The "explanation" provided by the University on the present state of work on the library sun screen has some disturbing aspects.

The first concerns the reported Malta Environment and Planning Authority modus operandi. While "an authorisation to remove the screen was issued", "the replacement of the said screen had to be covered by a formal application and a full development permit". Fine, but the screen has now been removed and the permit has not been issued, leaving open the possibility that it may be refused. What if it is or the application is heavily modified?

More disturbing are some of the remarks about the old screen. There are fatuous remarks like: "Forty years on, however, it turns out that the innovative technique used had its limitations". Many "limitations" have surfaced in much younger structures in and out of the University campus - no one suggested that they be demolished.

Then there are "technical" comments like the screen being seen "as a heavy-handed solution to a problem that could have been solved inside the building". No chapter and verse were given for what may be a recent off-the-cuff remark masquerading as a 40-year-old comment.

Perhaps such an "internal" solution would have been the mother of that later adopted in the building housing the IT departments - that has a top floor uninhabitable in summer, perhaps because it was built in the golden age of the air conditioner.

It could also be the case that the projected ICT "glass" building will adopt an "internal" solution, one which will, no doubt, conform to the new EU rules on the energy efficiency of buildings.

There is one of these "internal" solutions being demonstrated on campus at present, in the library itself.

As the screen has now been removed from all three façades, the south and east facing façades have been left uncovered. The main a/c system in the library has had to be turned up, just as a protracted campaign to cut down on electricity consumption in the library was yielding its first fruits.

Does the left hand care what the right is doing on campus?