We Are Family, bishops of Malta

In a statement yesterday, the representatives of the Church in Malta, Pawlu Cremona and Mario Grech said voters should choose candidates who supported families based on marriage between men and women.



Read my lips Mr and Mr Bishop - We Are Family too.

I, in turn, encourage you to choose candidates who support a clear separation of church and state.

Who'll get the pink vote?

The British government acknowledges my same sex relationship. My Civil Partnership certificate is worth nowt in Malta.

In view of the MEP elections, will someone enlighten me as to who in Malta is promising the best legal recognition of my relationship? It all seems much of a muchness to me. The only difference I have noticed so far is that, in contrast with the rest, the Nationalist MEPs seem to be more reticent and have taken a longer time to sign ILGA-Europe's pledge. The same MEPs were also clearer in stating they were against same sex marriage and child adoptions by same-sex couples.

This does not mean the others get off scot free. Correct me if I am wrong but the other MEP/MEP hopefuls never said they were in favour of same sex marriage and child adoptions by same sex couples. All they promise is to put us all in one multi-purpose basket along with all flat-sharing mates. I find that insulting. I have promised to love, respect and have amazing sex (OK, the last is just wishful thinking) with my partner, taking in the responsibilities that come with such a commitment and I get to be lumped with people who's only thing in common is their address.

Here we are thanking them profusely for the privilege of having met us just prior to asking us for our vote. They'll have to do better than that.

The way I see it is they all feel they're being charitable, whilst retaining at the same time that a love between a man and a woman is way superior. You know what? You NEED my vote and although I'm not a one issue voter (I have already voiced my concern at why each MEP has placed the immigration issue before that of the economy), I might just this one time make sure you never get close to that gravy train.

I don't expect anything better from a closet case who can't resist a boogie amongst bare chested same-sex loving hunks and his "won't dare criticise the Pope" mate, but my respect for those who claim to be liberal is fast disappearing.

Although this is one truly emotional piece on my part, I do hope you will send in your comments about this issue. In principle, I am against throwing away my vote, but I simply don't have the foggiest who's for real in this game.

Buses drive me crazy

Leif Pettersen from Minneapolis writes a blog about his travels with tongue firmly in cheek. Two years ago he experienced what some refer to as bone rattlers and others as Malta's public transport.

...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

When they weren’t engaged in these tasks, they were boorish and combative with every person that had the audacity to step on their bus:

Innocent Travel Writer Passenger: “How much is the fare to Rabat?”

Jackhole Driver: “frazzelgrumpf”

ITWP: “I’m sorry how much?”

JD: [undue exasperation] “50 cents!!! Jesus ^@$%*)*^%##^(* Christ!!!”

Parallel worlds

The UK is in the midst of a credit crunch - the real crisis. The British press, the government, the opposition and a good part of the population decide the real National issue is the expenses scandal that has hit the major political parties.

The island of Malta faces the same global crunch. All (yes, all) aspiring MEPs, encouraged by an increasingly xenophobic and paranoid population, decide the major issue facing Malta is irregular immigration.

Attracting the gentleman

Gordon Miller writes today on the Financial Times that since Malta cannot compete with bigger and richer nations, it is focusing on the culture and history to attract foreigners.

Benjamin Disraeli once said of the Maltese capital, Valletta, that it was “a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen”.

The first group of gentlemen to which the 19th-century British prime minister referred was the Knights of St John, a monastic order made up of English aristocrats who were granted ownership of the island in 1530 by Charles V of Spain and who later defended it against Ottoman incursions. The second was presumably people such as Disraeli himself and the poet Lord Byron, who introduced Disraeli to Malta, since the UK ruled the formerly French-ruled territory from 1800 until its independence in 1964.

Continuing the tradition today are businessmen such as Julius Nehorai, who owns homes in London, Los Angeles and Portugal’s Algarve but who relocated to the island’s St Julians three years ago. “Malta appealed to me as a base because it has culture, a great climate, is only a three-hour flight from London and the locals are friendly,” he says. “Most significantly, it has a friendly tax scheme that makes doing business on the island viable.”

