Nadeau's Malta

NEWSWEEK's Barbie Nadeau reviews her favorite sites in Malta which she visited this summer:

Park safely out of the way of the quarry trucks and walk (very slowly) down the narrow headroad along the Dingli cliffs midway between the towns of Siggiewi and Dingli. Buy a peeled prickly pear from the roadside stand and gaze out at the perfect view..

While the Blue Lagoon on the island of Comino is easily the best place to swim, the beaches are too crowded and rocky to spend any time out of the water. For serious sunbathing, head over to the red sands of Ramla Bay (Ir-Ramla on the map) on Gozo and bask in the true Mediterranean glory of sand and turquoise sea--not to mention Gozo's famous statue of the Virgin Mary..

Feel like James Bond. Both Sean Connery in “Never Say Never Again” and Roger Moore in “The Spy Who Loved Me” filmed nuke submarine scenes off the rock cliffs of Gozo. Take your snorkel or whatever Bond-like gadget you may have and explore the clear waters off Xlendi and the Azure Window, Blue Hole and Fungus Rock along the coast of Dwejra...

Red-light revelations

The Times (UK) today discusses the white slave trade featuring the Maltese connection:

..Between the 1930s and 1950s, prostitution in the West End of London was revolutionised by the Messina Brothers. Gino, Carmelo, Alfredo, Salvatore and Attilio were five Maltese-Sicilian siblings who took one look at London’s haphazard sex trade and concluded that it was ripe for a takeover. From all over Europe and beyond, they tricked or forced young women to work for them. Passport problems were eased by forgery or the arrangement of marriages of convenience. Acquiescence was guaranteed with violence.

Clients used to a more carefree tradition discovered that the sex business was being industrialised. The Messinas’ girls were made to work shifts. Chambermaids were employed to knock on doors after ten minutes, with clients being physically ejected if they exceeded the time limit. Nobody messed with the Messinas. As the Messinas benefited from the wartime surge in the sex economy, such was the scale of their profits that Gino bought, in cash, a four-storey house in Berkeley Square. He celebrated the end of a short prison sentence (for taking a razor to a rival pimp) by driving off in a black and cream Rolls-Royce. By the 1950s the brothers stood accused, by the Sunday People, of making London “the cesspit of Europe’s cast-off harlots”.

That paper’s exposé emboldened victims to come forward. Realising that their own time was up and an unwelcome knock on the door imminent, four of the brothers fled the country. A fifth went to prison. Sadly, human nature abhors a vacuum. For the next two decades, their West End operations were taken over by “The Syndicate” of Bernie Silver and the former Maltese traffic policeman “Big Frank” Mifsud...

The Lepetit view of Malta

Retired public school educators John and Joanne Lepetit have recently moved to Malta to start a new school. In the first of a series of articles for Northern Colorado's Greeley Tribune they share their impressions of the island:

It was 15 years ago to the date that we took our first adventurous step to Europe. That time it was to Waterloo, Belgium, to become part of St. John's International School. This time, we've ventured from our home in Greeley into another part of the European Union, the Mediterranean island of Malta, again with connections to the educational system. We are starting an international school. This time, we will take you with us on our journey. Once a month, we will be writing a column in the Tribune's Life section to tell northern Colorado residents firsthand about such topics as diversity on the island, multiculturalism, multilingualism, the history and heritage of Malta, education and a variety of other topics.

..Malta is quite different. This time we have both retired from public education and have been given the opportunity to move to Malta. We have been asked to pioneer a new international school on an island that is rich in history but that only gained independence from England in 1964. In spite of its lengthy heritage going back almost 8,000 years, it is little know to Americans. When we told friends in Greeley where we were going, blank stares were the norm. Only about 10 percent of them had heard of Malta, and only about half of those knew it is located just south of Sicily. Most asked if it had anything to do with the movie, "The Maltese Falcon," the 1930s film starring Humphrey Bogart.

As you drive through the winding roads of Valetta, Malta's capital city, you get the distinct impression that economic globalization is growing. McDonalds, Burger King, the supermarket, electronic outlet stores, auto dealerships and the infamous cell phone dot parts of the island. These exists amidst the century-old markets, ancient ruins, and 365 churches for a population of more than 400,000 people. Change is in the wind for this island that is made up of less than 200 square miles of land. Things are happening!

..For now, we have to get back to counting books, setting up our school, dealing with the bureaucracy and getting accustomed to: the Maltese language (although English is official), a different currency, a sub-tropical climate, European football and driving on the "wrong" side of the road in automobiles half the size of most in Greeley...

Mifsud stuns United

The two goals by Michael Mifsud that knocked his childhood idols Manchester United out of the Carling Cup last night made headlines around the world. No Maltese soccer player has ever reached such heights. From CNN International:

Maltese international Michael Mifsud sent Manchester United crashing out of the English League Cup by scoring twice as Championship side Coventry City pulled off a surprise 2-0 victory at Old Trafford. Mifsud missed a great chance to complete a memkorable hat-trick by shooting wide of an open goal. Mifsud's brace doomed United to their first home defeat to lower league opponents since York City's triumph in 1995..

Mifsud, twice voted Malta's sports person of the year, was recruited for Coventry by Mickey Adams, who was sacked two days later. The tiny former Kaisers and Milestone player put Coventry ahead by sliding in Michael Doyle's low cross in the nth minute. Coventry goalkeeper Andy Marshall saved superbly from Dong Guangzhou the nth minute and a minute later Mifsud crashed home the second. The Maltese should have completed a memorable hat-trick but fired wide of an open goal...

The Malta chill-factor - Part 2

Writing in his Killing Batteries blog, Leif Pettersen - a Lonely Planet travel writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota - continues his turbo account of his recent visit to Malta:

..Another weird thing about Malta is that many of the native Maltese know surprisingly little about the islands. Every time we asked someone for information or directions or where the nearest bus stop was, people – even hotel clerks and bus station attendants – that had spent their entire lives on these tiny specks of land (and it’s not like there’s that much to know) had no idea where anything was. When we asked where fairly prominent tourist sites were, people had either never heard of them or genuinely had no idea how to get there. And it just wasn’t the people that we beseeched for help in person. The “Pocket Malta Guide” - a semi-worthless, marketing-produced piece of kindling handed to each person as they exit the airplane – was full of geographic and practical errors, once sending us to the exact opposite side of the island to visit a key archaeological site.

Yet Malta is a fine place to wander around. Even the interminable bus rides weren’t so bad once you’d negotiated each driver’s psychoses. Being sent to the wrong side of the island by the Pocket Malta Guide set us back three hours from our intended archaeological objective, but we ended up finding and enjoying other sites (that had not earned a spot in the Pocket Guide for some undoubtedly prudent business reason), not to mention lunch and three pints of sweet, life-giving Strongbow.

