, who made it
to the top not only in his country, but
went on to become an internationally
acclaimed author.
One feels that parts of the authors
life manage to creep into his writing,
and perhaps this is why Petterson
makes us aware that a glimmer of
optimism still prevails for the protagonists future despite a rather sad
period in his life.

SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

34

FOOD
RESTO OF THE WEEK
takes a look at a
r
ja
ta
Cu
it
m
m
Za
d
Rachel
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@
Angka Caf
With the festive season over and
done with, the top New Years resolution on most peoples mind is healthier eating. But does that mean giving
up on dining out completely? Not
necessarily Angka Caf specialises
in food that is not only tasty but also
nourishing.
Angka Caf, unique to the Maltese
islands, offers a complete vegetarian
menu, while only serving food that
do the body good. And that is not all.
The Caf is part of the Rejuvination
Centre and Green Clinic providing
a perfect combination of healthy food
and a range of services that provide
healing for the dissociation of body
and mind.
The centre is not only about food
but about wellbeing with holistic
health treatment being at the centre
of the clinic. Yoga classes and natural beauty treatments and meditation
are all aimed at providing healing for
the dissociation between body and
mind.
I must confess I am no vegetarian
and though I do cook vegetarian food
mostly by accident the thought of
going to a restaurant where you are
restricted to ordering only vegetables
gives me an instant meat craving (the

Cleansing meals for a


healthier New Year

bloodier, the better).


So, armed with my meat craving
and handful of vegetarian friends, we
headed down to Angka Caf, part of a
Rejuvenation Centre and Green Clinic in Aldo Moro Road in Marsa.
On entrance, the caf is welcoming,
with tomatoes growing in pots in the
sunny windows, bright colours and
an airy dining area giving the place a
bright and lively feeling.
The food is served in a buffet style
where you can choose to have a large
plate at 9.99, which can be refilled
as many times as you like, or a small
plate at 6.50 and then simply choose
whatever you want to eat from the
buffet table.
The food items change daily and
usually consist of three warm dishes,
which could be anything from risotto
to lentils and beans. The remainder
consists of a variety of cold salads and
dips, all served with the most fabulous home-made bread full of whole
grains and seeds.
Along with the food on offer are
a variety of dressings, naturally infused oils and vinegars as well as superfood seeds that can be added for
extra goodness and flavour mustard seeds, fennel seeds and spriulina
a blue green algae that grows in
the alkaline waters of volcanic lakes

The bright and airy Angka Caf


gives off a welcoming introduction
to a world of holistic living

and has been known to stabilise


blood sugar and reduce cholesterol
among others.
Besides the food at Angka Caf
being vegetarian, with a number

of dishes suitable for vegans, every


product that comes through the door
is organic, ensuring the maximum
amount of nutrients making it onto
your plate with absolutely no pre-

All the ingredients that go into the


food at Angka Caf are not only
suitable for vegetarians and vegans
but are also organically grown

servatives.
Though vegetarian food can be
bland if not prepared well, owner
Lydia Oukhaneva has a range of recipes so full of flavour that even meat
eaters like myself leave feeling completely satisfied.
The salads are satisfying even on
their own mustard greens give a
bit of a bite to the leafy salad and fennel tops add flavour to a tasty tomato
salad.
There are also a variety of homemade desserts to suit the gluten intolerant, and keeping as natural as
possible, made with only organic
products.
Healthy smoothies are also available, all made from fresh fruit and
vegetables for maximum goodness.
While eating your meal, why not
try some of the flavoured water, flavoured with natural ingredients and
definitely no preservatives.
The caf is completely alcohol and
nicotine free in order to promote
healthy lifestyles for children through
example.
Angka Caf is open on Monday to
Thursday from 09:00 to 17:00; Friday
from 09:00 to 23:00 and Saturday
from 09:00 to 17:00
Address: Wigis Kitchen, Main Street,
St Julians
Contact: 21 377504 or 99 825386 or
visit www.wigiskitchen.com
Opening hours: Tuesday - Thursday:
12:30 - 14:30 and 19:30 - 22:30
Friday - Saturday: 12:30 - 14:30 and
19:30 - 22:45
Sunday: 12:30 - 15:00

WINE OF THE WEEK

Masi Masianco
PINOT Grigio delle Venezie is the most up-to-date Italian white wine. The richness of the perfumes and aromas of this grape cultivated
at Castions di Strada, in the Friuli region, complements the structure of the native Verduzzo grape, deliberately picked slightly over-ripe
and matured on plateaux. Masianco is a Supervenetian of great personality, which goes well with the typical dishes of todays cuisine, hors
doeuvres, fish and grilled white meats. Masi Masianco is imported and distributed by Attard and Co.

35
maltatoday
maltatoday
, SUNDAY,
, SUNDAY,
6 JANUARY
22 MAY 2013
2011
FINE FOOD OF THE WEEK

Hot and fragrant flavours


Ginger
A hot and fragrant kitchen spice,
ginger gives any dish a unique flavour
that goes well in sweet as well as savoury dishes.
The use of ginger dates back to
500BC in China. A safe and versatile
herb, ginger was highly traded by the
Greeks and Romans and was among
the first spices to find its way to Europe.
]SUBHEAD[ Culinary uses
Ginger, a knobby, fibrous root, has
smooth light brown skin with a sheen
to it. The flesh of the root is white.
Ginger root is a seasoning and flavours sweets, including cakes, cookies,
breads, and beverages. It is also good
in sauces, and fruit dishes, and is often
used heavily in Asian cooking. When
buying, look for ginger root with the
least amount of knots and/or branching. Ginger is available fresh, dried,
preserved or powdered and has different flavours and culinary uses depending on the method of preservation.

Types of ginger
Fresh ginger: Fresh ginger is available in two forms, young and mature.
Young roots, also called green or
spring ginger, has a pale, thin skin that
requires no peeling, is very tender and
has a milder flavour. It can be grated,
chopped, or julienned for use. Mature
ginger root has a tough skin that must
be peeled away to get to the fibrous
flesh and is usually grated, chopped or
ground for use.
Dried ginger: This form is usually
found in whole fingers and also in slices. It is usually soaked in recipe liquid
before using.

Mature ginger roots need to be peeled before


use to get past the tough fibrous skin and is
usually grated, chopped or ground before use

has been preserved in a sugar-salt


mixture. It is generally used as a confection or added to desserts, and it is
especially good with melons.
Cystallised ginger: Also known as
candied ginger, this form has been
cooked in a sugar syrup until tender
and then coated with granulated sugar. It is commonly used in desserts and
can easily be made at home.
Ground ginger: Also referred to as
powdered, this dried, ground form is
quite different than fresh. It is readily
available in standard supermarkets,
and is used primarily in sweets and
curry mixes.

Pickled ginger: Called gari or beni


shoga in Japan, this form is pickled in
sweet vinegar and is usually coloured
bright red or pink. It is a familiar accompaniment to sushi and is also
eaten to refresh the breath. Available
at Asian markets, it should be kept refrigerated in its container.

Medicinal uses

Preserved ginger: Also available in


Asian and specialty markets, this form

In years gone by, ginger was used


as a wonder drug to treat a variety of
ailments for which it is still effective

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Pineapple
and ginger
smoothie
START the new year with a healthy and tasty smoothie with fresh ginger
that is a natural remedy for travel sickness, nausea, indigestion, flatulence,
colds, poor circulation, inflammation, fevers, headaches, toothaches, menstrual cramps and high blood pressure.

Ingredients

1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple, cut into 1-inch pieces


1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
cup low-fat plain yoghurt
1 cup pineapple juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
cup ice (if using fresh pineapple)

Method
Blend pineapple, ginger, yoghurt, pineapple juice, cinnamon, and ice (if
using fresh pineapple).

today. Travel sickness, nausea, indigestion, flatulence, colds, poor circulation, inflammation, fevers, headaches,
toothaches, menstrual cramps and
high blood pressure are among the
conditions for which ginger is a known
remedy.
If a person has exercised too much or
suffers from arthritis or rheumatism,
ginger has been known to ease inflammation of the joints and muscle tissue.
Due to its tremendous circulationincreasing qualities, ginger is thought
to improve the complexion. It has reduced nervousness, eased tendonitis,
and helped sore throats return to normal. Studies demonstrate that ginger
can lower cholesterol levels by reducing cholesterol absorption in the blood
and liver. It may also aid in preventing
internal blood clots.
The warming herb is stimulating to
the system with active ingredients of

terpenes and oleo-resin that provide


antiseptic, lymph cleansing and constipation relieving qualities along with
a potent perspiration-inducing action
that is effective in cleansing the system of toxins.

Selection and storage


Fesh ginger can be found yearround in the produce section of
most grocery stores. Look for
smooth skin with a fresh, spicy fragrance. Tubers should be firm and
feel heavy. Length is a sign of maturity, and mature rhizomes will
be hotter and more fibrous. Avoid
those with wrinkled flesh, as this
is an indication of aged ginger past
its prime.
Fresh, unpeeled root should be
wrapped in paper towels, placed
in a plastic bag and refrigerated
up to three weeks. It can also be

tightly wrapped and frozen up to


two months. (To use frozen ginger, slice off a piece of unthawed
root. Re-wrap unused portion
tightly and return to the freezer.)
Peeled gingerroot can be stored in
Madeira or Sherry wine in a glass
container in the refrigerator up to
three months.
However, storing peeled ginger
in wine will impart a wine flavour
to the end ginger dish, so you may
wish to forego this pre-prepared
method for use in dishes where a
wine flavor is not desirable. Dried
ginger should be kept in a cool,
dark space in an airtight container. Pickled and preserved ginger
should be kept in their original
containers in the refrigerator.
Store crystallised ginger in an
airtight container in a cool, dark
place for up to three months.

36
maltatoday,

TRAVEL

SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Show her you care


Top 10 Valentines Day destinations
Now that Christmas is done and dusted, its time to start thinking about
the next celebration. Valentines Day,
though not an official holiday, is not
one that any man with a girlfriend (or
wife) should take lightly lest they find
themselves spending the day dodging
the fury of a woman scorned.
So how do you really show her you
love her and join in the fun as well?
Nothing says I love you more than
alone time in a romantic destination.
Emirates is currently offering very
attractive fares for quick-acting customers. The special fares apply to
more than 120 destinations across
the Emirates network when booked
by 10 January 2013 for travel from the
18 January to 10 June 2013. Make the
most of these offers and show her you
really care at one of these top 10 destinations.

Maldives
There is no place that screams romance like the Maldives. With more
than 1,000 islands of powdery white
sands and crystal clear waters that
never drop below 20C. 900 of the said
islands are uninhabited perfect for
that romantic getaway.
Here, limpid lagoons, swaying coconut palms, sandy beaches, extensive
reefs and the leisurely Maldivian way
of life combine to make a truly idyllic setting. The Maldives is one of the
few places on earth where bliss can be
derived from merely doing nothing.
With typically just one resort to an island, each is a world in itself ranging
from the luxurious to the pleasantly
informal, from the tranquil and intimate to those offering entertainment
and activities for the entire family.
Most provide a wide range of water
sports facilities, including excellent
diving and snorkeling, and all have
their own restaurants and open-air
bars, as well as live entertainment featuring international music.
Complementing the natural simplicity of the surroundings, accommodation is in beachside chalets or
bungalows built out over the sea. Most
resort restaurants serve both local and
international cuisine and seafood is
available in abundance.
Maldives has a fine selection of fresh
tropical fruits especially coconuts,
mangoes and bananas which feature
on most dessert menus.

combined with the traditions of the


Chao Naam, the indigenous sea-faring
people.

