In a recent interesting debate at the European Parliament the discussion was about whether the European summer time system should be rolled over or not. Some wanted to keep it going, others to change it to allow countries to choose what was best for them.

About what that “best” would be, there was no consensus to cover every country separately, even less Europe as a whole. The studies which have been carried out dealing with whether present arrangements create physical and mental health problems among the population at large, offer scant guidance. Arguments that claim how current systems are necessary to help minimize energy consumption are also being queried.

If different countries implement different solutions, it would be best for changes to happen all on the same date. Otherwise, an incredible mix up could result.

As I said in an input to the debate in the Parliament, an essential priority should be to ensure that all proposals, whether implemented or not, are in the interests of school children, especially the younger ones – so that for example, the timescales that are adopted do not oblige them to wake up too early in the pre-dawn dark.

***

Village cores

From personal experience, I can agree that policies meant to preserve village cores which reflect the “historical” life modes of the Maltese people in the past, are hardly worth the paper they are printed on.

Preservation is being dismantled in the wake of manoeuvres that are no doubt legal but which are intended to get around regulations. First, some exception to preservation policies is claimed by applicants who appear to have and probably do have, legitimate reasons for their request. Then on the basis of the exception accepted in their favour, other similar permits are allowed, transparently or not. In a short while, the “historic” core becomes transformed into a chickencoop of “modern” structures.

At which point no further reasons remain to justify why the central area should not get totally crammed with “modern” developments. It’s not only in Sliema that this process is ongoing.  

***

The honour of Poland

The Poles are right to feel revulsion at the use of the expression “Polish concentration camps” for the obscene factories of genocide constructed on their territory by the Nazis. The Polish people were not responsible for the atrocities committed in Auschwitz and similar sites.

On the other hand, the Polish government has committed mistakes in the way by which it ran its initiative to get the expression prohibited. It gave the impression it was contesting the existence of the Holocaust. Even if this was not the intention and if concretely this was not even attempted, that’s how the initiative has been understood. If there is one thing, that no matter what happens, Europe certainly should never allow, it is to appear to be putting aside or trying to rub out the remembrance of that terrible episode during which the Nazis sought to obliterate the Jewish people.

Today, news stories ride and reputations are fashioned on incidents that attract media attention. It would be a pity if Poland succeeds in getting rid of the idea that concentration camps were “Polish” by gaining the reputation that it is denying the existence of the Shoa.