Opinion
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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,...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
Tribute to Lawrence Gonzi
It is only fitting that I should give brief tribute to Lawrence Gonzi now that the time has come for him to leave the political stage. History will record that he was perhaps one of the better Prime Ministers to have the honour to lead the country,...
-
Greening the Constitution
Alternattiva Demokratika is in agreement that, 50 years after its adoption, the Constitution needs to be updated. However, such an exercise, as emphasised in AD’s 2013 electoral manifesto, should be carried out with the direct involvement of civil...
-
A quality public service
The Public Administration Act, among other things, holds government entities accountable for the manner in which they provide services and carry out their functions. It is indeed considered to be a public service value that government entities...
-
Kazakh mysteries in the Med.
Rakhat Aliyev is a former Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister, Deputy Chair of the Presidential Security Service and former Kazakh Ambassador to Austria. In 2008 he was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by the Kazakh Criminal Court on charges of...
-
A generation of the jobless
A recent editorial in The Economist focused on the alarming global situation concerning unemployed youths. The phenomenon of young people seeking employment across both developed and undeveloped countries is drawing the attention of international...
-
Talk of land reclamation
Land reclamation is a means to an end, not an end in itself. It entails major costs – both financial and environmental – so its aims, together with any potential benefits or disadvantages, should be openly laid out. Before dumping tonnes of...
-
Cheap clothes, bare principles
During my 2009 visit to Bangladesh, in my capacity as vice president of the Delegation of the European Parliament for relations with South Asia, I had an hour’s discussion with Sheikh Hasina, who had become Prime Minister that year. Although our...
-
10-year political cycle
Religious orders have, through the years, adopted a very interesting system of how to elect their leaders from among their flock. This is based on a two-term rule, every term consisting of four or five years. Once the terms are over, the provincial...
-
Tax avoidance and evasion
On a recent visit to the UK I had to make use of the London underground service. The free Metro newspaper issue of April 26 had the following headline: Write Your Own Tax Loopholes. It obviously caught my eye as it dealt with the end result of a...
Popular Stories
In Discussion
