Where have all the flowers gone?

A recent article in another paper by Michelle Mallia, president of the National PN ladies' movement, titled The Spring Of Youth was so full of spring, freshness and blossoms that it made flowers sprout out of my keyboard. As I have always said, it takes some nerve to boast about blossoms when you represent a party that seems to have decided to give the countryside to the developers. When you have the cheek to pepper your expression with paper flowers that convince no one, it is time you woke up to reality, especially the one that good poetry - let alone lousy one - no longer impresses voters.

This flowery self-conviction is also the one that Lawrence Gonzi uses when he solemnly declares that "we love the environment". Mass protests by environmentalists make no difference to him and, like Michelle Mallia - president of the National Mass PN ladies movement with a few dozen members - he continues to look at concrete structures and think of blossoms on green hills. When you close your eyes and see what you wish to see, your ears are quite far from the ground.

Any person who has worked with young people is shocked at Ms Mallia's sweeping statements. She declares that "although it may seem to be the norm that young people never know what they want..." Excuse me, but I don't have that impression. On the contrary, when you speak to young people, they seem to know quite well what they want now and for their future.

I am also surprised at the reference to young people's intelligence and the future of the country. "On a national level, young people are the future of our country." Not correct at all! Young people are the future of our country also at a local level. Look at all the young mayors and councillors Malta now has! You don't dream away the disastrous results of all local council elections by saying that youth is important only at a national level!

Young graduates incessantly complain that their hard-earned university degrees do not fill them with hopes of good employment. Indeed, the country does not legislate in favour of the proper recognition of university degrees in matters of employment and graduates are always - not just often - given a maximum of 20 per cent, during an interview, for their university qualifications.

Is Ms Mallia aware of this and at the same time states that "the government... is investing in education programmes for young people with intellectual abilities," [sic]?

This is a great educational gaffe as all people have intellectual abilities. But Ms Mallia is definitely not an educator to speak like this, as no educator implies that some young people do not have intellectual abilities, for s/he would be mentally spanked by his/her superiors and many parents. If Ms Mallia meant "university graduates", well her answer lies in the unfair treatment of young graduates when it comes to interviews for employment.

It is thus a waste of time and effort for Ms Mallia to state that "our younger generation has to understand..."

With her poor knowledge of young people, no one is prepared to listen to her patronisingly telling him/her what they must understand. And maybe another member of the large national movement of PN ladies should be writing articles about the younger generation.

A kind of democracy

Debate has been going on in this paper about the right definition of democracy et cetera. We have in this country a complex situation with a strange kind of democracy. Voters in all localities - including those which used to have trust in government policies - have given the country 189 Labour councillors out of a maximum of 242 and 27 mayors out of 40. This means about 78 per cent councillors and 67 per cent mayors belonging to the opposition while the government sails along apparently nonchalantly - but in reality under great stress of governing a people that rejects it, that refuses to approve its policies and ideology. In a really democratic country, the government would not have the cheek to continue governing over mass disapproval but calls an immediate election. Stating incessantly that "one fine day the people will appreciate us" is the same as the cuckold who believes that his wife will one day respect him.

A citizenship course

Since October 1, 2004, there has been in France and other countries a "citizenship course" for young people between 13 and 18 years of age who break the law. This is a valid contribution towards the reform of the law breaker. People keep debating many things that are unrelated to social life, but a measure of this type receives little attention. Nobody is a born criminal - contrary to what Nicolas Sarkozy believes. Only unfortunate circumstances turn a person into a criminal. Reform of this type taken seriously can ensure that nobody is a criminal forever. And it does not take lots of effort and expense to organise such a course.

Water and electricity for senior citizens

It seems as if our senior citizens residing in homes do not enjoy a water and electricity surcharge reduction. I don't understand the reasoning for this. Does one stop washing, watching TV and enjoying evening reading when one goes for a long-deserved rest in a retirement home?

Discipline in local councils

Having received the trust of the vast majority of Maltese voters in local council elections, it was only a duty for Alfred Sant to remind councillors they were elected to carry out what they had promised - contrary to the emphasis on ceremony of their adversaries. Surely, as usual, they will roll those sleeves up and act. If allowed, of course, as it seems - according to recent reports - that the AD and MLP councillors in Swieqi are being snubbed by the PN role-distributing mayor. Is this true? Is this democratically acceptable? The new mayor Carmen Said will surely explain, as she published her mobile number for us residents to feel close to her - even if she has not answered my query of weeks ago.

Pastizzi in Scotland

It seems as if a Maltese entrepreneur who wanted to open a pastizzi (cheesecakes) shop in Scotland was not allowed to do so for reasons of disturbance to neighbours. I am not aware of the fact that pastizzi contain alcohol and make hooligans out of people who appreciate them.

Our football

Some time ago, Maltese football lovers flocked in their thousands to see Malta play against Turkey. Maltese sports lovers are finally becoming patriotic and leaving those with an inferiority complex to shy away from supporting the national team and honk treacherously in glee at foreign victories. Turkey is no weak side and our team gave it its money's worth. The 1-0 result was only due to a penalty provoked by a good Turkish belly-dancer who decided to drop to the ground in excruciating pain well after he was hurt when he was finally in the penalty zone!

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