Waiting....

I am waiting with some excitement... for the first court case to be opened by simple honest people who object to next door or close-by building developers (what an obscene word, as Revel Barker so rightly says) swinging the booms and jibs of their high-rise cranes over their property, that is through the air space belonging to third parties.

We were taught at law school that immovable property ownership, and that includes owned air space, carries with it certain rights, including that of debarring uninvited and/or even potentially dangerous intruders. So uninvited developers abusing this right must either keep out or made to pay heavily through the nose for the abuse, bother or hassle.

Is there some brave young and mature lawyer out there prepared to take the matter to court, possibly even seeking an opinion of the European Court of Justice?

Indeed, crowdfunding should even comfortably pay for the legal fees or NGOs brought into the matter to fight this very dangerous abuse.

Coming to think of it, the government should also accept that it has a juridical interest in such an issue.

John Consiglio – Birkirkara

Bonaparte and the Apostolate statues of St John’s

This original document, reproduced for the first time in my book France in the Maltese Collective Memory, was signed by General Bonaparte in June 1798. Photo: Charles Xuereb

Allow me to reproduce here, for the benefit of hard copy readers of the Times of Malta, the gist of my online comment regarding the report ‘Apostolate statues return to St John’s Co-Cathedral’ (in print July 28).

It is an interesting story. Providentially, Bishop Labini had an excellent rapport with the French in Malta that allowed for the saving of these works of art. The silver exchange was also in accordance with notarial consensus, wherein the Curia in Malta had agreed to pay with silver for St John’s.

Pity this story did not mention that the whole of St John’s Co-Cathedral itself was given to the Maltese Church by General Napoleon Bonaparte for the former’s exclusive use. This gesture of Bonaparte to the Maltese Catholic Curia did not only save the silver apostles but the whole of the magnificent temple itself.

Bonaparte’s strategic decision in later years, between 1817 and 1823, saved St John’s from becoming an Anglican cathedral when the Colonial Office in London insisted for a long time with British first governor Thomas Maitland to expropriate the temple. Thankfully, the Maltese Curia resisted the move. 

When the revamped St John’s Museum opens to the public again, I do hope it will display this document (original found at the Ecclesiastical Archives in Floriana) in verification of facts regarding this generous far-sighted French move.

Readers may further pursue the subject in my letter published in the Times of Malta on August 23, 2015.

Charles Xuereb – Sliema

Quarantine rules

I’ve been thinking about this issue for days now. How is this possible? How is this allowed? However, thinking about it didn’t help me or my loved ones, so I decided to write about it.

I lived in Malta for two years. It is a beautiful country and has a lot to offer. My husband and I moved back home to Serbia two years ago. Some of our friends and family remained in Malta. They did everything right, applied for visas, jobs, vaccines and everything necessary.

Then COVID-19 happened. It happened to the whole world. It hit us hard. Many people lost their jobs. Some people decided to stay in Malta and work as hard as they can to make a living.

My brother-in-law still has to go to a hotel to quarantine upon his return to Malta, even though he has an apartment there. This also means that he has to pay €100 a night for a room.

Do you have to pay €100 a night for a room in a hotel that serves you breakfast only? Who will bring him lunch and dinner since he is quarantined? Whose idea was this? And why is this legal?

Mina Velimirovic – Belgrade, Serbia

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter.