It is a mighty good thing that my legs are on the short side for I am saved from getting cramps when I’m up in the air – which is often enough. Flying does have one advantage however; it gives me time to catch up with what is going on, something which my surgery hours severely limit. And when one is 30,000 feet in the air, one somehow feels a sense of detachment that is balm to the soul.
Isn’t Malta a fantastic place to live in if you really like discussion, which is confrontation, at every level? If only some mighty pen could translate “only in Malta” into a novel or a film it would give us immortality at no cost.
Bonuses for inefficiency
What is fast becoming a dirty word has raised its head again. Leo Brincat’s probing has now revealed that sinking, bankrupt Enemalta still gave its directors considerable bonuses at a time when it could hardly be praised for delivering. Which makes one wonder and ask what the criteria for bonuses in Malta are? Is crass inefficiency one of them?
Opera houses
It seems that the government has taken Sir Cameron Mackintosh very seriously as it is bent on buying the properties surrounding the MCC apparently for the purpose of creating the great space needed to stage an opera. So when people questioned the need to build a new parliament instead of converting one of the many possible sites lying fallow in Valletta, it seems they were more than right. Do I remember reading that we have more than enough theatres in Valletta what with the MCC itself, the Manoel and The Ruin? Are we really proposing a grand new theatre dedicated solely to opera? Is that intended to be the antidote for keeping The Ruin a ruin? Which great artists will tread the new boards? What will maintenance costs amount to? Or are we relying on the word of its promoter to make it work? And when that one man is gone, will he be replaced by the same kind of appointees to the various arts boards announced recently? And finally the big question: how will it be paid for? We still haven’t had a clear answer to that one where the new parliament is concerned.
And let us not forget either that Parliament itself is a great place for dramatic enactments and enjoys a national and eager following except on the rare occasion when there is a No Show on. But then nobody can perform on a 24/7 basis.
And tunnels!
As if the above was not enough, we are now dimly debating the possibility of a tunnel link between Malta and Gozo. This immediately brings to mind the miseries that the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France brought in its wake. One of the greatest questions was where the outlets were to be located and the amount of land that had to be taken over in order to have a smooth lead-up to the mouth of the tunnel. I wonder where in Gozo the tunnel mouth will be situated. And with all due respect, if the British and French engineers couldn’t get it right, are we likely to do better? After all we are still not quite sure where the water that was filtering through the Santa Venera tunnel at one time was coming from.
Poor Gozo! Having shrugged off an airport and a heliport, it is now being threatened by a tunnel. Or will it eventually be a bridge? And where will all this leave the ferries?
Malta Enterprise
This too is competing for attention. Well perhaps competing for custom would be a better word. As if all those shops at The Point, some of which are already selling out, were not enough we are now planning more of the same at St Elmo, L’Ospizio in Floriana and other historic centres. Yes, a way must be found for these places to earn money for their upkeep, but as someone asked in another section of the press, is the answer selling Gucci bags? And while on the subject of St Elmo, why do I get the feeling that yet another siege might be brewing?
What with the St John’s saga, the prettifying of Palace Square, the building of the new parliament, the laying of new paving stones that have hardly created a delirium of joy, the proposed opera house, the rehashing of an iconic Ruin, the Casa Lanfreducci case which is still unresolved, the relining of the bastions with soft limestone that will not take long to be replaced, Valletta seems to be experiencing another siege. The first one left us a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen. I wonder what the present one will pass on to future generations.
With all this and much more to digest and discuss, it is no wonder that MPs occasionally need time off to think.
PL conference
And finally, in order to keep the balance – it is of the utmost importance to be seen to keep the balance – the Labour Party apparently had a most successful outing, with plenty of witticisms coming from a heady mix of old and new faces and with an almost complete absence of any plans for the future to erode fraternity. I wonder whether Malta is indeed caught between a rock and a hard place politically!
It all helps to save me getting cramp when I’m flying.