Fear of flying

Do broadcasters get a kick out of scaring us out of our wits? After an American, PanAm plane exploded in the sky over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, even people who had no fear of flying started getting a little edgy.

I was living in London at the time and it took some time for the information that it was a terrorist attack, to break.

September 11, 2001, reawakened that dormant fear with Technicolor, Adobe vengeance. There was no hesitation that time. The message was all too clear. Then, just as we were about placing the fear of a terrorist attack on a plane on the back burner, Thursday brought it right back to the front.

As I caught the tail end of a follow-up on the hottest news of the day - on one of the foreign channels, after a difficult day - I could not bear to watch and listen to various experts telling us how easy it is to blow up a plane.

It might have been my edginess, but I thought I could detect a certain smugness as these guys were telling us, in minute detail, how seemingly harmless objects could be used to blow a plane to smithereens.

I usually force myself to watch the tragic warmongering going on in the Middle East. I weep inwardly for the many Lebanese civilians and the few Israelis caught innocently in the fray. But that has to be witnessed because it is happening.

I found it easy to switch off something that was only filling me with dread that something might happen.

I don't know why we are being scared witless. Is it so that we will be more accepting of the imminent restrictions on our civil liberty?

We shall all soon be required to give our fingerprints, and apparently also our DNA, to travel. We are all presumed to be guilty before being proven innocent.

After being herded like cattle, we now will also be getting ridiculously closer to cows being branded. I suppose we shall be required to wear some kind of badge sewn onto our jackets to prove our race soon.

I don't want to be misunderstood. I think terrorists should be hunted down and stopped from inflicting carnage on any society. What I object to is the presumption that everybody is a potential terrorist, especially if you have dark skin.

Save the trees

Although most of the people who have responded to our poll want to save the trees on Castille Place, the amount of people who have signed the petition has not yet reached the over 4,000 mark of poll voters against the proposed plan.

As one poll voter commented on the day (last Sunday) we launched the petition: "Your poll is a very good idea. However, given the seriousness of the issue, it would have been much better if the poll were to be more scientific, i.e. I expected to fill in my name, address and ID card number.

"As it is, anyone can pooh pooh the result as anyone can vote a number of times."

We wanted to launch the petition only if we were assured of a good response; otherwise the exercise would have been pointless. Hence the poll.

But of course we realise that a poll has its limitations. That is why I am urging the people who voted in The Times Website poll to keep the trees to make sure they endorse the petition either on our Website www.timesofmalta.com/misc/trees/form.php , or by sending in the required details by post to me at The Sunday Times.

I now want to give more attention to the people who want the trees to go, because they are the ones we need to convince that the trees should stay.

Last Sunday a Valletta resident wrote to the editor to say that the trees exactly in front of the Auberge de Castille spoil the building's façade. A point I concede. However, if one had to look at the design of the proposed plan as shown on our Website and in the middle pages of The Times on Thursday, those are the only trees left standing!

This seems to indicate that the planners who wish to demolish the trees on Castille Place had not even considered the auberge's façade.

"The trees at Castille Place as well as other sites in Valletta are obstructing the magnificence of the palace and the bastions.

"The grandeur aspect of Valletta and the unique heritage, left to us by the Knights, can only be truly admired if there are no obstructions and the area is restored, as much as possible, to the original state dating back to the Knights of St John" was what one of the poll commentators had to say.

Looking at the other photo (current view) reproduced in The Times on Thursday, one cannot fail but notice that the only obstructing trees are the ones left in the proposed plan. The others are not obstructing the view of the building façade at all.

"Valletta was planned and envisaged as an austere military fortress, albeit with rich Baroque palaces. This meant that luxuries such as front gardens and planted boulevards had to be sacrificed for the sake of the Order's military arm.

"There are enough gardens as it is; the removal of the Castille trees would open up Castille Place and remind us of Valletta's military past," another commentator said.

I am as proud of the Knights' heritage as these commentators. The heritage we need to preserve are the buildings, "albeit" the "rich Baroque palaces", not the austere military idea.

The Knights built the Valletta gardens because they loved the luxury of gardens. They were mortified when they had to come to Malta - a barren rock - and did their bit to bring a bit of greenery to the island.

Others who want the trees to go compare the site to empty squares in other European cities. What they fail to appreciate is that the European cites they cite all have large wooded areas. Our woodland is so sparse that trees are as valuable as water.

Since there has also been substantial correspondence concerning other trees around the island, I feel it is important also to air this view:

"I have still not got over the fact that Senglea council removed four big healthy trees on the square, where the local bus terminus is situated, to make way for parking cars... Is this because that is what all other local councils are doing?

"Now the square has lost its charm, its greenery and shade. Local councils should not be given the responsibility of even pruning trees, since we only witness tree massacres!"

Since it is impossible to accommodate too many comments here please go to our Website where we are posting more of your views.