Recently, I read somewhere about the complaint made by elderly people regarding pavements lined, at places unevenly, with small black granite tiles. They are danger spots. Those people who slip as they pass, risk broken bones or worse, as it seems has already happened.
The complaint, which I’ve been hearing for quite a while, is justified. My late mother frequently made it. That was years ago. The black tiles introduced to make certain neighbourhoods look more traditional (though in Malta such tiles were never used before) increase the likelihood of accidents for passers by. She was right.
Apart from the tiles, a problem also is that many pavements are not being maintained well. There are too many people – including mothers with push chairs – who even in narrow streets, feel obliged to walk in the middle of the street by the side of parked cars. On the pavement, they do not find it possible to walk and/or guide their push chair safely.
Road maintenance has become too focussed on what makes sense for cars and drivers, and minimally directed toward the needs of passers-by.
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CLEANSING OF POLITICAL SINS
The debate that came to life these last weeks, prompted by the Prime Minister himself, about how a political actor who might have made a mistake or committed some impropriety could be rehabilitated, raises a very important issue. The conduct of human affairs is not subject to mathematical rules which apply in the same way everywhere and for everybody.
Personal and political circumstances – the gravity of a given incident – the degree of personal involvement in whatever has happened ... plus other factors, mean that all cases need to be evaluated in a subjective manner which however must be seen as reasonable by the rest of the society.
For me it is clear that a political mistake or in fact, any kind of political misdemeanour, should entail consequences. These can be eased or revoked, according to criteria that can be understood, that are transparent and that are considered to be fair and proportionate without giving any sign that the transgression itself is in any way acceptable.
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FORGOTTEN NAMES
Ongoing efforts to commemorate people who in the past gave their contribution to Maltese society are commendable. There are many pointers that show the sentiment of a Maltese identity has been weakening. Globalisation and the modern means of communication propel this development when they do not serve to ignite the populist fires which are fuelled by racism.
In Malta feelings of a national identity are undermined by the negligent care which we reserve for the Maltese language and by how we have gotten used over the centuries to mimic imported customs.
To commemorate and to remember the record of Maltese and Gozitan personalities who in the past gave proof of their committment to social activism and made worthwhile contributions could be a valid way by which to postpone the moment to come at which the Maltese identity will have completely dissolved.