There should be certain rules as to where billboards should be erected, as happens in most of Europe. Billboards should not in any way affect the vision of those drivers who are driving their vehicles in that stretch of road. They should not be set up in areas that could be a potential danger to drivers too. With the amount of billboards going up in every corner of our roads, one wonders if all the regulations are being followed.

Residents of different localities have reported that the vast amount of promotional and election propaganda leaflets that are meant to be posted in the letterbox, are quite often being thrown in the porch or at the entrance to their residence. Most leaflets end up littering the pavements and streets.

Should so much money be wasted on such promotional leaflets? Election candidates should know by now that most of them end up not being picked up by residents who do not hold the same political opinion, or simply thrown away. Election candidates should be the first to show their environmental concern by not wasting paper and not littering the streets. But they will do anything for propaganda purposes.

The thing is – most politicians are absent from people’s lives for four-and-a-half years, and then they expect to make up for it in the last six months before an election. They expect the people to receive them in their homes for a chat. They appear gracious and happily listen to all the grievances, promising to take action. But they forget everything as soon as the election is over.

One regular reader asked how come she is listed regularly in the electoral register when her ID card expired several years ago. She tried to renew her ID card several times throughout these past years but every time she was told to wait for renewals to be done in her locality where she would receive a notification. This never materialised.

This column has commented several times about the potholes that are growing deeper, wider and bigger in the stretch between St Julian’s and San Gwann, which seems to be a no man’s land. One of these holes has grown so big that someone had the idea of warning drivers by placing a barrier right next to it – in the middle of the road. Of course, this added to the danger to oncoming traffic. When are the authorities going to wake up to their responsibilities?

Carnival lovers were lucky with the weather this year. They had five days with no rain and no wind, and this enabled them to enjoy the events that were scheduled. What was unfortunate is that after the celebrations ended, one could not help notice the leftovers of broken floats and the waste that littered the streets of Valletta. When are we going to learn to take care of the public places?

In this day and age of technological advances, many people pay all their bills via computer from the comfort of their home. Yet there are still many other people who prefer going to the post office to pay their bills. They do not even trust cheques. Every effort should be made to encourage these people to start paying their bills in a much easier way. This would lead to less frustration for those people who really need to use the post office.