Vistas aren’t breathtaking, but they’re oddly unique. Not quite Italian, not quite North African, not quite spectacular, but nevertheless arresting. The “beaches” we encountered left a bit to be desired, however. The Maltese that have never been off the island, and have apparently never seen pictures of places from off the island, have confused the term “sand beach” with “sand-colored beach”. It’s all pretty much tan, lunar, butt-pokey, sheets of limestone...

The capital Valletta, while half given over to heart-breaking tourist shops and trite vacationer enticements, has enough character and funky exploration-worthy streets to fill a day. And either they’re flawlessly on-message with the tourist-friendly art of customer service or are just naturally sweet, but the Maltese were all wonderful, even when they couldn’t point out their little town’s bus station in three tries.

I so wanted to do my usual travel writer-induced, scout-every-corner-of-the-new-place routine, racing around for 12 hours each day to get the most out of my visit, but I was reigned in by my companion. In the end we only did one hard day and managed to stay semi-relaxed the other three. This kept us from seeing Gozo, Malta’s second largest island with what is supposed to be the best archeological site of all, but in the end it was for the best. I needed to slow down and they wouldn’t let me bring my Camel Pack of Strongbow on the ferry anyway.

So, after much soul-searching I finally concluded that Malta, again, much like Cancun, is really good for one thing, chillin’. There’s some cool sights and if you’re there for two weeks, and figured out how to safely sedate all the bus drivers, you could probably see them all at a leisurely pace, but if you don’t go there with an aim to sit around a lot, eating, drinking and watching rugby, you’re going to be deeply disappointed.

Two weeks on, I actually miss it a little. I’ve rarely been someplace with so much decent food AND cider (put your hand back down England) and I rediscovered how to relax on vacation rather than turn it into a frenetic cultural, research-gathering, tax-write-off reconnaissance mission. Or maybe I’m just nostalgic because I’m facing such brutal music back here in Italy. In the next three weeks I’ve got deadlines to hit, new offers to consider, nigh-impossible travel itineraries to build, comped accommodations to beg for in Spain, non-comped Spanish accommodations to arrange on short notice in high season, friends to entertain and tattoos to laser off. St Paul’s Bay and English grandmas in an ill-fitting singlets is looking mighty good right now.

The Malta chill-factor - Part 1

Leif Pettersen uses his Killing Batteries blog as a platform for his travel writing. Read his 'battery-powered' account of his recent visit to Malta:

..So, as I was saying, I recently returned from an all-business, stone-sober (as far as I remember), four night trip to Malta. I wasn’t quite sure if I liked it or not until a couple days after I got back. Generally speaking, it’s Cancun-ish, in that it’s overrun with tourists wielding powerful dislikeability quotients. The kind that leave their home countries (states, neighborhoods) for a single week each year simply to drink heavily, walk around shirtless and seek out the exact same food/TV/people they get at home. But this is Malta, so instead of young drunken Americans prancing around semi-nude, it’s primarily geriatric British cranks (and their extended families), drunk at uncivilized hours and garbed in far less clothing than people of their age and girth should be legally permitted to wear in public.

At least that’s how it was in St Paul’s Bay, where we stayed, a community almost entirely revolving around the tourism industry. There were no ‘locals’, no hardware stores, no butcher shops and no sewer-rooter rental places. Just hotels, jewelry shops and 27 busy English pubs for every forlorn Maltese restaurant. The decision to stay in St Paul’s Bay was a blind, hasty one. Having no idea about the layout of the island or the public transport connections, and only having about seven minutes to consider the situation, I just booked the first decent hotel I found online. I later found a map that showed St Paul’s Bay about a quarter of the way around the island from the capital Valletta. But this is Malta we’re talking about here. Driving a quarter way around the island should take, what? Ten minutes? Seven if you hit the lights right?..

..This task was made livelier by the fact that Maltese bus drivers are all seemingly outpatients at the ‘Institute for Suicidal Tourettes Sufferers’. They drove like they’d just learned their brains were going to spontaneously explode at some point that day and so why not live on the edge a little? And they were a little irritable. Any time another car/person/utility pole got in their way they’d shriek out a non-church-worthy string of Maltese, lean on specially made piercing bus horns that could shatter a Coke bottle and perform a series of spastic gesticulations, suggesting that Minor Setback-Induced Heart Failure was imminent..

Fortunately, for once in my life, I decided not to take the cheapest, lengthy, ass-pounding form of transport available from the airport to my hotel (I checked, there were no camels), choosing instead to spring for one of the island’s fixed-fared taxis. The ride to St Paul’s Bay is not a short one, but it’s certainly not dull and we got a good feel for the Maltese landscape en route. It’s surprisingly undeveloped. Lots of low, rolling hills with stone walls spider-webbing out, dividing ridiculously small plots of land. Cities were mostly low, tan, limestone buildings (the whole island is one big pile of limestone, so building material variety is limited), all colonial-looking with North African influences, columns and balconies everywhere, narrow alleys, and centuries old forts ringing the coastline. Little pockets of the island are going through mega-development – 20 story glass and steel business centers, condos, food courts – but mostly it’s exactly how you might have seen it (from distant, rocking boat) had you arrived 200 years ago.

Malta also has surprisingly good food, if you’re lucky enough to find it. The usual European rule of avoiding any restaurant within 100 meters of a tourist site or plaza or that has a poster-sized menu out front doesn’t apply. There’s plenty of Rube Tourist gruel being served without apologies, but there’s also some very decent, affordable options in unpromising locations (e.g. the basement of an English pub full of rugby fans). We were fortunate to inadvertently identify quality restaurants three out of our fours nights on the island, but I was never able to establish concrete criteria for how to distinguish a good place from a place serving Beef Stroganoff in a Can with a side of Veggie Wizz...

Global legacy for future generations

In his address to the High-Level Event on Climate Change attended by eighty Heads of State, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today mentioned a proposal that Malta put forward in 1987:

Two decades ago, here in this Hall, climate change first surfaced on the world's political agenda. The subject, proposed by the island nation of Malta, remains as evocative today as it did then -- “the protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind”. Much has happened since those early days. But the fundamental challenge remains unchanged, and has become even more pressing. Indeed, I am convinced that climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations.

Today, the time for doubt has passed. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has unequivocally affirmed the warming of our climate system, and linked it directly to human activity. The scientists have very clearly outlined the severity of the problem. Their message is quite simple: - we know enough to act; - if we do not act now the impact of climate change will be devastating; - and we have affordable measures and technologies to begin addressing the problem right now.

