I.M. Beck - quote unquote

The Malta Labour Party, bless, has moved a vote of no confidence in the government.

Well, that's what I thought I heard on the radio a few days ago, anyway. Precisely what it was that inspired this lack of confidence in the government I'm not 100 per cent sure, as at the time the opposition's motion on its own plan for national regeneration was being discussed as well, so my wasn't fully on the ball, as it were.

This was because I was trying to catch an inkling, the merest soupcon of a hint, if you like, of what it was that the MLP was proposing as the means by which the nation would be regenerated. I was unlucky, you'll be saddened to learn, because although I lent an ear to the proceedings in the House at every available opportunity, I didn't have the pleasure of hearing a Janet & John Guide to what it was that was going to generate regeneration in the country.

The newspapers were of no help at all, either, I have to say. I know parliamentary debates are not the most scintillating of events to cover and the poor reporters who have to sit through the hours of warm to hot air being blown over them are to be pitied but surely Doctor Alfred Sant's speech on the motion, he himself being the mover of same, was a model of succinctness and clarity, enabling the papers to give us a ready-reckoner on the measures.

Surely?

Perhaps not: I had a glance at the dear chap's reported speech and not a heck of a lot hit me as being particularly earth-shattering in the regenerative department. According to that paragon of journalistic virtues, In-Nazzjon Taghna, Doctor Alfred Sant's enormous brain came up with one single solitary item to go on the menu of regeneration, namely and to whit devaluation of the lira.

Now I know that the In-Nazzjon Taghna is not exactly the right source for inspiration when it comes to figuring out what it is that Doctor Alfred Sant is on about, unless you want a particularly skewed picture, but that's all I was able to glean from anywhere at a glance.

Truth be told, I only cast an eye over l-orizzont when there's nothing else to read at the café to which I repair when the urge for mental or physical nourishment overtakes me and the It-Torca and KullHadd get looked at over the internet, as does Maltastar.com, though the latter with less regularity than the others.

When it comes to no confidence, I'm afraid, I have to say that I have less in the MLP than in the current lot, being as the said MLP aren't even capable, it appears, of making sure that their message gets across. They may stand up and scream and shout that I am a running dog lackey of the friends of friends but the point remains that since I don't have an inkling of what it is they are proposing in order to regenerate me and you, then they have failed.

Res ipsa loquitor, as my more learned colleagues sometimes intone.

Ma Cherie

Ms Cherie Booth, also known as Mrs Tony Blair when she's being Bambi's wife, came to Malta some time ago and did what lawyers of note do at the drop of a hat when they are asked.

That is to say, she delivered speeches and generally gave various assembled multitudes the benefit of her not inconsiderable knowledge and experience. The main reason for her being here, though you wouldn't necessarily know it from the attendant publicity, was to give the legal profession some thoughts on what being members of the EU means.

While she was here, Ms Booth (because it was as Ms Booth that she was doing her thing) also dropped in on the International Maritime Law Institute, where she was impressed by the fact that the statute of the institute provides that, all things being equal, half the people attending courses have to be female.

Leaving aside the sneaky feeling that Ms Booth's being impressed was actually a polite "Oh, er, really", which is what people like her murmur when some quaint custom is paraded before them for their amusement, what the heck was she supposed to be impressed by, may I ask?

Why do anyone's hormonal or physical arrangements have anything to do with whether they should attend a course of instruction or not?

Frankly, if this sort of positive discrimination is aimed at people living in countries like Malta or Britain then the women who are being thus patronised (including Ms Blair) should rise up as one to move that such clauses be struck out of the statute. They don't need it and they are insulted by it. One of the best maritime lawyers I know is a woman, for example, as is one of the best criminal lawyers and one of the best family lawyers but that is hardly the point: they are lawyers, not women and their merit is not measured differently because they happen to be women.

On the other hand, if women coming from other, perhaps less liberal countries, need this sort of clause to get on in life, then maybe they have problems that are more fundamental and that won't be solved simply by making maritime law courses more accessible.

If you see what I mean.

Less confident

On the way t'ards Chez Me, I tuned in to Super One to hear the news. It was 5.45, you see, and I knew I'd be home and listening to LBC by six, so it was the only way I was going to get an idea of what had happened in the country.

It seems that the social pact, as of Wednesday evening, has gone up the spout and down the drain.

Whose fault this was, was not spelt out, but bear with me for a few seconds and all might become clear.

The General Workers' Union came out and said that it was not about to sign off on something that would mean that the workers would have to carry the can. The Union Haddiema Maghqudin, on the other hand, came out and said that it was a pity that no consensus could be reached because a segment of one of the social partners involved (or words to that effect) didn't appear to want to come to an agreement. It was significant that the UHM didn't seem to have much to quarrel with on the carrying the can side of things.

The employer side, meanwhile, presented a pretty uniform front and said that they were OK with the proposals, while the government side said that it was a pity that consensus couldn't be reached and in the event that this much-to-be-desired aim could not, eventually, be reached, then the government would have to resort to taking a decision.

Which would be nice.

The long-suffering chairman of the MCESD just said he was going to keep at it, for which he deserves the Gieh ir-Repubblika.

So, whose fault was it that an agreement was not reached?

Work it out, why don't you? And while you're about it, work out if you have more or less confidence in the soul mates of the people who appear to have been more or less the reason why the social pact was not agreed.

Short ones

Purveyors of movies in cinematic and DVD form last week had a bit of a wondering in public about how come only 300 or so legit copies of The Passion Of The Christ were sold, being as the movie was so darned popular.

Did it occur to these gentlemen that the price of the DVD in Malta might just perhaps have had something to do with it? A perfectly legit copy of the same movie, bundled with a couple of good books and a decent CD or three, ordered from amazon.co.uk wouldn't cost as much as the same thing bought here, by a long shot.

Has the government been listening? Has it penetrated the collective consciousness of our ministers and their advisers that the public does not want the old opera house to be turned into a new Parliament building?

Have they got the hint, I ask with all due respect?

Just in case they haven't, can I ask them, again with all due respect, to read my lips?

We, the people, don't want the old opera house site to be turned into a new Parliament building.

Is that clear?

Nor do we particularly want Richard England to design it.

Is that clear?

What many of us do want, on the other hand, is for the site to be cleaned up, perhaps given some clean, stainless steel, tasteful, covering and turned into an open space suitable as a memorial to our war dead and for use as an outdoor performance space.

Is that clear?

bocca@waldonet.net.mt