In the second of a two-part feature Anthony Manduca lists some of the comments and controversial statements made during interviews with The Sunday Times of Malta in 2015.
One second you’re planning for your life, next you’re planning for your funeral
- 28-year-old Bjorn Formosa, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, August 2.
"They are people like us. The only difference is that their mistake is visible to all while that of others remains concealed"
- Sister Maria Adele Baldacchino, who spent 24 years working with inmates at the Corradino Correctional Facility, August 2.
"No other country in the world has almost half the population with a bus card"
- Transport Minister Joe Mizzi on the introduction of the Tallinja cards, August 9.
"Joseph Muscat encourages a mentality that is anti-European , dominated by selfishness, clientelism and mediocrity"
- PN leader Simon Busuttil, September 27.
"If we are so busy evangelising that we don’t let our humanity show through, then you lose a sense of authenticity"
- Australia-based Fr Rob Galea, who besides his pastoral work regularly sings live in front of thousands of people, October 4.
"A minister or an MP hands in his or her declaration of assets and everything stops there"
- Speaker Anġlu Farugia expressing his dissatisfaction with the way MPs submit their assets declarations, saying that questions need to be answered, October 11.
"Police leaders have to create teams rather than cliques [in the force]"
- Police Commissioner Michael Cassar, October 25.
"I should have done more to make sure the period of detention was the shortest possible without endangering our security"
- Former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi reflecting on the length of time migrants were held in detention when he was in office, November 1.
"I was praying for them to end it at this point. I was hoping someone would walk in and shoot me"
- Noel Sciberras, who was kidnapped for 47 days in Tripoli, describing his ordeal in captivity shortly after his release, November 8.
"I compare this summit to the 1989 Bush-Gorbachev meeting which symbolised the end of the Cold War, and the wartime visit of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in 1945 while on their way to Yalta"
- Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on his expectations for the EU Africa Summit held in Malta, November 8.
"I saw one policewoman, wearing a bulletproof vest, break down in front of me, she just started sobbing"
- Tommy Diacono, who was in a bistro in Paris close to the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed by jihadist terrorists in a night of terror in the French capital which saw a total of 130 people murdered, November 15.
"The Italians asked for nothing and we gave them nothing in return"
- Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela when asked why the Italians were now so accommodating on migration, November 15.
"If, God forbid, Bank of Valletta collapses, it will be the shareholders first, followed by bondholders and then the depositors who will save the bank"
- Outgoing BOV CEO Charles Borg explaining the European concept of a bail-in where taxpayers are no longer expected to rescue banks in trouble, November 29
"The Church cannot refuse to administer communion to somebody who genuinely wishes to receive it"
- Gozo Bishop Mario Grech commenting on the bishops’ synod held in Rome, December 6.
"The best has yet to come for Malta in financial services"
- Outgoing Deloitte Malta CEO Andrew Manduca when asked whether Malta could continue to thrive as a leading international financial centre, December 13.
"After hearing about the torture victims endured at the hands of Isis, a bullet to the heart started to seem more appealing"
- Pierre Baldacchino, held hostage for eight days in Tripoli, describing, shortly after his release, how he felt after his captors threatened to sell him to Isis, after first threatening to shoot him in the heart, December 27.
Read the first part of the feature here.