From time to time my fancy is struck by a number of topics which are either not strong enough to be treated on their own or I do not have the time or skills to do that. Alternatively I just say a couple of paras about them hoping that the comments would tickle somebody’s grey or other coloured matter enough to elicit a reaction.
Not a divorce Malta style
I’ve heard it said several times: annulment proceedings in our civil courts are a divorce Malta style.
A friend of mine was emotionally well bruised after stormy separation proceedings. Her partner then filed for an annulment. From what I read, the best that one could say about his grounds for annulment is that they were very flimsy. Her lawyer told her that he would succeed as “this is the way things happen in Malta.” The lawyer continued telling her that if she supports what her husband was saying then the odds would be 200% for an annulment.
I am very happy to note that this is not necessarily true. I read a newspaper report about a number of decisions taken by Mr Justice Azzopardi. It is very clear that if the allegation mentioned in the previous paragraph can be pinned somewhere they surely cannot be pinned to his court.
Mr Justice Azzopardi showed very clearly that even if something is serious enough to provide ground for divorce it does not mean that there are grounds for annulment because the latter is something totally different.
Annulment means that something that existed before the marriage took place made the marriage invalid though in the public eye it was an ok marriage. Divorce can be granted even – if not mainly – for reasons that happen after a valid marriage took place.
TUC Malta style
Ever since 20 or so unions strolled down Republic Street and up Merchants Street in a light drizzle to protest against a different kind of water use and its costs a new dawn has been forecast for trade unionism in Malta. Some were overtaken by the enthusiasm of that moment describing it as historical. Others, more mature, cautioned the enthusiastic. The MUT barged ahead. This led to a split in the CMTU. Following that, the MUT once more barged ahead. It tried to get around the same table Malta’s unions. It managed to garner 10 out of Malta’s 31 unions and formed another association called l-ghaqda tal-unions or something to that effect.
This is indeed a sorry state of affairs. It shows the same kind of immaturity as that shown by an adolescent who proposes marriage after the first peck on the cheeks given in the first twenty four hours of a relationship. That, is perhaps understandable, but when this behaviour comes from the union responsible for the education of our children it makes matters somewhat unacceptable.
Coalitions Malta style
It seems all set for a Red-Green coalition for the MEPs election and perhaps even beyond.
With which institutions should coalitions be compared? Should they be compared to marriages or shacked up couples or one night stand dyads? And should they be compared to heterosexual or homosexual unions? I don’t feel competent enough to provide a solution after pondering on these ponderables.
But let me give an example of how coalitions work to help you come up yourself with the type of relationship that a coalition can be all about.
On Saturday January 10, Dr Arnold Cassola, leader of the Greens, wrote in The Times about the choice of the next president. He said that Alternattiva had a name of someone particular of national standing and international repute. They externalised their prodigy by discussing him (or perhaps was it a she with Dr Muscat, the leader of the Reds. Cassola continued writing that another meeting was scheduled for January giving the impression that that meeting should lead to a deal heralding a rainbow candidate i.e. a Red-Green candidate supported by all the other colours.
There was only one slight snag to the argument of Dr Cassola and the strategy he was outlining. It was not to be. While the Green leader was announcing his January meeting to be with Dr Muscat the latter had already accepted the name proposed by the leader of the Blues, Dr Gonzi!
I repeat the question: What type of partnership is a coalition?
Becoming a personality Malta style
One of the words that irks me no end is the word “personalita”. They hatch with great rapidity though some of them shine on the rest of us only for a brief period of time leaving out poorer and feeling dejected.
What achievements should one have in his or her CV to become a personality? What qualifications? Don’t tell me that there are none because some there must be. The problem troubled me no end. Fortunately I now found the answer. And more fortunately still I did not do this discovering while having a bath. Thus I avoided making a fool of myself running round and about in my birthday suit shouting “Personalita! Personalita!”
There is a tried and tested recipe. Go on Deal or No Deal and make a fool of yourself. Then you will be invited to other sorts of programmes. If you manage to make a big enough fool of yourself you become a personalita.
Xenophobia Maltese style
I was viewing the news on one of the new TV stations. They referred to the discovery of methane on Mars which indicates that some kind of life existed or still exists. The person who wrote the story referred to human life and a type of alien creatures. Nothing is more alien to the truth than that! The kind of life that they will find – if find they will – will not be of the human kind nor anything similar to the light green aliens with large eyes and antennas for ears.
My point, though, is not to make a comment on the proficiency of our journalists. The point I want to make concerns the xenophobia of the Maltese. One of the people who was listening to the news said: Issa se nigu sew. Barra l-invazjoni tas-suwed issa se jkollna ta’ l-aljeni.
He said it half jokingly which means he said it half seriously. Knowing the person I think that he was more than half serious.