What we do not have is time. The time for action is now. That is why I have invited you, the leaders of the world, to join me for this high-level meeting on climate change. The unprecedented challenge of climate change demands unprecedented action. And unprecedented leadership. Leadership that is ready to set new directions. Your leadership. I am gratified that so many of you have come to this event. By being here, you have signaled that you share my concern. And you are ready to act.

Today, the effects of climate change are being felt around the world. But they are being felt most by those who are the least able to cope. Indeed, the terrible irony for many developing countries is that, though they have contributed the least to the process of climate change, they are the ones most at risk from its consequences. For some island States and peoples this is a matter of survival. The moral imperative could not be clearer.

Climate change is a serious threat to development everywhere. Indeed, the adverse impacts of climate change could undo much of the investment made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But it is not a zero-sum game. By being creative, we can reduce emissions while promoting economic growth. This is our opportunity to: advance sustainable development; encourage new kinds of cleaner technologies, industries and jobs; and integrate climate change risks into national policies and practices. We must be guided by the reality that inaction now will prove the costliest action of all in the long term...

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Maltese skin phototypes

In an article published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology, authors Aquilina, Gauci and Boffa study the skin phototypes of a Maltese sample population:

Skin phototyping is a clinical classification system based on a patient's historical reporting of the acute skin response to sunlight. We carried out a simple study to estimate the skin phototypes of the Maltese people in order to acquire more information on the relative risk of the general Maltese population to sun burning and to the more chronic effects of sun exposure, including photoaging and skin cancers.

A consultant dermatologist and dermatology trainees determined the skin phototype of patients seen with skin infections or skin tags at dermatology outpatients in Malta by carrying out a short interview. Data were collected on 756 patients. The commonest reported skin phototype in both sexes was type III (48.0% overall; 52.4% in males, 43.8% in females); this was followed by type IV in males (30.4%) and type II in females (32.3%). Only 1.2% of the total was of skin type I.. 

Approximately one half of the Maltese population is at moderate risk of sun damage; about one quarter is at low risk; and the other quarter is at high risk, the latter group needing more thorough sun avoidance and better surveillance for skin tumours. Social desirability can influence responses to such questionnaires and might have contributed to the difference between males and females noted in our study.

Exploring Maltese roots

Andrew Galea from Sydney travelled to Malta to 'explore his roots and learn a great deal more about his Maltese heritage'. In this TravelPod entry he writes about his visit to Vittoriosa:

I woke with a slight headache and queasiness from one too many cocktails that Christina and I enjoyed last night. The perfect remedy for that was to go for a short walk to what has become my favourite swimming spot and have an early morning swim. I planned to go to Vittoriosa today, one of the famous "3 cities" of Malta. Vittoriosa is a walled city perched on a peninsula on the other side of Valletta from where I was staying in Sliema. Like Valletta, Vittoriosa is an ancient place rich in history and Maltese tradition, and also a walled city that was a bastion against would be invaders over the centuries. The heart and soul of Vittoriosa is its dockyards and marina, along with a casino and two museums; "Malta at War" and the Maritime Museum.

My journey started with the ferry ride across the harbour to Valletta, then a walk through the capital to the main bus terminal which was just outside the city walls. The buses in Malta are a classic, they are all ancient rickety old things that blow copious amounts of smoke and guarantee the roughest ride imaginable. The bus drivers must possess considerable skill manoeuvring the metal behemoths through the narrow streets whilst avoiding the crazy motorists that buzz about Malta everywhere you go. My Lonely Planet guide book informs me that whilst there are 400,000 people who live in Malta, there are 325,000 cars. No joke. The amount of cars here is incredible. Every street is just lined with them, parking is non existent and crossing any road is a mini game of "Frogger". Anyway I eventually reached my destination in one piece, said "Grazzi" to the driver and found myself in Vittoriosa.

This city is beautiful. It is like a concentrated version of Valletta (if that is possible), possessing the same charm but somehow being cleaner and prettier. Most of the houses had plants and flowers growing from balconies and the streets were incredibly clean. I have heard that the tourist boom has missed Vittoriosa for the time being, which is probably one of the reasons why it is like it is. However after speaking with some locals the general idea is that Vittoriosa is being kept as a bit of a play ground for Europe's rich and famous. There is a casino here and the boats in the marina were just breathtaking..

Apparently there are no casinos on the island of Sicily, so a lot of the wealthy Sicilians sail down to Vittoriosa to spend a few days at the casino here. Through this I learned that Sicily was actually only 90 minutes away by boat and there were cruise companies that ran regular trips to there. I might look into that later on in my holiday. I got the same sense of history and tradition strolling the streets of Vittoriosa like I did in Valletta. I found a great spot high up in the city overlooking the marina. I took some photos and stood there listening to some music and just taking it all in...

Andrew in Mellieha; in Valletta; and in Paceville

Drink clouds 'sun-and-study' image

Reports of drunken language students blighting Malta's tourist centres this summer threaten to stall Malta's growing popularity as an English-learning destination, says Karl Schembri in The Guardian Weekly:

As a new day dawns in Paceville, Malta's tourist entertainment mecca, the rising sun catches lager and vodka bottles littering the street. Around a corner a crowd of foreign students - some of them below legal drinking age - gathers at a beer shop to stock up on more cheap alcohol. For some of these students it is only a short walk from the bars and clubs of the night before to their English language schools and, hangover permitting, another morning in class.

Young European students, attracted in their thousands each year by the promise of Malta's native fluency in English and Mediterranean sun, are increasingly falling foul of another more intoxicating cocktail: cheap booze and freedom from parents. This summer has seen a rise in complaints from locals and other tourists about young people running amok and reports in the foreign press that the problem could be getting out of hand.The Goteborgs Posten, an influential Swedish newspaper, reported last month that students in Malta have "sex on the beach, unlimited access to alcohol, drugs and nightlife", while images of teenagers engaged in drunken brawls or unconscious on the street have been making headlines..

But while English language students may be boosting figures, tourists who share the same hotels during the peak summer season have complained about young people more interested in all-night antics than study. Earlier this summer a British couple from Nottinghamshire who have been holidaying on the islands for the past 29 years were prompted to write an appeal to the Maltese president, Eddie Fenech Adami, not to "let just a few spoil [the country] for the many". "Of the 14 nights we stayed at the hotel," wrote Huw Morris from Worksop, "we only had four and a half good nights' sleep."..

Laws introduced a decade ago to regulate schools and related non-academic services are hazy about the roles and enforcement obligations of authorities. Since 1996, the ministry of education has licensed language schools under a national accreditation scheme, but schools are not required to supervise underage students during non-academic activities...A surprisingly hardline response has come from the opposition green party, Alternattiva Demokratika, which has called for a "zero-tolerance policy" towards delinquent students. Its chairperson, Harry Vassallo, said the nuisance to residents living close to language schools had "a serious cost that must be accounted for"...

