David McKenna
, March 16th, 2021 09:08
David McKenna celebrates ten years of the Rockfort column and tackles folk, rap, the dark arts - and classic French Europop
This column marks the ten-year anniversary of Rockfort on The Quietus, a realisation which is a source of delight and no little consternation (for me, but perhaps for others too). It’s the sort of moment that leads to pained reflections on where the time has gone, and what I’ve achieved. Then I remember that over the same period Daft Punk only managed to release one paltry album before splitting up and I feel much better!
A year since Malta’s first case of reported COVID-19, healthcare officials fear now is the most “delicate and worrying” phase as new cases reach record highs just as many start to get restless after 12 months of the pandemic.
“Had you asked me a year ago whether we would still be grappling with the pandemic, I would have said absolutely not,” ITU specialist Joseph Paul Vella told
Times of Malta s People of the Pandemic documentary. “But the reality is that not only are we still grappling with the pandemic, but this is possibly the most delicate moment.”
Looking back, Vella admitted he was rather sceptical at first and did not think the virus would wreak such havoc. A year later, he describes how together with his colleagues he is now not only tired after working on the frontlines non-stop but disappointed that some people were still not taking the matter seriously.
Some readers may find descriptions in the testimony below disturbing
Murder suspect Yorgen Fenech was once again denied bail at the end of a sitting which detailed the gruesome testimonies of the first responders minutes after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s car was blown up.
Fenech’s lawyers made a case for his bail after 15 months of incarceration, saying their client was even prepared to pay for his own security to put the prosecution’s minds at rest that he had no plans to abscond.
Lawyer Charles Mercieca said at least five other murder suspects had been granted bail in the last 15 months, yet the court was not prepared to consider it for their client, even though he had a clean criminal record.