Times Talk by Times of Malta

It is very worrying the the election campaign has, so far, almost entirely revolved around 'what's in it for me', according to political analysts Lou Bondi and Michelle Attard Tonna.

The two were speaking on the latest episode of Times Talk Campaign Watch during which they dissected the third week of the election campaign.

The lavish promises are creating a sense of entitlement in people while making it very hard for the next prime minister - whoever it may be - to lead effectively in a very volatile global climate, they warned.

Even worse, there are several issues no party seems to be addressing during the campaign.

Watch the episode on Times of Malta, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

The second week of Malta’s 2026 general election campaign sparked its first controversies. As Labour leader Robert Abela and Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg make their political pitches, mainly through cash bonanzas, are the country’s (medium-to-long term) problems being ignored?

In this episode of Times Talk, Times of Malta editor-in-chief Herman Grech sits down with former Labour deputy leader and president Daniel Micallef and former PN chief of staff Ray Bezzina to dissect the campaign narratives, the long-term economic impact of today’s pledges, the racism directed at Omar Rababah, and the growing debate over overdevelopment.

It was a candid discussion on the issues shaping Malta’s election, and the ones politicians may prefer to avoid.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has called an early general election for May 30.The campaign’s opening days have already seen a wave of pledges and voter-focused measures, as the main parties begin to draw their battle lines.

With the Labour government firmly in the driving seat and making full use of its incumbency advantage, the question remains: can the Nationalist Party, led by a relatively new leader, close the gap and defy the opinion polls?

In the first political Times Talk podcast of the campaign, Herman Grech, editor-in-chief of Times of Malta, sits down with Kurt Sansone, executive editor of MaltaToday, and sociologist Michael Briguglio to discuss Election 2026.

The youngest daughter of Ġiġa and Leli Camilleri has called for the reopening of the Twannie Aquilina murder case, claiming her parents were wrongfully convicted of a brutal crime committed by someone else.

In a rare and emotional interview on Times Talk, Marthese Camilleri insisted that her brother was sexually assaulted before his throat was slit – a detail she claims was confirmed by an autopsy but never emerged in court.

Accompanied by the Times Talk team, Marthese returned to the very flat in St Dominic Street, Valletta, where the murder occurred 66 years ago, marking the first time she stepped into the crime scene since the time of the murder.

“People continue to judge us and hurt us, and I believe it’s time they hear our side of the story,” she said.

Broadcaster Peppi Azzopardi said he learned English as a young boy because the school he went to forced students to wear a sign around their neck that read: ‘I must speak in English’.

And while he admitted the sign was demeaning, he insisted that it propelled him to learn English, as his parents did not know how to speak the language.

Azzopardi was defending his controversial Popolin proposals during a heated exchange on the latest Times Talk episode. Poet and writer professor Immanuel Mifsud and pedagogy expert Jacqueline Zammit were also on the panel, and they dismissed his suggestions as illogical, arguing they would do little to bridge the success gap for working-class children.

There is a Russian oil tanker adrift about 100km to the South East of Malta right now.

Its crew abandoned it two weeks ago after it was hit by a huge explosion.

Russia hasn't come to pick it up and no country - including Malta - will touch it.

Still though, all eyes are on it, as it is loaded with some 700 tonnes of fuel and it could blow up.

In a 20-minute episode that will be out on Wednesday, Times Talk will discuss the inside story of how the Russian tanker story was discovered and revealed, what the authorities are saying and fearing behind closed doors, and how the government went from denying concerns to asking the EU for help.

What are the chances that aliens are real? And if they are, what do they look like, where are they and how come they never visit? And if they were to visit, how would they even do it?

Is time travel to the past and to the future possible? It turns out it is – at least one way.

And what is the likelihood that there are other worlds like ours out there? The short answer is: very likely. The long answer is even more interesting.

In a wide-ranging 90-minute discussion on Times Talk, astrophysicist professor Joseph Caruana breaks down the staggering reality of our existence – from the probability of humanity living in a computer simulation to the probability of time travel.

During the episode the 39-year-old Oxford-educated researcher and University of Malta lecturer explains why most of the universe is still a mystery and how scientists have managed to trace back its beginning 14 billion years ago. And along the way he answers a myriad of other questions.

When will the world end? Will the universe end? What happens to us after we die? And how is human consciousness the way the universe finally knows about itself?

And from all that he knows about the universe, does it look like there is a God? Does the universe need a creator to keep it going? Did it even need a creator?

And is it possible that we are all living in a computer simulation? Short answer is: quite possibly.

Watch the full 90-minute Times Talk episode to find out.

Forty-six years ago, a man walked into Castille with a gun.

Gunshots rang out. The man was dragged out bleeding. He was accused of trying to kill Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.

That same day, thugs destroyed Times of Malta offices and ransacked the home of Mintoff’s rival, Eddie Fenech Adami.

In this episode, Times Talk explores one of the darkest days in Malta's modern history.

There was no single news event that overshadowed all other Times of Malta headlines in 2025.

But that does not mean it was a year without interesting events.

From a building collapse in Paceville to family tragedies, the (second) rise of Donald Trump and the potential sale of HSBC Malta, Times of Malta journalists were kept busy right to the end of the year.

In this episode, Mark Laurence Zammit sits down with Times of Malta editor-in-chief Herman Grech, online editor Bertrand Borg, print editor Anthony Manduca and news editor Diana Cacciottolo to get their insights into the stories that made 2025

In a world often dominated by bad, sometimes even depressing, news, Times of Malta journalists Mark Laurence Zammit, Emma Borg and Daniel Ellul sat down to look back on just the happiest stories of 2025.