Roamer's column

Well, there we are then. The Labour leader declares that, "Black Monday should never have happened." Lino Spiteri, who became a Labour minister after those events, confesses he was ashamed that the thuggery that took place 30 years ago was perpetrated under a Labour government. But Black Monday happened precisely because under the leadership of Dom Mintoff, party thugs systematically got away with violence and nobody on the front or back benches of the party at the time, or after, challenged that state of affairs.

The term Black Monday did not, as some journalists have written, 'come to be called' that. The day was given that sobriquet in this column on the Sunday following what was, in fact, a breakdown of law and order supervised by the police; supervised in the sense that they did little or nothing to prevent what "should never have happened".

What "should never have happened" included the savage targeting of the Nationalist Party's Valletta club, the torching of The Times building, the vandalism of Nationalist clubs in Floriana and Birkirkara and Eddie Fenech Adami's house, plus terrorisation of wife and family.

It was only after Fenech Adami's direct intervention with Mintoff about the possible consequences of an attack on the Nationalist Party's headquarters that the Prime Minister called in the Police Commissioner to find out about the deployment of police forces in Valletta.

In parenthesis, the magistrate who conducted the subsequent inquiry remarked inter many alias: "...let it also be pointed out that (The Times) building is of considerable size and is accessible from a number of points so that it could be attacked from various directions. In this case the attack came exactly where the police were on guard" (a deterrence factor which consisted of an inspector, a sergeant and four constables, with a driver and a minibus).

So when we are told that "Black Monday should never have happened" and Spiteri regards this as an apology; and when somebody makes the egregious comment that "the apology goes a long way to reassure people that a change in government will not necessitate a bloodbath as it used to..." there is room for pause. Before pausing, however, the Leader of the Opposition will have been pleased to learn that he earned the latter's "admiration for publicly apologising (and) stating unequivocally that "Black Monday should never have happened". There are a number around Muscat who still do not agree and have failed to echo their master's voice.

A couple of comments may not go amiss. In 1996, under Dr Sant's leadership, when it had crossed the mind of nobody in the Labour ranks, still less the senior ones, that "Black Monday should never have happened" (the repetition of this innocuous, indeed tautological, phrase, which has been translated into an apology is important because it is being treated like some form of political prodigality when it is nothing of the sort; nobody but the demented would ever dream of saying that it should have happened) - an unapologetic Labour Party was returned to power in a seamless manner.

If there is one man who can stand up and take a bow for reversing much of the psychology and actuality of violence within ranks of the Labour Party, that honour must go to Fenech Adami first; for it was he who restored democracy to these islands and, second, to Sant, who unfortunately went on to get so many other things wrong.

He was, it needs to be said, occupying a position of importance within the party in the troubled times of which we speak for, forget not, Black Monday was not the last of the violence wreaked by thugs in the Labour Party of those days. There was still the attack on the law courts to come; there was still the Pietru Pawl Busuttil frame-up, there was still Tal-Barrani and police collusion, all beckoning in the future, and finally there was still the killing of Raymond Caruana, which at last brought the Labour Party to its senses and the country back from the brink.

Oh, dear

In the context of the above it should be clear to everybody but Sant that there was no love lost between Mintoff and Fenech Adami and the Nationalist Party. You need to have a sense of imagination stretching beyond the paranormal to claim as Sant did a few days ago that Mintoff was "manipulated" by the Nationalist Party in 1998.

That was the year Mintoff brought down Sant's government by voting with the opposition on a vote of no confidence called by Sant. Labour's ex-leader recently claimed on television that there were a number of facts that would justify his accusation but, alas, they have yet to be made public.

As if that were not bad enough, in the same interview (Dissett) Sant brought in Matthew Psaila, a gunner in the Armed Forces who drowned earlier this year during a training exercise. The former opposition leader blamed his death on the government's pre-election flurry of vote-winning. It enrolled this young man as part of that flurry, he insisted, and he was posted to a special duties company without the required qualifications, just before the election.

This gauche and insensitive reference to the late Psaila prompted his parents to contradict Sant publicly and to present a judicial protest against the Labour Party's ex-leader. He did have the qualifications, they insist and he did not join up until after the election. And why bring him into a point of argument that had no bearing on their son's life, or death. Oh dear.

A year and a half into this parliament, Labour at the top has yet to get its act together.

Approaching £500,000

Give or take. The month of November may be Budget month but for the purposes of today's piece it is also the month when the Malta Charities Association (MCA) will hold its annual ball - on the 21st to be exact, at The Landmark Hotel, 222, Marylebone Road, London. What is this Malta Charities Association?

Founded by Sue Napier and Pat Trubridge 21 years ago - "Great idea! Why don't we raise money for Maltese charities? Done". Twenty-one years later, the MCA can look back with dollops of satisfaction on what it has achieved. Charities is an umbrella word for organisations that range from The Malta Guide Dogs Foundation to Down's Syndrome Children's Association to the Malta Cancer Foundation; in between, 26 other organisations each carrying out a noble and selfless mission.

To date over £447,000 has been raised and this largesse distributed direct to charities selected each year by the committee. Last year, for example, the money raised at the annual ball went for the provision of special nursing beds (Holy Family Home for the Elderly), equipment for the disabled (Arka Foundation), to help towards costs of special needs teachers, physiotherapists and psychologists (Equal Partners), to purchase playground equipment for orphaned children (Sacra Familia) and for the improvement of facilities for those undergoing treatment at the Santa Marija Home for Drug Rehabilitation. All quite remarkable and what a God-send for the recipients.

Now most of us know that money rarely grows on trees; some are actually of the firm opinion that the stuff does not grow on trees at all, but these do not believe in magic and fairy tales. So, how does MCA gets its hands on all this cash?

Hard work by its committee is one answer; the generosity of others is another. Last year's sponsors included Malta Direct Travel, Bank of Valletta, Farsons Group, Corinthia Asset Management, Gasan Group, Martin Wonfor, Sunseeker Malta, Nick and Alexia Bell, artists and donors of this and that, The Landmark and Nick Bonham, a highly experienced auctioneer who will this year, auction paintings, sculptures, holidays and whatever else can conveniently come under a hammer.

Auction is one thing; a raffle helps a great deal and tickets for the ball at £100 per person entitle guests to a pre-dinner reception, a three-course dinner, elegant surroundings and, I am told, outstanding food. The organisers like to call the ball a fun event and I believe it is. I imagine the auction is held after quite a few drinks have been consumed to put punters in a correct frame of mind.

With the funds collected so far standing at a handsome £447,000, the committee hopes to reach the half million mark this year. Should you wish to attend, you will help MCA reach that landmark at The Landmark. Where else? And you can enjoy a smart evening organised by a hardworking, imaginative committee. If you go, a donation to the MCA's contact person in Malta, Madeleine Hladnik (tel. 2137 0031) will do fine.

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"When we defend the family we do not mean it is always a peaceful family; when we maintain the thesis of marriage we do not mean it is always a happy marriage. We mean that it is the theatre of the spiritual drama, the place where things happen, especially the things that matter. It is not so much the place where a man kills his wife as the place where he can take the equally sensational step of not killing his wife" - (The Home of the Unities, 1919)