“No thanks, we’ve already got some.” That was the government’s reply to requests for a Europol Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Law Enforcement Minister Byron Camilleri’s excuse to Parliament was that Europol’s already involved in the case. But the assistance they’ve been asked to provide so far — directed by […] More
In the summer of 2001, on the day that John Rizzo’s appointment as the new police commissioner was announced, I was having dinner with someone who had had an advisory role in the choice. Rizzo’s predecessor had resigned after a sex scandal, and the adviser was relieved that finally, the whole affair was behind the […] More
Someone sure doesn’t want Joseph Muscat’s resignation letter to come out. You’d think a resignation letter would be pretty mundane. After all, the discredited public employee in question left his job four months ago. But when news outlets — including The Shift — called for the document to be made public, it was as though someone had […] More
When Robert Abela’s critics call him the continuity candidate, they are throwing his words back at him as an accusation. But what they understand by continuity is not what he promised. It’s important to understand the growing gap between the two. All Abela meant by continuity was what Labour Party members understand by a return […] More
Former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar is the latest Muscat crony to have his “parting gift” placed in the spotlight. It turns out the Commissioner that the people had been trying to get rid of since the 2017 Pilatus Bank debacle wasn’t asked to leave when Robert Abela took power. No, that indication of progress was […] More
Europe Day came and went with a quiet whimper this year as festivities commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Schumann Declaration had to be held in the circumstances that are, for the time being, the new normal. The border town where I live staged a masked protest complaining that the shut borders on the German […] More
Joseph Muscat’s supporters and critics are at it again. This time, though, it’s the critics who are hyping him up, the supporters downplaying his role. Is he really charting Malta’s path to post-pandemic recovery? Or should we pay heed to Silvio Schembri and Edward Scicluna, respectively ministers for the economy and finance? They say he […] More
Malta is holding 57 people hostage on the high seas to make some sort of point to Europe. They’re floating around 13 nautical miles offshore, in a Captain Morgan coastal ferry which isn’t designed for open water. It was licensed to navigate up to four nautical miles from land. But I guess that’s just a […] More
In many places across the world, we are witnessing a phenomenon of protests against the rules of lockdown. Protestors in various States invoke their constitutional rights to justify their claim to go back to work or to access their beaches (and even to give up wearing masks). Catholic movements in Italy referred to the right […] More
Is it legal, the way that Malta is treating irregular migrants crossing from Libya? Strangely, this question is a distraction. It prevents us from taking in the full picture of what’s going on. It’s strange because international law lies at the heart of the case. It’s a distraction because international law is no longer the […] More
The Muscat Regime was like a cross between King Midas and Pig Pen from Peanuts. Everything il-Kink touched turned to gold for him and his friends — but it was crusted in filth for everyone else. Thankfully, that nightmare is over. Robert Abela is a different kind of leader. Sure, his tenure began as a series […] More
The supposed Leader of the Free World tried his hand at suggesting possible rapid cures for coronavirus. The vast majority of the said free world listened aghast as he shifted from ideas involving the injection of disinfectant to large doses of UV exposure. It was a bit of a ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you […] More
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