So the internationally recognised lateral thinker, Edward de Bono, would like a Thinkers’ Palace in Malta. Why exactly? Parts of his article “My vision for Malta” did make me cringe because he should not have to trumpet his own renowned talent.
But it has probably become second nature to him to market his work and he must have felt it necessary to list the criteria of his suitability to direct the project.
There is no doubt that many Maltese still do not appreciate how much de Bono is rated abroad.
Sure, he has an inflated ego and he does seem to be mainly motivated by cash, but if he does not beat his own drum, it seems no one else will here.
He obviously feels slighted that his accomplishments are not visibly appreciated in the country he was born in, but lauded everywhere else.
Of course we could improve on our creative abilities and encouragement in that sphere is sadly lacking here.
But despite the rhetoric, de Bono’s Palace does seem to be aimed at giving a grandiose opinion of Malta internationally rather than improving the Maltese way of thinking.
With one hat on he flatters us – “The Maltese are highly intelligent people” – and with another he qualifies that statement: “Unfortunately, this intelligence is too often used in lawyer-type thinking: to defend a point of view or to attack a point of view. This is the opposite of constructive and creative thinking.”
Obviously we are not bright enough to realise the latter, despite our high intelligence.
A number of Maltese, like any other nationality, are highly intelligent and creative people and a fair number are neither.
Generalisations like “The Maltese are highly intelligent people” sounds like blarney. De Bono’s reasoning, as I understand it, is that since next year is the EU’s “Year of Creativity”, he could bring reflected kudos to his country, which he no doubt could.
As regards to international publicity, I am sure that this kind of project would interest the international press and de Bono is certainly skilled at marketing.
A “Palace of Thinking” has the right ring for attracting publicity. We must have a palace we can spare just for the duration of the Year of Creativity, at least.
Yes, Edward de Bono will sell more of his books but Malta will get some glory and also cash from spin-offs.
He believes “The EU year of Creativity 2009 provides a perfect and unique opportunity for Malta to become the world centre for new ideas.”
We should aim high and I would be extremely proud if we manage to pull off becoming “the Creative Think Tank for the world”. But I can’t help feeling it is a wee bit pretentious.
De Bono states that the palace will be the venue for “Thinkers to come up with creative ideas for public policy and other areas”.
But really one does not need a palace to come up with innovation in any sphere. But that is not the prime object of this project. Publicity is.
“My plan is to set up in Malta a Palace of Thinking. This should be an imposing and iconic building which must look good in photographs and on television,” said de Bono.

Safe Maltese roads, ha!
I had to laugh when I read that Travelbite.co.uk was telling its readers that Malta had safe roads. The island’s roads were praised because they “have the lowest fatality rate in the EU.”
It is good that Malta is being touted as “one of the safest holiday destinations in the world” and it probably is. But not because our roads are safe. We might have the lowest fatality rate in the EU, but that is more down to the developed skills of dodging, which the Maltese drivers excel at, and sheer luck than safety.
One must never just go by statistics. They only give you one side of the story. A better gauge of the state of our roads and the driving here could be got from insurance claims and just spending a day driving around the island.
Of course anyone who drives in Malta regularly will know that you have to second guess what the driver in front of you intends to do, since the use of indicators is virtually non-existent.
Then of course you will know where you will need to slalom to avoid holes in the ground large enough to cause some nasty damage to your vehicle.
And last but not least, one never feels safe going at green. There are still some drivers who think red means GO. The latter of course must be foreigners not the highly intelligent Maltese.

Weak coke
Drug trafficking is evil. I was therefore intrigued to read that a trafficker's jail term was reduced from 27 months to 12 months on appeal, on grounds of “extremely low” drug purity.
“Out of 36.94 grams found, only three per cent of the drug was pure which meant that only 1.1 grams were effectively cocaine.”
I, of course, do not know the whole story and there might have been more to the grounds for the reduction in sentence.
But does not the fact that the drug was not pure mean that the trafficker was going to cheat whomever he sold the low quality drug to? Was he also cheated by whoever procured him with the ‘weak’ drug? Was he in fact the trafficker, or just a messenger?

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