Colombo
A large natural harbour and strategic location made Colombo in Sri
Lanka, a thriving spice port on ancient
sea trade routes.
It was first settled in by Arab traders
in the 8th century AD, subsequently
by Portuguese, Dutch and British colonists. Modern Colombo, which is the
administrative capital of Sri Lanka,
has an interesting blend of modern
buildings and colonial architecture,
numerous parks, playing fields and
idyllic beaches.

Rio De Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is a city of beauty and
contrasts contrasts of colour, lifestyles and dazzling scenery that will
always fascinate and make one long to
be there.
It is one of the largest cities in South
America widely renowned for its
various cultural celebrations. Rio de
Janeiro is a city sculptured on a thin
strip of land between the mountains
and the sea. It is renowned for its
spectacular natural setting, its carnival celebrations, the beat of samba, a
vibrant beach culture that plays out on
the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema
or Leblon and the easygoing lifestyle
of its inhabitants.
Some of its most famous landmarks
include the giant statue of Jesus, at
the top of the Corcovado Mountain,
which has recently been named as
one of the New Seven Wonders of the
World; Sugar Loaf Mountain with its
cable car, the Sambodromo, a giant
permanent parade stand used during
The Carnival; and Maracana Football
Stadium, one of the worlds largest. Rio
also boasts the worlds largest forest
inside an urban area, Tijuca Forest.

Cape Town
Situated amongst stupendous coastal scenery and overlooked by Table
Mountain, a flat-topped outcrop with
sheer cliffs rising 1,000 metres above
the bay, Cape Towns location is exceptionally beautiful.
In the surrounding country, extensive vineyards and fertile farmlands
are sheltered by soaring mountains,
making exciting getaways for couples
seeking each others company.

Phuket
Thailand has become a top destination through Europes dreary winter
where island life seems like a dream.
Located approximately 860 kilometres south of Bangkok on Thailands
west coast is Phuket, the countrys
largest island.
Connected to the mainland by a
bridge, Phuket has retained a distinctive culture, where the fusion of Chinese and Portuguese influences have

Sydney
Sydney, New South Waless spectacularly beautiful capital is set around
one of the worlds largest and loveliest
natural harbours.
With its superb climate, wonderful beaches, excellent dining, diverse
shopping, lively nightlife and casual,
friendly atmosphere, Australias oldest
city is undoubtedly one of the worlds
most appealing.

Maldives
Built on low hills interspersed with
wooded bays and inlets, Sydney is
visually dominated by the bulk of the
Harbour Bridge, the downtown towers
and the glittering white shell-shaped
roofs of the Opera House an intricate confusion of water and buildings
that provides dramatic views at every
turn.
With its thriving cultural scene and
active nightlife, Sydney has something
for everybody from comedy clubs to
casinos, carnivals to cricket and live
bands in busy pubs to opera and ballet.
For lovers of good food, the combination of high-quality local produce,
innovative chefs and relatively low
prices make eating out one of Sydneys
greatest pleasures.

Dubai
Dubai is a city of contrasts, a land
where the old and the new, traditional
and modern, east and west, blend
seamlessly to create a fascinating and
exciting destination.
It is a welcoming city with a charming ambience rooted in traditional
Arabian hospitality topped with an
ultra-modern flourish. The kaleidoscopic blend of people and cultures
brings to the city a unique fusion of
influences.
Dubai is the entertainment, shopping, sports and culinary capital of
the Middle East. Home to some of the
worlds finest hotel chains and dining
options that include a range of eclectic
local and international cuisine, Dubai
offers the world on a platter.
Recreational facilities are available
in abundance and the entertainment
ranges from traditional celebrations
to trendy night life options. The numerous shopping malls feature some
of the worlds best brands, at competitive prices.
Dubai is an extremely safe city with
sunny weather all through the year.

Rio de Janerio, Brazil


Add to all this, the pristine beaches
and the timeless landscapes of the
desert and it is easy to see why Dubai
is an exciting year-round destination.

Seychelles
The Seychelles, 115 outstandingly
beautiful granite and coral islands
fringed by sparkling white sandy
beaches and encircled by coral reefs
teeming with fish, lies in the Indian
Ocean a few degrees south of the
Equator.
Uninhabited until the arrival of
French planters in the late 18th century, they remain sanctuaries for unique
flora and fauna the coco de mer
palm, the insect-eating pitcher plant,
giant tortoises and flying foxes and
are a haven for holidaymakers too.
The islands resorts and hotels offer
high standards of accommodation,
facilities and services, yet have been
considerately developed to ensure
protection of the indigenous animals
and birds, the colourful marine life,
and the exceptional natural beauty of
the forests, beaches and mountains.
The Seychellois, predominantly of
Crole and European origin, display
an easygoing friendliness. English and
French are the official languages, but
the vast majority speak Crole, a local
patois based on French. Seychellois
food is even more eclectic, based on a
blend of French, Indian and Chinese
influences.
Seychelles is also home to two
UNESCO World Heritage sites: Aldabra, the worlds largest raised coral
atoll and Praslins Valle de Mai, once
believed to be the original site of the
Garden of Eden.

Mauritius

Sydney, Australia

Lying in the Indian Ocean, some


1,800 kilometres off the east coast of
Africa, Mauritius is an outstandingly
beautiful tropical island.
Its 330-kilometre coastline of sandy

beaches is almost entirely surrounded


by one of the largest unbroken coral
reefs in the world, home to more than
a thousand species of fish.
The interior rises to a central plateau,
overlooked by mountains reaching up
to more than 800 metres. Of volcanic
origin and generally sheltered by barriers of coral reefs forming natural,
safe, crystal clear lagoons, Mauritius
has long been a dream destination.
The contrast of a multitude of colours and tastes, the island which is set
in a turquoise sea, is an oasis of peace
and tranquility. Mauritius fulfils every
visitors dream of a tropical island
swaying palms, a dazzling blue ocean,
white sand beaches, sugarcane fields,
towering mountains and the leisurely
Mauritian way of life combine to make
a truly idyllic setting.

Cyprus
Cyprus, Aphrodites isle strategically located at the eastern end of the
Mediterranean, has long attracted
invaders. Today, while the predominant culture is of Greek origin, other
occupiers Phoenicians, Egyptians,
Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans and
British have all left their mark. Happily, Cypriots seem to have absorbed
the best attributes of each and firsttime visitors are constantly amazed
at the genuine hospitality, warmth
and friendliness with which they are
greeted.
Check out the forested mountains,
deep gorges and flat fertile plains
full of citrus groves and vineyards;
intriguing archaeological sites; quiet
villages with old men playing tavli
(backgammon) in the square and
lively resorts where the evening entertainment lasts until dawn.
Spend the days lounging around at
five-star spas or take a more active
stance and stay at one of the many
agrotourismo hotels and come closer
to nature.

37
maltatoday,

THIS WEEK

SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Eat out and win with


MaltaTodays Restaurant Watch

Guze, Ta Xbiex

D Bar, Gozo
THIS weeks winners of the MaltaToday restaurant watch are Maria Carmela Sant of Xewkija Gozo,
Fiona Mallia of Ibrag and Carmen
Galea of St Julians.
Dining out is not about what

connoisseurs say you should and


shouldnt like but what appeals to
the people. MaltaToday has given
diners the chance to have their
say with a Restaurant Watch competition where diners can submit

334. Deluccas Noctuid

In general, moths are not as gaudy as their cousins the


butterflies but they are certainly more numerous. About
30 butterflies have been recorded in Malta, compared to
over 500 moth species! Among our biggest moths are those
known as the noctuids. Like most moths these sport a
subdued grey-black-brown-white palette, though some have
wonderful patterns for those who care to look closer. One
of these is the Deluccas Noctuid (Melvizza ta Delucca), very
common but still very special because its endemic to our
Islands - its named in fact after Maltese naturalist Carmelo
Delucca. If you see moths sitting quietly on a wall at this time
of year dont disturb: the exertion to simply fly away from
you can be fatal!
Text and photo Victor Falzon

a review of a restaurant and be


in with the chance to win one of
three Caravaggio box sets from
Marsovin.
Maria Carmela Sants pick was
D Bar in Qala in Gozo, where
genuine food is served in a casual, family atmosphere at great
value for money. Sant picked the
chicken crepe with bchamel and
cheese as a dish to remember,
with a meal for two consisting of

starter, main course, dessert and


a bottle of wine costing between
50 and 70.
Fiona Mallias restaurant of
choice was Guze Brasserie in Ta
Xbiex, where the food is exquisite
and the views are stunning. Her
favourite dish is coq au vin. Her
meal for two cost between 50
and 70.
Carmen Galea selected West
End Restaurant in Msida as her

recommendation because of the


excellent food and great service.
She recommends chicken with
forest mushrooms. Her meal for
two cost between 40 and 50.
Tell us which restaurants are
worth going to and what makes
them special and be in with a
chance to win these fabulous
prizes next week by filling in
MaltaTodays Restaurant Watch
on page 28.

Energy Saving 2030


Regardless of the energy
mix, the EU needs to use less
energy. European Commission
analysis shows that Europe
will not reduce emissions on
the scale needed in the long
term without reducing energy
consumption and waste.
This is confirmed by the
International Energy Agency
(IEA), which estimates that
half of the EUs emission cuts
must be delivered through
energy savings policies
by 2035. Currently, the
Commission is talking of a 1721% reduction in energy use
below 2005 levels by 2030. But
this is aiming very low.
In a study for the German
government, Fraunhofer ISI, a
research group, estimates that
by 2030 energy consumption
could cost-effectively be
reduced by 50% below 2005
levels. The impact of such large
energy savings on emissions
reductions would be dramatic.
Fraunhofer ISI estimates that

cost-effective energy saving


investments could reduce
emissions in the EUs transport,
industry, tertiary and household
sectors by 52% by 2030. This is
the kind of action the EU needs
to seriously address climate
change.
The EU cannot afford not to
reduce energy use. But even
though efficiency measures
are cost-effective, they are not
automatic, and resolve is

GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 235:


Make the most of oven heat When using your
oven, consider whether you can switch it off just
before the full cooking time - the residual heat can
finish cooking your dish. Residual heat is also good for
toasting home-made breadcrumbs or croutons.

needed to make sure Europe


gets the policies it needs to
bring all the benefits of energy
savings. A binding target is
the only way to ensure energy
savings really happen. The
EU made the mistake of not
setting a binding target for
energy savings for 2020 and
the current voluntary target is
proving wholly ineffective. It
must not do this again.
Visit Friends of the Earths 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).

38

Information Technology

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

The importance of a good domain name

Joan Bishop Magro


Whats in a name? wrote
Shakespeare, and he wasnt referring
to domain names for sure. What is in
a domain name? A lot. Your domain
name is one of the most important
decisions you need to take when
you are setting up your own online
business. Changing it after a few
years is not advisable, unless there is
something terribly wrong with it.
Here are a few tips on what you
should consider when choosing your
name:
1.
Is it easy for people to
remember it?
If you are investing in conventional
methods of advertising like print,
billboards and radio, users need
to remember the name of your
site to get into it. The longer your
domain, the harder it will be to
remember. People will also forget
which word comes after which. For
example, if you have a shop selling
scarves and mittens, and you call it
ScarvesnMittens.com, users might

recall it as MittensandScarves.com
or ScarvesandMittens.com. When
the online site is not your actual
brick and mortar site, you could
consider going for web advertising to
overcome this issue, otherwise, stick
to short, simple names which are
easy to remember.
2.
Is it easy for people to
type it?
Some words are known to be
tricky when it comes to spelling.
Using the same example as above,
people might actually type scarfs

instead of scarves. In fact, both


words are correct. However typing
scarfsandmittens.com will not lead
you to the correct site. In this case
it is advisable to buy both domain
names. This will direct the users
who type the wrong version of your
name to your site, and will also
eliminate the possibility of having
a competitor who reaps the benefit
of your advertising efforts by taking
up scarfsandmittens to sell his own
similar products. There are various
sites which have actually bought
domains with their misspelling and
get traffic from them too. Test this
with your staff and friends, read
it out to them and let them type
it, then see what they type. Some
words can have different spellings
and might be misleading if your site
depends on word of mouth or radio
adverts. Imagine having a domain
www.sumthing.com, unless one
sees it written down, he/she will
search for www.something.com
and will not get to your site.
3.
Can you include some
keywords in it?
Having keywords in the domain
name itself used to be more
important up to a few months ago.
Google-favoured sites which had
particular keywords in the domain
itself. However with the recent
Google updates, this has been given
less importance. It would still help
to have some keywords present
in the domain name, but it is not
essential.
4.
Are
social
media
accounts
with
that
name
available?

check if scarvesandmittens.org
and scarvesandmittens.eu are still
available and get them too. This
will ensure that when your business
grows, you do not get any surprises
from competitors who take up similar
domains to reap your benefits.
2.
Ensure your emails are
using the chosen domain.
As soon as you have your
own domain, start using it to
communicate with your customers.
Set up info@yourdomain.com, and
use it to communicate. Print it on
your business cards and on your
stationery.

