The government will be doing well if it persists in holding Skanska and others responsible for the shameful work they carried out at Mater Dei hospital. From beginning to end, the construction of that hospital was undermined by bad management that without any doubt, bred corruption.

The irony is that right from the start, the launching pad chosen for the project couldn’t have been holier. The San Raffaele foundation run by the priest don Verze were going to do us an exceptional favour by coming here, so we were told.

I always thought this suspicious, to say the least. When post 1996, don Verze came to visit, in order to impress with the reach of his influence, he told me that if we played it his way, we would get a loan of millions at low interest from the Council of Europe. I showed him the door.

Indeed, we had begun to set up separate and transparent structures for the design, the actual construction and monitoring of ongoing works, so that for the remaining stages of the project, serious controls would be in place.

Post 1998, the Fenech Adami administration dismantled everything. Construction went on in coughs and gasps. Before, there had been bad workmanship and corruption. They recurred.

***

Effie

Effie Mifsud never featured in newscasts. Yet he was active in politics for long decades. At the end of this involvement, he led the Labour Brigade. He believed firmly in it and worked hard to keep it going.

Genuine and active individuals like Effie  have been and remain the best assets of the Labour Party during its long life.

Columnists writing in the PN leaning media were always ready to vilify the Labour Brigade for as long as it was there. But here too, as usual, they missed the point.

True, in its last years the Labour Brigade failed to reflect adequately the changes happening in society. Even so, Effie and his comrades who ran it till the end gave an enduring testimony of their determination to make a contribution towards an improvement in the lives of workers and their families.

Thanks Effie.

I extend my profound condolences to his family for their loss at his death.

***

Trojan

In his new novel "Trojan", Alex Vella Gera continues to explore a recurrent theme of his -- how hidden or secret circumstances in a person's life shape his/her "destiny".

The novel focuses on the life of Ġanni Muscat who started out as a writer back in the sixties of the previous century and managed to write one novel. In his old age, he has become embittered, fanatically religious and a cat lover. We get to know best his later years, but the narrative technique deployed by Vella Gera -- as it snaps forward in time and then back -- allows us to have some understanding of how his personality developed.

The plot could have slipped into melodrama. This is avoided due to a final twist in the story that debases completely Ġanni Muscat's life secret, while allowing other secrets to remain buried.

I enjoyed reading the book. Some parts could have been less exhaustive (as in the episodes where cats make an appearance). By contrast, at other points an excellent rhythm is maintained (as when Ġianni Muscat wakes up in the middle of the night to re-examine the stored mementoes of his secret life).