Opinion
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Sunday, April 29, 2012 by
Claire Bonello
The price of a precious life
Some months ago, a man was fined €20,000 and jailed for nine months for dumping his pet dog in a skip, where it died. The dog was sick and its owner does not come from the sort of background where dogs are taken to vets. Still, he paid a high price...
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Sunday, April 29, 2012 by
Fr Joe Borg
Politicians, good Catholics and dissenting views
On April 19 the state, Church and academia sang the praises of Prof. Douglas Kmiec, former ambassador of the US to Malta. The President, Archbishop, priests and academics commented on different chapters of his recent book Lift up your hearts. No one...
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Sunday, April 29, 2012 by
Tanja Cilia
Kiss and tale
“The following programme was made possible by a grant from your tax money. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” Followers of Ziggy will instantly recognise the source of that quote. Yet it is not as shudder-inducing as “Minn kmieni filgħodu...
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Sunday, April 29, 2012 by
Kristina Chetcuti
Happy Birthday dear zip
You’ve got to love Google and its doodles. On Tuesday, when I logged online, I found a giant zipper running down the centre of my screen. I dragged my mouse to ‘unzip’ it and voila, the screen split and opened up onto a list of search results for...
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Sunday, April 29, 2012 by
Sylvanus
Just a little bit off the top...
“I still think it looks obscene.” “What does?” “That thing... monument on the roundabout in Luqa. It still looks like a man’s... you know.” “You mean they should have chopped a bit more off?” “No, I mean it should never have been there in the first...
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Saturday, April 28, 2012 by
Steve Caruana
Equality is not always right
Our welfare system is unsustainable. John Dalli has told us that the health system is unsustainable, as has the CEO of Mater Dei. We have the Today Public Policy Institute telling us the system is unsustainable, attributing the problem to a “culture...
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Saturday, April 28, 2012 by
Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici
Modern-day slaves need protection
Human trafficking, which is rightly referred to as modern-day slavery, involves the exploitation of people. In fact, human traffickers make recourse to deceit, violence or other means (such as debt bondage) in order to force another person to...
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Saturday, April 28, 2012 by
I.M. Beck
Caught singing the blues
I believe I’m entitled to a lengthy crow this week. Miracles happen. On Tuesday I witnessed one and I confess that I gave vent to a multitude of emotions, expressed on Twitter and Facebook that, were they not in the context of the beautiful game,...
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Saturday, April 28, 2012 by
Anthony Licari
Forget the carpet treatment
There is a big difference between the red carpet treatment and the simple carpet treatment. The former is a sign of respect and the latter an expression of spite. There were occasions when organisers of international events “forgot” to invite Malta.
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Friday, April 27, 2012 by
Giovanni Bonello
Bailing out human rights
A court of constitutional jurisdiction has recently ruled that the human rights of an accused person had been violated. This because the law allows the prosecution to appeal when the court grants bail while the accused person cannot appeal when the...
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Friday, April 27, 2012 by
Michael Briguglio
The new progressive
Alternattiva Demokratika’s general meeting, held last Saturday, confirmed that the Greens are Malta’s progressive political force. We have clear positions for social change, giving priority to social justice, environmental protection and...
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Friday, April 27, 2012 by
Francis Zammit Dimech
The Untruth Game revisited
One of the episodes that comes to mind when I recall the years when Labour was in power is that the government had then sought to control not only what we buy, including what we wear and eat, but also sought to control what we think. The official...
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Friday, April 27, 2012 by
J. G. Vassallo
It is vision that inspires
As the worldwide economic downturn takes its course, Malta faces the future with a mixture of anticipation and doubt. During the past half century, the Maltese people were witnesses to traumatic changes that transformed the face of the earth. Our...
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Friday, April 27, 2012 by
Shlomo Avineri
The Arab springtime of nations?
Two things stand out in the Middle East since the Arab Spring began – one that happened and one that did not. What happened was that for the first time in modern Arab history, authoritarian regimes and rulers were toppled, or seriously challenged,...
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Thursday, April 26, 2012 by
Danielle Vella
Wonderful new start
An Eritrean family of refugees is about to be resettled to Switzerland, to a new life. A joyful event, usually. Only this relocation takes place at the cost of a child’s happiness and peace of mind and, at least in the short-term, her...
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Thursday, April 26, 2012 by
Ranier Fsadni
The Kmiec proposition
I don’t think Douglas Kmiec’s proposed preamble for our Constitution – that it should begin with an acknowledgement of “the Creator of the Universe and His Abundant Blessings” – ever had any realistic chance of being adopted, even if a wave of...
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Thursday, April 26, 2012 by
Josè A. Herrera
IVF needs to be addressed
I am following the ongoing debate with regard to in vitro fertilisation with interest. Unexpectedly, but, perhaps, not so in our country, the matter has become a hot one. I feel I must point out immediately that there are many misconceptions and, at...
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Thursday, April 26, 2012 by
David Casa
Helping businesses grow
One ministry that is carrying out some very important work is undoubtedly the Ministry for Fair Competition, Small Businesses and Consumers. With the number of SMEs in Malta being well over 95 per cent of the whole economy, the setting up of this...
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by
Fr Eugene Paul Theuma OFM Conv
Green building and Valletta’s water
A short note attached to a photo announced last Thursday that cisterns discovered under the old opera house in Valletta will be filled with water in a “green building” exercise. I wonder whether this is a well thought out exercise or just more...
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by
Leo Brincat
On making it happen
The government seems to be clinging on to power with a dual purpose. To exercise the powers of incumbency, arguably through a nerve centre at Villa Francia, the mid 18th century gem in the northern part of Lija (something which has so far not been...
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