• On Monday, December 17, works were being carried out in Triq il-Kukkanja, Santa Venera, just after noon. Although the road surface was being broken up, the workers wore no protection against the vibration and the possible ricocheting of tarmac bits. In such circumstances, the damage is cumulative, as well as possibly immediate.

Bullies

• The idiom “captive audience” nowhere rings as true as when it comes to the residents of the Corradino Correction Facility being denied the opportunity to “shop around” for their personal requirements. The same argument, albeit less stringently, applied to students who have a tuck shop on the premises of their educational institution. This is unfair; a margin of profit should not ever translate into profiteering.

Belligerence

• What is it with our celebrities, some of whom, inevitably, are politicians? They promise to turn up at events or conferences, or media programmes, and then do not even bother to excuse themselves before not showing up. Meanwhile, it is obvious that some of the audience, viewers or listeners would have read or heard the adverts for the programmes. Do not these people realise they are ruining their own reputations?

Bane

• Several well-meaning public servants take it upon themselves to print and laminate notices in order to inform the public of certain issues or regulations pertinent to their place of work. However, it would seem that no one bothers to proof-read or edit the notices for errors of syntax or spelling. Moreover, sometimes, the Maltese or English translation of these notices leaves a lot to be desired.

Bother

• Action had been taken against timeshare touts in areas popular with tourists. Now it is time to clamp down upon the representatives of mobile telephony companies who repeatedly stop people in the streets with a view to getting them to subscribe to a service, or to switch providers. It is now also becoming the norm for salespeople to step out of shops in order to entice passers-by inside, to sample food or toiletries.

Bills

• Sometimes, people wait in line to pay for goods and services, only to be told that the machine through which bank cards are passed is out of order. Things are fine and dandy if they are carrying cash or the card of another bank; but sometimes, they have to leave the outlet, disappointed. A notice to the effect would stop them from even thinking of selecting merchandise.

Blame

• The plinth of the statue of the founding father of Valletta is, probably, such a weird shape so as to be deemed artistic – and also to discourage people from sitting on it. Now that the name of the Grandmaster formerly known as Jean Parisot de la Valette has been indicated differently, one wonders whether slips of paper with errata corrige will be slipped into all text books and history tomes.

Brightness

• Some foreign cars, especially those imported from the European mainland, have lights that go on when the ignition key is turned. However, some of these lights are way too bright for Maltese weather. Surely something can be done to remedy this nuisance.

Business

• During Christmastime, it is not unusual to see children helping out in family-run concerns; this could however, be a way to avoid leaving them at home, unsupervised. One wonders how many checks are made to ensure that children are not exploited.

Baggage

• Is it possible that no one commented about the inherent sexism in the Gangam Style Public Service Announcement by the national airline, no less, meant to remind us that we ought to turn off cellular telephones while the aircraft is airborne? Moreover, it was dangerous and ridiculous to allow people to enter the luggage racks.

Bad

• How many checks are made on tunnels and bridges each time roadwork or excavation works are carried out in their vicinity? It is a well-known fact that vibrations may loosen the mortar in stonework, and the combined weight of traffic on bridges, or reverberating noise inside tunnels, could cause accidents.

Buildings

• Yet another accident has happened on yet another building site. Too many people in the industry consider harnesses to be restrictive – and too many foremen allow their workers to get away with not wearing them. Even when the job in hand involves traipsing up and down planks at different levels, safety gear must be worn at all times.

Buggy

• Is it really necessary to call out an ambulance to transport elderly people who have no other means of transport to hospital, if they only require outpatient visits? Could not some kind of small, environmentally friendly vehicles be used instead? These have enough leg-room and could be used to carry up to three people from the same town.

Barking

• It ought not to be necessary to remind well-meaning parents and grandparents that pets are not merely living toys. It is obvious that some pet shops are not making this clear to people who go to make enquires about getting a pet for children; this can be attested to by the people who happen to be in these shops for other reasons when such sales are being effected.

Bang

• Hunters and poachers are fined good money each time they are caught breaking the law, which is right and fitting. However, it is obvious that there are more people who do not care about animals, albeit in a different way. How much is done to check on pet owners who leave their animals in yards all day, come rain or shine, to scare off intruders (and pedestrians who would not have known about them)?