Comment
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Care orders as last resort
I refer to the comment made by the chief executive of the Foundation For Social Welfare Services, Sina Bugeja, that care orders need to change to offer better protection to children. While in principle I agree, it is also true that she must be...
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Dangerous billboards at roadside
I’ve written before on the intrusion of advertising billboards on major arterial roads. They can draw attention from drivers whose business is to give attention to driving. In Italy, the law stipulates that advertising billboards have to be several...
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Convert to hunting
I visit these islands two to three times a year and I’m shocked, to say the least, at some of the disgusting cases that I have read about in relation to hunting. One morning, I was talking to a waiter I know and who comes from a hunting family and...
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JUDGING WORK
In my real life, I have to interact with the Industrial Tribunal quite a bit. Everyone involved in cases there always gives basically the same respect due to a member of the judiciary to the chairpersons of the Tribunal, which is no bad thing at...
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Meeting disorders, but never mind
This country never ceases to amaze me. Here we are faced with a situation that is potentially highly embarrassing to the highest office in the land, and the vessels that normally make the most sound are as quiet as a Tibetan monastery. I refer, of...
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Labour’s manipulative stint
It is amazing how Labour consistently applies the principle of mudslinging as the tool for political confrontation of its adversary, irrespective of the facts presented, and seems more intent merely to influence public perception by whatever means...
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Health problems, solutions
Malta has excellent health services. Private practice is solid, starting with very dedicated and able doctors. Public provision is probably second to only a few advanced countries in terms of quality. And it’s free for all, as the International...
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Simon Busuttil’s new challenge
The challenge facing Simon Busuttil as the new Leader of the Opposition is daunting. Contrary to the situation tackled by his predecessors since George Borg Olivier took over the leadership mantle following the untimely death of Enrico Mizzi,...
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Two sides to every story
Last Sunday we woke up to yet more allegations of questionable conduct by the administrators of a local NGO. The front page story of a Sunday newspaper blared out that ‘Reports of Malpractice at Rainbow Ward Under Investigation’. What followed...
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Pentecost and the Eurovision
All the readers of this column know that yesterday was the final of the Eurovision in Malmo. For some reason that I never fully understood, this festival is one of the most staple ingredients of the Maltese collective calendar. It is a national...
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De la Valette – the Grand Master’s Google name
Reading ‘It is Grand Master Jean de La Valette’ I really wonder if Joe Zammit Ciantar and I are talking about the same person and about the same subject (The Sunday Times of Malta, May 12, 2013). I have always held that the only correct name of the...
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How the Constitutional Court betrays Malta’s Constitution
The President of the Constitutional Court, Silvio Camilleri, took strong exception to what I said recently during the President’s Forum on the Constitution (May 12, 2013). He accuses me of “denigrating” the Constitutional Court. Now that is just...
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Overdue maintenance work on balconies
Iron scaffolding and wooden planks were erected several months ago yet the actual repair work on the balconies at Bastion Street, Senglea, has not yet started. What a shame. To make matters worse, a couple of months ago the wind blew away some of...
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The Constitutional Court and the supremacy of the Constitution
On April 25, I attended the President’s Forum at the Palace in Valletta with the title, which translated into English roughly reads ‘Is the Constitution still serving people’s needs?’ Papers were read by Michael Frendo, former Speaker of the House...
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The Ministerial Code of Ethics
The current discussion on the conduct of certain ministers and parliamentary secretaries regarding their continuing practice of medicine and or surgery seems to be pivoting round the observance of the Ministerial Code of Ethics (1994). In the case...
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Out of the box
The news that Tom Cruise’s luscious ex Katie Holmes, the only one who gave him the ben servito, so to speak, might be dating someone else, threw me on a trip down memory lane, back to those days when Cruise was the ultimate teenage...
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Maundy Thursday
In the March 31 issue of The Sunday Times of Malta my letter regarding the origins of the name Hamis ix-Xirka (Maundy Thursday) was published, suggesting that the original term was Hamis iċ-Ċirka. Since then, I received a phone call from Doreen...
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Little girls need strong, not sexy princesses
Do you know Merida? I suppose not. Not unless the only movies you watch are animated, have twittering birds in the background and generous amounts of flowing pink fabrics and tiaras. Merida, for the Disney-uninitiated, is a Scottish princess, one...
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Great job
I would like to thank and congratulate the Emergency, ITU and Neuro Medical ward at Mater Dei Hospital for their professionalism in taking care of my son recently. They offered an outstanding service. Keep it up.
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So what is ‘culture’ anyway?
This week, Sylvanus is privileged to have been granted access to a transcript of the inaugural meeting of the Committee for C.R.A.P (Cultural Regeneration and Artistic Progress). This is, of course, the all-new body set up by the Government to chart...
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