Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506016
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 AUGUST 2023 COMMENT The Skinny Malta, shrunk down EDITORIAL The waste problem PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASSAR A one-man civic education campaign PAGE 6 Reshuffles are a way to avoid appearing stale. Refreshing the government through a reshuffle can be an attractive option when a government is unpopular, as Robert Abela's seems to be at the moment MARK SAID | PAGE 4 What are we skinning? PN lead- er Bernard Grech being turned away from the party's own club during the San Cajetan morning march in Hamrun last Sunday, leading to an altercation that led to the hospitalisation of one of Grech's supporters. Why are we skinning it? Because it's a distillation of both the intox- icating - and often, intoxicated - festa atmosphere, while simul- taneously serving as a sobering (read: depressing) reminder that a certain strand of political-tribal sentiment is very much alive and kicking on the island. Why was Grech turned away? We're talking about a climactic moment of the legendary Ham- run feast here, so let's just say that there's a 'fog of war' sur- rounding the ever-elusive hard facts of the case... Granted, go on... So, there are two conflicting versions of the story. One claims that the bar- man who turned Grech away did so because he feared the political repercussions of Grech showing his face in a bar which appeared to be hosting, at that point, people of varying political allegiance. The second version has it that the barman was irate at Grech's sporadic attendance at the club over the years, and that him showing up now was too lit- tle, too late. Which one do you believe? Whatever I, or anyone else be- lieves, would have to be framed by the only (unfortunate) hard fact we do know about the inci- dent: that Grech supporter Noel Mifsud Bonnici was assaulted as a result of whatever exchange took place, and ended up in hos- pital as a result of his wounds. That sounds like a sub-optimal outcome. It is, in various ways. Blame the booze, I guess. I would rather blame the indi- viduals involved, but perhaps that's a fight for another day (no pun intended). It's certainly a fight that should not have tak- en place on a festa day where, despite the expected jolt of al- cohol-fuelled revelry, one ex- pects a bedrock of communal solidarity. It certainly does nothing to dispel the idea that festas are largely street-parties given ec- clesiastical varnish. And if the 'Delia Theory' is correct, neither does it help the PN's image. How so? The Delia-Grech rivalry was one of the greatest PR boons to the Labour Party media ma- chine, supposedly revealing an internal rift that proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the PN is unfit to rule because it can- not get its house in order. Has that really changed, though? That is certainly something the PL would like us to think, yes. In fact, ONE News were the first to fan the 'Delia Theory' far and wide... it's a wound it befits them to reopen at the earliest and readiest opportunity. I wouldn't think it's the shrewd- est option, though. Why do you say that? Exhuming the ghost of rivalries past will only put the spotlight back onto the PL's own internal rift. That's possible. It seems like we're on a race back to the bottom end of zero-sum poli- tics, where each party starts off on equal footing as former su- per-majorities fade away. Is that really a bad thing, though? I mean... like a political leader allegedly causing a ruck- us by dint of their mere presence at the Santa Marija feast, it does at the very least have a nostalgic thrill to it. Do say: "The fact that the incident culminated in an act of physical violence stands as a regretta- ble reminder of the hot-headed nature in which we process the political landscape as a nation, all the more so if Grech was be- ing accused of actually showing LESS loyalty than was expected of him." Don't say: "Party leaders should only ever be barred entry at their respective HQs. We all get so much more work done when the boss is on holiday, right?" No. 205 - Turn Around, Bernie MICHAEL FALZON What a Wonder Ball! PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN Ghosts from the past PAGE 5