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Tuesday, 26th February 2008

Moving the goalposts

The past week has been dominated by the so called University debate.

I say “so called” because it was anything but a civilised debate. Those of us who were blessed with the opportunity to study abroad at a foreign university or, better still, to have done our post-graduate degree at Oxford and to have attended and participated in the debates of the of the Oxford Union Society will tell you that the Malta university spectacle was anything but a debate in the true sense of the word. Of course, the small minority who showed their true, undemocratic, colours cannot and must not be taken as representative of the entire student body.

However, having said this, I must say that what should really worry us all is that roughly nine out of every 10 university students simply did turn up or did not bother to attend for this debate.

That’s all I want to and will say about the so called University debate.

I want to focus, rather, on the change of tack announced by the Prime Minister and Leader of the Nationalist Party during this last week. I say this because ever since he became leader and prime minister, Dr Gonzi has asked us to judge him not on what he says but on what he does. Since the Zabbar meeting, however, Dr Gonzi has asked us to vote for him on the strength of his long list of proposals for the country.

There are two grounds on which to take exception to this. Firstly, a close reading of the proposals shows up a fair number of them to be repeat proposals which the PN has put in its electoral programmes time and again but which it has never got round to implementing. Among these, there is proposal number 213 which says that the Cirkewwa Sea Terminal will be built and financed out of EU funds. Then there is proposal 295 which pledges the building of a carnival and arts village. Likewise there is proposal 171 about a flood relief project for the Lija, Balzan, Birkirkara and Msida areas. In proposal 298, the PN is promising to take a final decision about the City Gate and Royal Opera House site. Again this is an issue which has featured in previous PN electoral manifestoes. In a similar re-hash, in promise number 23 the GonziPN electoral programme is once more promising to redevelop the Ta’ Qali crafts village. Again this is something which the Nationalist Party has been promising since 1992.

There are many more such examples but these are enough to show that the Prime Minister’s much vaunted 300 plus proposals are not all that new.

Curiously, then, many of these proposals on which Dr Gonzi is asking us to judge him on are also in themselves proof of the PN’s long list of failures since 1987.

This, then, underscores the second issue related to the Prime Minister’s change of tack this last week. Having realised that he is not making much inroads with his first appeal to be judged on what he does he has now opted for moving the goalposts.

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Comments

George Bonnici (on 3/3/08)
Hi Alfred. I believe that you remember very vividly the days when students were manhandled, threatened, bullied etc. etc. etc on the campus by thugs. No further comments. You know very well who the thugs represented. Feel safe that nowadays nobody will push you and knock you physically about for your comments but will just boo you.
kris scicluna (on 3/3/08)
i was one of those 9 students according to mr grixti, but actually i was just outside the door because i wasnt allowed in as the hall was packed BEFORE the debate even started. Mr alfred grixti is probably more used to halls of foreign universities with capacities of 10,000...
Jean Azzopardi (on 28/2/08)
However, having said this, I must say that what should really worry us all is that roughly nine out of every 10 university students simply did turn up or did not bother to attend for this debate.

How could every student attend the debate..when the hall could only hold a maximum of 1000 people? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Ruben Farrugia (on 27/2/08)
Hi AllFred, it is funny how you select your Blogs titles. First you shot a Boomerang, than you slipped on a Banana skin, now you are moving the goalposts,...now I know whats next you will Blame the referee and start giving him names hehehe Give him a name like this Gonnnnnnzzzzzziiiiiii
Ruben Farrugia (on 27/2/08)
Yes those blessed with the opportunity to study abroad and especially in Oxford was thanks to our present government, and not just those 'tal-klikka'as they used to be in 70s 80s right AllFred.
David Borg (on 26/2/08)
Mrs Clinton was recently booed at Texas State University in Austin for saying the following to Obama "I think that if your candidacy is going to be about words, then they should be your own words. That is, I think, a very simple proposition. And, you know, lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox.". Surprisingly none of the students were called fascist, like did ex deputy MLP leader. Can Grixti, who I respect as he lectured me at University, tell me if he too beleives Partnership won. If he fails to answer, or answer that Partnership did really win, then I will boo him. We now live in a democracy, dear Alfred and dear MLP, please learn things!
John Schembri (on 26/2/08)
The PM is not changing tack , he is building an 'argument'. What he is saying is that what he had promised he delivered , see the results; the good financial situation , better roads , Smart City , more employment , less unemployment , more tourists, the euro instead of the Lira, more post secondary students ,Lufthansa Technik , better environment , the list is endless. Dr Gonzi is now saying that now he is promising another set of 353 proposals , we experienced him , now we can trust him that he can and will deliver those promises. We cannot say the same about Dr Sant .Not only Sant did not deliver , but sometimes he imposed on us measures which were totally opposite to what he promised: removal of cash registers , increase in the prices of Gozo Channel ferry for the Gozitans , hefty increases in the water and electricity bills , drainage tax on every dwelling, CET , and a stagnated economy .This , and other measures were done in 20 months of uncertainty which MLP & AD conveniently try to make us forget. When Dr Sant comes up with one of his red herrings , we will find people on his side supporting him and in no time he pulls the public attention on the harebrained idea for a whole six months ; take this surcharge business. THAT is marketing. In a leader people give TRUST a weighting of 80% , Dr Sant cannot be trusted he already fooled us once. People don't care much about promises No's :295, 23 ,173, 298 , City gate etc I would call that ,detail , or nitpicking . So how about the dozen or so promises on the MLP manifesto which have already been implemented ? We were told that they were done to reaffirm the MLP position , misprints or computer errors. When I was a kid I remember the MLP promising us the Ombudsman , it had to be the PN to introduce the position in the Establishment. Charity begins at home , so how can we expect that OT will be paid at time and a half or double , when Notary Mangion said so and MLP employees are already being paid that way.That was not in the MLP manifesto but in the its hidden agenda. People cannot trust Dr Alfred Sant .

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