Disgrace to democracy

In the same way that co-option (a mechanism to replace MPs who die or are incapacitated) has been ‘gamed’ by the Labour and Nationalist parties to get anyone they want into parliament, the just-approved gender-correcting mechanism will also be manipulated.

The two big parties now have an incentive not to put women on their ticket so that they get six extra seats each without effort. The number of MPs with no or few votes from the electorate (already high) will soar. Taxpayers will pay for this monetarily (MPs are expensive) and democratically.

These MPs plucked out of nowhere will not be accountable to a constituency because they won’t have one. Instead, they will be beholden to the party leaders on whose grace and favour their political life depends. Shame that the PN, once a champion of democratic norms, went along with this underhanded power grab. No wonder that civil-rights-minded individuals have switched from supporting the PN to backing NGOs and third parties instead.

Patrick Zammit – Żabbar

The human prince

Prince Philip. Photo: AFPPrince Philip. Photo: AFP

I read the Times of Malta article: ‘Queen Elizabeth II lays to rest her “strength and stay” Prince Philip’ (April 17).

For more than 69 years, Elizabeth II has reigned as queen of England. The recent death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, marks the first time in many decades in which she has been without her soulmate and husband.

Prince Philip was in some ways groomed for the position as ‘consort’ (spouse) to the monarch. King George VI only lived to age 56. He was a dignified man who belonged to the masonic fraternity and it is no coincidence that Prince Philip himself joined the masonic lodge the same year his father-in-law (George VI) died (1952). Prince Philip knew that the queen was the true ruler and that he must walk two paces behind her.

Yet, that didn’t diminish his masculinity nor his ego. If anything: he was still his own man.

Both the queen and Prince Philip were descendants of Queen Victoria. The queen is even a direct descendant of King William-the-Conqueror who conquered England in 1066 and who wasted no time laying the foundation for Windsor Castle in 1071.

Prince Philip occasionally put his foot in his mouth. Yet, perhaps it shows he was ‘human’.

James Marples – Texas

From the online comments board

Magisterial inquiry into Pilatus Bank cost €7.5 million

Even a two-year-old knows the real reason why Pilatus Bank was created, even its name tells a million stories and we spent €7.5 million and nothing was found? Seems pretty fishy to me! – Thomas Cassar

Can we send an invoice for €7.5 million to Ali Sadr Hashimejad? It’s all his fault, or was it Joseph Muscat’s? – Jan Farrugia

A good example of how well the institutions are working. – Francis Vella

€7.5 million for what? The magistrate did nothing. A totally non concluded inquiry. I think that there should be another inquiry to investigate the fake inquiry. – Lawrence Cutajar

I never thought that fried rabbit and chips would have cost the Maltese taxpayer €7.5 million. Imagine if this minister were to do this inquiry at €100 an hour how much more it would have cost. By the way does anybody know the conclusions of this €7.5 million document? – Elais Borg

This money could have been saved if the police commissioner of that day did his job instead of going to eat rabbit. We should ask him to pay the penalty. – A. Calleja

Shouldn’t things like this have a spending cap? Will we recover €7.5m or more from prosecuting Pilatus execs? – Michael Flaherty

All this money because the ex police commissioner preferred to munch on his rabbit stew rather than take action and stop the horse before it bolted! That’s what we get for incompetent people and, worst of all, us taxpayers had to fork out the money for the police commissioner’s incompetence! – E. Schembri

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