In the second of a two-part feature Anthony Manduca lists some of the memorable comments made in The Sunday Times of Malta in 2021
"ERA is toothless, and the Planning Authority is the big brother"
– Marine biologist Alan Deidun after he resigned from the Environment and Resources Authority board, June 6.
"Pika breeds rivalry and this causes emotions – a sense of injustice, jealousy and the idea that I need to show others what I am worth and that I am better"
– Anthropologist David Zammit explaining the traditional football rivalry between Italy and England supporters in Malta as the two countries faced each other in the Euro 2020 final, July 11.
"Nobody in modern history had the chance to change the systems in Malta as much as he [Joseph Muscat] did. Instead, he entrenched them in a way that they might be impossible to change, to fix"
– PN strategist Chistian Peregin, July 25.
"We either take the right road to reform our institutions to ensure we live in a true democracy, or else get lost in political rhetoric and risk a repeat of more shameful episodes in future"
– Former president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca reacting to the public inquiry which established that the state must bear responsibility for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, August 1
"In the face of a near total collapse of our institutions in such a brief span of time, at least today the judicial system has given us a ray of hope to which we must all cling as if all our lives depend on it"
– Former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi praising the judges who formed the board of inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death, August 1.
"Corradino Vindictive Facility"
– Former prison inmate Anthony Borg describing Malta’s prison where ‘vindictiveness’ has become the order of the day, August 15.
"COVID-19 is bogged down in bureaucracy, with a lack of general communication, some illogical reasoning and mixed messages"
– Elisa McKenna, who together with her family had to stay quarantined in Sicily for a month after her daughter repeatedly tested positive for COVID-19 while on holiday there, September 5.
"Malta needs 100 more years of construction"
– Construction mogul Joseph Portelli, September 19.
"At the time I remember thinking maybe this is the way God wants to show me what life is about"
– Steven Gatkuoth, who was imprisoned more than 10 times in Libya while trying to flee by sea, before finaly making it to Malta, where he is now part of the artistic community, September 26.
"Had I known that I had to beg for an investigation, I would have been one of those raped people who don’t speak up"
– Maria (not her real name) who was not asked for her version of events 15 months after she was brutally raped, October 3.
"That is the challenge that I face: to convince people that not all politicians are corrupt"
– PN leader Bernard Grech on the damage done to Malta by former prime minister Joseph Muscat, October 3.
"Her dream had sunk with her two children"
– Caterina Famularo, former director of the Lampedusa Migrants Reception Centre, talking about Massa, a migrant from Liberia, who left her country with two of her children aged three and 13, both of whom drowned on the journey, October 10.
"I get stuck in traffic as well"
– Transport Minister Ian Borg replying to criticism about gridlock on Malta’s roads, despite the huge amount of money spent on roadworks, October 17.
"Young people are more interested in preserving the land, nature and environment, rather than economic growth and immigration"
– University lecturer Maria Pisani commenting on a survey which showed that 60 per cent of young people would rather live in another European country, October 24.
"People just read there was a 37-year-old Libyan man and Chinese boy and think something different happened"
– Libyan Majed Shanin, who nearly drowned trying to rescue a drowning boy and who faced racially motivated remarks since the incident in Sliema, November 14.
"It is a sad reflection of where humanity is"
– Suicide survivor Trudy Kerr reacting to a video which showed people urging a man in distress to commit suicide, November 21.
"The concept of Black Friday is not adequate for today’s world"
– Tamara Fenech, coordinator of Fashion Revolution Malta, which creates awareness about the social and environmental impacts caused by the fashion industry, November 28.
"I am happy to scrap the interview. Kill it. Sorry"
– MFSA’s new CEO Joseph Gavin after facing 17 minutes of questioning, December 12.
"I am genuinely sorry for hurting anyone"
– Cabinet Minister Owen Bonnici apologising for having ordered the clearing of the makeshift memorial to murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, December 19.