His attitude is one that local government and property companies hope to foster among more “gentlemen” buyers, both native and foreign, in coming years as they pull back from a 1970s and 1980s emphasis on mass-market tourism (which resulted in tacky strips of hotels and apartments) to focus on higher-end – yet still quite large – developments, mostly on the north-east coast within easy driving distance of Valletta.

1942 on the island of Malta

The Information Officer is a new thriller by bestselling author Mark Mills. The story takes place in Malta and the protagonist is a Max Chadwick, information officer, who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery and decides to embark on a private investigation all of his own.

Max Mills spoke here of the motive behind the choice of setting:

The reason for setting the third book in Malta during the second world war is very simple. As I was nearing the end of The Savage Garden, I was looking for some displacement activity, cause I wasn't having a very fun time of it, and I went to our local junk shop and as always I was browsing through the second hand books and I plucked out a little memoir, a dusty little memoir, and it was written by someone who had been in Malta in 1942. Although I knew that Malta had suffered terribly during the second world war, I didn't know to what degree. I went home, I should have been writing the other book but I was so hooked by this memoir that I read it in one sitting. I knew at that moment that I had the setting for my third novel.

On the question of his book's female character he said:

I've always really enjoyed writing my female characters and they figure large in all of the books. I guess they're all pretty feisty and pretty rounded individuals. I have sometimes been asked why that is. I don't know what the reason to that is other than that I come from a family of strong and willful women. I have a mother who is a force of nature and three very feisty sisters so it seems pretty normal for me that the women that I portray should have those characteristics. They should be real people and not wall flowers.

Valletta Plans

Exciting plans have been announced for Valletta in light of the city as a 2018 European City of Culture contender. Ever the eternal optimist, I believe this is the time the promised plans will come to be. Here is a list of projects that have been mentioned in the press as of late.

1. In place of the old Opera House, at the entrance to Valletta, we shall have a Piano designed building to house parliament and cultural spaces.

2. The Palace is to be restored, parliament moved to its new location and the space converted into a museum open to the public.

3. New designs for Piazza San Gorg see it pedestrianised and paved by Christmas 2009.

4. Fort St Elmo is to be converted into a multi-functional development including cultural and leisure activities. Fort will also serve as a passenger terminal in the summer with the building of berths for cruise liners in the harbour below.

5. Evans building (I.D. card offices) will be converted into a hotel and underground car park.

6. The Fish Market and the Ministry of Rural Affairs building on the Waterfront will be converted into a boutique hotel.

7. The Barrakka lift is to be rebuilt connecting the Upper Barrakka to Lascaris Ditch.

8. The Biaggio Steps Examination Centre is to be converted into an interactive fortifications museum.

9. The Breakwater Bridge is to be rebuilt.

10. Fortifications will be restored

11. Paving of parts of Valletta and restoration of buildings

12. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to what Renzo Piano's plans hold for the City Gate entrance.

If there are any other projects that have escaped me, please mention them by adding a comment.

The Bakery (Tal-ħobż)

My uncle and aunt ran a bakery in Żabbar. Their day started early before sunrise and aunt Berna drove around town in a white van delivering their freshly baked bread. I very much recall as a child being sent to our local bakery in Tarxien to buy bread. Wicked rascals such as my young self would dig out a hole in the soft core of the bread, annoying our mothers no end. It was also common for households that lacked an oven in the home to make use of the services of the bakery to cook their Sunday roast or their għaġin il-forn (oven baked pasta). This is from a short story by Carmen Debono in a book printed by Midsea Books - Top Ten Tales of Malta 1977.

The bakery was cosy and warm. There were long low trestle tables where people placed their dishes and were given metal tickets for receipts. Long muslin-like sheets covered the tables to keep the food clean until it was time to be put in the oven. There were about six women gossiping when I went in. One of them detached herself from the group and came forward to meet me. She wore a white overall and looked both brisk and efficient. So this one was the one in charge of this bakery, I thought. I was relieved as I had expected a man to be in charge. I was soon to change my mind, however, about her. She lifted the sheet on one of the tables and showed me where to place my dish. She then stopped an stared.