3.
Build a brand across the
web
Start off by creating all the social
media accounts using your domain
name. Point your statuses and tweets
to your site. Send out press releases
hyperlinking to your site. Write on
blogs, while hyperlinking to your site.
Let people talk about your brand,
and Google will notice it. As your
brand gets more exposure across the
web you are more likely to rank high
on Googles search results.
4.
Dont let it expire!
If you are buying the domain
yourself ensure that you do not

let it expire. It is hard to retrieve


an expired domain, and you could
also be risking having someone else
buying it instead off you. So mark it
on your various calendars, and make
sure that the email address that you
used when you bought the domain
is the one that you actually read on
a daily basis. Domain registration
companies send out emails to remind
you to renew your domain.
Joanne Bishop Magro is a
Conceptual Analyst in the Web
Design and Development division of
Alert eBusiness (www.alert.com.mt)

Before you actually buy the


domain, check that no other user
is using it on Facebook, Twitter
and other popular social media
platforms.
So now that you have chosen you
domain, what should you do with
it?
1.
Buy its variations too.
Once you have chosen your
domain, look out for its variations
and buy them too. If you have
bought
scarvesandmittens.com

Ingram, Republic Street, VallettaUnext to the Courts

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

39

Events

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Valletta Baroque Festival showcases Maltese


music by international performers
On Tuesday, 15 January 2013 the
Valletta Baroque Festival will
present a fabulous orchestral concert by the youth orchestra Jeune
Orchestre Atlantique. This international orchestra of young professional musicians will present
a unique programme of music by
Maltese composers, as well as works
from the Bach legacy. A wonderful
opportunity to experience Baroque
music in Maltas unique Baroque
Theatre the Manoel Theatre.
The highlight of the concert by the
Jeune Orchestre Atlantique (JOA)
for the Valletta Baroque Festival
is precisely the premier of works
by Maltese composers. The programme will include the overture
and duet Padre, addio from the
opera Pelopide (1747) by Girolamo
Abos. Scans of the original manuscript are made available online by
the International Music Library
Score Project from Canada. Frederick Aquilina took on the task to edit
the music so that both orchestra
and singers can perform this work
at the Valletta Baroque Festival.
The other revival works on the programme are the two arias from the
Dixit Dominus of 1756 by Benigno
Zerafa. These arias have been edited
by M.Mus. student Christine Gauci
under the supervision of Frederick
Aquilina (University of Malta). JOA
will also perform the Sinfonia in D
by Francesco Azopardi thanks to
the contribution of editor Bertil van
Boer, Aurora Press 2011.
JOA gathers young professional
musicians at the Abbaye aux Dames
de Saintes (France) to follow a comprehensive training programme on
period instruments. The JOA teachers come from the Orchestre des
Champs-Elyses and other profes-

sional orchestras specialising in the


performance of period instruments.
Thanks to JOA, the musicians have
the possibility to play under the
direction of famous conductors
such as Philippe Herreweghe, Jos
van Immerseel, Christopher Hogwood, Franois-Xavier Roth, Marc
Minkowski and Louis Langre. This
international orchestra assembles
young musicians from the entire
world representing about 20 different nationalities each year.
The concert by JOA in Malta is also
part of an EU Culture Programme
entitled EUR TEXT. Maltese cultural organisations, Soundscapes
and the Malta Association for Contemporary Music are co-organisers
in EUR TEXT, together with the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in France
and other prestigious organisations
in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Composer Ruben Zahra and director of the Soundscapes enterprise
invited the Valletta Baroque Festival to join as associate partner in
the EU project and include JOA in
the programme. The artistic direction of the Valletta Baroque Festival
fully supports the music by Maltese
composers that contributes to our
Baroque and Classical music heritage. The works by Girolamo Abos,
Benigno Zerafa and Francesco
Azopardi were identified by university academic Frederick Aquilina in
collaboration with maestro Brian
Schembri. Other highlights on the
programme include the fabulous
concerto for flute, strings and continuo in D minor by C.P.E. Bach and
the concerto for violin in G minor
by J.S. Bach. Zerafa and Azopardi
belong to later periods, yet this
concert is a wonderful opportunity
to present an itinerary of Maltese

Stphanie-Marie Degand
classical music by a foreign international orchestra.
JOA works with some of the best
international conductors and soloists. The conductor for the JOA

concert in Malta is Stphanie-Marie


Degand who will also lead the orchestra as first violinist and thus
conduct from her stand. Degand has
a brilliant career as a soloist. She has

a compelling discography and is often invited to perform internationally with renowned orchestras such
as The Kings Consort, Chambre
Philharmonique, Les Sicles and
Le Parlement de Musiques. Degand
will also perform as a soloist the
concerto for violin in G minor by
J.S. Bach. The programme will also
feature Florian Cousin, flutist of the
prestigious orchestra Les Musiciens
du Louvre Grenoble, as soloist for
the concerto for flute, strings and
continuo in D minor by C.P.E. Bach.
This concert is also an opportunity
to present two of our local talent:
soprano Claudia Tabone and alto
Clare Ghigo who will be performing
the music of Abos and Zerafa.
JOA is an international orchestra
coming to Malta with a programme
of music by Maltese composers
as well as music by Bach. JOA is
presenting our own 18th century
musical heritage. The organisers
have been working on this project
for over a year to present a unique
programme by the Jeune Orchestre
Atlantique which celebrates Maltese music within an international
context.
This concert is organised with the
support of the Culture Programme
EUR TEXT of the European Union.
The concert is also supported by the
Ministry for Justice, Dialogue and
the Family, the Malta Arts Fund,
Cultural Contact Point Malta and
the Manoel Theatre. The concert
will be held on Tuesday, 15 January
2013 at 7.30pm at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta.
Tickets at 10 available from the
booking office 21 246389 or directly
from the website: www.vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt. For more information visit: www.eurtext.eu.

Banif Calendar 2013 Vodafone moves to new Head


showcases vibrant Office at SkyParks Business Centre
student work
Collage, acrylics, ink, impasto
on wood... these
are just a few materials that students set to work
with to create a
set of bright and
vibrant art works
commissioned by
Banif Bank (Malta) plc for its 2013
desk calendar. The
works, interpreting the Banks slogan The Power of
Believing, reflect
the passion and
idealism of youth
and the desire to
take on the world
with confidence
and ambition.
The
students,
second-years
at
the MCAST Institute of Art and
Design preparing
for their Higher
National Diploma in Fine Art,
were given the task to present up
to three works for selection and
were mostly given a free rein with
style and materials. The result is
an astonishing and eclectic set of
works, smartly packaged in Banifs 2013 desk calendar.

Banifs
collaboration
with
MCAST sought to give students
a platform for exposure and a
chance to bridge their education
with the requirements of industry. A copy of the calendar can be
picked up from any Banif Bank
branch.

Vodafone organised an innovative


competition amongst its employees
to come up with names for the different meeting rooms situated in
the companys new head office at
SkyParks Business Centre. As from
Tuesday, 8 January, Vodafones new
head office will therefore take you
from the Grand Harbour to San Blas
Bay or from it-Torri ta San Lucjan
to it-Torri ta San Pawl in less than
two minutes.
We wanted our employees to feel
involved in every step of the way,
said Antoinette Camilleri, Property
Manager at Vodafone Malta. Telling our team members to come up
with names for our meeting rooms
was just one way of involving them
even more. This was not the only
competition we held. Earlier we organised a competition among our
employees so that they will come up
with different concepts for the Soft
Break-Out Areas we are going to
have in our new Head office. A team
from the Finance Department came
up with the most cool and innovative ideas which we took on board.
Vodafones new head office will
have a total of 15 closed meeting
rooms, including a silent room and
a boardroom. Robert Cassar and
Denise Formosa Gruppetta, both
Vodafone employees, came up with
the winning names of the meeting
rooms. Robert Cassar named all
the internal meeting rooms after
the most beautiful sandy and rocky
beaches that the Maltese Islands
have to offer including the amazing San Blas Bay and Xwejni Bay

in Gozo and
St Peters Pool
An artistic impression
and Riviera Bay
including details
in Malta. Denabout the towers the
ise
Formosa
meeting rooms are
Gruppetta, on
named after
the other hand
came up with
original names
for the guest
meeting rooms
at the new
Head Office,
deciding
to
give due credit
to the Maltese heritage
and
naming
them after the
small fortified
watchtowers
that were built
by the Grand
Masters Torri
ta San Tumas,
Torri ta Santa
Marija, Torri
ta San Lucjan
and Torri ta
San Pawl.
We are really glad that the names or external partners over for meetwe gave the different meeting rooms ings. Moreover, it will be fun for
were the ones chosen, said both our employees to say that theyll be
Robert Cassar and Denise Formo- holding their meetings at Gnejna or
sa Gruppetta. Knowing that the Golden Bay.
Vodafones move to its new Head
names we chose will be part and
parcel of the new Vodafone head Office in SkyParks will introduce
office is something we are really a number of innovative concepts
proud of. We chose these particu- and ideas including, hot-desking,
lar names because we think that flexible working methods and open
they would create a conversation plan bringing together team memice breaker when we have visitors bers from different departments.

