10 years ago - The Times
Monday, July 7, 2008
MLP sidelines pairing issue
The Labour Parliamentary Group has decided that discussion on parliamentary procedures is not as important as having discussions on other issues required to strengthen democracy in the country, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
As a result of this decision, Dr Muscat said, he will be writing to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi proposing to start talks on these other issues before tackling the procedures which need to be adopted by Parliament, particularly those related to pairing. The Labour Party is prepared to open these talks now and conclude them by September.
In May, the new Nationalist government, enjoying a mere one-seat majority, had proposed linking a pairing agreement with the appointment of an opposition MP as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Without a pairing agreement – under which opposition MPs paired to government MPs do not vote when the latter are away on official business – Parliament’s work could be greatly hindered.
However, the Opposition had rejected the proposal and the Speaker’s post is now occupied by former education minister Louis Galea. Labour’s current position is that it will consider pairing on a “case by case” basis, granting it only when it feels the foreign meetings government MPs want to attend abroad will benefit the island.
25 years ago - The Times
Wednesday, July 7, 1993
GWU general secretary resigns
Anġlu Fenech stunned the body politic yesterday by handing in his resignation as general secretary of the General Workers’ Union, a post he has held for almost seven years.
The resignation was totally unexpected, though there have been indications of friction between the union, Malta’s largest by far, and its political ally, the Labour Party, which has always wielded huge influence within it.
The union’s national council has asked Mr Fenech to reconsider the decision. Mr Fenech’s resignation, due to take effect on August 16, comes only five days after the GWU celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Citing personal reasons for his decision, Mr Fenech told the national council in a letter that he had taken the decision of his own free will and without any interference.
Toy guns ban still on
Home Affairs Minister Louis Galea said he agreed that children should not have imitation weapons as toys, but one should not exaggerate since playing with certain toys did not necessarily lead to the development of a violent character.
Half a century ago - Sunday Times of Malta
Sunday, July 7, 1968
Lt Stever revisits Malta
When E.T. Strever anchored his hired yacht at St Paul’s Bay last week, while holidaying in Malta with his wife, he recalled how 26 years ago he had arrived in the bay by air in an Italian seaplane he had captured in flight.
It was July 28, 1942, at the height of the war, when Mr Stever captured the crew of the Italian seaplane and forced them to fly him to Malta. Mr Strever was then a young lieutenant in the South African Air Force, attached to the Royal Air Force. He was stationed at Luqa for three months flying Beaufort torpedo bombers on shipping strikes.
He and his crew took off at 9am on July 27 and after a few hours away from Malta, Strever and the three other crew members spotted an Italian merchant ship off a Greek island. They attacked the ship and scored a direct torpedo hit but the Beaufort was itself hit in the attack and crushed into the sea. Strever succeeded in alighting his aircraft without injuring any of the crew. They were picked up by an Italian seaplane and were flown to “somewhere in Italy” as prisoners of war.
Next morning, Lt Strever and his crew were escorted aboard an Italian seaplane to be flown to a prisoner of war camp. While the aircraft was in the air, Lt Stever grabbed the gun of one of the guards, disarmed the other Italian members of the crew and forced the pilot to fly to Malta.