'Showered with lead'

German birdwatchers showered with lead on Malta, from Earth Times:

Two German birdwatchers were showered with lead pellets in Malta Wednesday after a hunter took aim in their direction, apparently aiming at quail a short distance away. The hunter, who was 100 metres away when he fired the shot, insisted during police questioning that he had hit them accidentally and apologised profusely. The birdwatchers - Thomas Hellwig and Enrico Hubermeier, from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter - were on a public road with their backs to the hunter when they heard a gunshot behind them and felt the hot lead pellets searing their forearms.

They turned back and saw a hunter with his gun raised, walking in their direction. Hellwig instinctively took a couple of photos and fled with his partner, before reporting the case to the police. They suffered only light arm injuries on their arms but were convinced they had been deliberately targeted, local media reports said. The volunteers have been met with abuse since they started their visit on Saturday in an island synonymous with illegal bird hunting. The local hunters federation described the foreign birdwatchers as a group of German extremists and warned its members to beware foreigners who were in Malta to spy on them.

Nansen award

Nansen Refugee Award goes to 'advocate for boat people' in Malta, from Reuters:

Katrine Camilleri has demonstrated her dedication to helping refugees who arrive in Malta, not only in a decade of work with the Jesuit Refugee Service but in a determination to continue in the face of threats that included an arson attack on her car and home. The 37-year-old lawyer was named by the UN Refugee Agency on Tuesday as the 2007 winner of the Nansen Refugee Award, which is given to individuals or organizations that have distinguished themselves in work on behalf of refugees.

"The committee has chosen Dr. Katrine Camilleri of Malta in recognition of her exceptional dedication to the refugee cause and her outstanding contribution through Jesuit Refugee Service in the protection and assistance to refugees and displaced persons," said the official selection decision."The committee notes with appreciation the tireless efforts of Dr. Camilleri to lobby and advocate for refugees and is impressed by the political courage she has shown in dealing with the refugee situation in Malta. By awarding Dr. Camilleri for her civic courage and for the inspiring example set by her actions, the Nansen Refugee Award Committee would like to honour all individuals who are working to improve the well-being of refugees."

The annual award, formerly known as the Nansen Medal, includes a $100,000 grant from Norway and Switzerland for a refugee-related project of the winner's choice and is scheduled to be presented in October during the annual gathering in Geneva of UNHCR's governing Executive Committee. It is named after Norwegian arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who was appointed in 1921 by the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, as the first High Commissioner for Refugees.

"Katrine Camilleri has worked courageously to protect refugees and asylum seekers," said Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "Dr. Camilleri and JRS are key partners in helping UNHCR to fulfil its goal of assisting governments to identify refugees caught in migratory movements and responding to their needs."

Born in 1970 on the Mediterranean island of Malta, Camilleri came into contact with refugees when she began working in a small law firm after graduating from the University of Malta in 1994. After helping to prevent the deportation of a Libyan asylum seeker who risked persecution if returned home, her interest grew and in 1997 she started to work with the Malta office of JRS.First as a volunteer, then part-time and eventually full-time, Camilleri helped to expand JRS's assistance. In 2000, she was referred the case of an asylum seeker in detention and others soon came forward to ask for legal assistance. JRS became the first organization to offer a professional legal service on a regular basis to detainees...

More from MaltaMedia and EUBusiness; Previous winners of the Nansen award. Update: Q&A with Dr Camilleri

Tombs and silos in Ta' Qali

Archaeologists have discovered a series of tombs and silos dating back to the Bronze Age and Early Roman period under the proposed US Embassy site in Ta' Qali, from India's New Kerala:

Four tombs and 17 silos have been found, but experts believe there could be more buried underneath. A team of nine archaeologists and students have been working at the site since August in a bid to survey the area as thoroughly as possible because a number of the structures - which are in very bad shape - may now be buried again under the new pentagon-shaped compound that will house the new embassy...The US Embassy is however, unsure what step of action it should take.

The Embassy believes the finds will remain exposed and be incorporated in the landscaping, as the building will take only a small portion of the land. The Embassy's general services officer, Joseph Runyon, said, there are plans to exhibit small artefacts that have been recovered from the site. According to a Times of Malta report, though artefacts dating back to the Bronze Age have been recovered, there is evidence that the site was populated during the early Roman period (AD 1 to 3). The paper further said the tombs in particular suffered extensive damage over the years.

Besides having been quarried in the 1800s, the site was levelled off and developed, to be used eventually as the counting hall during general elections. Little more than a few inches are left of the once storey-high tombs, for instance, the report said.

IMF report

IMF calls for decisive policy action, growth not as good as Maltese had thought. From New Europe weekly:

Noting that "growth so far this decade in Malta has trailed that of most other EU members, notwithstanding the recovery that began in 2005," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently shot down government's claim that economic growth has gained grounds, Malta media news reported. The IMF recommended "decisive policy actions to be taken to enable Malta to reap the full benefits of economic integration with the EU." These conclusions resonate perfectly Alfred Sant's consistent declarations that for Malta to be on the right track, it needs to increase its economic growth.

Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech expressed satisfaction on behalf of the government at the findings of the IMF’s report. He told Malta media news that the IMF's recommendations do not mean that Malta did not have an economic growth, but that it needs to do more. He compared the IMF to a doctor - suggesting the cure to improve the economic situation. Fenech said that the findings of the report were in stark contrast to those which were made public two years ago. In the report, IMF experts commented that Malta had successfully negotiated the challenge of reducing the country's deficit to sustainable levels and that Malta's economy was not only in recovery, but that growth was gaining momentum.

Fenech was cited as saying by the press that the IMF pinpointed 2005 as the beginning of the economic recovery and that as a result of the work carried out in the past two years, Malta will begin to enjoy the benefits of EU membership. Based on the IMF's conclusion that Malta's growth was not sound enough during the last decade, the report by the directors of the Executive Board recommended that "moderation of public sector wages should continue in 2007-2010, also to avoid igniting demands for private sector wage increases." This means that because Malta has lagged behind in economic growth, the government should “moderate” public sector wages, Malta media news reported.

Once again, the IMF contradicts Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's discourse that the economy is growing and that now the citizens will be reaping the benefits. Fenech also said that while the IMF recognised that Malta had stopped to compete in the textile industry, the loss of jobs and productivity was made up for in other sectors such as back-office work, call centres, aviation maintenance, electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial services and IT.

