Wonderland

Like all his articles, John Cassar White’s piece ‘Inflation’s long hibernation’ (February 1) was both interesting and informative.

But as I read about the topsy-turvy financial world we now find ourselves in, I was reminded of the advertisement reportedly found in an American newspaper which carried the heading ‘Now you can borrow enough to get completely out of debt’.

Having mortgaged our own future, are we really happy to see our children’s and grandchildren’s future mortgaged as well? Or should we, once again, start to live within our means and learn again to be content with what we have?

Alan Cooke – Sliema

COVID parallel universe thinking

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

I must have misread comments made publicly and labelling “madness” health inspectors being finally empowered to penalise owners whose rented properties are found to be in breach of COVID regulations. Because they (the owners) can hardly be expected to know how many people are partying in their property, after all! 

No, sir, “madness” is having the cheek to rake in the money and looking the other way, never mind the concept of responsibility! But, then, this mindset is hardly amazing when the minister of tourism was quoted as lamenting “too much enforcement” in respect of catering establishments and COVID mitigation rules.

How can you have too much enforcement? You can have too many rules (no doubt what is meant) which you either enforce or you don’t. These examples perfectly illustrate the disease of a country where accountability is an alien concept. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Anna Micallef – Sliema

Ticking the boxes

I read of the prime minister’s recent comment that we’ve ticked all the boxes regarding Moneyval.

Concepts like good governance, public accountability, the public interest, conflict of interest, segregation of duties and responsibilities, rule of law and judicial independence are not simply boxes to be ticked. They represent attitudes and behaviours that must seep down and become embedded deep into the grey cells and deep into the national psyche.

I wonder how long this will take in Malta? Indeed, can it ever come about?

I was reminded of an article I think I read several years ago in the Times of Malta about a prominent person in some national organisation or other who complained that “no one told me I had a conflict of interest” – seemingly a tacit acknowledgement that, even in their prominent/leadership position, they were unable or unwilling to work it out for themselves.

On an unrelated subject, COVID-19, while I sympathise with some of Anna Micallef’s sentiments in her letter, I must admit that, personally, I have not witnessed much reckless behaviour in St Julian’s or Sliema during the course of the pandemic.

I think we must recognise (a) that within Europe, Malta, has been able to maintain relatively loose restrictions on individuals and businesses while, at the same time, keeping the COVID incidence and death rates relatively low and (b) that, with some notable exceptions, many/most Maltese are sensible and do follow the restrictions.

While, indeed, nowhere near as successful as Australia, New Zealand and other (say, Asian) countries, Malta seems well ahead of most of Europe in striking what seems to be a decent balance between protecting our current individual health and lives on the one hand and protecting our collective future lives and livelihoods.

Incidence rates can be driven by the amount of testing undertaken, so a more reliable determinant of success must be the death rate. Of the 33 EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland countries, only six have a lower death rate than Malta. These are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Cyprus, Norway and Iceland – all relatively small countries and with vastly lower population densities than Malta.

Although the Maltese situation is clearly much worse than during the first five to six months of the pandemic, this still puts Malta firmly in the top 20 per cent of European COVID success, despite having the highest population density in the entire grouping.

Also, the vaccination process (for the moment, at least) seems to be moving ahead strongly, way ahead of most of our much larger European friends, by all accounts. Long may this continue! And let’s hope we avoid a carnival spike.

Mike Lyonette – Swieqi

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