Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/731331
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2016 24 Opinion A 'coalition against corruption' should be made of sterner stuff I t seems that hardly a day goes by without some major political contradiction or other arising out of almost nowhere. Just yesterday, for instance, the Nationalist Party issued a statement 'welcoming' the Planning Authority's decision to revoke four fish farm permits, after the farms in question were found to be in gross, multiple violations of their permit conditions. Excellent news, I must say, that the PN suddenly considers the law worth enforcing when it comes to the local tuna industry. It wasn't quite that way when all the same issues – and illegalities – were painstakingly pointed out by this newspaper seven years ago... with the PN firmly entrenched in government, and its tentacles deeply embedded in the tuna slime. Ah well. Better late than never, I guess. The only trouble is that this change of heart came about barely two weeks after Nationalist leader Simon Busuttil tweeted a considerably different reaction to an earlier, opposite decision by the PA – i.e., NOT to revoke the same licences. "Fair enough," Busuttil tweeted at the time. "The onus is now on industry to prove it can meet proper [environmental] standards. Workers must surely be relieved..." Hmm. Try and work that one out. So the PN leader thinks the original decision was 'fair', and expresses relief on behalf of the workers... yet two weeks later, the party he leads expresses a polar opposite opinion, and forgets all about its leader's concerns with the fish farm employees' plight. I suppose, by that token, that if the PA suddenly changes its mind yet again... let's face it, stranger things have happened... I suppose the PN would have to once again welcome the decision to spare the fish farms from an enforcement order... even if it corresponds to the antithesis of the decision they welcomed this week, which itself contradicted the last previous PN statement on the same issue. Once more I am reminded of Schrodinger's cat, which was both alive and dead simultaneously (Note: don't ask me to explain it again... apparently I made a mess of it the last time). Only in this case, we have a political party which simultaneously manages to both agree and disagree with law enforcement and proper environmental standards, without appearing to even notice the anomaly. And the truly bizarre thing is that, while it may look, feel and smell like a complete contradiction in terms... it isn't. It only becomes contradictory when you make the mistake of considering the Nationalist Party to be a single entity with a single purpose. If you take it for what it is, however... i.e., a formless, shapeless mish-mash of conflicting and contrasting opinions and political directions, somehow hammered, chopped and stretched to fit under a single banner... the contradictions iron themselves out in no time at all. Of course the PN and its leader would send out totally incompatible messages about the tuna industry. They are fishing for both the environmentalist vote and the tuna industry's financial support in the same murky waters. And OK, I'll admit that none of this surprises me in the least: if there is one... actually, two things on which both parties have been tremendously consistent over the years, they would be inconsistency itself, and the reasons described above. This is why the PN somehow managed to be anti-divorce and pro-divorce for years, until its internal divisions were flushed out into the open by the 2011 referendum campaign. It also explains why the same PN can rail from the rooftops about the sale of Maltese passports, while its own top officials are greedily raking in most of the profits. And why stop there? The same formula could be applied to Labour's changing relations with the EU... Labour's laissez- faire attitude towards corruption today, and how it contrasts with its former statements when in Opposition... Labour's complaints about 'hate blogs', when a top Labour official owns and administers one himself... The list is endless. What endlessly fascinates me, however, is that both these parties continue to hold great sway over large parts of the population. This week's absurdity, for instance, arose just as the PN held its Independence Day rally on Raphael Vassallo Virtù Ferries MaltaToday and Virtù Ferries have teamed up to take one lucky winner and a companion every week to Sicily, with two tickets to be won every week in our photography competition. Already been on holiday? Good: we're sending you back if your best photograph from your holidays and travels makes the cut. That's right: send us a good quality image of your holidays and we'll send the best one to the gateway of Italy with Virtù Ferries. Malta - Sicily Express Ferries For more information visit www.virtuferries.com or contact by telephone 23491000 RULES OF THE COMPETITION maltatoday Conditions apply: 1. Tickets for each week's competition can only be won by one person who submits one entry of a high-res image with description. Entrants with more than one entry WILL NOT be considered. Entrants must send a description of photo. 2. Winners will be informed before the end of the week, and then announced on maltatoday.com.mt and MaltaToday on Sunday. 3. By entering this offer, entrants consent to their photos being published and owned by Mediatoday Co Ltd. 4. The entrant with the best photograph will be awarded two (2) return tickets, valid for travel to any Virtù Ferries destination. Mediatoday's decision is final. 5. Tickets are issued free of charge, excluding port charges, and in accordance with Virtù Ferries' rules and regulations. All taxes and charges are to be paid accordingly by the winning entrant upon the issuance of tickets. 6. This offer is closed to employees and contributors of Mediatoday Co. Ltd and Virtù Ferries, or their family members. This week's theme: Travel SEND US PHOTOS FROM YOUR FAVOURITE HOLIDAY PHOTO COMPETITION Photos should be a hi-res image (one per individual entry) with a sentence or two about what inspired you to take your photo. Entrants are kindly reminded not to send in personal family pictures that might be unrelated to theme subjects unless expressly requested. If sending a photo by post, address it to: 'MaltaToday photo competition', Mediatoday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann, SGN9016 Please supply your daytime telephone number, your name, your home address and an email address. Send the photo via email on info@mediatoday.com.mt [SUBJECT HEADING: MaltaToday photo competition] by next Friday at 9am. Themes may change from one week to the other This week's winner is ROSANNE PUGLISEVICH with the photo Monasteries - 'Meteora' - Greece. The PN sends out totally incompatible messages about the tuna industry… fishing for both the environmentalist vote and the tuna industry's financial support in the same murky waters