'You's better change that dish,' she said, 'as it will break in the oven.'

Very sure of myself, I said that it was oven-proof and there was no question of it breaking. The lady pursed her lips and looked at the other women, who had stopped talking in order to listen. I thought she was going to insist on my changing the dish but, instead, she took another look at the contents. I squirmed, thinking that I might have left an eye or two while peeling the potatoes. But no.

'You'd better add some liquid to the dish,' she added. 'This oven is hotter than the ones in home cookers, and things dry up quickly.'

Airy Fairies

Chiara and entourage.

The Guardian today reported that, on the day that Eurovision was held, Moscow riot police violently broke up a peaceful gay pride rally, drawing attention to Russian authorities' appalling record on gay rights. The worst part of watching this year's Eurovision is that no artist has spoken out against this (apart from the Netherlands' representative who did not make it to the finals). I am sorely disappointed in the absence of any public show of solidarity towards Russian gays from Chiara and her Maltese entourage, a good number of who are otherwise openly gay. More hurtful is outspoken UK gay BBC presenter Graham Norton's cluelessness as reported by the Guardian.

Yesterday Norton professed ignorance about the tough line taken by the Moscow authorities against the gay rally. "I feel really bad, but I don't know very much about this," he said.

Noise 1. Opera

At the end of 2008 Malta's Prime Minister, Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, announced to a bemused and astonished electorate that he planned to build a Parliament in place of the bombed out Opera House building in Valletta. This is Europe's most visible World War Two bomb site at the entrance to Valletta.
Ian Waugh

I have performed at many opera houses which are not as big as the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden or New York's Metropolitan Opera House, but still do a very good job of sustaining big productions. I think more studies need to be carried out to ascertain whether the footprint is indeed not suited for a modern-day theatre.
Joseph Calleja

"The numbers are simply not there!"
Dr Fenech categorically stated that whoever said Malta needed another opera house did not know what they were talking about, referring to them and their opinions as "hullabaloo".
Dr. Peter Fenech

The national theatre is not there to make profit but to serve the people irrespective of the cost.
Kenneth Zammit Tabona

The Malta Library and Information Association (MaLIA) issued a press release last month proposing that this site is developed into a Cultural Centre that should include a state-of-the-art public library, among other facilities.
MaLIA

To put Parliament there would be a clear option for The City as a museum rather than for Valletta Alive, since Parliament requires a building with severely restricted entry and even more stringent security precautions than those which have impeded St James Cavalier from making use of its splendid roof space (because of proximity to the Prime Minister's office).
Fr Peter Serracino Inglott

I truly appreciate what Fr Peter has done for the arts and culture and I fully understand his line of thinking that Valletta can only be revived in the evenings through cultural activities; on the other hand, there is simply nowhere else to put our Parliament.
Ray Bondin

Plainly speaking, I don’t agree that the Parliament should be shifted to the entrance of the city. A parliament in this location would contribute to the death rather than to the revival of the image and life of Valletta as a capital city.
Victor Galea

Given that nobody seems content to let the others get away with a parliament house, a museum of modern art, an opera house, a national theatre, and now even a public library, we run the risk of being left with the one thing that will offend no one: nothing.
Daphne Caruana Galizia

Where does the present fit in between Maltese history?

In Malta there is so much history it risks snuffing out contemporary life. How do you live in and around the glory and ruins of 5000 years of human activity? A fun example was found yesterday afternoon at the Upper Barrakka Gardens where preparations were under way for a wine festival. Tables were being set up in between cannons on the the "saluting battery". If you think about it too much, the proximity of war and leisure seems a strange mix, but in practice it's beautiful, peaceful, and the view unparalleled. However, when I'm visiting Malta, I feel overloaded by "older" or "official" history, whether it's the Knights of Saint John, the ornate churches or something involving World War II. I have a harder time getting a sense of what Malta was like more recently, during the 1970s or 1980s. And what interesting things are Maltese artists, intellectuals and up to today? As a visitor, I have to work hard to find this kind of thing, but it's there. Malta is not alone, artists and creative people in places like Edinburgh and Paris have a hard time doing "new" things under the weight of all that beautiful history.