Mustard gas, blood, smoke and freshwater crabs

The horror of what could have happened had something gone wrong and Libya's mustard gas escaped does not even bear contemplation. Libya is within a stone's throw and now that it has declared a chemical weapons stockpile, not a moment too soon, we can, hopefully, breathe a sigh of relief that the reformed maverick of the North African politicos, Muammar Gaddafi, has seen fit to come clean after all the years of tension.

Well done Col Gaddafi. We don't want an Anglo-American invasion on our doorstep even less than you do. We have managed to maintain relations during the worst of times; even when the US jets invaded our airspace on their way to strike at you and "teach you a lesson" in the 1980s. Malta, I am quite sure, would wish to maintain this relationship; even more now that we will become part of the EU on May 1.

Ironically, it seems that while our Libyan neighbours are well on the way to establish themselves as a respectable and trustworthy nation; certain Maltese speculators have actually used chemicals to destroy the unique fauna of one of our last frontiers, Bahrija, home to the freshwater crab that is found on our 5c coin. To what lengths will they go?

Surmising that it was the existence of this very tribe of crabs that rendered the area unexploitable for development, the solution, as unscrupulously obvious as the speculative noses on their faces, was to annihilate the hapless crabs and leave no ecological reason to hold back their ambition and greed! The extent of the damage caused so far is not clear. I have been to Bahrija and seen the black patch for myself and, believe me, it is horrendous.

Therefore, despite the fact that we have been saved from a terrible death from mustard gas poisoning, Malta is still dying a slow and agonising death as its green areas are repeatedly and systematically raped in the name of progress. The North of Malta, our lungs, is shrinking and, unless drastic measures are taken to stem the ruin, our countryside will be reduced to a mere memory recorded in Edition 26 of Nicholas de Piro's International Dictionary of Artists Who Painted Malta! Is this what we really want? Malta to be turned into a sort of New York gone wrong; without Central Park to redeem it?

The landfill issue next to Mnajdra and Hagar Qim has been taken up by DLH and Heritage Malta and I will leave it to these two competent organisations to campaign against what is a total abomination no matter how many assurances to the contrary we are fed!

To change the subject, the film of the moment is undoubtedly Mel Gibson's controversial masterpiece dealing with Christ's Passion. Up to the time of writing I have not plucked up courage to sit through nine excruciating minutes of flagellation, let alone the rest. I very much doubt whether I will. Despite the rave reviews, Jewish outcries and "Christian" tributes, I was impressed by one quote by Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Daily News. "It's as if Gibson is measuring God's love by the amount of blood he shows on screen."

How violent man is. Even our religion has to be sustained through violence and mitigated by guilt. I find it horrifying. Two thousand years after the event which, primarily through the marketing skills of the Apostle Paul eventually found a secure home in the crumbling Roman Empire, taking on a surprising number of its pagan customs and characteristics in the process, we are unable to live our lives in a true Christian manner without being reminded constantly that we are all collectively responsible for the death of the Son of God.

As cinematic representations become more and more realistic, was it actually necessary to "update" the process yet again? Is this representation going to stem the violence we live with every day of our lives? Will it stop wars and persecutions? Will it solve the Judeo-Palestinian problem? Will the bloodletting we read about every day come to a halt because of this riveting reminder of the Passion of Christ that redeemed us of our original sin?

The Religions of the Book, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, have been responsible for so many wars and cruel persecutions because all three are full of violence and war. The Eastern religions on the other hand, notably Buddhism, seem far closer to the Christian precepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and the Beatitudes than anything practised in the West today! Think about it.

Barely a month would have been left before Malta introduced what we are led to believe are some of the most Draconian anti-smoking laws in the world. The minister of health announced earlier this month that the law will be postponed as he would not like a confrontation and it now seems obvious that, after all, the sturm und drang it has been put on the back burner.

The issue of whether or not smoking should be allowed in restaurants had been met by a great deal of opposition by the restaurant owners, who feared that their business would be adversely affected should their patrons not be allowed to indulge in intercourse cigarettes as they socialise around a table!

I am a smoker. I have tried to stop so many times that I have given up trying. Of course, cigarettes are a drug. Anyone who says they are not is refusing to accept the obvious. I was ready to accept the law. To me it would have meant yet another place where it would be Verboten to indulge my vice. Added to church, the theatre, cinema and public transport, hospitals and banks, the places left where one can puff away to one's heart's content are rapidly reducing inhalatory opportunity and logically the number of smokers will drop drastically as they become more socially pariah-like than ever.

The battle is, despite the back-pedalling, still on and the winners will be those who, like myself, are too weak to give up the weed of their own accord and who will, finally, be placed in the stocks!