The IMF, he said, acknowledged that Malta's long-term outlook was positive and that the economy had grown. He said that in the second quarter of 2007, gross domestic product (GDP) grew some 3.7 percent in real terms. This he said was up on last year's second quarter figures, which placed GDP growth at 3.3 percent. He said that economic growth was being stimulated from across the board and that income from the manufacturing service was up by four percent, financial services were up by eight percent and real estate up 12 percent. "The government concurs with these figures because they are reflected in the amount of money which we recoup through taxes. Another positive factor was that tourist arrivals were up by 12 percent," he was quoted as saying.

Another positive note made by the IMF was that Malta's inflation rate was well within the EU's 1995 Maastricht criteria. The IMF encouraged Malta to continue with driving down the deficit, pointing out that at current pace, it could even go down to below three percent by 2010. He also said that government research has shown that the country is well on the way to reaching its deficit reduction goals this year. The IMF also said that the government was wise to not devalue the lira and that the only way Malta could boost its competitiveness was by being productive.

Read the full text of the IMF Malta report here; IMF Malta page.

Sharing Phoenician DNA

Mary Harrsch who blogs at Passionate about History is the IT director at the College of Education at the University of Oregon. She is constantly exploring ways to use technology to enhance the learning environment particularly in the study of ancient history. In this entry she she discusses how one third of the Maltese population shares Phoenician DNA:

A Lebanese genetic scientist who has been following the genetic footprint of the ancient Phoenician civilisation across the Mediterranean for the last five years has found that close to one-third of modern-day Maltese share a genetic link with the ancient Phoenicians. Thirty per cent of DNA samples taken from Malta have been found to share a common and ancient genetic marker, known as the J2 haplogroup, with the Phoenician civilisation, which had colonised Malta for much of the first millennium BC.

Research carried out by Lebanese geneticist Dr Pierre Zalloua has shown that while a relatively high degree of Spaniards and Tunisians also share the marker, the Maltese population had a predominantly high proportion. The research project, funded by a $1 million grant from National Geographic’s Committee for Research and Exploration, issued its preliminary results in October 2004 and was famously the subject of a National Geographic Magazine focus that year.

The project, led by Dr Zalloua and research partner National Geographic Emerging Explorer Spencer Wells, has been under way for some five years. The Phoenicians, who occupied the narrow coastal strip in the Levant today known as Lebanon, created the first trade routes circumnavigating the Mediterranean, and colonised Malta and Gozo – naming them “Melita” and “Gaulos” respectively. The genetic marker identifying individuals as descendants of the ancient Levantines has also been found in Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian samples – in and near the Phoenician homeland – as well as in other areas colonised by the Phoenicians such as the Iberian Peninsula and Tunisia...

'Better only than Malta'

Poland spent only 27 per cent from the EU help fund faring better only than Malta, from Polish Puls Biznesu:

The situation is better but still not good enough. According to the Spanish experts' report our country may have problems with making use of the EU support. Up to June 2007 Poland spent only 27 per cent of EUR 4.2 billion available from the Integrity Fund for the period 2004-2006. The absorption by Poland remains on a critical level when compared with the other EU members. Only Malta is worse in ratings, as states the report commissioned by the Budget Control Committee of the European Parliament.

Even Bulgaria and Romania are doing better. At the same time the Union average is 48 per cent. Therefore, the expertsbargue, Poland is facing the loss of some funds, especially those on transport and improvement of enterprise competitiveness. In total nearly EUR 344m might be at stake by the end of 2007, including EUR 215m for the first and EUR 128m for the latter. The experts, however, stress that the absorption both of the Integrity Fund and the European Fund for Regional Development was particularly low in the years 2004 and 2005, but it improved significantly in 2006.

This gives some hope for the future, comment the authors of the report. As the main reasons for the poor use of help they mention the lack of qualified personnel and their fluctuation. They suggest that the staff dealing with the absorption should not only be more numerous, but also better paid, so that the professionals would not quit their jobs.

Switching to the euro

Malta to enter euro zone, but not everybody's pleased, Grit Hofmann writes in Germany's Deuthsche Welle:

..With Malta located only 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) from Sicily, the people on the island could observe how Italian business owners used the switch to the euro in 2002 to jack up the prices of their products. But Maltese business owners now want to reassure island inhabitants that the same won't happen on their island. In the capital Valletta's busy Republic Street, shops windows display blue and green signs marked with the word "fair" -- meaning that prices are not supposed to increase when the currency changes. In addition to the tourism industry, trade is also important for the island.

Peter Darley, managing director of VGT, the largest shipping company at Grand Harbour in Valletta, said that the euro will not change his business much. However, he does anticipate that prices of everyday goods will increase. "The government is trying to control that," Darley said. "In the long term, the euro will be good for Malta. "Like Darley, many of the Maltese people hope joining the euro zone will stimulate their economy. They envision profiting from the switch since, right now, they earn only around one-fifth of what average EU citizens do each year.

Raising the flag for consumers

Writing in her blog, the head of the EU office in Malta Joanna Drake discusses the Malta visit of the commissioner for consumer affairs:

Even before you could say ‘back to work’ EU Commissioner Megelena Kuneva was flying in for a whistle-stop one day personal look at how far the island has travelled in providing consumers with the level of protection demanded by the EU. It’s not that she was overwhelmed. The overt lack of proper structures is a matter of chronicle and the little interest- even by consumers themselves- leaves much to be desired. Malta may not be the worst offender when it comes to meeting EU standards - but it’s not even half way there yet. Who is to blame for this tepid interest in ensuring consumers get a fail deal when they buy products- whether from Malta or from any of the other 26 EU member states? In the main the fault lies with Maltese consumers themselves.

According to a recent survey as many as 90% of Maltese consumers are still trying to inform themselves better of what their rights are. As many as 50% don’t know what to do when an appliance they buy does not work properly. Two thirds of those polled don’t know what to do when they come across problems with their holiday package or flights. The good news is that 60% say they would turn to a consumer association but another 18% don’t know where to look for advice about their consumer rights. Those who do know how consumer associations work but don’t necessarily seek advice- in Malta only 17% do. Clearly what is needed here is one major effort designed to lay down the foundations of a far reaching programme. These things are either done properly or not at all. We have to not just create the right structures but fund them properly if we expect them to do a good job right.

One of the steps taken whilst Commissioner Kuneva was here was to launch a consumer protection campaign and inaugurate Consumer House in Valletta. This building was acquired by the Maltese Government. It will house the European Consumer Centre and the Maltese Consumer Association. The European Consumer Centre deals with complaints about purchases made by Maltese consumers from any of the other EU member states - and complaints by people who would have made purchases from Malta. Minister Censu Galea said Government favours the consumer lobby flexing its muscles and was passing on equipment and funds specifically for the consumer association to turn more robust.

