Heroines and heroes first, I’m feeling positive.
Benazir Bhutto
The extreme Islamists couldn’t take the spectacle of a modernizing woman leading Pakistan out of its mess, so they have taken her life away. She is the heroine, them the villains...
And, on a much lighter note, the Spice Girls for coming back to entertain us.
Yes I know they did it for the money, a reported ten million each, but it was great fun to watch this girl band return 10 years on plus babies, husbands and ex husbands. But millions enjoyed it, they sold newspapers, the tickets were sold out within nano seconds and they reminded us all to think about what we want, what we really, really want! And perhaps what we want for our own girls, those of us who have daughters, and what this current generation of girls is going to want, to really, really want for themselves!
Another heroine – J.K. Rowling?
The Harry Potter author has sold at least 750 million books worldwide so far. Not bad for a struggling single parent who wrote her first Harry Potter while living off relief in a rented flat paid for by the housing, as we say in Malta. She now lives in a palatial home and took part in a documentary where she returned to the flat she inhabited not that long ago, and broke down as memories of the usual heartbreaks experienced by many single mothers came flooding back – the poverty, the failed relationships, the feeling of utter hopelessness. Now there is a woman who turned it all around. But shouldn’t those who make such a spectacular recovery after time living off the State pay it back in some way? Why do they just want to give student loans in the UK, what about the admitted few who lived off the State, and then did so well, paying back too?
All the social networking afforded by Facebook, Bebo et al
It really must be a changing world when the Queen launches her Christmas address on this media. So that is a prod, (I should say a poke because when you nudge someone on Facebook you poke them!) for all those of us who shun these sites, including me, and what they can do. Get familiar with it all, not least to understand your children, to experience both the fun and some of the perils they may encounter on the Internet. Don’t think all of this is not for you. It is the new way of communicating; but it is not enough on its own and a country like Malta, which rightly puts a lot of emphasis on IT also needs to educate its children to understand, experience and practice compassion, empathy and good manners, qualities that are so fast disappearing all around us. Still on the subject of the perils of technology was the amusing story of a page three sexpot who caught her soccer boyfriend cheating on her on his own mansion’s CCTV. Amii also revealed how Pennant (the footballer) was addicted to X Box. She said, “I tried to break his addiction by playing board games with him. He became hooked on Scrabble, spending ages trying to save letters for the word ‘zoo’ – he thought it was high scoring.”
Tony Blair as a hero?
He may not be that popular here but I think he was great to leave early, having practically just won an election. As we know to our cost here, too many people become addicted to power, moving from prime ministerial posts on to others. And all the barrage Gordon Brown is facing now shows that you should be careful, very careful what you wish for in life. It is very, very hot at the top, and whoever becomes Prime Minister in Malta next year is going to have a very, very tough ride
More countries going smoke free
Some good and heroic acts from governments including the smoking ban that spread to England and Ireland too, both countries formerly the epitome of smoking pubby cultures. For a change, Malta was one of the first to do it and it worked. Odd bars and band clubs persist in this foul habit but at least we can eat out without smoke spoiling our meal both here and in the UK, still the favourite holiday destination of the Maltese.
Kate McCann?
Yes I agree. Absolutely stupid and thoughtless to leave your children, your babies really, unattended (OK there were half-hourly checks) while you go for tapas with your husband and mates. But really, to have endured all that – to have endured the bungling stupidity of certain police officers who messed up the crime scene because they were sure the child had just wandered off, and coping with a very hostile media who even criticised her for looking attractively turned out, and to have probably lost your daughter forever, feels pretty heroic to me. I hope her faith is right and her daughter is still alive. The McCann story is the most human and hence the most compelling of 2007, while behind it of course lie some of the worst villains, the paedophiles who litter this planet.
Paedophiles
Yes the villains of every year. The kidnapping of Maddy got the most publicity, but all over the world other children are taken, or borrowed, to be abused by paedophiles. The Internet is expanding this crime and it is about time that people who put up websites like Google acted much more definitely and cleverly to root out these sites and to make child pornography downloads impossible. Where there is a will there is a way. And what about all those stories about child labour while we proudly wear certain labels. Ten-year-olds producing tops for Gap, children being paid 5p an hour to work. Is this the true cost of our ever-changing taste in fashion?
Northern Rock and irresponsible banks
A credit crunch is already here and what happens in the UK will affect our tourism, our everything. What happened to the prudent people like my dad who went into banking? What were banks doing, using people’s house loans as investment plans? What happens in that scenario if prices drop, if people can’t afford their loans? This was a man-made, greed-induced disaster that showed the world’s governments they should have intervened a little earlier. That some banks are not regulated enough across a range of activities. And then a government steps in and, with taxpayers’ money, guarantees all the investments in a bank with a large, nay, enormous hole. How many banks could Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling afford to do this for I wonder?
McLaren, the England coach
Hard to believe England have actually crashed out of Euro 2008 and that now we need an Italian to get us out of this unholy mess. Still every cloud must have a silver lining, and possibly this hard-nosed, technical tactician who does not suffer fools and prima donnas gladly is just what the England boyos need to wake them up out from their stupor.
The Darwins, minor villains maybe?
To tell your children their dad has disappeared and claim insurance money, and then swan off to a life of sunshine in Panama, reeks of villainy plus stupidity and incredible crass selfishness. But anyway this just shows you. Very often we are lumbered with very inadequate families. We do not choose them and are not always responsible for them. A society like ours that glorifies family life might do well to pause and reflect how many people are messed up precisely by the families that are meant to nurture them. And how many still manage to be successful parents and partners after that.
To all those people especially... a happier New Year!
[email protected]