Most shops have decided to open during public holidays and Sundays during the Christmas season. It is a good idea as this gives people who work long hours the chance to do their shopping. In fact, shop owners report higher-than-usual business on such days. One wonders whether this concession – to open on Sundays and public holidays – should be made all throughout the year. People who have travelled know that in many countries shops are open seven days a week all throughout the year.

The idea is especially suitable for supermarkets. Today, many people work till after 7pm and there are families where both partners work, and it is always a big rush for them to manage to buy their groceries. Supermarkets should be allowed to open on Sundays – perhaps mornings only for the time being – so as to accommodate such people. We are sure that they will have enough clients to sustain the cost of opening on a Sunday.

Drivers using the reconstructed side of the Manwel Dimech Bridge come face to face with a traffic island that literally juts out onto the road as one is approaching the tunnel. The intentions are to control traffic coming up from Spinola Bay better, but it is quite dangerous of doing it, especially at night because the island is not lit up properly. ADT should rectify the matter as soon as possible.

The zebra crossing under the Regional Road Bridge as one is driving down from San Gwann towards St Julian’s or Sliema is a danger to both pedestrians and drivers especially when the road markings fade and it is not lit up. Drivers do not stop fearing that the cars behind them will crash into them – and there have been several accidents like this – while pedestrians have to literally move out in the middle of the road before they are seen.

Last Friday, while the Malta Labour Party was holding a press conference to denounce the government for not completing the St Paul’s Bay by-pass, the Malta Transport Authority was preparing its own statement saying that the work will be starting today. As it happened, it seems that ADT was literally waiting for the MLP to speak up to say that the project will continue. Let us now hope that it will be completed within the established timeframe.

That parking has become a nightmare is something that everyone will agree with. But this does not give anyone the authority to increase other drivers’ frustration by double parking while doing an errand, often blocking lanes and thereby limiting the traffic flow. There are also some who risk parking in front of garages too. It is unfair for other drivers, especially those who cannot drive out or into their garage.

People applying for Children’s Allowances are being told that, apart from sending in a fax with their application, they need to send an original copy to the department involved. In this day and age of technology, with the government boasting that it is so IT-friendly, there surely is a better way of doing things. It would save paperwork and speed up the process.

It was announced last week that preparations for the setting up of a national breast screening programme are underway. We do hope that this is so, and that the ball will soon be set rolling. There are people’s lives at stake here and it would not look good if the government is simply saying it is planning such an important project just for the sake of earning political mileage. Such a programme should be in place as soon as possible, irrespective of when the election will be held.