Given her short visit it was amazing how much the energetic Ms Kuneva was able to pack into her one day programme. After presiding over a well attended business breakfast- at which she was also quizzed about her recent dealing with China- we all dashed across to the Smart supermarket in Birkirkara where Ms Kuneva was evidently impressed with the level of noticeable trust between management and shoppers. The point remains there still is much ground to cover before Maltese consumers begin to make the best of the protection the EU provides. Hopefully the launch of an advertising campaign and the inauguration of Consumer House will make Maltese consumers increasingly aware of the fair play that must mark relations between buyer and seller.

Algerian talks

Algeria and Malta hold talks, from the Algerian Echorouk Online:

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika held one-to-one talks with his Maltese counterpart Edward fenech-Adami in Algiers on Tuesday. A meeting was held between the delegations of both countries afterward. Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Mourad Medelci, Algerian Industry and Promotion Investment Minister Abdelhamid Temmar, President of the Republic's Diplomatic Adviser Abdelatif Rahal and Algerian ambassador to Italy took part in the meeting.

In this regard, two memorandums were signed between Algeria and Malta in the presence of Algerian President and Malta’s President Edward Fenech-Adami on Tuesday. The memorandums were signed by Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci and his Maltese counterpart Michael Frendo. Algeria recovered stability after a decade-long national tragedy and it is now providing substantial investment opportunities, according to President Bouteflika.

Bitter Turks

Writing in Turkey's Today's Zaman, Okan Udo Bassey bitterly laments Turkey's loss of points in Saturday's Euro qualifier against Malta:

..The Turks shouldn’t have dropped points against Malta, especially after the arrogant Maltese decided to mix sports and politics by drawing a hyperbolic parallel between the so-called “Great Siege” and Saturday’s match. Back in 1565, the Maltese Knights of St. John, led by Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Vallette, managed to survive a three-month siege by Ottoman forces in what is regarded as one of the greatest victories in military history. The Maltese then built their fortified capital, Valletta, on Mount Sciberras to ensure that they would never be so vulnerable to attack again.

The qualifier on Saturday, Sept. 8, coincided with “Victory Day,” a major public holiday in Malta to commemorate the end of that siege. And the Maltese fans at the stadium showed disrespect to Turkey by whistling and booing when the Turkish national anthem was being sung. What’s done can not be undone. Turkey failed to beat these brats and so the Maltese were bragging and celebrating all the way home after earning a precious point. For a small country with only four points in seven qualifying Group C matches before Saturday, this was no small achievement.

What went wrong for Turkey? In a nutshell -- everything. There was little or no coordination between the defense, midfield and attack; the result was that there were gaping holes in the Turkish midfield and defense. The Maltese occasionally moved into this vacuum. So in the final analysis Turkey could not silence bragging Malta, a country that does not appear anywhere on the soccer map. Too bad indeed! However, this is not the time to cry over spilled milk because the Turks face Hungary in İstanbul on Wednesday in another important Group C qualifier...

More from Maltafootball.com and from New Anatolian

Smart City unveiled

The prime minister is in Dubai to unveil the Master Plan for Smart City Malta, from Dubai's AME Info:

..Over 30 per cent of the land for SmartCity Malta will be open to the public. This will feature green boulevards and avenues, an amphitheatre, a lagoon, a coastal route and vista points on the edge of a coastal cliff. SmartCity Malta will have three urban squares and a main shopping parade. The highlight of the public space is a lagoon surrounded by a promenade which will have outdoor cafes and restaurants to serve as a meeting point and leisure destination.

Also part of the masterplan is a small-scale conference centre as well as hotels, catering to the needs of the business community and visitors to the companies based in SmartCity Malta. A community centre will provide services such as a crèche, health centre, library and outdoor sports facilities such as tennis courts, playgrounds and informal green spaces. The masterplan also features a residential complex. Around half of the residences will be located in the vicinity of the main shopping area while the rest will consist of villas and townhouses stretching along a coastal footpath.

Being the largest foreign direct investment in the ICT and media sectors in Malta, the project is expected to bring significant benefits to the country's economy. The benefits include those generated through direct developmental activity as well as inter-industry linkages and multiplier effects...

'L'aimant mortel de l'Europe'

An article by Alain Campiotti in Switzerland's Le Temps discussing Malta's immigration challenges has been posted on the Geneva based human rights portal:

L'Union européenne lance une mission de surveillance en Méditerranée centrale pour empêcher une hécatombe: des centaines d'immigrés clandestins venus d'Afrique noyés chaque année...Le palais de justice est du mauvais côté de la rue. Le front noir d'Omar ruisselle sous le soleil qui tape. Les touristes en casquette et bermuda qui passent en grappes rue de la République n'ont pas un regard pour lui, ni pour la pancarte qu'il promène devant la maison des juges: «Je ne suis ni Libyen ni Maltais, on m'a ôté tous mes droits.» Mais Omar, dont la lamentation sent la quérulence, a une chance: il est vivant et libre. A Malte, les étrangers qui arrivent sans autorisation dans le vaste territoire de cette petite île finissent en prison dans le meilleur des cas, ou alors noyés en Méditerranée.

Une hécatombe. Lawrence Gonzi, le premier ministre maltais, affirme que l'an passé, dans le secteur maritime de son pays, l'immigration illégale montant d'Afrique a coûté plus de vies que la guerre au Liban. Autrement dit, à peu près 2000 morts. Une douzaine de corps sont repêchés chaque semaine. Six, rien que le 23 août, entre Malte et Lampedusa. Et il y a les malheureux qu'on ne retrouve pas.

Pour tenter d'arrêter le massacre, l'Union européenne reprend début septembre une opération de son programme Frontex (surveillance des frontières extérieures de l'Union) en Méditerranée centrale. Un second essai (après un premier en 2006) baptisé NautilusII n'avait duré que trois semaines au début de l'été, faute de combattants. Les Etats qui avaient promis des hélicoptères ou des bateaux se sont pour la plupart désistés, et NautilusII n'avait guère plus d'ampleur que les moyens maltais, deux Cessna et une petite flottille. «Pourtant, dit Joe Azzopardi au Ministère de la justice à La Vallette, le flux des clandestins s'est tari pendant ces quelques semaines. Nous ne savons pas pourquoi. La simple annonce de l'opération a peut-être eu un effet dissuasif...

Wikipedia at 2 million

Sometime this weekend, Wikipedia will reach 2 million articles. John Quiggin writes in Crooked Timber:

It’s about eighteen months since the millionth article was added, and the number of new articles has stabilized at around 2000 per day. So the shift from exponential to linear growth (in article numbers at least) has taken place a bit sooner than I expected. Some disorganised thoughts follow. The most obvious change in the past eighteen months is the way attention has shifted from the extensive margin (more articles) to the intensive margin (work on existing articles, metacontent such as categorization and classification schemes, and internal process such as the development and enforcement of policies on biographies of living persons, prompted by embarrassments like the Siegenthaler hoax and by the increasing propensity of politicans and others to edit their own entries).

