Years ago, when Malta was, according to a well-known Nationalist priest, a living reproduction of Beirut, there was an advert. I was reminded of this yesterday as we drove through the rapids at Msida. The advert depicted a windsurfer at Msida. Yes it was Msida. It was one way of showing how shoddy and Third World-like our roads under Dom Mintoff could be.
That windsurfer advert was in fact a marketing message aimed at showing the discerning electorate that the Mintoff government could not solve the flooding problem at Msida or anywhere else.
The insinuation was that the flooding could only be solved by Eddie Fenech Adami’s opposition party, together with his band of professionals. The word professional is of course being used loosely. And irresponsibly.
Now, that must have been some 25 years ago. Yes, a quarter of a century ago and since then we have had the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of communism, the introduction of mobile telephony, the invasion of Kuwait and Iraq, the death of Frank Sinatra, the demise of strawberry flavoured pants, the AIDS and SARS viruses, confirmation that if you are a paedophile you still have a chance of getting chosen to be a sports-master, the decision by Dolores Cristina to choose property speculator Joseph Said as Heritage Malta chairman, and the conversion of Tigné point into a wonderful piece of ugliness.
And with the downfall of Mintoff, we were regaled with the Richard Cachia Caruana years. I mean the years when the real Prime Minister was not Fenech Adami or Lawrence Gonzi, but our future European Commissioner, Mr Cachia Caruana.
And yet, I have yet not seen another similar poster with a windsurfer since those Beirut days. I have seen other posters with Adolf Hitler, and posters with smiling politicians and charming families on green lawns. But no bloody windsurfers.
I have seen meadows with wind turbines, but no windsurfers.
Surely this must be a better way to convince the electorate to appreciate that the new Gonzi administration will solve the flooding at Msida and all the other arterial roads in Malta and Gozo.
This is of course an indictment on our very capable government; that today, apart from the short stretch of road on Manwel Dimech bridge, all roads in Malta and Gozo could easily be implanted in Kabul. And no one would notice, not even the Taliban or the CIA.
It is of course symptomatic of this administration that as the Prime Minister dreams of a Renzo Piano megaproject – a project which will cost the taxpayer €80 million and probably much more – our roads tremble when it rains.
As another minister enjoys himself on his skiing holiday and has a good time, many of us are literally asking themselves, why should they have more of this?
As the European Parliament elections near, there is no doubt in my mind that we will once again start to hear the same garbage and rhetoric from the politicians. No talk about detail, but empty promises about the future.
The real issues, the fact that our surroundings are starting to look like a suburb in Gaza city, or the general derelict state of our environment, the state of roads, the quality of our services and more importantly the quality of our life, will not surface in their repetitive scripts.
So next time, you get caught in a flood and see the water seeping into the car; next time you realise it is practically impossible to cross the island in a vehicle unless you have a Humvee, do not blame the government, do not blame the roads and the non-existent flood canalisation. Do not even blame Richard Cachia Caruana or his car importer friends.
Blame it on the Opposition! Yes, the opposition, for not having come up with a copycat poster that shows a windsurfer at Msida and a slogan that reads like this: ‘Stop surfing at Msida, vote Labour!’
Dead schoolchildren? They must have been terrorists!
I guess the UN-run school in Gaza where over 30 children died must have been a training centre for terrorists and a nerve centre for terrorism. The definition of a terrorist is anyone who dares question Israel. And terrorism is anything that disturbs Israel and the US.
So there you go, that artillery shell was doing everyone a favour. And if anyone out there even meekly suggests that Israel is not playing a defensive role, then please go get your head checked.
The millionaire who loves to hit back
I know of an octogenarian millionaire who was boasting the other day of how he had dragged me to the cesspit after some court litigation. He was talking in front of his usual bunch of sycophants.
Well if this makes him happier I really do not have any problem with taking my scalp and waving it in front of his buddies. I have no problems at all.
So much so that, if he still wants a soft loan from me or perhaps some help for paying his rent, I am willing to oblige. See you Sunday!
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The advert depicted a windsurfer at Msida. Yes it was Msida. It was one way of showing how shoddy and Third World-like our roads under Dom Mintoff could be.
