Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1487299
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 DECEMBER 2022 COMMENT Call it by its name – femicide RENEE LAIVIERA PAGE 13 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON A debate becomes a debacle PAGE 7 JOSANNE CASSAR On abortion, clarity is paramount PAGE 6 RAPHAEL VASSALLO Bernard the Barbarian PAGES 10 - 11 SAVIOUR BALZAN Robert's first test PAGE 5 Bernice Cassar's cold-blooded murder on the street, just a few blocks away from her place of work, was the alarm ringing again after being put on snooze twice this year in the wake of Paulina Dembska's and Rita Ellul's murders What are we skinning? The Nationalist Party descend- ing into even faster freefall after the announcement of an imminent amendment to laws related to the termination of pregnancy. Why are we skinning it? Because nothing will provide you with a more accurate X-Ray of the PN's current condition, than the mention of anything resembling abortion becoming a viable subject of discussion in the Maltese political sphere. But we're not talking about abortion here, are we? Oh heavens no. Our Prime Minister was very clear about that. About what? About the termination of pregnancy not being remotely connected to anything resembling abortion, and that the A-word remains an utter taboo word for his cabinet and poltical direction. So what's the PN so scared of, then? Well, it's likely ye olde chestnut: an abject fear of granting women bodily auton- omy, lest chaos be unleashed on the social order, requiring the double-chins of men in power to occasionally lend themselves to an additional quiver, while they tuck into some roast beef and seasoned potatoes prepared for them by a loving, doting wife. The bishops have come out in full force against it too. But that's to be expected. And to be fair, I kind of expect it from elements within the PN estab- lishment too… What didn't you expect, then? I didn't expect PN leader Bernard Grech to clumsily pun on American tourist Andrea Prudente's name, after he said that the doctors who refused to perform an abortion on her clinically unviable "pregnan- cy" were the prudent ones in the occasion. That IS wince-worthy. Then expect your world to be rocked after I tell you what former PN MP Jason Azzopardi said on the matter… I'm ready. You're not: Azzopar- di claimed that Prudente was in on an orchestrated campaign by the pro-life lobby in Malta, travelling from America to our abortion-antsy island for the sole purpose of fomenting the debate… You're right. I wasn't quite ready for that. QAnon never went away, only emigrated to Malta, it seems… Anything else? Oh, Karol Aqui- lina also said something about the government passing a suspiciously abortiony amend- ment too close to Christmas for comfort, and how would baby Jesus feel about all that? Ah, but that ties in nicely with Tonio Fenech's claim that the Virgin Mary cried upon learning that we've introduced divorce. If they're good at anything anymore, nostalgia is certainly a trick that the PN can play with gusto. Do say: "While the introduction of abortion is certainly a delicate topic that needs to be handled with care given Malta's cultural history on the matter, the PN also needs to understand that it needs to up- date its distate for the issue and approach it with fresh tools." Don't say: "The PN could have leaned into Repubblika and simply become a large group of insufferable, tight-arsed 'puliti'. Instead it seems like it's head- ing towards full-blown Alex Jones. Certainly a... choice. No 168 - Just Because You're Unelectable, Doesn't Mean They're Not After You