There’s a natural economic logic here. With two million entries already, the typical new entry (ignoring the many short-lived attempts such as this one) is going to be something like List of state leaders in 1390s BC or Kitaōji Station. The marginal benefit of adding an entry is declining, though certainly not zero. On the other hand, the demand for internal improvements builds on itself. A stroll through Wikipedia using the Random entry function shows that the great majority of entries are tagged as needing improvement of some kind..

One thing is clear though. Complaining about Wikipedia now is like complaining about the Internet.There isn’t going to be any alternative, at least not for quite some time to come. The much-debated comparison with Brittanica is ancient history in Wikipedia terms – the work was done in late 2005, when there were about a third as many entries as now, and many millions of edits ago. As regards rival projects, Citizendium has some appealing characteristics, but is not really going anywhere., having about as many articles in total as Wikipedia adds every day, and not many articles obviously superior to their Wikipedia counterparts. Meanwhile, Conservapedia is a bit more active, distracts some trolls from Wikipedia and is always good for a laugh. So, complaining about Wikipedia is like complaining about the weather, except that you have the option of trying to improve Wikipedia if you want.

'Forget Maltese Falcon, check out Maltese Fido'

Writing in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, McAvoy Layne in Nevada discusses the fortunes of the Maltese Falcon and a lucky Maltese dog:

Up until today I always thought the Maltese Falcon was the most prominent figurehead of Maltese wealth, the Maltese Falcon being the figurine that was once a gift from the Island of Malta to the King of Spain, as featured in Dashiell Hammett's excellent mystery novel of 1930. Hammett's Maltese Falcon, smothered in fine jewels, but bearing a layer of black enamel to conceal its value, was estimated to be worth in the millions. That particular Maltese was the cause of considerable trouble to most of the characters in Hammett's novel, and led to the demise of three of them if my memory serves me.

But Hammett's Maltese Falcon was surpassed in value and controversy last week by Helmsley's Maltese Fido, named, "Trouble," 12 million dollars worth of trouble. The trouble started with Trouble's owner, a woman who, before dying last week, worked diligently over her 87 years to earn a one word nom de guerre that rhymes with rich; some even called her, "The Queen of Mean," though I don't know why.

Leona Helmsley was married to a New York hosteler who collected hotels like other people collect rare stamps. When he died she decided to withhold some of her income taxes for no particular reason, and was overheard by a housekeeper as saying, "We don't pay taxes, only little people pay taxes." Well, the privilege of not paying those trivial taxes earned Leona a stretch of 19 months in the big house, and her offhand observation earned her a place in history alongside Marie Antoinette..

So, now that the Maltese Fido is 8 years old, and in possession of 12 million dollars, what does the future hold? Considering that two of Leona's grandchildren were left out in the cold, "for reasons which are known to them," I would suspect that with as many lawyers as there are in New York City looking for a four-legged defendant who cannot take the stand, Trouble will soon enough be in deep trouble...But for now, it's up in the air as to which Maltese will be the richest of all time, the Maltese Falcon of 1930, or the Maltese Fido of 2007. Place your bets at the race book window today...

Joel Stein in TIME magazine: A Word from the Millionaire Maltese

The spirit of La Vallette

Writing in UEFA.com, Domenic Aquilina recalls the great siege as he previews Saturday's Euro qualifier against Turkey:

Malta's national team are hoping to take inspiration from a 16th century siege on the island as they seek victory against the odds against Turkey on Saturday. Back in 1565, the Maltese Knights of St John, led by Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Vallette, managed to survive a three-month siege by Ottoman forces in what is regarded as one of the great victories in military history. The Maltese then built their fortified capital, Valletta, on Mount Sciberras to ensure that they would never be so vulnerable to attack again.

Malta's UEFA EURO 2008™ Group C meeting with Turkey at the National Stadium in Ta'Qali on 8 September coincides with Victory Day. It is a major public holiday to commemorate the end of the siege, and coach Dušan Fitzel will hope to be cast in the role of La Vallette as he seeks an unlikely triumph against Fatih Terim's Turkey, currently third in the section. Malta's seven qualifiers to date have included a 2-1 home win against Hungary and a 1-1 draw in Moldova. It is no small achievements given the size of the nation and a major reason why Czech coach Fitzel was recently given a contract extension in his dual role as coach and Malta Football Association technical director until the end of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The national team rarely enter any game as favourites, but Fitzel has done his best to imbue them with a competitive spirit - something La Vallette would surely have been proud of. "The approach before every match to have a winning mentality and that is exactly what I have injected in my boys," he said. "It is all about winning in football."...Turkey come to Malta needing a win to keep up their battle for a place in the finals, but Muscat hopes Malta will have another reason to celebrate Victory Day on Saturday...

From The New Anatolian: Boys of Terim ready for Malta

Blog day

Blog Day was held to celebrate blogs all over the world with bloggers listing their top blogs. Glennia Campbell in the US included Wired Malta in her list of five blogs she admires from different parts of the world. From The Silent 'I':

Today is Blog Day, one day set aside to celebrate blogs all over the world. The idea is simple: list five blogs that you admire from different parts of the world, different cultural perspectives or different subject areas than the ones you normally blog about. Here are my five and the reasons I enjoy them:

Adventures of a Reluctant Blogger (Togo, West Africa): Rebecca Hunt is a new Peace Corps volunteer serving in Togo, West Africa. Her mom works with me and is a former Peace Corps volunteer herself. Two generations of Peace Corps workers in one family--how cool is that? I'm looking forward to reading about Rebecca's adventures as she spends two years in Togo. Rebecca, your mom is so proud she can hardly stand it.

Filipina Moms Blog (US): This is a fairly new collaborative blog, similar to my sistahs at Kimchi Mamas, but with a Filipina flair. I love this blog for the fantastic writing and peek into the ways that Phillipine culture infuses and informs their parenting.

Pickeled Eel (Australia): Written by an American, ex-Air Force man living in Sydney, Australia who has traveled all over the world, this blog gives insight into places we haven't dreamed of going...until now. Qattar, anyone? I found this one on the Blogger's Choice Awards, where he is #2 behind some Buenos Aires Hostel that may or may not be stuffing the ballot box. I'm about #15 on that list, so maybe I'll grow up to be like this blog someday.