40
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

First Emirates A380 flight departs from new


Concourse A
EMIRATES, one of the worlds fastest growing airlines, achieved another first with the inaugural departure
of an A380 flight from the new and
worlds only dedicated and purposebuilt A380 concourse at Dubai International Airport.
Part of the airports Terminal 3
complex, Concourse A will become
the home of the Emirates A380,
from where passengers will connect
to more than 20 Emirates A380 destinations around the world, including A380 flights to Europe on Australian airline, Qantas, in terms of
the global partnership announced
recently which is pending the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The departure of flight EK003 at
14h30 to London Heathrow marked
the start of flights from four gates
which opened at Concourse A. More
than 500 passengers across First
Class, Business Class and Economy
Class became the first travellers to
experience boarding through the
unique double decker air contact
bridges connected to the aircraft,
one of the key features of the facility.
This is an historic and momentous occasion, marking another
world first from Emirates. The new

Concourse A is the worlds


first dedicated A380 hub
and will become the home
of the Emirates A380

A380 hub is another example of


Emirates being a leader in providing innovative products and services
that give customers an unsurpassed
travel experience, said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al
Maktoum, President of the Dubai
Department of Civil Aviation, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates
Airline and Group and Chairman of

Dubai Airports. We are confident


that our customers will find the new
concourse to be a remarkable world
class facility befitting of our flagship
Emirates A380 aircraft.
With 528,000 m2 spread across
eleven floors and the capacity to
handle 15 million passengers a year,
the concourse offers Emirates customers a seamless and unrivalled

experience in terms of comfort,


convenience and choice of facilities.
From direct lounge boarding for First
Class and Business Class customers
to an expansive duty free shopping
area, food courts, cafes and fine
dining options, a Timeless Spa and
the largest First Class and Business
Class lounges in the world. The concourse also offers a dedicated hotel

floor with both a four and five star


offering. Passengers are transported
between Terminal 3 and Concourse
A by underground trains and shuttle buses from where they can depart
through 20 gates when the facility
becomes fully operational.
Emirates operates flights on a daily
schedule from Malta to Dubai via
Larnaka, Cyprus

Banif Banco Internacional do Funchal, S.A.


announces recapitalisation plan
Banif, S.A. has formally announced
a recapitalisation plan that will be
submitted for approval at the next
General Meeting of Shareholders,
to be held on the 16th of January
2013. With this recapitalisation,
Banif will become one of the most
capitalised banks in Europe, with
an estimated Core Tier 1 ratio of
over 12% after the second stage
of the recap is completed. Banif
Financial Group will bring its
capital adequacy levels to the new
Capital Requirements Directive
and Regulations coming into force
in 2013 and up to December 2019.
The Recapitalisation Plan is part
of a wider strategy put in place by
the Portuguese State to ensure
that the banks in Portugal have
adequate capital in line with the
capital requirements regulations
imposed on the Portuguese banks
by Banco de Portugal of a Core
Tier 1 ratio above 10% and simultaneously, to establish a prudential capital buffer, in order to be in
a position to continue supporting
the economy in times of stress.

The recapitalisation Plan was


approved by the Portuguese regulators and authorities.

Banif Bank (Malta) plc


Banif Bank (Malta) plc has reacted positively to the announcement
that its major shareholder has announced a Recapitalisation Plan.
The fact that the Portuguese
State has recapitalised Banif reflects the systemic relevance and
importance of the Group in the
context of the Portuguese Financial System, said Joaquim F. Silva
Pinto, Chief Executive Officer
of Banif Bank (Malta) plc. This
importance is highlighted by the
fact that Banif s supervision will
be transferred from Banco de
Portugal to the European Central
Bank.
Banif Bank (Malta) plc has not
been affected by the restructuring
programme of the Group since it
operates independently within the
Maltese financial services framework. Banif Bank is a very important part of Banif s strategy and
the Group views very favourably

the development of its activity in


Malta. Banif Bank (Malta) plc will
remain one of the core elements of
Banif Group and will continue to
receive full support for its banking
activities in Malta.
Banif Bank (Malta) plc is consistently meeting its targets and
growth plans and will continue
to invest and create job opportunities. The impact of Banif, SAs
recapitalisation plans on Malta
is very positive, as the Group has
strengthened its position in the
global market and will remain
very focused in developing its
strategy including its growth and
expansion plans for the Maltese
market.

of the banking system. After the


recap of Banif, the total amount
used for recapitalisation of Portuguese Banks is 5,6bln.
The recapitalisation plan will be
implemented in 2 stages and comprehend the following types of investment:
i)
An initial public investment of 1,100 million, following
the approval of the Recapitalisation Plan, comprising:

full voting rights at an issuance


price of 0.01/share.
ii)
At a second stage, an additional share capital increase of
Banif (to be made by the end of
June 2013), in the amount of 450
million, with subscription through
a public offer on conditions yet to
be defined. In the context and for
the purposes of this second stage,
the current reference shareholders
have presented an underwriting
commitment to subscribe 100
million shares.

Banif, SAs recapitalisation plan

a)
The issuance of contingent
convertible bonds eligible as Core
Tier 1 capital in the total amount
of 400 million, pursuant to law
n 63-A/2008, November 24th and
other applicable laws;

The proceeds from the capital


increase referred in ii) will be used
for anticipated reimbursement of
contingent convertible instruments.

The recapitalisation will be


done under a facility created
within Portugals Economic and
Financial Assistance Programme,
signed with the European authorities and the IMF. From the total of
78 bln of the Programme, this facility has a total amount of 12 bln
earmarked for the recapitalisation

b)
Share capital increase
of Banif, in cash with suppression of pre-emption rights, reserved for the subscription of the
Portuguese State, totalling 700
million, through the issuance of
70.000.000.000 of new shares, of
which 44.511.019.900 shares with

After the 2 stages of the recapitalisation are completed, the Portuguese State will have a 49.4%
stake in Banif and thus it will not
have the majority of the voting
rights. Besides, the States participation in Banif is temporary, until
2017.

41

Events

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

Restoration of priceless paintings


Important paintings in the former parish
church in Ghajnsielem are being restored
with the financial support of Bank of Valletta, helping to give this historic location
more prominence.
The church was built to house a statue
to the Blessed Virgin of Loreto, sculpted
by a local farmer called Anglu Grech after
he saw a vision. The statue soon became
a focal point for people in the village and
a chapel was eventually erected to host it
in 1810, which was subsequently enlarged
over the years, getting to its present size
in 1877. It was, however, still too small for
the growing population and a new parish
church started to be built in 1922.
The titular painting dedicated to Our La-

dy of Loreto is by Michael Busuttil, while


the church also houses no fewer than six
masterpieces by the prolific 19th-century
Valletta-born artist Giuseppe Cali.
Although Calis paintings can be found
in many churches, it is rare to find more
than one in each, making Ghajnsielems
church a treasure trove for admirers of his
work.
Presenting the sponsorship to Fr Frankie Bajada, Ghajnsielem archpriest , Jack
Theuma, Manager of BOVs Gozo Branch
said, Bank of Valletta is proud to play
an active role within the communities in
which it operates. Our heritage needs to be
preserved. Priceless pieces from our past
are part of what enrich us today. We have

an obligation to pass on what we have inherited to future generations. The expertise and dedication that is being applied
to this project will restore these pieces to
their original state.
We thank Bank of Valletta as one of
the first institutions to commit its assistance towards this project. The Ghajnsielem Community and those who visit
the church will have the opportunity to
admire this painting in all its splendour as
was intended by the master who painted
it, said Fr Bajada.
The conservation and restoration work
is being carried out by Maltese restorer
Manwel Zammit of Zejtun along with Fr
Charles Vella and his team.

Record performance for The Point Shopping Mall


The Point Shopping Mall at Tigne
Point, Sliema has reported a record
breaking performance in 2012. Over
half a million customers visited in
November and December alone,
surpassing the previous years numbers for the same period by 10% and
continuing to build on the malls
fast-growing popularity for shopping and more.
Edwin Borg, chief executive officer
of The Point, expressed his satisfaction for a thriving Christmas season. I am delighted that The Point
has delivered record breaking footfall and turnover figures over the
Christmas period. In an economic
climate which continues to be volatile, these results are testimony to
the growing strength of The Point
and the commitment of our retail
partners to offer outstanding customer service.
The January sale has likewise
kicked off with top momentum.
Promising plenty of special offers
for bargain hunting shoppers, The
Points January sale gives customers
the opportunity to benefit from big
discounts on both high street and
designer fashions.

The In Guardia Parade at Couvre Porte, Birgu


The In Guardia Parade is a re-enactment that portrays an authentic
event that took place regularly inside important military fortifications in Malta and Gozo . The reenactment portrays the inspection
of the St. Johns Cavalier in the
town of Birgu and its garrison by
the Grand Bailiff of the Order of
the Knights of St. John in charge of
military affairs. During the re-enactment, the soldiers and knights
of the forts garrison - some 55 reenactors - are kitted-out in their
finest uniforms and perform a
military drill demonstrating to the
Grand Bailiff the garrisons state of
readiness in the event of a military
threat.

unforeseen circumstance the event


may be cancelled without prior notice. When in doubt it is best to
contact the Tourist Information
Office at Auberge DItalie, Merchants Street, Valletta on tel: 00356
22915440/1/2.

The show starts at 11.00, lasts 45


minutes and will be held be held
be held at St. Johns Cavalier (close
to Couvre Porte), in Birgu (Vittoriosa).

One may take advantage of this


visit to explore Birgu and its historic attractions, e.g. Inquisitors
Palace, Maritime Museum, Malta
at War Museum and the Couvre
Porte area. One may also visit
Maltas best flea market at Fortini
football ground located just outside
the town. Then one could head towards the centre of the town to visit
the Collachio (city core area).

Admission:
Tickets at the gate:
Adults : 7
Children (6 12 years) and Students: 3
One may be able to visit part of
the fort prior or following the reenactment.
The re-enactments
are held according to schedule as
above. However, in case of inclement weather or else due to some

Getting there:
Bus no.2 or no.3 leaves Bay 14 at
Valletta Bus Terminus, every 15
minutes or so to reach Birgu in
c. half an hour. Both buses stop
close by the bridge that connects
the town of Birgu with the town of
Bormla. The bus stop is called Caf
Riche. Bus no 3 continues further
on to Kalkara.

The Town Square and the Birgu


Yacht Marina are both interesting
places where to make a brief exploratory stop. To finish off the tour of
Birgu, one may also sit down and
relax for a coffee or snack at one of
Birgus many restaurants.

42

Events

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

IFC supports Malta-based Bank to


finance trade in Middle East and Africa
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a USD30 million loan to Malta-based
FIMBank to support cross-border trade in the Middle East and Africa.
The loan will help FIMBank offer
trade financing to companies that
import and export food, consumer
goods, and machinery. The loan is
designed to boost trade between
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, supporting economic development.
The support of partners such
as IFC signals an important vote
of confidence in the FIMBank
Group and its activities, said FIMBank President Margrith LtschgEmmenegger. We will continue
to contribute to generate trade by
increasing trade finance opportunities which increases development
within these emerging economies.
Launched in 2009, the Global Trade Liquidity Program has
helped support about USD20 billion in trade volume by channeling
capital from more than 600 banks
and development finance institutions at a time of global scarcity in
trade finance.

access to trade finance, local entrepreneurs can reach new markets, grow their businesses, and
hire more employees.
IFC has been a shareholder in
FIMBank since 2005 and is also
a partner in FIMBanks factoring
joint ventures across the world
in Russia, Egypt, and Brazil.
The loan is part of IFCs efforts
to support trade finance in the
Middle East and Africa, which
helps promote private sector development in those regions.

About FIMBANK GROUP


From left: Hashem Ashraf Abd
El Hakim, Margrith LtschgEmmenegger, K. Aftab Ahmed,
John C. Grech during the signing
of the IFC loan agreement that
was held on 21 December at
FIMBank p.l.c

Financial Stability
Report Update for 2012
The Central Bank of Malta has published on its website the Update to
its Financial Stability Report, which
covers developments in the first half
of 2012. The Update observes that although the external macro-financial
conditions remained challenging,
the domestic economy continued
to show signs of resilience and thus
remained supportive of financial
stability. The analysis contained in
the Update indicates that in recent
months no new risks and threats
have emerged for the financial system in Malta. On this basis the risk
outlook as contained in the Financial Stability Report 2011 remains
valid. Against a background of uncertainty in international markets
and global economic activity, this
Update reaffirms the importance of
exercising the utmost prudence.
During the first six months of 2012
core domestic banks continued to
expand, mainly through additional
lending to households. Banks customer loans continued to be fully
funded through customer deposits,
thereby supporting funding resilience. Meanwhile banks continued
to maintain strong liquidity ratios.
Their mid-year profits were also
higher than a year earlier, on account of higher net-interest income.

