A wet carnival

Carnival began on Thursday and will run until Tuesday. Unfavourable weather, which led to Friday and yesterday’s celebrations being cancelled, did little to dampen float-makers’ spirits, with many accepting the challenge as part and parcel of their passion.

What made the headlines

Investigations launched as Mt Carmel patient  found dead: Two investigations began after an 18-year-old male who escaped from Mount Carmel Hospital was found dead a day later. The Health Ministry announced it had ordered an administrative investigation into the escape and Duty Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras was conducting a magisterial inquiry. The patient was suicidal and admitted voluntarily the day before he escaped. The Times of Malta reported that, according to sources, it was not always possible for such patients to be under constant watch due to staff shortages.

Pilatus Bank filed case against Daphne: In May 2017 Pilatus Bank filed a court case in Arizona, US, against Daphne Caruana Galizia through the Lawrence Law Group in Washington, DC, Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi said in Parliament. The lawsuit was filed after Ms Caruana Galizia alleged a $1 million transfer from a company based in Dubai to Michelle Muscat, wife of the Prime Minister, with the blessing of one of the daughters of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The case, which was withdrawn the day after Ms Caruana Galizia was murdered, could have resulted in an award of millions of dollars in damages.

Doctors’ strike ‘successful’: Doctors went on a one-day strike ordered by the Medical Association of Malta after a last-ditch attempt to settle a dispute with the government collapsed. The industrial ac­tion was sparked off by the decision to hand over three public hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare for 30 years. About 1,700 patients were affected. The strike was ordered at the main State hospitals’ outpatients departments, as well as the health centres at Gżira, Rabat, Birkirkara, Qormi and Cospicua. MAM general secretary Martin Balzan said the strike was a success, as all doctors, with two or three exceptions, obeyed the union’s instructions. The MAM council later voted in favour of further and possibly harsher industrial action next Thursday and Friday should negotiations with the government fail.

Government charges Vitals €100,000 a year for concession: Vitals Global Healthcare was being charged just €100,000 annually for the 30-year, multimillion-euro concession to run three public hospitals, according to a clause in the redacted contract tabled by the government in Parliament, the Times of Malta revealed. It is not yet known whether Steward Healthcare, the American company which, according to the government, has bought the concession from Vitals, will be subject to the same condition or whether the government will renegotiate it.

‘V’ is for vandalism: A number of polystyrene sculptures illustrating Maltese proverbs were vandalised a few days after being unveiled in Valletta, despite being located in what are meant to be the best policed areas in Malta - City Gate and outside the Parliament building. Thirteen sculptures were placed across the capital city, with each visually depicting a Maltese proverb. They form part of the Valletta 2018 project Kif Jgħid il-Malti (According to Maltese Sayings).

President had ‘no role’ in tragic car show: President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca distanced herself from the Paqpaqli 2015 event in which 23 people were injured, saying she did not have a direct role in its organisation. The President was testifying in a suit for damages instituted by six spectators who were hurt when a Porsche 918, driven by millionaire philanthropist Paul Bailey, went out of control and ploughed into the crowd. She said the car show was considered to be a third-party event and its organising team, led by Tonio Darmanin, already existed when she became President.

New money-printing facility opens: Crane Currency’s money-printing facility at Ħal Far was officially opened by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who said it showed Malta’s solid relationship with the US. Concerns of a possible conflict of interest between Dr Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and Crane Currency have been raised in the past. Mr Schembri owns Kasco Group, the main provider of printing paper and machinery on the island, and he could therefore benefit from the Crane deal, which he helped to facilitate. The Prime Minister dismissed such a possibility, saying Crane’s presence was not a public-private partnership but a private company.

What trended

We have lost all sense of discipline

The news about a security guard at the Higher Secondary School in Naxxar assaulting an assistant head of school who told him off for smoking led to a chorus of online protests.

“It’s because we have lost all sense of discipline in this country. If a policeman tries to do his job they say we have gone back to the 1980s. If a roadblock is in place we say we are living in Belfast. This is the reality that this country needs, as well as some well-deserved discipline. But the majority of the people will not agree with me,” sighed one reader.

Another reader turned the issue into a political one, saying discipline should start from right at the top. “If those in Castille can get away with anything then there will be others who think they are untouchable,” he wrote.

One reader asked if the union representing the assaulted assistant head had checked who this security guard was, which led another person to reply: “A person of trust probably.”

A white elephant

The press conference given by Chris Said, the Nationalist Party’s Gozo spokesman, about the fact that the Barts Medical School Project in Gozo had not yet materialised, was followed by mixed reactions from online readers.

“Chris, what has surely not materialised is your leadership bid. Barts will soon be there and Prof. Albert Fenech, your old buddy, will be there too,” one reader said cheekily.

Another reader simply referred to the project as “another white elephant”.

“You can see how the PN left our hospitals after 25 years. The Gozo Hospital was left in a state below a Third World standard. Karin Grech and St Luke’s were left deteriorating and Mater Dei was built too small and with weak concrete,” remarked another reader not impressed with Dr Said’s criticism.

However, a reader soon came to the Nationalists’ defence, writing: “The PN government helped the Gozo Hospital with the installation of new machinery and there were plans for St Luke’s Hospital. This government’s solution is to sell, sell, sell with everything under wraps. We all know why.”

Another defended the PN’s health record and replied: “Oh yeah? In 2000 [under a PN government] Malta’s health service was voted number five in standards by the WHO. What more do you want?”

What they said

“The sweetest one was Simon Busuttil’s appointment as good governance spokesman. Perhaps he should start by investigating his own party leader.”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reacting, while addressing Labour supporters in Marsaxlokk, to PN leader Adrian Delia’s appointment of new party spokes­persons.

“While the Socialist government of Joseph Muscat should be crying for the poor it is more focused on safeguarding the interests of the rich.”

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia speaking at the PN club in Siġġiewi about the government’s misplaced priorities.

“When Adrian Delia washed his hands of the coalition, he turned his back on good governance, social justice and the environment.”

Democratic Party MP Marlene Farrugia on the consequences of PN leader Adrian Delia’s decision to dissolve the partnership bet­ween the two parties.

“The Ministry of Finance is doing a Nero, playing the fiddle while three of our public hospitals burn.”

Nationalist Party finance spokes-man Mario de Marco, writing in the Times of Malta on the Finance Ministry’s lack of scrutiny over the Vitals hospitals deal.

“I imagine it is common knowledge by now that this [the Ameri­can University of Malta] was nothing more than a taxpayer-fund­ed property development business masquerading as an edu­cational venture.”

Nationalist MEP David Casa in a Times of Malta article entitled ‘Consequences of corruption’.