Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489264
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JANUARY 2023 COMMENT Pelé: a global superstar SIMON CHADWICK PAGE 7 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON 2022: Beyond the year that was PAGE 7 ALEX AGIUS SALIBA 'Qatargate' about more than just 'Qatar' INTERVIEW PAGES 8 & 9 EDITORIAL Malta needs to clean its act up… fast PAGE 2 ANDREW BONELLO & OSCAR PARES Why a bottom-up approach is necessary for not-for-profit cannabis associations PAGES 10 & 11 Pelé's talent has never been in doubt. Yet it was fortuitous that he played at a time when soccer was emerging from the shadows cast by global conflict, when the world needed symbols of hope and sporting heroes What are we skinning? Celebrity criminal lawyer and chronic internet-atten- tion addict Franco Debono suggesting that former Xara- bank presenter and current chronic plastic fetus carrier Peppi Azzopardi serve as the nation's next prime minister. Why are we skinning it? Because it brings together two of the country's most persistently annoying public figures in one sentence, for reasons that cannot help but be telling of the current (and arguably, eternal) national mood. How is that? Well, it could arguably be all about Franco Debono pitching for his own version of the Trump phenomenon by putting Peppi forward as candidate for head of state, which is a thing in its own right. It certainly is a 'thing', though more likely akin to Lovecraft's The Thing that Should Not Be, and/or John Carpenter's titular disgust- ingly protean creature from the '80s classic of the same name... Your Christmas mov- ie marathon was distinctly different to mine... What can I say, I'm a Hal- loween-every-day kinda person. The promise of a Peppi presidency must be very exciting for you, then. More than The Thing, it gives me They Live vibes, if nothing else. Now you're going down a reference-rab- bit-hole that's gonna lose most of the audience... Which proves that the Peppi life is not the life for me. You don't choose it, it choos- es you. Seriously though, how unifying IS Peppi, really? It'll depend on who you ask. I mean, he spearheaded the country's most-watched 'discussion' programme back in the day... The 'day' being the relative- ly sedate mid-90s to early '10s, though... Which apart from its comparatively quiet political climate, was also a time before such divisive, sensationalistic 'culture wars' could be comfortably fought by each and every one of us from the comfort of our couches as we clutched our respective digital devic- es... Wow, observational cultural commentary that ALSO rhymes! Never let it be said that I skimp on bestowing holiday gifts, late to the party as I may be... The real gift here is that Franco Debono opted against crowning himself prospective president... A truly shocking out-of-char- acter move -- a glitch in the script that we can only at- tribute to a piercing holiday hangover. Do say: "Conflating 'populist' with 'unifying' has caused little but long-term grief for our culture internationally, so maybe we should dodge that bullet locally?" Don't say: "Being an- ti-choice seems to be the presidential brand du jour, so Peppi would fit right in, actually. After all, even after the powers-that-be chose to get rid of his televisual shout-fest, he still appears to be hovering around, ready to polemise his next hobby-horse opinion to oblivion." No. 172 - Peppi Pipped for Prez