All's well that starts well

Malta's Labour Party has a new team at the helm. Congratulations to Joseph Muscat as the leader, Anġlu Farrugia, the deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, and Toni Abela, the deputy leader for party matters. To the also-rans one has to say a big thank you; all of them had various capabilities and leadership qualities but eventually the honours went to the elected triumvirate.

One understands that the unelected contestants are still feeling hurt but this will eventually wear off and they will soon realise that life goes on and many new challenges will lie ahead of them in the weeks, months and years ahead.

The leadership race was a contest and, as in all competitions, there is only one winner in each category.

Once again well done Joseph and his deputies. The 141,888 persons who voted Labour last March are expecting you to lead them to victory in the next general election and thousands of floaters, youths and prospective new voters will be looking closely at you for guidance - now and in the future.

The first few days of the new leader have been very positive. I particularly liked the conciliatory and cooperative attitude adopted by the Prime Minister and the leader of the Labour Party during their meeting at the Nationalist Party's brand new headquarters last week.

Keep it up.

I read with interest Simon Busuttil's and David Casa's articles together with Joanna Drake's blog number 55, all relating to their MEP colleague Dr Muscat. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for a well-known correspondent writing in another section of the press who labelled all the people present two Sundays ago at the MLP headquarters to greet Dr Muscat as "headless chickens" who had made an "insane choice" by electing him leader. I feel it's high time this correspondent takes a break and retreats to Mount Etna for a few days. Then, maybe, the hatred will somehow diminish from this person's poisoned pen.

A funny thing happened to me at Rome's Fiumicino airport recently.

Travelling light with only a small overnight hand luggage I was asked to open it by the security staff. My shaving foam and deodorant spray were confiscated. When I asked why, the reply was that they were inflammable and could cause an explosion. So far so good.

Imagine my surprise when I entered the departures terminal and found that I could buy shaving foam and deodorant spray from the airport's stationery shop. Would buying them from this outlet render them less inflammable? As we would say "ħawwadni ħa nifhmek" (confuse me so I may be able to understand).

What do you think of the UEFA Euro 2008 football matches so far? There have been several surprises and upsets so far. What irks me are the unprepared commentaries provided by the Italian RAI TV team. So many badly pronounced names and surnames but, worst of all, the continuous mention of wrong players who are in possession of the ball. What is it, shortsightedness or ignorance?

One note that jarred during my recent stay in Serbia was the petty-mindedness of a gentleman called Simon Lumsden who for the past couple of years has held the post of head of TV programmes at PBS. Without entering into the merits of why no Maltese national was ever considered for this post - that is another story - I would like to know why he objected to fellow presenter Hermann Bonaci using my voice from Belgrade to report on the Eurovision proceedings during his daily TVM programme Flimkien? Apparently, the reason he gave was that I had a programme on One TV and so was not allowed to feature on PBS programmes. Not allowed by whom, Mr Lumsden, by you or did you get orders from above? And what about regular contributors on TVM who also present programmes on other competing stations? Do I detect a hint of politics raising its ugly head in such objection?

A lot has been said that now that we are part of Schengen we do not need passports or identity cards to travel with. This is not quite so as: 1) spot checks are sometimes carried out on arrival at a foreign airport and when this happens a means of identification has to be provided, and 2) when checking in at the airport and before boarding a flight one is asked to provide the passport or ID card for identification. So better be safe than sorry.

On television Bla Aġenda takes a summer break at the end of next week. Similarly, My Agenda will follow suit and this is my last column before the season really sets in. All things being well we'll meet again next October. In the meantime, may I wish you all an unforgettable summer.

norman.hamilton@hotmail.com