Angry notes

I am trying to figure out what is more cruel: Being kidnapped, survive as a hostage for close to two months and get mowed down by your compatriots, or coerced to leave Northern Gaza to a safe zone only to be burnt alive by incendiaries.   

The events in Gaza are beyond belief. The destruction and killing has no limits. The collateral damage knows no boundaries and the impotence of the United Nations is sad.

To believe that the Israeli government has the right to kill hundreds in retaliation for every murdered Israeli, reminds me of the way the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) would round up European Jews and Gypsies and political prisoners and butcher hundreds for the killing of one German soldier.

There is no humanity or dignity in war, but the atrocities disguised as the right to defend oneself cannot go on forever. There has to be some light at the end of the tunnel.

*   *   *

Posta Limited offices faced some angry customers this week. They cannot understand why these offices are so understaffed and why they only work up until 1pm. In this day and age, opening of essential services should be governed by essential needs not company decisions based on profits. Posta Ltd was sold to Joe Said, an entrepreneur with interests in the banking sector (Lombard), the media and other projects. It was a wrong decision, more so when the post office as we knew it was one of the most efficient branches of the public service. 

Yet unknown to many, these essential services are supposedly regulated by an authority which is effectively given direction by the government itself. In the Western world, post offices open their doors until late afternoon to respect the changes in society where people work long hours. It is high time the regulatory bodies start doing some useful work. It seems however that Mr Joe Said is untouchable.

*   *   *

The other day, in the early evening, a teleseries on a political TV station greeted audiences with the exclamation that translated literally into English reads: “You, sperm!” 

It was uttered in Maltese with salivary beads flying out of one’s mouth. The issue here is not the impact of such a ‘verbose’ and deep script but rather to point out the pointlessness of the Broadcasting Authority.  The BA  has decided unilaterally that its only role is to monitor TVM, the national broadcaster, and to allow all the other stations to act as they wish. It defeats the whole purpose of having a Broadcasting Authority. It is time to review the role and purpose of the BA or relegate it with the dinosaurs.

*   *   *

It is going to be law that a 16-year-old can be appointed mayor of a locality. It is bad enough that some of our mayors act like children, but to now anoint a 16-year-old as mayor is one of those proposals that finds its roots in Muscatpolitics. 

It was a proposal intended at the time to attract  more voters to the ‘moviment’ bandwagon. The moviment as we knew it, is of course no longer around. What is still around is our inability to accept the fact that a 16-year-old is not suitable to run a locality let alone manage a council. And yet, we hear only vociferous comments about this at dinner tables not in public. 

Legal amendments mean that 16- and 17-year-old people can now become mayors if voters vote for them

I have still to meet one person who agrees with this. Not even sixteen year olds agree to this.  And what is worse is that the argument that 16-year-olds are intelligent people and have what it takes to be mayor continues to confirm my worst fears that this is a ageist war. Basically, anyone who has white hairs, is bald, has trouble running the marathon and has a pot belly or cellulite is not worth the living or working space.  And you can see this with all the appointments being dished out in government agencies and bodies.  Individuals who may have the charm and academic qualifications, but who have little experience and appreciation of where we came from and where we are going. 

The same applies to journalists. In the media world, there are very few veteran journalists. I am soon turning to be the oldest of them all. But you see it in the younger generation - to them the seventies, eighties and nineties are like the middle ages, as distant as the Vietnam war. We tend to forget that a 25-year-old journalist was born in 1998. A 35-year-old was born in 1988.  A 45-year-old journalist was born in 1978. 

In 1987, a Labour government lost to Eddie Fenech Adami after years of incredible tension and violence.  In 1996, Fenech Adami lost to Alfred Sant who froze Malta’s European Union application. In 1978, the last British military installations were being dismantled before the final departure in 1979. While most younger journalists cannot even imagine the past, others have lived it for better and for worse and that makes the difference when reporting and analysing the news.

*   *   *

The spike in prices is no joke. The only way government can intervene is by applying the uncomfortable process of means testing to support those on the lower rungs of society. 

The habit of dishing out welfare benefits to everyone irrrespective of their income has to stop whether one is young or a pensioner.  Financial help should be awarded to those who really need it. The savings from means testing can then be redirected to those who really need the extra push thanks to inflationary increments. That is how a responsible government should act. The reluctance to adjust to this reality is mind boggling.