As part of the COVID-19 home-made measures, my daughter and I are watching the Downton Abbey series. Every evening after supper, we have an appointment with this very British early 1900s historical drama – essentially a rose-tinted piece of nostalgia which, I suspect, could have very well spurred the Brexit cause.
We tried to get the stepson to join us for an en famille viewing, but one look at the fancy gowns and those hats was enough for him to scamper out of the living room before you could say “My dear Lord Grantham”.
In any case, in one of the episodes we watched last week, we see Sybil, the daughter of the aristocrat Lord Grantham, talking to her father.
“Papa, might I borrow the car tomorrow to venture down to the village?” To which papa replies: “Indeed, but might I suggest you avoid the trip altogether? There’s so much traffic these days. The other day I counted five cars on the road! And when we got to the village, there were another three parked by the church!”
Five-car traffic jam? Cue to pause and have a good chuckle. Certainly 1920 was nothing like 2020.
Although, I have to say that since the beginning of the COVID-19 quasi-lockdown, there have been many times when I’d go out to do errands and I’d only count five cars on the road. Unthinkable pre-corona, and simply blissful.
Does Muscat have a history of solving economic crises? Because the last time I checked, the only thing that glared out of his CV was him creating one- Kristina Chetcuti
Many people I’ve spoken to do not want to see a return of (year 2020) traffic and pollution. So, before the ‘new normal’ become too unnervingly similar to what life was like before March, might I suggest that the government seriously take up cycling as an idea to limit congestion on the Maltese roads?
We won’t be reinventing the wheel. It’s something many cities are considering or already doing. In Paris, for example, 50km of streets normally used by cars, will, as of tomorrow become solely bicycle lanes. And it’s not some obscure backroads that we’re talking about – even Rue de Rivoli, the main road which cuts across the heart of Paris and which takes you to the Louvre, is on the list. The French government so wants people to leave their cars behind that it has even unveiled a €20 million subsidies’ package to help people get on their bikes.
So, I’m leaving this here for the government to take up: help us be like Paris.
After all, I suppose, if our prime minister is very happy to spend €15,000 on a bombastic half-an-hour press conference (that’s a year’s salary for quite a few of us), surely, he can fork out some money to push bikes?
And if in these dire times, our country can afford a €4,000 platform-for-a-podium from our taxes, then we should afford some monies to set the stage for cleaner air?
But silly, silly me. The Prime Minister won’t take advice from this column of course. He likes to get his advice from – ta-da! – his corrupt predecessor, Joseph Muscat. In fact, we learnt this week that Muscat is among “a small team of advisers being consulted to help draft Malta’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan”.
Oh right. On what credentials exactly? Does Muscat have a history of solving economic crises? Because the last time I checked, the only thing that glared out of his CV was him creating one.
While he was Lord of Castille he plunged Malta into its darkest period in history – embroiling himself into a plot which included his best friend, his top minister, the assassination of the journalist who was unearthing their corruption, and lots of secretly stashed money which by right is ours, the taxpayers.
And here he is now, still fancying himself as Lord of Castille – or maybe he still is.
Was Muscat pleased to see himself back in the headlines? Or perhaps Abela was happy to win brownie points with diehard Labour fans?
Either way, it is disgusting and outrageous that the man who should really be under the interrogation spotlight, if not in jail, is still cockily going up those steps of Castille.
No surprises then that the Council of Europe is still waiting to hear from the government about what it intends to do on the injustices highlighted in the Venice Commission report – which had been excruciatingly damning on Joseph Muscat himself.
Might I just say, that the ‘new’ Prime Minister is simply taking us all for a ride. And it’s not a bicycle one.
krischetcuti@gmail.com
twitter: @krischetcuti