As I write this on Friday at noon, a digger down the road has been shaking the road all morning and was at it all of yesterday. In the early afternoon as we had a lull in the digger’s activities, I thought it would be a good time to have a rest from the computer, so I moved to my bedroom at the back of the flat for a quiet read and if I was lucky a little nap.

Surprisingly, none of the neighbourhood dogs were barking, yapping or whining, but a fish wife in a flat across the way was giving her partner a good old bawling (the thrills of urban living), so I gave up on the quiet read. By then the digger was back in action anyway and to add to the cacophony the rubbish collector’s van was overloaded and the mechanism was jamming right underneath my balcony.

I promise you, I am not making this up. I am living in bedlam. On Monday, I was rudely woken by thunderous fireworks at midnight, just as I was gloriously happy in Morpheus’ arms. I foolishly thought I was going to get an early night. On Tuesday, I was prevented from going to sleep at 23.00 hours by another bombardment and I was woken at 7am on Wednesday, a feast day (hence the previous days bombardments) by someone hammering at the back of the block.

Nature wasn’t helping with an amazing thunderstorm on Thursday night and having endured fireworks bombardments for the last three weeks, the building site at the bottom of my street is the last thing I need right now.

And then I read that the Home Affairs Minister, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, thinks that a moratorium on fireworks will create more of a risk, because “it would disrupt enthusiasts’ schedule and force them to work faster”, he told Christian Peregin in The Times on Friday.

Well what about all the disruption caused to the rest of the population? We just have to put up with unsettling sleep patterns, shaking windows and frayed nerves, and that means just those of us who are lucky enough to be healthy.

“We hope to God no more trouble occurs and I appeal to all those involved to take double and triple precautions,” said the minister. Hoping that God will prevent more explosions is rather naive. Experience has shown us that the people involved in the fireworks trade are aware of the huge risks and are prepared to take them. No one “forces” them.

If one believes in God, one must concede that He gave us a brain expecting us to use it. But whether it is just plain pig-headedness or greed, for make no mistake money plays a large part in this business, people will continue to take risks unless the government steps in.

And what on earth was a pregnant woman thinking? How hare-brained the whole family was to allow her to put herself and the baby she was carrying at such risk. Now I will probably get told off for not showing compassion and respect towards the bereaved. Well I am sorry, but after so many unnecessary deaths at fireworks factories I have become rather callous with regard to these tragedies.

The people I feel sorry for are wives and children who have had to accept the man in the family’s choice and are left behind penniless to pick up the pieces. And how does the Church feel about this form of family destruction?

Oh yes, we get a lot of rhetoric from politicians and churchmen about regret for the victims and compassion for the families left behind, but there is no substance in their messages. It is just sweet talk.

“I am not responsible for the licensee. Those who are licensed must be careful themselves. If you give a licence to drivers and they crash or die, it is their responsibility,” said the Minister.

Yeah right! First of all a driving licence is given after a test. What tests do people working with fireworks undertake? Secondly, although it is people’s duty to be responsible, unfortunately, as we well know, some people abdicate that responsibility.

That is why government makes us wear seatbelts and imposes speed limits on the roads. It has also imposed a no smoking ban in public places since people still choose to smoke knowing that “smoking kills”, so why is it so coy about controlling this fanatical industry?

The Minister pointed out that many fireworks’ enthusiasts worked meticulously and fireworks were an important part of the country’s tradition, so if he were to put an end to their production he would be doing the country a disservice. “What message would we be sending to those who have lots of fireworks stored? Abandon them?” he told The Times.

Hang on a minute, why would a moratorium “force” fireworks people to “work faster” if there are “lots of fireworks stored”? Former explosives committee head Col Albert Camilleri, an explosives expert with 45 years experience, said a moratorium would work but “a date had to be set by when every factory would have depleted its stock”, which further suggests that a stockpile exists.

Initial investigations indicate that the factory involved in the latest tragedy was packed with more explosives than allowed by law. Now why doesn’t that surprise me? Is it my imagination or was there an undertaking after one of the many explosions that inspections were going to be held?

The Malta Standards Authority’s CEO Francis Farrugia told The Times “the authority regulates fireworks placed on the market. It was responsible for the implementation of a EU directive, which also listed the essential safety requirements.

“The legal provisions for placing high-risk fireworks on the market would only enter into force in July 2013, as specified in the directive,” he said. So who needs a moratorium?

