Maltese people, we’ve been told, are well known for their love of animals. Yes and no.
You meet people who seem to haveonly dogs, rabbits and cats as their immediate family, really their ultimate concern in life. Then you notice others who consider the pets they keep as slaves available to administer to their pleasure.
They do not treat them harshly, cruelly. It’s more like they ignore their pets’ basic needs... such as the need during a summerastorridastheone we’ve been through this year, to protect them from the effects of the hot weather.There are no crowds of people out there, keen to torture animals. But there are many who are quite prepared to consider animals as a toy that one can easily discard.
A friend claims the problem is we still lack enough initiatives in the field of popular education to promote effective animal care. Though the weekly and bi-weekly programmes on radio and TV on this theme are quite excellent, we need more.
What is required is a publicity and educational campaign which incessantly promotes a sense of awareness about the problem among the public at large.
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Brexit openings?
Let’s revert to the ongoing discussions about the opportunities for new profits that Brexit would bring in its wake due to the hiving off back to the remaining member states, of sectors that the UK specialised in “for” the EU.
Clearly, the competition will be stiff to determine where shall be reallocated those activities that the UK has been carrying out or hosting on behalf of the EU as a whole.
Beyond this though, I still doubt whether there will be any gains for France or Germany or Malta (?) should they secure a portion of the financial services now carried out from the UK. The real problem will be whether with the UK’s departure from the European common market, trade patterns will be jolted in ways that create disbenefits for all. I still hope not.
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Piccolo
Is it a novel? An autobiography? A fictional memoir about the author’s personal and political development?
It took me quite some time to finish Francesco Piccolo’s “The Desire to be like Everybody”, which won the Premio Strega in 2014. At the start there is an amusing account of how Piccolo converted to Communism as a kid while watching on TV a football game during which the then East Germany, against all odds, managed to achieve a very good result.
Essentially the book discusses the contrasts in the author’s life between the years when he followed the lead of Enrico Berlinguer, secretary general of the Italian Communist Party, and promoter of the still born eurocommunist movement; and the time when Berlusconi was incharge. Though he detests the latter, Piccolo criticises mercilessly what he considers to be the gross mistakes made by the left when opposing Berlusconi.
What stands out is the respect Piccolo continues to feel towards Berlinguer, who died relatively young. I hadnotfollowedBerlinguerthatcloselyinthe past. So I ended up listening over and over again on you tube to Antonello Venditti’s song in tribute “Dolce Enrico”.