When still a member of the European Parliament some years back I was entrusted, on behalf of the socialist group, to deal with the negotiations that led to the adoption of DORA, the European law which introduced new strong safeguards in the security of electronic transactions done by banks and other financial institutions. That's why I'm concerned by incidents that have been reported or about which I have been told recently, in which diverse individuals either ended up short of the services that their bank is supposed to provide or robbed of funds they held in the Revolut payments system.
The latter simply happened because people replied to phone calls from an unknown number at which time, as they found out later, funds were diverted from their account. What is then even worse is that the payment system tried to shed all responsibility because, it claimed, its arrangements mirrored those of Mastercard. Shameful.
Inevitably, the suspicion arises that in order to grow their market reach, some financial services are not keeping up with the consistent security improvements that need to be carried out to prevent fraud and scams. Their duty is to ensure that a technically updated and robust security guard is being truly maintained over the funds they have been entrusted with.
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HOLIER THAN THOU
They believe that those who are in favour of legalising abortion are inspired by the devil. That the past was a glorious period during which stable families had many children and transmitted the appropriate values - no sexual relationships happened outside marriage - and where the authorities demanded respect and got it. By contrast in today's world - dominated as it is by the woke ideology - we wallow in the filth and slime of indecency and disrespect towards other people.
Members of this holier-than-thou brigade completely ignore how in their glorious past, people were ostracised if they did not get the tab that certified they had been to Holy Communion - that sexual and other abuses committed on women and children by priests and others in authority were hushed up or ignored - that persons with a physical disability could be kept penned up in chicken coops - and that to be awarded a University degree after successful completion of studies, one needed to publicly recite the Nicene Creed in Latin... The historical and social hypocrisy of the holier-than-thou brigade invites a total rejection of what its members stand for.
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VETERINARY SERVICES
What exactly is the situation in the field of veterinary practice? On the one hand, you get reports about the advances being effected in the methods by which pet animals are being looked after medically, and on the other hand complaints circulate about some disastrous results in animal care. There are reports also about the increase in animal clinics as well as in the demand for their services, the fees for medical treatment and the price of pet medication.
For it so happened that while the number of children in Malta has declined, as we're often reminded, pets that are considered as full members of the household have become much more numerous.
It's hardly possible to arrive at some conclusion regarding whether there has been real progress in the medical care of these pets since the accounts one listens to or reads about are contradictory. Up to quite recently, few young people seemed to be interested in the veterinary profession and the opportunities to become a vet were limited. This is no longer the case, which is a good thing. While the available care facilities have increased in number, even if they are still not coping fully with demand, a query remains about how the quality in the care being given has developed.