This contributed to maintain solvency ratios well above the regulatory requirements.
Risks from the other components
of the financial sector, namely noncore domestic banks, international
banks, insurance companies and
investment funds remained low,
supported by the generally positive
performances of these institutions
during the first half of the year. The
links with the domestic economy of
non-core and international banks
remained limited, despite their relatively large balance sheet size.
Credit risk remains a key risk for
the financial sector in Malta. Owing
to exposures to certain economic
sectors that continued to experience
weak business activity, in particular
the construction and real estate sector, a main challenge facing the core
domestic banks is the level of nonperforming loans in certain sectors.
On the other hand the quality of
mortgage loans remained stable and
higher levels of loan-loss provisioning and capital buffers were reported by banks.
The Financial Stability Report Update can be downloaded from the
Central Bank of Maltas website www.centralbankmalta.org

Expanding trade finance is a key


element of IFCs strategy in the
region, said Aftab Ahmed, IFC
Financial Markets Director for Europe, the Middle East, and North
Africa. With easy and affordable

FIMBank p.l.c. is an international trade finance bank focused on delivering trade finance
solutions to businesses worldwide. The Bank actively pursues
a strategy of establishing factoring joint ventures with prominent
institutions in selected emerging
markets. The international network of Factoring Joint Ventures

It gives me great satisfaction


to make this charitable donation. We thank the organisers
of the activity, who gave us
the opportunity to help others, an opportunity that we
could not let pass by, despite
the fact that we are still not
operative. We expect to be
fully operative next month
and will be focusing primarily
on providing asset financing
to rural businesses, such as
farmers, village communities
and green entrepreneurs,
and offering the opportunity
to people in Malta and the
UK to invest in AgriBank by
subscribing to the investment
products the Bank will issue,
Psaila said.

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank
Group is the largest global development institution focused exclusively
on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable
growth by financing investment,
mobilizing capital in international
financial markets, and providing
advisory services to businesses and
governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of
more than USD20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector
to create jobs, spark innovation, and
tackle the worlds most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

Joseph Muscat talks about the Malta


hed like to live in
Joseph Malta Li Rrid Ngix
Fiha (Joseph Malta I Want
To Live In) is a new publication
which will be launched during
the coming days. This book is a
personal encounter with Joseph
Muscat and provides profuse information about Joseph Muscats
background, his intellectual,
academic and political formation, and what he proposes for
our country if entrusted with
government during the next
five years. Furthermore, it is a
document of evidence which
bears witness to the reasons why
Joseph Muscat can be entrusted
to lead a new government with
competence, good judgment, and
a much needed leap of quality.
The publication will contain
the following sections:
A biography of Joseph Muscat
How Joseph became acquainted with the Labour Party
The ideological principles
with which Joseph works in politics
How Joseph began his public
service
What Joseph did as a Member
of the European Parliament
How Joseph became leader of

the Labour Party


What Joseph proposes for the
government of the country
The book Joseph Malta li rrid
ngix fiha has Cyrus Engerer as
its author and is illustrated by a
large amount of pictures taken
from personal and public collections to compliment the writing.
Before an electoral decision, it
is to be expected that the Maltese people soundly weights the
possibilities which are presented. Who, amongst the political
parties and their leaders, should
be entrusted with the countrys
govenment for the next five
years? Which one of them offers
the best indications of a peaceful
and successful future?
These questions may be answered satisfactorily by the examination of two major factors:
Past records
Future prospects
To facilitate the minute and appropriate examination of these
two issues on the part of the Labour Party and its leader, Joseph
Muscat, SKS, the Labour Partys
editorial house, will be releasing
this publication, which will be
available from Malta and Gozos
leading bookshops. The volume
is selling at 10.

AgriBank supports id-Dar tal-Providenza


AgriBank plc, a British owned
bank, is currently setting up
business in Malta and will
soon open its head office at
SkyParks Business Centre.
The Bank, which only just
obtained a credit institution
licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority
at the end of October, 2012,
has made its first charitable
donation. Two senior bank officials, Roderick Psaila, Chief
Executive Officer, and Paul
Grech, Chief Financial Officer, visited id-Dar tal-Providenza in Siggiewi on 1 January
to present a cheque for 1,000
to support the homes invaluable work among people with
special needs in Malta.

currently includes MENAFactors


in Dubai, Egypt Factors in Egypt,
FactorRus in Russia, Levant Factors in Lebanon, India Factoring
in India and BRASILFACTORS in
Brazil. For more information, www.
fimbank.com

Roderick Psaila, Chief


Executive Officer of
AgriBank plc (second from
right), and Paul Grech,
Chief Financial Officer,
presenting the cheque
for 1,000 to the Dar talProvidenza on 1 January

43

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 at
10, Gnien Xibla Street, Xaghra Gozo.
Closed for the month of January. Will
open again in February and March
Saturday mornings only from from
10.30am till 1pm or by appointment

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013


for groups. Happy New Year to all our
visitors past, present & future. Call
on 21562489
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
WE BUY ANY ANTIQUES such as
clocks, mirrors, figurines, paintings,
furniture and silver in any condition.
Very good prices paid in cash. Call on
21237597, 21470128, 99869519

ARTWORK
ORIGINAL wall hanging ceramic sculpture by Andrew Diacono. Name given by artist is Diplomatic Meeting/
Measuring 70cmx48cm. Must be seen.
Asking price is 950 but will accept
other offers. Call on 99406197,
21421312

AUTO GAS CONVERSIONS


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,
99441297. Visit www.autogas.com.
mt

AUTO-AIRCONDITIONING

=
3

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

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
CRANCHI Boats, to view the full range
call at the local agent BJ Marine on the
way to Grand Harbour Marina, 119
St Lawrence Street, Birgu. Call on
27019356

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
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

CARS FOR SALE


1960 Pontiac Parisienne in perfect
condition, extra parts included. Call on
99298108 for more information.

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

CAR REPAIRS
EUROSTAR is an expert in car body
repair and collision repair for all types
of vehicles. Our body shop guarantees your cars 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
JOHNS 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 - dont
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

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, MaltaToday Wednesday, and www.maltatoday.com.mt.
This offer does not apply to Real Estate agents. Send your form to:
MaltaToday Classieds, Media Today, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016.
Together with a 3 cheque payable to MediaToday Co. Ltd.

Name: ________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________________


_______________________________________ Tel: ___________________ email: _________________________________
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

44

Classifieds
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
ALL kinds of computer repairs at
your Home. FREE USB Pendrive with
every Format. Wireless setup, Virus
cleaning. Upgrades and technical
assistance. Call Josef on 99460939,
21227614 - www.computech.com.
mt.
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

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013


KEUNE
PROFESSIONAL
HAIRDRESSING COURSES for beginners and advanced including hair
extensions. Limited number of students accepted. Courses, given by
hairdressers trained overseas, mornings and evenings both in Maltese and
English. For bookings call on 2143
4636, 99476170.

COURSES
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, hens/
bachelors 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 60s
music.

FOR HIRE
CHAIRS AND TABLES for all occasions including childrens 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 Julians.
e-mail: info@toysfourplay.com. Call on
9943 2019. Visit www.toysfourplay.
com
CANE sofa 3 seater with two
one-seaters. In good condition and
complete with cushions. Call on
99454835
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
PLAY Station 3 and Call of Duty original CD (250) and Wii (200) or 400
for the lot. Call on 79412364
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

Road, Zebbug. Call on 27282828 or


visit www.fairdealfurniture.com.m

tact Claire Chetcuti on 21495103,


99423894

SITTING room suites for sale at moderate prices. Part exchange accepted.
Also second hand ones and re-upholstery. Call 21374823, 99824139

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

GENERAL
EMPTY wine bottles: 5ltr for 1, 2 ltr
for 25c. Call on 21433831 or email
on dyni86@gmail.com
MEMORIAL Works. Memory slabs
(marble or granite), ceramic plaques
and photos, additional inscriptions on
graves and monument cleaning on
site. Starting from 130. Call Austin
Muscat on 21449909, 79449909.
www.austinmarbles.info
TEDDYS Detergent Shop at 590, St
Pauls Street, St Pauls Bay. Best prices in town. We also offer free delivery
to nearby areas. Find us on Facebook.
Call on 27333357
TEDDYS Fashion on 571, St Pauls
Street, St Pauls Bay. Latest womens
fashion at lowest prices. All items
under 20. Find us on Facebook. Call
on 27889987

HEALTH & BEAUTY

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

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
cards accepted. Call on 21440424

FAIR DEAL FURNITURE where you


will find bedroom prices starting from
1,375. Leather sofas at unbelievable prices. Fair Deal Furniture, Mdina

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 con-

FURNITURE

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 ACCOMODATION
GOZO, XLENDI
apartments. Call
79592764

new furnished
on 21555026,

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

45

Classifieds
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
ALL kinds of works of spray, brush
painting and works on antique furniture.
We also do works on spray painting for
other carpenters. Moderate prices.
Call on 27406731, 99406731
DEOS 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
4,457 Properties To Rent on Maltas
Best Rated Property Website: www.
simonestates.com CHECK IT OUT! Call
on 23880034, 79861510

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013


CENTRAL areas, properties for long
rent from 1, 2 or 3 bedroom. Visit
our website www.baronproperties.org
or call on 99442756, 79706219,
99443311
HAMRUN/
Blata
l-Bajda/
Guardamangia/ Piet car space.
Call on 99454835
QAWRA premises class 4 in Triq itTamar c/o Triq it-Turisti, near Qawra
Palace Hotel. Also suitable for estate
agent. Call on 99454835
SLIEMA spacious one-car garage,
behind Preluna Hotel. Nice and clean.
Price 900 per year. Call 99844640
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
QAWRA - two bedroom flat for rent.
Long lets. Price 350 per month. Call
on 99468110
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

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, cost-

ing 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

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

PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS
PRIVATE investigations Malta, fully
licensed. Separation, divorce, civic,
commercial, DNA and other cases.
Locally and abroad. Call on 79590000.
Visit www.privateinvestigationmalta.
com

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;

PROPERTY FOR SALE


18,437 Properties for Sale on Maltas
Best Rated Property Website: www.
simonestates.com CHECK IT OUT! Call
on 23880034, 79861510
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
GOZO, IL-QBAJJAR flat with two

Importers of hand-knotted Oriental carpets

THE FLYING CARPET - OLD RAILWAY TRACK, ATTARD


.PO5VFT 5IVST4BUBNoQNt8FEOFTEBZNPSOJOHDMPTFE
.PO'SJoQNQN
*NQPSUFSTPG7BSJPVTIBOELOPUUFEDBSQFUTBOE,JMJNT 
/PO4MJQ6OEFSMBZ %SZBOE-JRVJETIBNQPP.PCJMF/P

46

Classifieds
bedrooms, fully furnished. Just refurbished. Across the road from bay, with
country views. Price 120,000. Call
on 99844640
MADLIENA - finished to exacting
standards by its present owners, this
superb semi-detached villa, besides
being located in the most sought after
neighbourhood on the Island, also
affords a bright, spacious and practical layout, perfectly suited to modern living and entertaining! Welcoming
entrance hall, spacious sitting/dining
room with functional fireplace, state of
the art, fitted kitchen, pantry and conservatory overlooking the gardens and
pool area (enjoyable all year round),
guest bathroom, three double bedrooms one with ensuite bathroom and
a private terrace enjoying postcard
scenery and a laundry at roof level.
This wonderful home also boasts an
independent, underlying guest flat-let
and a 4-car garage. Not to be missed!
Price 929,000. Call on 79429400
MARSASKALA two car garage,
street level. Freehold. Price 32,000
ono Call on 79058166
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
surrounding rubble walls. Being sold

