As the hot summer came in with a bang and many headed to the beach, elsewhere quite a few pots were boiling on the stove and there was one kitchen which you would not really want to be in.  There was some serious need for multi-tasking and keeping the pots from boiling over. 

First the walls came tumbling down, not once but 3 times that we know of.  Besides, the many site accidents, some with fatal consequence.  People were made homeless in a literal sense.  The grievous situation was laid bare and many had just had enough of this far west almost hooliganism around them.

Then hot on the heels of the falling tower of Babel came the blow to the db project in St George’s Bay, when the appeals court ruled that the approval of the plans was null and without effect.  It may be perceived as a mere bump in the road but the moral victory was certainly there, for the persevering public and NGOs and for the way in which things are conducted at the PA. 

No sooner had that news sunk in, than the Minister’s swimming pool remained an inflatable one and the plans for building a seven-storey hotel on a listed property in St Julian’s were also refused. 

A quiet sigh of relief was felt in many quarters, if only being a brief moment to regain some peace of mind.

These above, besides the economic problems with the loss of BOV’s last correspondent US Dollar banking services, the looming reform of the Venice Commission and the implementation of the Moneyval organization report on money-laundering prevention systems.

Whilst all the time, the Prime Minister would, one hesitantly assumes, have preferred to be smooching with the European leaders during their recent visit to Malta, as he looks ahead to his future.

A very successful protest march brought all the NGOs and a cross section of the public to the streets to show their anger and frustration at the state of the affairs in the out-of-control building industry around us. 

The pasta was not “al dente” and the sauce was burnt.  Normally used to take-aways and restaurants, this kitchen culture was not familiar at all. 

We learnt that 10,800 construction permits have been approved during 2018. The reason for so many, we are told, is that the PA had implemented a time limit on the process from application, to stream-line decisions.  Now all of these permits have been approved and Malta is one big construction site with gaping scars in the roads where drains need to be installed and road-blocks placed at every corner.

Before making such a piecemeal change in the processing time, it would have been much better to first carry out a sustainability study, to see if the necessary enforcement agencies, contractors, builders, professionals and infrastructure would be available and if the industry could cope with the demand.  In addition, a quota could have been set on various areas where there was a high concentration of applications, tourism areas and Urban Conservation Areas. 

The Paceville master plan and a national and regional master plans should also have been drawn up before rushing ahead with the approved permits, high-rise and streetscape, instead of satisfying just one commitment within a complex web of plans. 

It’s the same with the Gozo Tunnel plan.  Having a tunnel may answer one aspect of a reality but it certainly does not fit into the whole rationale.  Taken out of context it can appear to be a clever idea, but once you apply the overall complexity of it, it now becomes a totally unacceptable plan.  Like Brexit.

This is the way this government operates.  One objective.  Bugger the rest of it.

Bring thousands of workers to Malta?  Sure.  What happens about housing, health infrastructure, job permits processing, crime and safety, is not given any thought whatsoever and the dice will fall where it may.  The important thing is that we boost our pensions and boast about being the best in Europe.

The immigration issue is dismissed without any responsible action to investigate the plight of the people, whether they were landed at our shores by rescue or brought here as our quota of displaced persons.  They languish in an over-crowded, sub-standard open house, devoid of any hope or future.  Contrast this to an interview with a Syrian refugee family, who were brought to live in the UK when they had offered to take them from the camp in Jordan where they had existed for the past 6 years.  This man spoke of how he was able to bring all his family, including the grand-parents, was given accommodation and could start working legally from the moment he arrived.  Civilised. His words were “if this country treats immigrants like this, then how do they treat their own citizens” and it gave him a deep respect for the country and he felt he could make a home there and prosper.  This is what having immigrants is about.  Not just placing them on dry land in a hole they cannot get out of.  That is what they sought to leave behind. Or worse, in the case of war.

In the end, this is what it comes down to.  Respect.  Respect your citizens and their rights.  No industry, no power, person or entity has the right to decide in a way that could harm anyone individual or any other organization.  Normal countries have the rule of law and their Parliament and democracy to cater for that.  Evidence now shows that this is not the way things are done in Malta and it is now boiling all over the cooker.

Who will step in to restore order and save our island?  It may very well have to be the same people who fancied a taste of the exotic but now prefer a good hobza in the peace of their homes.  Most times, less is more.  A roof is better than a compromised penthouse.