A topic that was frequently highlighted in the demonstrations and riots that occurred recently in Europe was inter-generational justice. The issue has been rolling for quite a while. Late last year and later, it even created controversies within Germany's major political parties between their youth wings and the rest. Demochristians and socialists in the governing coalition were trying to reach some compromise over pension reform proposals.

The argument put forward by the representatives of young people was that in their efforts to protect pensions and social benefits for older people, the parties were reducing the government's commitment to sustain education and support programmes for young people in sectors like accomodation. Taxes which young people were paying would end up mostly benefitting older people. And when today's young people got to be oldsters, they would not find the same levels of social solidarity, for a number of reasons, among which that the birth rate continued to decline. So there would be less cash available for the pensioners of the future...

At first, one might find this way of looking at things rather strange. But on second thoughts, there's much to it that cannot simply be brushed aside.

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MILITARY BASES

There was a time when some people - even here in Malta - would argue that for a small country, it was a good idea to have on one's territory the military base of a Superpower, which is considered as a friend and ally. True, the base would be servicing the interests of the Superpower. But given the latter's technological and military dominance, its presence would serve as well to protect the country where the base was situated from outside attacks. That calculation was made by countries in the Persian Gulf. Now they're rueing their decision.

Technological advances have made it financially and logistically feasible for "smaller" countries to attack military bases from a distance. To defend themselves from a Superpower, they are launching their own attacks - not without success - against wherever the Superower is present, including bases in countries which strictly speaking are not at war with them. In the Arab Gulf, the strategic calculations regarding military bases have been turned upside down.

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IN AUSTRALIA

Recent exchanges about how immigrants are treated in the countries where they reside reminded me of what once I was told by an elderly Maltese from Australia when we met long ago during one of my trips to that very beautiful country. He was among the first to depart to Australia as a young manual worker and was already very old when we met, but he still possessed clear and detailed memories.

Australian people used to consider us Maltese as very strange fellows, he told me, because at first, we would keep together, and we didn't have so much money. It's not so easy to get used to how the new folk you end up living close to, are getting on with their lives. We never realised that our eating habits could astonish... even repel them. We had discovered that offal - liver and kidney - was dirt cheap because it completely put off most Australians. For us, it was very good food. We'd buy it to save money and because we liked it. As a result, the prejudices against us Maltese in the areas where we settled got stronger.