Surely, I must be misunderstanding. I was under the impression that we had reformed the electoral system in such a way that the number of MPs in Parliament would reflect proportionately the voting percentages achieved nationally by the parties. This would apply for as long as only two parties made it to the House of Representatives.
If due to gerrymandering in constituency boundaries, or for any other reason, one party ended up with less MPs than what it was proportionately entitled to, it would be “accorded” enough new MPs to achieve proportionality. What happened in 1996 would surely not happen again. Admittedly in line with the constitution then, Labour was only given enough MPs to numerically exceed those of the PN by one, when proportionately it should have led the PN by three.
With today’s arrangement, following the 2013 election, no matter for what reason, the PN should have been allocated enough extra seats in Parliament to proportionately match the votes it had really secured country wide.
Can anybody explain how and why it had a justified claim to a greater compensation?
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Vocational
It’s good news that vocational education is being again placed at the forefront of the country’s educational strategy. It has been neglected for too long.
True, when given attention in the past, it used to be done in a context where it was presented as an educational process meant for children who were going to remain academically deficient. That was a mistake.
Education in technical skills has a unique importance and value which should no longer remain underestimated.
Otherwise, we will have to import technicians from abroad in order to service the needs of homes and firms.
A serious and modern curriculum in technical studies with well trained instructors, new equipment in schools and apprenticeship schemes that are well prepared and run would be essential to ensure that technical education takes off. It’s a pity that the Malta dockyard was closed down the way it was. It could have provided backbone to the programme that now needs to be implemented.
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Fidel
Since as long ago as I can remember following international news, Fidel was always there. The only person who could conceivably surpass his longevity in my memory is Queen Elisabeth: I remember her first passage in Malta as queen!
Given his acts of heroism and repression, his skill in resisting for long decades American military and economic pressures, his dictatorial yet ambiguous style, the priority he gave to the promotion of health care and education among the people, his unceasing commitment to the independence of Cuba even when it was most subject to Soviet influence, Castro cannot but be considered as one of the major personalities of Latin America.
Ideologically, to the end he kept up his challenge to those who had concluded that socialism could not be carried out with success in one coutnry, while the rest of the world remained in capitalist mode. To maintain this challenge, he (or rather Cuba) had to pay a very stiff price.