One for all?

Lending an aura, if not a veil, of respectability to the Monte Kristo Estates, this year's L-Istrina was something of a damp squib.

Not for the people who volunteer their time - but for those who tune in to the show for the entertainment clips, and for the people who wouldn't be seen dead making fools of themselves in the name of charity.

This event, which has snowballed from the lowly Ring Us Up of my childhood, is something people love to hate, because of its very premise.

Departing radically from the biblical tenet of "When you give alms, never let your left hand know what your right hand is doing", the principle appears to have become zeroing in on the times when prizes are given out, so as to get multiple returns for one's donation.

If this suits people who would never put €20 inside a brown paper bag and post it in someone's letter-box, so be it. But I was rather disappointed this year, PBS chairman Clare Thake Vassallo had to go on record saying they had to "maximise generosity" - and this was done by removing the painstakingly-prepared entertainment-value sections, and rolling out the barrels of prizes.

This does not say much for the way in which something that could have been a laudable venture has deteriorated over the years. Since when did avariciousness double for generosity? It is pathetic that not only do people begin calling when the prizes are announced - some punters actually boast that their €200 donation was split into as many parts as possible to increase their odds of winning something.

I do not, for one moment, decry all the hard work that goes into L-Istrina, because, after all (as has been said in other circumstances), "It's what the people want, what the people have been conditioned to accept..." I still hold, however, that apart from the money collected, the only good thing to come from this telethon is the fact that for one of the few times in the year, the same thing - without editing, dilution, or bias - goes on air from different television stations at the same time.

I cannot, however, say the same thing for the nearest rival L-Istrina has - the campaign put up every year by RTK in favour of Id-Dar Tal-Providenza. PBS gave it only a passing mention, perhaps for this very reason. I would have thought a direct link was in order... if there was, I must have missed it.

There was the time when people "decided" that they would boycott the programme for a certain reason. A couple of years later, they had a different excuse; this year, neither rationale was feasible - so the gossipmongers are blaming the higher water and electricity bills for the decrease in revenue.

This makes a mockery of L-Istrina's motto this year - ħsieb wieħed, qalb waħda; and many people cannot understand why, for instance, in 2005, the list of beneficiaries was so long, because it had no bearing upon the amount of money collected vis-à-vis other years, and what the criteria are, upon which the funds allocated are set.

Of course, the television show is not the only vehicle that earns money for this laudable cause - it trickles in from the most unexpected of places. However, I still think that a mega-jumble sale somewhere would also help, because people are always fond of a bargain - and this would be environmentally friendly too, on both counts - that of the donors and of the people who buy the items.

The indefatigable Joe Azzopardi and Valerie Vella face an uphill battle, year after year. I know how hard they work to rope in potential "entertainers" whose day jobs are vastly different from what they end up portraying on the night; I know how many hours they spend away from their families without any form of remuneration whatsoever.

I know the difficulties they run into with certain prima donnas (and that's just the men). It must disappoint them a wee bit to see that 'Power to the people' means they have to shelve all this in order to plead with us to call with our donations.

I was struck by the PBS chairman's comment that, "If we have to choose between seeing a striptease by Miriam Dalli and Francis Zammit Dimech, or €500, we will choose €500." This could have been, rather, the starting point for a mega-spurt of donations.

"Look, as soon as the public pays €500, Ms Dalli will do her seven veils thing, and the prize garnered by one of you will be..." Just watch the donations roll in if this is done; trust me on this one.

• Some time ago, we had received a circular from One Productions which said they were no longer to be referred to as "Super". So why is it that the jingles on radio still go out with this adjective?

• Why is it that during the reportage about Valletta's hailstorm on the TVM news bulletin last Saturday, we had only one clip of it - and the rest was of idyllic scenery, mostly with Filfla in the background, leaving the newscaster visibly nonplussed?

television@timesofmalta.com