Letters
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Citadel’s second gate
Restoration works on the Victoria Citadel are in full swing and appear to be quite close to completion. This task is evidently being diligently accomplished by the right people with supervision entrusted to qualified personnel. It is reliably...
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Tax payment
Are motoring schools and driving instructors exempt from paying VAT? Some schools charge €40 for one to apply for a learner’s permit when the actual fee at Transport Malta is €23. Some schools do not give VAT receipts upon payment, claiming that...
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Conduct unbecoming
Is Foreign Minister George Vella afraid of being reported for the declarations he makes? Does he speak first and think later? If so, then he is not fit for the post. Is he going to demand that other foreign dignitaries hand over their phones before...
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Start of life
I refer to Olga Pitcairn’s letter Right To Live (May 16) and wish to point out, as emphatically as I can, that the ‘belief’ that life begins at conception is not simply a Catholic belief, as she disingenuously asserts, but a scientific one. There is...
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Something to chew on
Amid all the angst, wailing, gnashing of teeth and self-flagellation by Manchester United supporters everywhere at the announcement that their hero and manager for the past 26 years, Sir Alex Ferguson, was soon about to retire, please spare a...
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After the accident
The Mtarfa bypass, apart from alleviating Rabat’s centre of heavy traffic, is a boon to numerous Rabat and Mtarfa residents who choose to walk, jog or run on the pavements, on both sides of this road and at all times of day. Alas, a small stretch on...
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When justice is delayed
I am not surprised at all that the European Commission has come to the conclusion it did (Malta Now On Trial Over Its Slow Justice System, May 6; When Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied, May 14). We shareholders of the National Bank of Malta have...
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Compulsive gambling
In the terms and conditions at the back of the Grand Lottery ticket there is no indication of the winning odds. I suspect the chance of winning the 1st prize is more than one in a million. Could Maltco Lotteries please enlighten punters about their...
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Reaching out
I read with interest of Simon Busuttil urging supporters, MPs and councillors to go door-to-door to reach out to as many people as possible. Reminds me of the Jehovah Witnesses.
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Mini-Budget is needed
I feel that the IMF’s Malta economist had his/her tongue firmly in the cheek when side-commenting that “the deficit widened to 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2012 due to the election cycle”. Last November it was projected at 2.3 per cent but was allowed to...
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Equal rights
Blacks should not be allowed to sit next to whites on the bus. Women should not be allowed to vote. Gays should not be allowed to get married. All three of the above statements are revolting. If you agree with any of the above, just replace the...
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Curiosity about our ancestors
First of all I must congratulate Prof. Caroline Wilkinson on the masterpiece of a face she constructed on a skull of one of our ancestors. I looked and looked at it because the face reminded me of a person I know but I could not pinpoint...
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Tax and VAT collection
We refer to the leader Tax Collection Needs To Be Re-engineered (May 16). As some of the figures were erroneously quoted and what we have outlined at the Public Accounts Committee appears to have been misinterpreted, we are of the view that a reply...
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Nothing doing
It is incredible how some civil servants leave the people who foot their wages in the lurch. Some of them simply could not be bothered so long as their wages roll in. I have two complaints to make. In Cannon Road there is a leak which for the past...
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Parking injustice
One cannot solve any problem if one does not first seek its root cause and then move to rectify it, rather than implementing half-baked solutions Council members, in all localities, should refrain from seeking to acquiesce to the egoistic desires of...
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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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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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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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