“Any provision related to use, licensing, storage, transport and any other regulation fell under the Explosives Ordinance and not under the remit of the authority,” he concluded. On a One TV, Joe Grima, programme at the beginning of the firework season I challenged the rest of the panel – all, excepting one neutral member, defending their safety record – on insurance and asked them: Who takes care of the families left behind after a tragedy?

Yesterday morning I read, “No claims for insurance money can be made in connection with Sunday's fireworks factory explosion in Gharb, which killed six people”.

KDM Insurance Brokers general manager Alberto Bisazza explained, "The Malta Pyrotechnics Association has a block insurance policy in place covering the firework licensees but this is a third party liability policy specifically designed to cover the period when fireworks are being let off and while the fireworks are transported from the fireworks factory to the site/s. Therefore, nothing relating to this unfortunate accident can be recovered under this policy,” he told The Times.

As always, after a fireworks tragedy the papers have not only had a field day but also a field week, with The Times displaying photos of the victims proudly carrying huge packages of unlit fireworks. Just to show how macho they were? The message is ambiguous.

This is the listing of seven out of the ten The Times most read news on Thursday online:

• Widow's anger as Xaghra feast goes ahead

• Gharb fireworks blast claims another victim

• Updated: Gharb blast claims sixth victim

• Igniters in focus in fireworks factory blast investigations

• Xaghra feast committee defends decision to hold feast

• Xaghra raises €13,000 'for victims and those who suffered damages'

• Fontana sets up fund for fireworks victims – Xaghra feast held.

And the seven of the ten most commented:

• Xaghra feast committee defends decision to hold feast

• Widow's anger as Xaghra feast goes ahead

• Updated: Gharb blast claims sixth victim

• Xaghra raises €13,000 'for victims and those who suffered damages'

• Gharb fireworks blast claims another victim

• AD hits out at objections to fireworks moratorium

• Igniters in focus in fireworks factory blast investigations

I obviously did not read all the comments that flooded in but I found a very pertinent one in Maltese. I shall do my best to give as close a rendition as possible. “People grumble about the utilities bills, they complain about the rise in bread and gas prices – essential daily needs – yet, they still dish out money for fireworks, even though they know people may be killed.” S/he is so right.

Continues on page 16

Besides the six people who died last Sunday, a man died on August 13 in an explosion at the August 15 fireworks factory in Dwejra, Mosta, another died last May at St Catherine’s Fireworks Factory in Marsaxlokk and two men lost their lives in February at the St Sebastian Fireworks Factory in Qormi.

Now for some global explosive stuff. Book burning sends shivers down my spine. It is not just my love of books, but it is the various connotations attached to such a violent act that make me anxious. Because a book burning is the tip of an iceberg, when books are burnt more violence follows.

Maybe it is not so surprising that so called men of God use fire to intimidate, since the fires of hell have been their pièce de résistance to scare people to submission for literally ages. In 1499, the Spanish Inquisition, which came about because of the multi-religious nature of Spanish society at the time, burned 5,000 Arabic manuscripts in Granada, which had been under Muslim rule until 1492.

But Muslims were not the only ones targeted by the Inquisition, whose objective was to maintain Catholic orthodoxy. Jews as well Muslims were ordered to convert or leave by royal decrees. Even faithful Christians were not spared. They were locked up, tortured and executed on the testimony of enemies, rivals and even slaves.

Several centuries later, the Archbishop of Salzburg oversaw the burning of every Protestant book and Bible available. Now in 2010, Pastor Terry Jones, in Gainesville, Florida, a complete unknown until last week, threatened to hold an “International Burn a Koran Day” yesterday, September 11, to persuade Muslims not to build a mosque next to the former World Trade Centre at Ground Zero.

The burning did not happen yesterday and Pastor Jones is now in New York for a “still-unscheduled meeting with the imam in charge of the New York Islamic centre planned near ground zero. The planned meeting, Jones had said, helped persuade him to halt the planned burning”, reported CNN yesterday.

Now while the September 11 atrocity is still very much on our minds, what would burning the Koran have done, except demonstrate intolerance and hatred and incite more violence from fundamentalists?

President Obama had warned that the ploy, or as he called it the “stunt” would have acted as a “recruitment bonanza” for al Qa’eda and agreed with US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and Gen David Petraeus, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, in describing it as a direct threat to US soldiers.

Books are powerful and that is why those craving control seek to destroy them. But did Pastor Jones really believe that burning copies of the Koran was going to make him famous? A headline in the UK Independent “ Terry Jones – Bonfire of one man’s vanity”, hit the nail right on the head.

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