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013


freehold. Call on owner 99492448,
99875540
QAWRA - pure luxury! A modern,
superbly finished and presented
apartment just a stones throw from
the popular and picturesque Qawra
promenade! Enjoying lovely side sea
views and served with lift and intercom, this attractive property offers
a hallway, open plan, state-of-theart kitchen with dining and lounge
areas, a study, 2 double and 1 single bedroom, family bathroom and
ensuite shower and a utility/laundry.
Included in the sale the fitted kitchen
with stainless steel appliances, suspended ceilings with light fittings,
air-conditioning throughout, curtains
and blinds. A great bargain! Price
175,000. Call on 79429400
RABAT - Tal-Virt. A pristine semidetached villa situated in a quiet
and much sought after residential
location. This lovely home offers a
spacious entrance hall, leading on
to a comfortable sitting area, combined fitted kitchen and open plan
dining and living room with a fully
functional fireplace. A guest room
and spare toilet as well as a laundry
room also form part of the comfortable ground floor accommodation.
A spacious landing that doubles up
as an upstairs living area, 3 double
bedrooms (main with ensuite) and a
bathroom. Good sized laundry and
sheltered drying area at roof level,
the views from the roof are breathtaking, extending to the horizon. A
large garden with space for pool,

2-car street level garage and a drive/


car port compliment this property. An
opportunity not to be missed! Price
559,000. Call on 79429400
SAN PAWL TAT-TARGA - beautiful
large semi-detached villa secluded
in a tranquil residential area of this
sought after neighbourhood, having
a large pool with deck & entertaining
area. Imposing & elegant entrance
hall, large combined sitting/dining
room, spacious open plan kitchen/
breakfast, office, guest toilet, 4 huge
double bedrooms and 2 bathrooms,
carport leading to a 2 car street level
garage. A great family home. Price
625,000. Call on 79429400
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
ZEBBUG - 2 or 3 bedroom apartments in Vjal il-Helsien. Call owner on
99486496
ZEBBUG - a converted 4 bedroom
house of character in the oldest part
of Zebbug, within walking distance
of the village centre. Blending the
practicality of modern and contemporary finishes with all its old world
charm, this house offers a unique
mix of old and new. The property
is spread over 285sqm including a
lovely 135sqm garden with a swim-

ming pool, lawn and deck area, a


bright internal courtyard, a cellar
and underground shelter and an adjacent one-car garage (optional). Also
comprises study, guest toilet, large
dining room with wooden beams, a
large 50sqm open plan kitchen and
living area overlooking the garden, a
main bedroom with ensuite bathroom
and walk-in wardrobe overlooking the
garden, another 3 bedrooms, family
bathroom, and a laundry . Air conditioning, fireplace, solar water heater,
intelligent lighting, pool pump system, and lawn irrigation system are
already installed. Price 539,000.
Call on 79429400

PROPERTY WANTED
GROUNDFLOOR property with 2
bedrooms and yard to let or sell in
Birkirkara area. Call on 79440531

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

TOILET SEATS
WE manufacture any kind of toilet
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 Aircompressors, safety shoes. Call on
21499908, 99475348

COUNSELING
service:
child,
youth or family related problems,
Fibromyalgia, bullying, bedwetting,
relationships, addictions, grieve and
abuse among other issues. You are
not alone. Service offered 24/7 Call
on 99666663

MALTESE: Forms 1 5. O/ I
Advanced level. Notes provided.
University graduate. Also as a foreign
language. Mosta. Call on 21410218,
79999928

EXPRESS WATCH REPAIRS on all


types of watches and clocks specialising in grandfather clocks. Also selling all types of watches and clocks.
110, Eucharistic Congress Road,
Mosta. Call 21417235, 99840431.

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

MICHELLE Colombo, daughter


of Victor Galea, funeral director,
St Gregorys Sacristan; 24-hour
service. Apply 43, Blanche Huber
Street, Sliema. Call on 21339579,
99490846

WE aim to provide a stimulating environment in which our children can thrive to their full potential while providing a home away
from home. Registration for October
2012 and summer school now open.
Visit www.noddyskindergarten.com,
Facebook: Noddys Kindergarten,
email: noddys@maltanet.net. Call on
21339655, 99441863

MINICABS 24/7, minicabs and


mini buses. Competitive rates.
Call Wembleys on 21374141,
27374141, 79374141
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

SITUATIONS VACANT
A better tomorrow starts today
AVON. Join us to become an Avon
Member! Be amongst the over 5
million women who are making their
dreams a reality with the WORLDS
LARGEST DIRECT SELLER of beauty
products. Avon helps you start your
own business for a little more than
the price of a lipstick. Work the
hours to suit your lifestyle and have
a pleasant & friendly way of earning
money. With Avon, the company for
women, youre 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
HOUSEKEEPER required to work in
a family residence. Must be over 21
years of age, responsible and reliable. Call on 79965935

Ingram, Republic Street, VallettaUnext to the Courts

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
ir-Razzett l-Ahmar, Iklin. Showroom:
19, Main Street, Mosta. Call on
21432352, 21412216, 99477167

STONE WORKS

TUITION

TV REPAIRS
ON the spot, expert professional
repairs for tvs, LCDs, plasma, LEDs,
microwaves and any other electronic
equipment. Call on 99446918

VEHICLES/PARTS
ATTENTION ALL ROVER AND
JAGUAR OWNERS: we supply new
and second-hand 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
TWO hydraulic piston motors at
465. Call on 79031640

WANTED
A left-hand drive car with Maltese
registered number plate. Call on
21382741
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
RICHARD ELLIS The Photographic
Collection, Volumes 1 & 2. Call on
21433831 or email on dyni86@
gmail.com

47

Sport

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

SPORTTODAY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

FOOTBALL

Valletta regain top spot


after victory over Hibs
Valletta ................4
Hibernians ...........1
VALLETTA returned to winning
ways and regained top spot in the
BOV Premier League standings
with a 4-1 victory over Hibernians.
Both teams had very few scoring
opportunities through most of the
first half until Valletta took the lead
on the 35th minute.
Hibernians goalkeeper failed
to save a cross by by Ian Zammit.
Rodolfo Soares failed to clear the
ball and this would cost his team
as Denni Rocha dos Santos easily
placed the ball at the back of the net
to give Valletta the lead.
On the 36th minute, Rodolfo
Soares brought down Denni Rocha
dos Santos inside the area to have

referee Adrian Azzopardi award


Valletta a penalty shot. Ian Zammit
beat goalkeeper Mario Muscat from
the penalty spot to give Valletta two
goal lead.
Immediately after the start of the
second half, Valletta wasted no time
to make the score 3-0.
On the 49th minute, Ryan Fenech
served Denni Rocha dos Santos who
then made no mistake with his shot
to make the score 3-0 in Vallettas
favour.
Hibernians came close to scoring on the 68th minute when Ryan
Camilleris header was cleared.
Valletta were awarded another
penalty on the 71st minute. From
the penalty spot William Barbosa
beat Mario Muscat to make the
score 4-0.
Johann Bezzina managed to score

a consolation goal for Hibernians


on the 86th minute when his rising
shot beat goalkeeper Yenz Cini.
VALLETTA Yenz Cini, Jonathan
Caruana, Jason Lee Vandelannoite,
Ryan Fenech (86 Edmond Agius),
Ian Azzopardi, Roderick Briffa, Luke
Dimech, Denni Rocha dos Santos
(73 Joao Gabriel da Silva), William
Barbosa, Ian Zammit (73 Gilbert
Agius), Demba Toure.
Subs not used: Reuben Debono,
Kurt Magro, Shaun Bajada, Joseph
Jo Jo Ogunuppe.
Coach: Mark Miller
Asst. Coach: Keith Fenech
HIBERNIANS Mario Muscat, Ryan
Camilleri (74 Steve Pisani), Rodolfo
Soares, Bjorn Kristensen, Zoran Levnajic, Andrew Cohen (70 Johann

Bezzina), Jackson di Lima Siqueira,


Allan Kardeck dos Santos, Clayton
Failla, Adrian Pulis, Jean Paul Farrugia (53 Udo Nwoko).
Subs not used: Daniel Balzan, Anderson Mendes Ribeiro, Ayrton Azzopardi, Scott Chircop.
Coach: Michael Woods
Asst. Coach: Darren Abdilla
Referee: Adrian Azzopardi
Assistant Referees: Duncan Sultana, Roberto Vella
Fourth Official: Glenn Tonna
Yellow Cards: Kristensen, Soares,
Fenech, Allan Kardeck, Denni, Dimech, Muscat
Red Cards: 90+1 Rodolfo Soares
Scorers: 35 Denni Rocha dos Santos;
38 Ian Zammit (pen), 47 Denni Rocha dos Santos, 72 William Barbosa
(pen); 86 Johann Bezzina

BOV Premier League table


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Valletta
Hibernians
Birkirkara
Sliema W.
Mosta
Tarxien R.
Balzan
Floriana
Qormi
Hamrun S.
Melita
Rabat A.

P
17
17
16
17
16
16
17
16
17
17
17
17

Pts
33
32
30
30
28
28
22
21
20
13
13
6

48

Sport

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

FOOTBALL

Melita edge past Hamrun


Hamrun Spartans .......0
Melita .........................1
MELITA earned an important victory
over Hamrun Spartans yesterday afternoon to give them their third win
of the season. For Hamrun, this was
their eighth consecutive defeat.
Hamrun came close to scoring in
the first five minutes of the match. Off
a freekick by David Camilleri, Massimo Grima came close to scoring with
his header.
Melita immediately replied one

minute later when off a corner by Jean


Pierre Attard, Ivan Tufegdzic hit the
woodwork with his header.
Hamrun went close to scoring on the
tenth minute when David Camilleri
served Massimo Grima whos header
was cleared off the goal line by Ivan
Tufegdzic.
Melita managed to take the lead on
the 33rd minute. A direct freekick
by Daniel Cabanillas Ayllon left no
chance for goalkeeper Anthony Curmi.
Melita almost doubled their lead on
the 76th minute when a shot by Luke

Micallef was cleared of the goal line by


a Hamrun player.
Hamrun were very close to scoring
the equaliser in stoppage time when
Massimo Grima saw his shot cleared
of the goal line by Manuel Ramon Sierra Camacho.
David Camilleri was voted BOV
Player of the Match.
HAMRUN SPARTANS Anthony
Curmi, Roderick Fenech, Gianluca
Calbretta, Ryan Spiteri, Ayrton Micallef (83 Rodney Refalo), Massimo
Grima, Adrian Borg, David Camilleri,

Luke Grech, Daniel Zerafa (50 Christian Cassar), Glenn Azzopardi.