Nisaa: We are Muslim Women (International): A group blog by Muslim women from North America, Malaysia, UAE, and England. I've only been reading it for a short time, but so far, every post has been a gem. This is one of the blogs I recommended in my prior post about Race and Collaborative Blogging, and is a standard-bearer for what a world-wide community blog should be.

Wired Malta (Malta): A blog about things on the web related to Malta. I wrote a whole series of postings about our one day stay in Malta last year, and how much I loved this tiny island nation. The blog has lots of fascinating tidbits about a place I'd love to return to someday.

Political grid

Andre experiments with a Maltese political grid and finds himself positioned on 'the Centre-Libertarian-Left' of the political spectrum:

I’ve come across this site which lets you find out where you stand on the political spectrum. After I’ve done my own rating (which I marked on the chart in gold), I’ve decided to try the rating for others; Malta as a nation (the box with the national colours), two associations and the four main political parties. You might disagree with some results, and you might disagree with some conclusions; but here is what I thought is the Maltese political spectrum grid;

Malta is slightly more to the left than the Nationalist Party, but yet it still remains more conservative than the PN – with religion still highly influencing public opinion. However, economically most people like their subsidies and therefore are slightly more to the left - although the majority of self-employed, and people in the middle-high income brackets are definately more right leaning, and these outnumber all others..

..The most far-right party remains Azzjoni Nazzjonali – although I believe they are more Conservative than that. PN still remains conservative, but I believe it moved a bit more to the right in the past four years or so. MLP can definitely no longer be considered as a party of the left – especially in recent years, but given the current situation I doubt they even know themselves whether they’re on the left or the right. Alternattiva Demokratika is a party of the Centre, and is undoubtedly the most libertarian political party Malta has...

Making moves in Malta

Whilst taking a look at Maltese property developments, Saundra Satterlee says Malta is emblazoned on the minds of many as a place of espionage and intrigue. From Guardian Abroad:

Loose fictional associations like The Maltese Falcon, alongside historical intrigues such as the Renaissance painter Caravaggio fleeing Italy to Malta in 1607 to escape a murder charge, have served to embellish Malta’s legendary status...Malta can claim to be founded on a kind of historic – albeit accidental – multi-nationalism. Its cornucopia of architectural styles spans centuries and provides a rich historical heritage – one that Hollywood has tapped for many a feature film, including Gladiator, The Count of Monte Cristo and Troy..

..Malta joined the European Union in 2004. In the lead-up to membership GDP growth faltered, but by 2005 it had recovered to a healthy 3%. In 2005 Malta joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism, and in January 2008 it will join the Eurozone. ‘This is another vote of confidence for the country’s economy. We predict that this will encourage further inward investment and increased interest in the property market,’ says Mark Bodega, marketing director at HIFX Foreign Exchange Specialists.

Over the past 15 years property prices have risen around 400%. ‘Malta has always had a very strong local property market with a good amount of foreign purchases. Over the past year prices have increased by approximately 12.6%,’ says Frank Salt, chairman of Frank Salt Real Estate, one the country’s oldest agencies. Salt has identified three new hotspot developments in St Julians and Sliema, both popular destinations for foreign nationals. Portomaso Marina and Pender Place in St Julians, and Fort Cambridge in Sliema..

With the adoption of the euro, some predict a surge in property prices. The jury is still out, but whatever else happens, as reported in the Economist, the euro will eliminate the cost of swapping into and out of a currency used nowhere else. On a practical level this will mean a saving for those who purchase property in euros. Malta is three hours by aeroplane from Lisbon or London, two-and-a-half from Munich and Paris, and one-and-a-half from Rome. Recently introduced budget flights from Europe make getting there more affordable than ever...

Queen of people's hearts

To commemorate the 10th anniversary from the tragic death of Princess Diana, Toni Sant wrote this cover story in yesterday's Times Weekender which he also posted in his blog:

Princess Diana deserves coverage because people still love her. This is the reason you're reading yet another feature about Diana. While some people may genuinely have had more than enough of Diana 10 years on from the fatal car accident that left her, her boyfriend and their drunk driver dead, others will undoubtedly consider it near blasphemous that anyone can do anything but love her. Before I started writing these few words about Diana, I thought there was nothing really new to add. Then I started to do some research and realised that like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison and a handful of other dead iconic celebrities from the entertainment world, she will possibly live on forever in a huge hall of referential mirrors.

The most interesting of all these mirrors, for me, is not in one of the never-ending stream of books published about her, to say nothing of the countless newspaper and magazine articles. Princess Diana is mostly on my mind this year through the daring comedic bravado of Ricky Gervais, who is known in Malta mostly through his BBC series The Office. The British comedian has written (and appears in) an episode of the popular animated TV series The Simpsons. This episode, which first aired in the United States and Britain this past spring, dares to lampoon Lady Di in a way that hasn't been seen since Spitting Image delighted millions in the Commonwealth. I would argue that this new joke is funnier because it is very subtle and is inserted almost exclusively for the cognoscenti of popular culture...

The Diana-Morrissey phenomenon

Expat Interview

ExpatInterviews.com has published an interview with Gozo based German writer Sabine Cassar-Alpert who was a guest blogger on this blog last September . In this excerpt Sabine gives some advice about living in Malta:

Malta is European. It is not as exotic as you might think during a first visit; its people have the same or similar problems, joys and sentiments as you and I have. If you have decided to move here chances are that you’ve got to know the country and some of its people already. Personally, I have always made it a point to be myself, i. e. not to pretend that I’m better or worse than anyone else, and I have had little problems that way.

You will be confronted with people who don’t appreciate too much openness. And you’ll certainly meet those who don’t wear their hearts on their sleeve. Over the years my experience has taught me that the above mentioned reputation for being friendly and welcoming sometimes prevents locals from saying what they really think. So, while the vast majority actually is as friendly as they appear to be, it can be difficult at times to recognise a less well-meaning person.

If you are preparing to relocate to Malta, try to gather as much information as you possibly can beforehand. It will make things much easier for you once you are here. In case of European laws and rules, although Malta has been a member of the EU for over 3 years, you might meet many a civil servant who has not quite accustomed him/ herself yet with the rights you have!

One last, important word… There is a huge difference between falling in love with a country while on holiday and living there permanently! Malta in particular might strike you with its laid-back attitude, where there is no worry in the world. As a matter of fact, Gozo is famous as “the island where time stood still!” The said laid-back lifestyle will come back to haunt you when you try to get things done. Whether it’s the kitchen you’ve been promised by your carpenter for “next week” or the repair of your car, which the mechanic has advised you would be finished “tomorrow” – make sure you calculate a lot of ‘buffer time’ when planning things, because “tomorrow” (in Maltese: g]ada) has very similar connotations as the Spanish mañana (and you’d be forgiven for thinking that tomorrow never comes…)