Give me back my Qui-Si-Sana

Qui-Si-Sana is a beautiful place because of its attraction and because of its people. When I was a young man I used to have friends there and I still do now. As a young father I used to take my son for a walk there and stop for a chat with my Sliema friends while my son pulled me to keep walking. Qui-Si-Sana is earmarked for "development" into a monstrous parking area. Any budding ecological researcher can discover the harm, the illnesses and the unforgiving cancer that results from such development. The Qui-Si-Sana people are up in arms against this arrogance and intend to have their opinion respected come next local council elections.

Burst those ugly chains

Ecologists in Malta often suffer the frustration of finding usual natural places of promenade blocked by walls and chains. The Ramblers Association, Nature Trust and others are protesting against this continuous disappearance of countryside areas taken over by greedy egocentrics. In some cases it's not clear if the chain-throwers have a justified right to close paths. It's about time that a serious official map shows the way ramblers can move forward and arrogant individuals have to accept.

Dump the speechwriter

I don't believe that the article by Lawrence Gonzi in The Times of January 5 was written by himself but by a speechwriter. It is too full of barbarisms and other linguistic clumsiness to be worthy of a Prime Minister. Any first-year student of stylistics can easily cut this article to pieces. A few examples suffice: "Our innovation and competence managed to beat the resources and complexities of major international aid organisations." "I will not allow myself to deny the sentiments of fear and concern expressed by many when faced with the phenomenon of irregular immigration." And best howler of all: "Now our challenge is that we use this year in order to hit the ground running on January 1, 2007."

I would say that the barbaric speechwriter should be the first to hit the ground and bite the dust. So that Dr Gonzi can be spared the embarrassment.

When habbaziz was an acceptable insult

Rightist writers defending African irregular immigrants conveniently forget that demi-christian moralisers have always tried to mock the cultures of African peoples. Often they referred to them as habbaziz to make fun of them. The habbaziz has apparently turned to noble caviar.

Turkey's intransigence

Human rights in Turkey are still at an embryonic stage as can be seen from reports reaching the liberal media. On October 7, Hranat Dink was condemned to six months imprisonment for "insulting the Turkish identity". This February he will face again similar accusations. On December 26, Mr Dink signed a letter along with 168 artists and intellectuals condemning this law.

The same fate awaits Orhan Pamuk on February 7 who is accused of having "insulted the Turkish army" in Die Welt. Dutch Europarliamentarian Joost Lagendijk, a member of the Green Left, was not spared across borders. The list keeps growing. Turkey seems proud of this journalistic intolerance. Some local people are not far from this fascist mentality. The hostility of some cowardly anonymous introverts on the web seems to point that way.

Wishful isolation

By wishing and writing that the GWU is isolated, even after having recently increased membership by close to 500 workers, some writers and foghorns actually believe that it will happen. In reality, the GWU is the largest and strongest trade union in Malta and its presence jealously guards minimum living standards for Maltese workers while militating against poverty. As in the whole of Europe, militancy in Malta remains a necessary and permanent modern method of self-defence for wage earners. I have seen militancy in the Europe of the past and present while studying and working there - even if far right conservative cameras don't show this. Foreign channels and newspapers are available in Malta and subtle censure cannot rub them off. Indeed, militancy is the most important aspect of trade union existence. Without militancy, trade unions would be kindergartens organising three-legged races and ring-a-ring o'rosies - at the end of which we all fall down.

Lettuce and wind

Homophobics tend to hypocritically mix paedophilia and homosexuality. Homosexuals are about 15 per cent of the population of any country. Most are born with this orientation which, like heterosexuality, obviously exists also in the animal world. Opinions implying that most paedophiles are homosexuals are totally wrong and mix lettuce with wind. At the same time it is true that some people mix the two on purpose, in order to hatefully put the gay community in a bad light out of fundamentalist intolerance.

Surcharge busters

During this terribly cold winter, in order to beat the ear-lobe and prostate freeze without spending half your wages on artificial energy, wear an anorak, ear-muffs and a crash helmet at home. In the bathroom place a watermelon in the flushing to replace precious water. Then shout down the bowl to help the evacuation process. Never switch on the light in the toilet. Do you need a guiding light there too? In the bath invite your family, your extended family, your neighbours and their neighbours. This way you save on water while promoting community spirit. Never watch TV on your own in a heated sitting room but with your club members in bed. Just huddle together. Babies born out of this promiscuity are identified by who's who and who's whose. These measures will only have to be suffered for some more months. After which the economy will be off the rocks, challenges will have been won, the new spring will radiate and we shall have exciting innovation and competence.

Dr Licari teaches psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and geolinguistics at the Department of French of the University of Malta.