On the Dot...

Most schools disallow snack and juice packets in lieu of lunch. Why is it then that where children have access to tuck shops, they nonetheless may buy their fill of the same, to the extent that a number of lunches are daily thrown away? Just as delicatessens have been prevented from selling alcohol to minors (in this case children 16 years and under) so must school administrations forbid the selling of junk food to those who need nutritious meals in their formative years.

Health Matters

Whatever happened to the triage system in the Emergency Unit of St Luke's Hospital? More to the point, what about the Patients' Charter? A young man with a ripped ligament, and a darkening, swollen leg, was made to wait from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. when no other patients were being seen. Weren't there enough doctors on duty on November 11? Meanwhile, a female patient, who happened to be a 15-year-old who had left her child with neighbours, left the place weeping in pain, having waited in vain, for a similar length of time.

Dog's Lifestyle

A Heinz 57 dog, with collar, has been roaming the Fleur-de-Lys-Sta Venera area for nearly a month now. Several entities have promised to collect it but, somehow, they all fail to turn up on the days and times promised. Meanwhile, the dog is becoming ever more dingy, and more desperate for food, since feeding by kind-hearted residents is erratic.

Road Runners

One particular mayor was heard saying he would now be embarrassed to ask residents of his town for votes in the forthcoming local elections. The reason was, mainly, because a stretch of main street in his locality, despite having been taken over by the central government, is in a shambles. He was conveniently forgetting that streets still within his jurisdiction, at right angles to the same road, are also in a pitiful state.

Trunk Call

Two years ago, the Red Cross Society organised a clean-up and weeding of an area of the Valletta bastions. One notes with dismay that several other areas are still sprouting weeds. Unless someone is ready to repeat this hazardous and tedious exercise, and unless spraying the plants with herbicide is considered a feasible solution, the whole perimeter of the city will soon become re-infested with this undesirable greenery.

Taxing Problem

Someone at the Inland Revenue Department has decided that the Final Settlement System must suddenly start being implemented to the letter. People who used to send in their returns religiously every six months, and were issued with a receipt, and never told they were, in effect, breaking the law, are suddenly being slapped with phenomenal fines. What's up? Is the department being used as a siphon for funds for the rest of the administration?

Long Cover

At Rabat towards the beginning of the year, several traffic signs were put up in the St Thomas and Kola Xara streets area, and covered in black plastic until the signs were to become effective. The black plastic is still there, suffering from the ravages of the wind, the sun and now, the rain.

Carry On

Complaints, both over the telephone and also in writing, have been made to St Julian's local council about the daily soiling by dogs at St George's Junction. Yet, no action seems to have been taken.

Bags of Work

In the run-up to Christmas, postmen's bags are already getting heavier, on account of the mail-shots and catalogues that are added to the normal volume of the post. Is there no law that protects them against the carrying of loads that are too heavy when compared to their bodyweight?