Subs not used: Jean Claude Debattista, Melvin Busuttil, Dylan Busuttil,
Duane Azzopardi, Gianluca Debattista.
Coach: Stefan Sultana
Asst. Coach: Atanas Marinov
MELITA Guillermo Gabilondo Garcia, Manuel Ramon Sierra Camacho,
Ivan Tufegdzic, George Gribbon, Matthew Borg, Andrew Caruana Scicluna,
Luke Micallef (82 Marc Attard),,
Michael Martin, Jean Pierre Attard,

Daniel Cabanillas Ayllon (87 Jorge


Veloso Lourido), Tobias Terpougoff
(69 Kris Vella Petroni)
Subs not used: Andrew Abela, Rudi
Alhinho, Luke Sammut, Luke Bianco
Coach: Patxi Salinas
Asst. Coach: Alejandro Martinez
Lopez
Referee: Alan Mario Sant
Assistant Referees: Edward Spiteri,
Eman Grech
Fourth Official: Glenn Tonna
Yellow Cards: Tufegdzic, Spiteri,
Camilleri
Scorers: 36 Daniel Cabanillas Ayllon

49

Sport

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

FOOTBALL
FA Cup third round

Man United earn replay as Chelsea


put five past Southampton
ROBIN van Persie came off the
bench to score a last-minute equaliser as Manchester United rescued
a 2-2 draw in their FA Cup thirdround clash at West Ham after Joe
Cole had delivered a vintage display on his return to Upton Park
in a thrilling tie.
Cole, 31, returned to his boyhood
club on a free transfer from Liverpool this week, and rolled back the
years as he set up a double for defender James Collins with superb
crosses from the left flank in each
half to turn the tie around after
Tom Cleverley had fired United
into the lead on 23 minutes.
However, as the clocked ticked
into stoppage time, Dutchman
Van Persie, who had started on the
bench, ghosted into the right side
of the penalty area, before drilling
a low shot into the bottom corner
to force a replay.
Earlier, holders Chelsea eased
past Southampton 5-1 at St Marys
as Demba Ba scored twice on his
debut.
The Saints went ahead in the
22nd minute, Jason Puncheon slipping the ball through to Jay Rodriguez who ran on to the pass.
However, Ba scored 10 minutes
before the break. Eden Hazard
made his way down the left and
threaded the ball through to Juan
Mata whose shot from an acute
angle was followed in by Ba.
The Blues took the lead on the
stroke of half-time, Ashley Cole
and Victor Moses enjoying a fine
exchange before the latter fired
home.
Chelsea all but confirmed
progress with a third goal through
Branislav Ivanovic who headed
home Matas cross (52).
Ba made it four (61) and Frank
Lampard completed the scoring
with a late penalty (83).
Manchester City were also never
threatened as they beat Watford
3-0.
Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry and
debutant Marcos Lopes got the
goals.
The first match of the day saw an
upset as Newcastle went out 2-0 to
npower Championship Brighton at
Amex Stadium.
The Seagulls repeated last seasons cup heroics by dumping an
under-strength Magpies out of the
competition with Andrea Orlandi
supplying an outstanding opener.
The first-half strike was born out
of Wayne Bridges willingness to
chase a seemingly lost cause, but it
was Orlandis touch, turn and fine
shot that stole the show.
The second was delivered by sub-

Robin van Persie of


scores the equaliser

stitute Will Hoskins, who tucked


home David Lopezs defence-splitting pass, as the play-off hopefuls
completed a comfortable win.
Newcastle were further frustrated by captain Shola Ameobis
second-half sending off.
Ameobi was deeply unlucky to
receive the second yellow from referee Lee Probert and will miss Saturdays match against Norwich.
Two goals in the last five minutes by Matthew Barnes-Homer
saw Conference side Macclesfield
claim a 2-1 win over Championship leaders Cardiff.
The Bluebirds went ahead when
Nathaniel Jarvis forced the ball
home from close range but Macclesfield levelled when BarnesHomer slotted into the centre of
the goal with five minutes to go.
The game was turned completely
on its head when Barnes-Homer
scored from the penalty spot with
two minutes to go after he had
been fouled by Jarvis.
Luton had to endure nine minutes of injury time to send Wolves
out of the competition.
Alex Lawless fired the Hatters
ahead just 34 seconds into the second half as he lashed an unstoppable volley home.
Robbie Simpson scored twice as
League One Oldham won 3-1 at
Nottingham Forest.
Matt Smiths 13th-minute own
goal put the hosts in front but the
Latics levelled with a shot from
distance by Simpson.
Simpson headed home four minutes later and things got worse for

Forest.
Danny Collins was given a
straight red card for a foul on Matt
Smith and from the resulting freekick Jose Baxter made it 3-1.
Bournemouth had to settle for
a replay against Wigan after a 1-1
draw at the DW Stadium
The League One side took the
lead four minutes before the break
thanks to a fine goal by Eunan
OKane.
However, the Premier League side
levelled through a fortuitous penalty with Jordi Gomezs spot-kick
parried by the keeper but the midfielder pounced on the rebound to
slot home with 20 minutes left.
A stoppage-time goal by Nick
Proschwitz saw Hull scrape a 1-1
draw against Leyton Orient.
The League One side went ahead
with 12 minutes to go when Dean
Coxs cross was met with a bullet
header by David Mooney.
However, Proschwitzs downward header earned a replay for
the Championship high-flyers.
Fulham needed an equaliser 10
minutes from time to earn a 1-1
draw at home to Blackpool.
Ludovic Silvestre put the Seasiders ahead with half an hour to
go when he fired home a 25-yard
shot.
However, Robert Harris clearance from Bryan Ruizs corner
could only find Giorgos Karagounis on the edge of the box and
he looped a volley into the net.
Sunderland came from two goals
down to claim a 2-2 draw at Bolton.

The Trotters went ahead in the


12th minute following a defensive
mistake by Carlos Cuellar, his ball
pounced on by Chung-Yong Lee
whose low shot went into the centre of the goal.
Poor defending again saw Bolton
double their lead as Marvin Sordell slotted home into the bottom
left-hand corner from close range.
Connor Wickham gave Sunderland hope just a minute after coming on (60) and Craig Gardener
sent an unstoppable equaliser into
the roof of the net from 35 yards
with 15 minutes left.
Aston Villa came from behind to
beat Ipswich 2-1.
Michael Chopra pounced just
after the half-hour for the visitors but Villa made a perfect start
to the second half, Darren Bent
stabbing home after good work by
Charles NZogbia just 36 seconds
after the break.
Gabriel Agbonlahor put a fine
ball in which found Andreas Weimann who powered home a header
to give Villa the lead with seven
minutes to go.
Reading came from a goal down
after 14 seconds to win 3-1 at
League One Crawley.
Nicky Adams fired Crawley
ahead but two from Adam Le Fondre and a Noel Hunt strike saw the
Royals through.
Norwich eased to a 3-0 victory at
Championship Peterborough.
Elliott Bennett put the Premier
League side ahead after half an
hour following Robert Snodgrass
pass and they doubled their lead

four minutes before the break,


Simeon Jackson getting in behind
the defence.
Snodgrass got a third with 20
minutes left.
Clint Dempsey and Gareth Bale
tormented Coventry as Tottenham
eased to a 3-0 win.
In an all-Premier League clash,
QPR and West Brom drew 1-1.
Shane Long put the Baggies ahead
with a low shot with 11 minutes to
go before Kieron Dyer levelled in
injury time.
Crystal Palace and Stoke shared
a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.
Hastings on-loan goalkeeper
Liam OBrien saved a penalty from
Ishmael Miller before Middlesbrough went on to win 4-1.
Merouane Zemmama (two), Andrew Halliday and Miller scored
for Boro with Bradley Goldburg on
target for Hastings.
Leeds and Birmingham drew 1-1,
Huddersfield won 1-0 at Charlton
who had Dorian Dervite sent off,
Blackburn beat Bristol City 2-0
and Barnsley won 1-0 against 10man Burnley.
Danny Hylton scored a hat-trick
and was then sent off for serious
foul play as Aldershot beat Rotherham 3-1 with both sides finishing
with 10 men, Leicester won 2-0
over Burton, Derby eased past
Tranmere 5-0, Sheffield United
won 3-0 at Oxford and Sheffield
Wednesday drew 0-0 with MK
Dons.
Millwall beat Preston 1-0 while
Southend drew 2-2 with Brentford.

Forthcoming schedules of Maltas National teams


AFTER the Christmas and New
Year festivities our national teams
will be back in action, either engaged in training schedules or in
playing friendly matches.
The senior XI, under the guidance of coach Pietro Ghedin, will
resume their training programme
on Tuesday 8th and Wednesday
9th January at at the National
Training Centre in Ta Qali. This
will be in preparation for the home
friendly against Northern Ireland
on 6th February which would be

the last outing for the national


team prior to their 2014 FIFA
World Cup Brazil, Group B away
match against Bulgaria on the
22nd March to be followed by the
home match in the same competition against Italy on 26th March.
The Under 21 will face Austria
at the Hibernians Stadium for an
international friendly match on
the 6th of February and on the
15th of January, Ray Farrugia will
have an initially assessment of
the new squad against an Italian

team, ASD Vigor Mellis- Roma.


The womens national team will
also be in action against Cyprus in
a friendly encounter on the 12th
January. This match is another one
in a series of preparation matches
for our womens team in view of
their competitive commitments in
April when they face Albania, Luxembourg and Latvia in the UEFA
Women s Preliminary Round
matches.
The Futsal national team, under
coach Kevin Mifsud, will in turn

be meeting England on the Sunday 6th January in a the 3rd International Friendly Futsal Tournament, a quadrangular event at
the Hibernians Sports Pavilion.
Maltas next matches are against
Georgia on Monday 7th January
and Greece on Wednesday 9th
January. The Futsal national team
will once again be in action at the
end of January in the UEFA Futsal
competition. Malta will be hosting the event, a group which also
includes Georgia and Moldova.

50

Sport

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

CRICKET

CYCLING

First win for Melita Armstrong con


YESTERDAY afternoon the MCA
Cricket winter league continued
with the opening game of the second round between Krishna C.C
and Melita C.C. In the first round
encounter Krishna managed to
win.
The Krishna team batted first.
Andy Mitchell top scored with
fifty four runs which included four
fours, a great innings to watch.
Mike Caruana scored twenty eight
runs and Nowell Khosla was the
only other batsmen into double
figures making ten runs. Chris Riordan bowled extremely well as did
all the Melita bowlers. Riordan and
Andy Naudi ended with three wickets each. Sumair Khan two wickets
and Pierre Naudi one wicket. The
total of 121 runs was not going to
be easy to defend.
The Krishna team had their tails
up when they had the Melita team
four wickets down with only fourteen runs on the board. Simon
Lavendar who had scored nine
runs from seven balls had to retire, which gave the Krishna team
more hope. A defiant innings from
Sam Aquilina of eighteen runs and
a patient innings of nineteen from
Andy Naudi set their team back on
track. Chris Riordan played a wonderful innings which included five

Lance Armstrong is considering


admitting publicly to the use of
performance enhancing drugs
during his cycling career, according
to a report in the New York Times.

fours along to a forty two not out


along with Chris Naudi , twenty
two runs which saw their team
to their first victory in the competition. Nowell Khosla was the
main wicket taker with three while
Bikram Arora took one. Kevin
Krishna took the catch of the day
when he had to dive forward to dismiss Brooke.
The Melita team earned eight

points for the win which take them


to thirteen in the standings. The
Krishna team earned one point and
still lead the standings with nineteen points while the Marsa team
sit second with fourteen points.
Next Saturday the Krishna team
take on Marsa C.C. In the morning the Sunoco Cricket Academy
re commences from 9:00 till 10:30
am.

FORMULA 1

We could have kept Hamilton, says Dennis


RON Dennis, former
McLaren Team Principal
and now Executive Chairman of McLaren Automotive, has revealed that the
outfit could have retained
Lewis Hamilton for the
2013 Formula 1 campaign, but instead opted
not to. The 2008 World
Champion announced a
three-year deal with rivals
Mercedes last September.
Lewis Hamilton and Ron Dennis
Having spent six seasons with McLaren, debthe end of the day, you end up with a
uting at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton has been situation where youre going to sepaunable to build upon his sole title suc- rate if the circumstances arent right.
cess of 2008. He is eager to change this Life isnt about one person deciding
statistic through what he describes as anything. Its never that way. Its about
a fresh start at the Silver Arrows, but circumstances.
Everybody says: Am I bitterly this
Dennis says the 27-year-olds move
or bitterly that? What? Im a realist.
was more than just a personal choice.
I think its wrong to portray that Did we have the ability to create a situLewis left this team, Dennis explained ation where we could have stayed toto The Business Voice magazine. At gether? Categorically, yes. Would that

have been the right thing to do?


