Road rage has always been a problem, ever since Oedipus killed his father (though he did not recognize him as such) when they met at a cross-roads in ancient Greece. And no doubt, there had been similar incidents prior to that one.

Not so long ago, a driver in Paris - greatly angered by how a cyclist weaved his way around him - drove his car into the cyclist and killed him. Here, more than once incidents of serious violence sparked by huge traffic quarrels have been reported. Indeed from most places, the story is that increasingly many people get so stressed while driving that they have become more prone  to rage.

Some factors which account for this: jam-packed traffic; public works and closed streets; other drivers who do not follow the rules or who lack common courtesy or simply do not know how to drive; the traffic mix in streets and roads of cars, huge trucks, motor cyclists and cyclists... Unsurprisingly programmes designed to provide psychological support to drivers and help them understand how best to control stress and rage have been increasing in number.

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SLIEMA RESIDENTS

n no way do I envy Sliema residents even if one accepts as true the claim that - as they believe - the place they live in is the most beautiful neighbourhood in Malta. I can have no prejudice against it since I was born there and lived in it for some years. The walk from Balluta Bay to Tigne to Gzira is a beautiful experience.

However one cannot but ask whether Sliema residents find it easy to live well given how crowded the town can be with: construction that is always proceeding, blocking pavements for months on end; streets that are made out of bounds without prior notice; foreigners who camp out in residential areas late at night to drink and chat; "wild" pigeons that seem to delight in covering certain localities with their excrement; tourists who do not all turn out to be nice and honest...

The situation has been deteriorating for quite a long time. I remember writing an article on these lines in this newspaper some twenty years ago.

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THE MEDITERRANEAN

The European Commission will have a Commissioner in charge of Mediterranean affairs. How this post will relate to the responsibilities of other Commissioners allocated the administration of functions that have a lot to do with what happens in the Mediterranean region (foreign policy; security; fisheries; immigration; commercial agreements...) nobody knows as yet. However the intention... or the hope... is that this post will signal that the EU is now ready to give more attention to Mediterranean affairs.

The region represents the southern border of the Union. Over the years and especially since the increase of its membership, much of the Union's attention was devoted to its northern and eastern European flanks. To put everything in perspective, more than once the Maltese government, among others, made this point. But no matter what we like to think, the Maltese point of view is rarely taken into account.

One problem always was that no strategic thinking about the Mediterranean region has developed. Attempts to do so in the past were given up. Perhaps the Commissioner for the Mediterranean could succeed to reverse this tendency (!?!)