Edward de Bono’s legacy
America had Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale, yet, Malta can proudly say we had Edward de Bono.
The numerous books he wrote deserve to be read by all those who want to exercise their mind rather than let an important faculty of theirs waste away.
De Bono’s intelligence surfaced at an early age and he went on to become an author par excellence. The legacy he left behind is priceless and, now that he passed away, as often happens when great persons do, his books will be more appreciated than ever before.
May I add a quote from my book of quotes on the subject of thinking: “Doomed are the beginnings devoid of thinking.”
Alfred Gauci – Sliema
Collective memory
Harvey Keitel is one of two big names to feature in Blood on the Crown.When one reads the fine report (June 8) about Blood on the Crown (even the title is a very good one) one cannot but say that it is a wonderful thing for the country that the very important events of Sette Giugno in our national history are now recorded on film for all of us and our successors to be able to record and treasure.
The report doesn’t quite bring out so strongly whether this is historic film or restrictedly documentary genre. Along the way in the report, reference is made to the effort as being one of “building a new collective memory”. When one considers that only a handful of photographs, “and some stories”, remain from that day, then one must also see how extensive and refined were the producers’ efforts to contact as many people as possible to provide elements pertaining to, or revolving around, the period of the riots. Good building up of collective memory material is also about that.
As an example, what were or were there important events in peoples’ lives that were related to the riots and their aftermath? Things like people losing their jobs, people being investigated toughly, workers emigrating, bread-sellers’ vicissitudes and other similar elements during that period.
For example, and I know this from my uncle on my mother’s side, efforts were conducted by the British armed and/or security forces to find out as much as possible about people who had taken part in the riots and people either lay low for a period or simply left Malta.
This was the reason why my uncle, Paul Sciberras, ran away to the USA where he remained and eventually died. There too he was involved in politics, being busted up a couple of times by Republic Party thugs. He later married the daughter of the ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the US, had two daughters (who both, as fate would have it, ended up marrying two Maltese émigré brothers from Żabbar), and also rose to high executive roles in the National Biscuit Company (now known as NABISCO). He died as a very popular inhabitant of the Patchogue suburb of New York.
There were several other similar stories of Maltese involved in, or with, the Sette Giugno events and the country remains eternally indebted to these patriots.
John Consiglio – Birkirkara
Electric cars
There is much talk about 100 per cent electric vehicles (EVs) becoming the norm in a few years’ time. Apart from EVs’ high initial cost, where is the local infrastructure for EV battery charging for those without a garage? EVs would be ideal in a small island but what about taking your EV on a continental motoring holiday? Charging an EV may take an hour – where is the European EV charging infrastructure to service a queue of EVs?
The largest European motor manufacturer reckons that at least a third of its production will still be petrol and diesel by 2030.
EVs will cut down air pollution (and transfer it to the neighbourhood of fossil fuel run power stations).
Interestingly, if I understood correctly the interviewee on television, a university study recently claimed that, in some parts of Malta, cigarette smoke was actually a higher air pollutant than vehicle exhaust.
Albert Cilia-Vincenti – Attard
Why?
Why do the faces of op-ed contributors have to be inflicted upon us readers?
Is this to compensate for the anonymity of editorial authors?
Michael Zammit Cutajar – St Julian’s
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