We didnt think so.
Dennis went on to discuss
Hamiltons future in more detail, explaining that although
he is not wishing anything
negative on the 21-time race
winner as he prepares to begin
his Mercedes career, he hopes
McLaren can reign supreme
on-track.
Whatever people choose to
do at the end of a contractual
period, the professional thing
to do is to be supportive of the
other side, said Dennis, who left
his Formula 1 role in 2009. We dont
wish him every success at Mercedes
thats understandable, as hes obviously going to be a competitor but
we dont wish him anything negative.
Sergio Prez has replaced Hamilton
at McLaren on a multi-year agreement, joining Jenson Button who is
entering a fourth season with the
Woking-based squad in 2013.

THE New York Times has claimed


that Armstrong is close to admitting to the damning report from
the United States Anti-Doping Association (USADA) which resulted
in his lifetime ban from cycling.
Armstrong was found guilty of
widespread doping and was also
subsequently stripped of his seven
Tour de France titles.
The USADA report concluded
that Armstrong and his US Postal
Service team had run the most
sophisticated,
professionalised
and successful doping programme

that sport has ever seen.


The Texan, who did not co-operate with the USADA investigation, has remained silent since the
sanction although he opted not to
appeal the decision.
Armstrong also removed mention of his seven Tour wins on his
Twitter profile. It is believed he is
considering an admission because
he wants to resume his athletic
career, and has shown an interest
in competing in triathlons.
Asked whether the 41-year-old
was set to come clean about his

TENNIS

Murray into final


amid Brisbane
controversy
THE US Open champion eased
into the final when opponent Kei
Nishikori retired injured in the
second set.
After his win Murray threw his
unequivocal support behind the
crackdown on time-wasting in
tennis, because he believes it will
turn the sport into even more of
a survival of the fittest.
The top-seeded Scot and Bulgarias Dimitrov will contest the
Brisbane title on Sunday amid
widespread controversy over the
strict enforcement of a rule that
had been virtually ignored for
years.
Dimitrov will aim to usurp the
defending champion after a 6-3
5-7 7-6 triumph against Marcos
Baghdatis that was notable for
the Cypriot being penalised for
a time violation in the deciding
tiebreaker.
The Association of Tennis Professionals is trying to speed up

matches and an automatic fault


was called against Baghdatis
when he exceeded the time limit
at 2-2 in the tiebreaker.
Baghdatis was clearly agitated
by the call at such a crucial juncture and Dimitrov won the decider 7-5 to reach his first tour final
and earn a clash with Murray.
The Briton made a sluggish
start to his semi-final but rallied
to lead Nishikori 6-4 2-0 when
the Japanese number one withdrew because of a knee injury.
Murray said the crackdown on
time wasting had stemmed from
Novak Djokovics win over Rafael Nadal in their gruelling 2012
Australian Open final that lasted
almost six hours.
Im for them being more strict
with the time, but I think they
maybe should have increased the
time allowed first, because 25
seconds goes by pretty quick,
Murray said.

Fast, Reliable, Economical

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51

Sport

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

FOOTBALL

nsidering doping admission


drug-taking past Armstrongs
lawyer, Tim Herman, told the New
York Times: Lance has to speak
for himself on that.
The newspaper claimed that
Armstrong had met with USADA
chief executive Ty Tygart - who
called for the Texan to tell the
truth last month - although Herman denied a meeting had taken
place.
Speaking to the Guardian, Tygart revealed he has previously
asked Armstrong - who has since
stepped down from his Livestrong
charity to distance them from the
controversy - to reveal the truth.
We gave him an opportunity to
come in and be truthful, he said.
That was probably the lowest point for me, because I really
thought the change for sport and
the legacy of this effort could have
been huge, far bigger if he had
embraced being a solution rather

Lance Armstrong

than an ongoing problem.


I just know the power of an
athlete in that predicament. We
had 11 athletes come forward and
their stories are what has allowed

this to happen and theyre very


powerful.
To be the one, with the reach
and the appeal he has, could have
taken it to a whole new level as far

as the good that could come from


it is concerned. It would be as big
as weve ever seen in terms of promoting the integrity and the values of sport.

L-Argument
returns on
ONE
THE most followed sports programme L-ARGUMENT kicksoff brilliantly on Sunday with its
first edition in 2013 providing a
handful of features focusing on
this weeks matches primarily
the Premiers league limelight
one Hibernians vs Valletta,
the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Division
games.
Undoubtedly discussions will
be held between representatives
from both Hibs and Valletta
Clubs together with L-ARGUMENTs residential guests Mark
Marlow and Pawlu Farrugia.
An educational feature regarding Vallettas nursery and the
best 3 players of the week will be
unveiled.
Dont miss L-ARGUMENT on
Sunday, 6th January between
5pm and 6.45pm presented by
Mark Cutajar, Janice Briffa and
Clinton Buhagiar on ONE.

Weather & Crosswords


WEATHER: Fine
VISIBILITY: Good
WIND: North to Northwest force 5 becoming Northwest
force 4
SEA: Rough becoming moderate
SWELL: Low to moderate Northwest becoming
low in the afternoon and becoming low to moderate
Northeast locally moderate overnight

14/110
PARTLY
CLOUDY

170/110
PARTLY
CLOUDY

UV: 2

UV: 2

TODAY

TOMORROW

PHARMACIES OPEN TODAY

GOZO FERRIES
DAILY OPERATION TIMES

USEFUL TELEPHONE
NUMBERS
Emergency,Police,Fire,
Ambulance ...................... 112

REGENT Pharmacy, 70, Triq Merkanti, Valletta


SAN Raffael Pharmacy, 247, Triq al Qormi,
Marsa
FATIMA Pharmacy, Triq i-onqor, Santa Venera
RATIONAL Pharmacy, 74/75, Triq il-Wied,
Birkirkara
REGAL Pharmacy, 39B, Triq Antonio Bosio,
Msida
LOURDES Pharmacy, Triq in-Naxxar, San wann
WALES Pharmacy, 183, Triq Manwel Dimech,
Sliema
BALZAN Pharmacy, 70, Triq San Frangisk,
Balzan
ROTUNDA Pharmacy, 7, Triq il-Kungress
Ewkaristiku, Mosta
VILLAGE Pharmacy, Main Street, Melliea
ST. Monica Pharmacy, 157, Triq Santa Monica,
Paola
ALPHA Pharmacy, Maria Immaculata, Triq
Cospicua C/W Vjal il-Kottoner, Fgura
MAY Day Pharmacy, Triq il-Vittorja, abbar
POMPEI Pharmacy, 28, Xatt is-Sajjieda,
Marsaxlokk
ST. Andrews Pharmacy, 25, Triq Dun Pawl, Luqa
TAL-GRAZZJA Pharmacy, Triq Frangisk
Farrugia, ebbu
CENTRAL Pharmacy, Triq Gajn Qajjet, Rabat
PALM Pharmacy, 2, Triq Palma, Victoria
NADUR Pharmacy, Pjazza it-28 ta April 1688,
Nadur

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 ight
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 weeks problem

Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Sunday

Solution to last weeks crossword

Sudoku

8
7

4
3

2
1
H

Mate in four or more moves

Qf5+ Kg7
Qf7+ Kh8
Bf6+ Ng7
Rh1# (Qxg7#)

Across
9. Not proper (13)
10. Weep (3)
11. Necessary (7)
12. Underground part of a plant (4)
13. Agitate (4)
15. Monetary unit of Saudi Arabia (5)
17. Corridor (7)
19. Accustom (5)
21. Finish rst (3)
23. Long (5)
24. Against (7)
25. Chaff (5)
27. Membership fees (4)
28. Goad (4)
30. Capital of Iraq (7)
32. Contend (3)
33. Prekindergarten (7,6)

Last weeks 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.

Down
1. Written history of a persons life (9)
2. Courtyard (5)
3. Duration (4)
4. Beer made at home (4-4)
5. Cunning (6)
6. Metal fastener (4)
7. Pruning shears (9)
8. Aviator (5)
14. Threads (5)
16. Speaks with impediment (5)
18. Something stated (9)
20. Tolerable (9)
22. These days (8)
26. Tattered (6)
27. Sofa (5)
29. Hinge (5)
30. Obstructs (4)
31. Wharf (4)

News

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 JANUARY 2013

PNs no to Schiavone candidature


for refusing to retract allegation
against Franco Debono
MIRIAM DALLI
THE Nationalist Party remains
tight-lipped over its reasons not to
field Marsaxlokk activist Hermann
Schiavone long held to be a rival
of rebel MP Franco Debono for
refusing to retract allegations he
might have made against the selfsame MP.
Schiavone will not appear on the
PNs official list of candidates for
the 2013 general elections, a fact
made public by Schiavone himself
in a press conference held outside
the PN headquarters yesterday
evening.
Schiavone, already prevented from
contesting the 2003 and 2008 general elections over an internal ban
related to anonymous allegations
made against him, said he was bowing to the decision by the PN, which
asked Schiavone to publicly retract
allegations he is accused of having
made against Debono, by the MP
himself.
Schiavone was prevented from
contesting the 2003 elections after an anonymous letter received
by the PN forced him to withdraw.
The allegations of that letter remain
unclear, but it cost Schiavone his
candidature on the fifth electoral
district. His wife Anne ran in his
stead, winning 1,244 first prefer-

Gonzi.
ence votes.
Schiavone was evidently irked at
Years later, Nationalist MP Franco
Debono said he had been accused by the fact that he had been asked by
Schiavone of having been the source Gonzi three years ago to canof this anonymous letter. Debono vass on the fifth district,
said this allegation was made during from where he hails,
a conversation between Schiavone telling the press that
and the personal assistant of Law- he was very hurt at
the decision.
rence Gonzi, Edgar Galea-Curmi.
Schiavone
also
Schiavone yestrerday said he has
refused to make a public declara- said he was unaware
tion to retract this allegation, say- of claims that Naing Debono had recourse to other tionalist MP Beppe
remedies other than this public Fenech Adami had
encouraged him not
declaration.
While not denying the allegation to make this public
itself, Schiavone said Debono had declaration to
freely interpreted the private con- retract
versation he had had with GaleaCurmi, and refused to speculate on
whether his conversation had been
leaked to Debono. I wont speculate
as to what happened. The facts are
what they are and I was then asked
to issue this declaration. And I
didnt feel that I should make
such a declaration.
I bow to this decision by the
party, which told me they
dont require my services.
I thank Eddie FenechAdami for his support in the
last 30 years - politics has
given me much satisfaction, Schiavone said, almost studiously leaving out
Hermann Schiavone
any similar tribute to Lawrence

the hearsay allegations.


I have committed no crime. I have
always been loyal to my party and I
love the party and I remain loyal,
Schiavone said.
What remains unclear is
why the PN set much store
in asking one of its candidates to retract the hearsay allegation against
the partys bte-noire,
Franco Debono: the
same MP who brought
down the government in
the last budget.
PN secretary-general
Paul
Borg

Olivier had no comment to make on


whether Franco Debono had been
in touch with the party over Schiavones candidature.
Earlier in April 2012, Schiavone
had aunched his own electoral campaign although he already been directed by the PN not to campaign on
the fifth district, ostensibly for having raised the ire of Franco Debono,
who was back then threatening to
vote against the government in a
confidence vote.
The approval of three prospective
candidates on the fifth district had
already been put on hold by the partys executive in September 2009, in
a bid not to irk Debono after he absented himself during a parliamentary vote.
Contacted by MaltaToday, Franco
Debono said he had no reaction to
the partys decision. I disassociate
myself from this issue. The party
had issued a declaration in which it
asked Schiavone to substantiate the
allegations or else withdraw them.
If Schiavones denial is true, Galea
Curmi would have said so.
Debono added that when he
was informed about the allegation accusing him of having
authored the anonymous letter
that robbed Schiavone of his
candidature, he had immediately
notified the police to investigate
the matter.

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