It is a revolting sight at any time of the day. But in the morning, right after breakfast and when the body is still without a firm grip on itself, you have to turn your eyes away from it to avoid a violent retch....

The politics of all small communities tend to have a Byzantine quality. Malta’s baroque politics have much more than that. Besides being complicated, they tend .to defy comprehension. ...

The other week, I found a small piece of paper thrust inside my letter box (that’s right, the same letter box whose acquaintance you all made several weeks ago, and which continues to this day to withstand an apparently endless siege of junk mail.) ...

Political gimmicks are not new to these islands. Some are harmless and are merely used as a ploy to attract attention, but are less innocent in scope. ...

In any discussion of government, the words “overload” and “stress” go together. They represent an ever-present danger to stable and good government....

While attending the official ceremony to mark the Sette Giugno 1919 riots, word got round that a wreath was going to be placed at the foot of the monument by a new political movement....

“Reports suggest there will be no initiative to rescue the Constitution, no agreement on the budget for 2007-13 and an unusual silence on what many consider the EU’s most successful policy – enlargement.” (source BBC news, 16 June)....

Two Germans have had published a ‘dire straits’ cookbook called Hartz IV – A Cookbook for Hard Times. ...

The process has only been conducted by the Malta Labour Party. It has been subjected, as expected, to a running campaign of misinformation by those who believed it provided another opportunity to destabilise Labour....

“Most African regimes are corrupt and specialise in squandering public funds. For this reason, one should not waste time on bailing out these countries.” ...