Heroes/heroines and villains of 2003

This has been a year of great joys and successes, of disasters and failure for some. Here are my selection of local and international heroics and less than heroics for the year.

In sport. Well, you cannot begrudge (even if you are one of those madder than the Maltese Italians for all things Italian!) the English their success in rugby. They haven't been world champions at anything for ages, despite this country being the home ground for so many of our major sports.

Those scenes in Trafalgar Squre were electrifying and such a contrast to those humiliating scenes when they toppled an effigy of Bush.

And our own sporting heroines, the Maltese women who lifted gold in basketball, hearty cheers.

In international politics. The heroes have to be the American soldiers as well as all their allies who have persisted and are still there in the most awful conditions. They have caught one horrible dictator and they have my respect. Although we sometimes thing war is a cosy pushing of buttons, it ain't.

In political spin. Connected to Iraq again the suicide of one of the world's best chemical weapons inspectors.

Although the real truth will never emerge, the suicide of David Kelly earns a villain's award for those who knowingly or unknowingly pushed him to the edge. So many politicians, abroad as well as here regard civil servants and others as expendables for their own purposes. A bit of a morality check, please.

In anti-social and criminal behaviour. The sickening and apparently growing trend in paedopilia. From the nutters who download it on the Internet to all those who harbour such thoughts. This year we had paedophilia blown into our faces and Lou Bondì's programme was one of his best.

The worst villains, of course, are those murderers like Ian Huntley, but we also have to look at why we need so much sex all the time. Sex and kids is all around us if you just open your eyes.

On a positive note, we have a Commissioner for Children. Let us hope she helps ensure that the structures are in place to keep paedophiles well away from working near kids.

In campaigning. Well done to those parents who are trying to do something positive about the growing trend of drinking among our children. And it's all linked to teenage sex and unwanted pregnancies too.

It's clear that too many girls are experimenting too young and alcohol which at the very least is a contributing factor is making things worse. Mind you, to look at the behaviour of some of these thirty- or forty-something parents in Paceville or in private parties with their transparent tops, micro-minis and heavy drinking and smoking, it's not surprising we have a young generation bereft of all morals.

In political hypocrisy. The Greens have come of age and have become politicians. Their sincerity is therefore now in doubt. The joke of the year are Arnold Cassola's pronouncements from Brussels as if he has been in any way responsible for negotiating any payments from Brussels.

This the man who called me, across Cafe Premier, "the worst journalist in Malta" wants to be our rep in Europe. How very very depressing...

For heroic behaviour that was useless. Alfred Sant and Ian Duncan Smith. The first pushes his party to the precipice, loses I have lost count of how many elections, and stays on. The other gets booted out pretty smartish. Seems like the Tory party is, if not heroic, at least definitely wiser than the MLP.

Our own local heroines and heroes. One of the most important privileges when you serve as chairman of the Housing Authority are the cases you see (which never reach Tista' Tkun Int!) of absolutely heroic devotion from parents and relatives of those who are chronically ill or disabled.

These keep us all going and let us forget the culture of welfare abuse, which has become almost so much part of us that we don't really even see it as abuse.

For heroic utterings. I think I have to give credit to Austin Gatt for some hard talk about PBS and about some of the parastatals under his management. Along with Lawrence Gonzi and John Dalli, who have the hardest nuts to crack; we wish all three of them the best of luck.

Also to be fair to Austin (when I told him I was going to mention him), who does not have a reputation for modesty, he said something along the lines of "if I achieve it, it is thanks to the great team of people around me".

Nice to hear a politician give credit to others.

For consistency. I think we all still have to give a hero's award to Eddie for sticking to his guns and attaining his ojective: Malta as a member of the EU. Don't forget where the others would have led us, despite the new Labour smiles.

For having a go. I like John Attard Montalto the politician. Ever since my university days I remember him as the one who was nice to everyone, the one who said what he felt. He had a stab at the leadership and lost but then won a standing ovation for expressing the frustration of so many Laburisti.

Believe me, guys, we feel the same frustration too! Why can't you do something about changing your losing leader? But don't give us a bully, give us a Gonzi equivalent. You do have one!

For much less than heroic legal notices or whatever. Two big blunders here, which is two too many for a party that still wants to win another election.

The introduction of inheritance tax with draconian contributions remains, despite some improvements (thank you, Toni Abela). So many property owners in Malta who have to endure ridiculously low rents and rights of inheritance which remain, now also have to give a whacking sum to the government if they sell the property they inherit. A real vote-loser!

Second villain was the imposition of mediation. We do not want Big Brother government. Fair enough to protect children, but why should the woman whose husband is an adulterer have to be involved in mediation? Or vice-versa? Mediation has to be something you want.

Forced mediation is lousy. Mediation services for those who want it, like those who go for counselling, is a wonderful idea.

The villain of the year locally may be not thinking things through properly!

A happy New Year to all!