Times of Malta readers are treated to the most insightful commentary in the country… and not just in words. Week after week, our cartoonists have delivered the sharpest, wittiest satire. Sometimes their cartoons are laugh-out-loud funny and other times frighteningly serious, but they convey inescapable truths about the state of politics and the nation. Here are some of their own picks of the decade.

November 26, 2017, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “For me, the defining moment of the decade was the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. It exposed the fragility of our supposed democratic republic and the lack of checks and balances which have allowed the country to degenerate to such an extent. This is one cartoon I am particularly proud of. It was a winning/chosen cartoon on Dutch website Cartoon Movement and also featured in the Jan/Feb 2018 edition of the New Internationalist magazine.” November 26, 2017, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “For me, the defining moment of the decade was the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. It exposed the fragility of our supposed democratic republic and the lack of checks and balances which have allowed the country to degenerate to such an extent. This is one cartoon I am particularly proud of. It was a winning/chosen cartoon on Dutch website Cartoon Movement and also featured in the Jan/Feb 2018 edition of the New Internationalist magazine.” 

Gonzi and il-Poodel: December 2, 2012, Maurice Tanti Burlò (Nalizperla), The Sunday Times of Malta (chosen by his son Seb). “About a year before the collapse of then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s Nationalist government, Joseph Muscat, depicted as former Labour prime minister Alfred Sant’s ginger yapping poodle, ready to pounce on and soil the highest office in the land.”Gonzi and il-Poodel: December 2, 2012, Maurice Tanti Burlò (Nalizperla), The Sunday Times of Malta (chosen by his son Seb). “About a year before the collapse of then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s Nationalist government, Joseph Muscat, depicted as former Labour prime minister Alfred Sant’s ginger yapping poodle, ready to pounce on and soil the highest office in the land.”

June 24, 2018, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “Transport Minister Ian Borg seems intent on removing every last tree on our roads in his (also mostly hapless) efforts to get us from A to B.”June 24, 2018, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “Transport Minister Ian Borg seems intent on removing every last tree on our roads in his (also mostly hapless) efforts to get us from A to B.”

“The institutions are working.”:November 22, 2019, Seb Tanti Burlò, published online. “Outgoing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insists that the nation’s institutions are impartial and function just fine. The truth of the matter is that there is clear evidence of the State’s capture of all of the nation’s institutions. The judiciary, the police corps, the army and the supposedly free press.”“The institutions are working.”:November 22, 2019, Seb Tanti Burlò, published online. “Outgoing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insists that the nation’s institutions are impartial and function just fine. The truth of the matter is that there is clear evidence of the State’s capture of all of the nation’s institutions. The judiciary, the police corps, the army and the supposedly free press.”

No pill for the environment: June 6, 2016, Seb Tanti Burlò, The Sunday Times of Malta. “The morning after pill debate highlighted the need for better understanding of birth control options and opened the door to further discussion on the need to legalise abortion in Malta. At the same time, running parallel, the constant and ongoing State-supported environmental rape of the Maltese Islands, a gangbang organised by the Malta Developers Association, everyone’s invited. I’ll let the cartoon speak from here on…”No pill for the environment: June 6, 2016, Seb Tanti Burlò, The Sunday Times of Malta. “The morning after pill debate highlighted the need for better understanding of birth control options and opened the door to further discussion on the need to legalise abortion in Malta. At the same time, running parallel, the constant and ongoing State-supported environmental rape of the Maltese Islands, a gangbang organised by the Malta Developers Association, everyone’s invited. I’ll let the cartoon speak from here on…”

Daphne’s lighthouse: October 17, 2017, Seb Tanti Burlò, published online. “A tribute to the life and work of journalist and friend Daphne Caruana Galizia (1964-2016), assassinated on October 16, 2017. Through her pen, her words, she stood alone, shining a light on and exposing the corrupt State of Malta. Today we know the State of Malta is implicated in her murder. Her pen stands as a lighthouse, its light cutting through the darkness, sounding the alarm and illuminating.”Daphne’s lighthouse: October 17, 2017, Seb Tanti Burlò, published online. “A tribute to the life and work of journalist and friend Daphne Caruana Galizia (1964-2016), assassinated on October 16, 2017. Through her pen, her words, she stood alone, shining a light on and exposing the corrupt State of Malta. Today we know the State of Malta is implicated in her murder. Her pen stands as a lighthouse, its light cutting through the darkness, sounding the alarm and illuminating.”

August 25, 2013, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “The irony of having a Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights who is also a hunter.” August 25, 2013, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “The irony of having a Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights who is also a hunter.” 

November 3, 2019, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “The Prime Minister as Joker. Only he is now a very bad joke, and the joke’s on us anyway.” November 3, 2019, Steve Bonello, The Sunday Times of Malta. “The Prime Minister as Joker. Only he is now a very bad joke, and the joke’s on us anyway.” 

May 2014 be a more inclusive year: January 6, 2014, Maurice Tanti Burlò (Nalizperla, The Times of Malta (chosen by his son Seb). “Baron Dexter sits on Lampedusa looking out at the Mediterranean, a watery grave for thousands of desperate people fleeing their war-torn homes towards a better life in Europe. He mulls over his Shakespeare; sometimes the only way to make sense of evil is through the arts.”May 2014 be a more inclusive year: January 6, 2014, Maurice Tanti Burlò (Nalizperla, The Times of Malta (chosen by his son Seb). “Baron Dexter sits on Lampedusa looking out at the Mediterranean, a watery grave for thousands of desperate people fleeing their war-torn homes towards a better life in Europe. He mulls over his Shakespeare; sometimes the only way to make sense of evil is through the arts.”

From left: Steve Bonello, Maurice Tanti Burlò and Seb Tanti Burlò.From left: Steve Bonello, Maurice Tanti Burlò and Seb Tanti Burlò.

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