Flagrant abuses

One reason why any democracy, ours included, needs a “free” press is to ensure there are enough controls on flagrant abuses.

Old houses no longer seem to be in fashion. Wherever you go, you can see them being pulled down. Till quite recently, they were considered a symbol of social prestige. To renovate them while preserving their character used to rank as a worthwhile and interesting occupation. One doubts whether this still holds.

Putting free within inverts helps to make it clear that such media, even when they pretend otherwise, are not necessarily free of occult or private interests – as contrasted to a fully public commitment.

Frequently, flagrant abuses are not flagged not because those appointed to control them want to let them stand or prefer to look the other way. It also happens because the relevant authorities fail to discharge their duties properly... due to incompetence or an inability to cope.

Whatever motive inspires the “free” media to reveal failures and abuses, in doing so they are carrying out a useful function in a democracy. Beyond fearing that such interventions would amount to a manipulative operation... and indeed, even if they are... the position the media need to occupy, should be protected and guaranteed. In a climate of unrestricted reporting, so long as democratic norms are being respected, flagrant abuses have less space within which to flourish.

Old houses

Old houses no longer seem to be in fashion. Wherever you go, you can see them being pulled down. Till quite recently, they were considered a symbol of social prestige. To renovate them while preserving their character used to rank as a worthwhile and interesting occupation.

One doubts whether this still holds. Apparently, the preference now is for old houses to be traded and demolished, so that in their place blocks of apartments are built, and this even when they are situated in neighbourhoods which form part of a traditional architectural enclave characteristic of Maltese buildings. Or else they get transformed into “modern” structures which in reality cancel out any significance they might have inherited from the past.

Many people agree with what is going on.

Viable or not

So: the government will be spending not less than 70 million euros on the vast programme of works in Malta’s main roads. One and all understand that this is an infrastructural project which cannot be assessed in terms of commercial viability. It has to be implemented because the aim of improving Malta’s transport systems is a valid one. There will be no income generated by it to compensate for the outlays.

It does not seem that the same approach is being applied to the Gozo-Malta tunnel. Here, we are told that the project will be viable on the back of the tariffs to be paid by its users. Now I am one of those who disbelieve that the tunnel could ever be commercially viable, as is claimed. But I do find it curious that the viability argument is being used to justify construction of the tunnel... or in an even more curious twist, that the metro project should not be considered because it cannot be viable...

This kind of argument has surely not been used regarding the millions now rightly being spent on the upgrading of roads.

Friends of friends

The networks constituted by friends of friends never seem to cease their activity, some for the better, most times for the worst. They exist in all that men and women do, because it is in our nature to feel that one had better trust people one knows best; also because the clear calculation is that one gets a better deal when both sides to an arrangement can rub each other’s back on a reciprocal basis.

There is a downside: what makes sense to members of such networks, is not necessarily a good thing for society as a whole. Many times it is not.

So, a safeguard against potential abuses is full transparency in the conduct of public affairs. Here too though, the problem is that if the network of friends of friends is sufficiently robust, even transparency mechanisms can be manipulated. What is presented within an aura of “transparency” would have been set up beforehand to ensure that outcomes satisfy the wishes of friends in the networks.

This happens mostly in “advanced” democracies. In others that are not so sophisticated, the manoeuverings of the networks of “friends” often get caught out. As a result, to ensure that they still have matters settled their way, the rules governing transparency get bent.

Grilling of commissioners

Next week, the members nominated to the European Commission that will be led by Ursula von der Leyen appear before the European Parliament’s committees to reply to questions put by MEPs. Some time ago, they received a whole lot of queries in writing to which they are also expected to reply in writing.

It has been noted that in these questions drafted jointly by representatives of the political groups in the Parliament, personal and controversial issues about conflicts of interest and dubious incidents in the neoCommissioners’ past were avoided. Practically all the groups have in their ranks a nominee or other under suspicion! So at this stage, the matter has not been raised. One expects that during the face to face hearings, this will not happen.

Even so, as of now, it seems like the really big problems will arise about the Hungarian nominee who not so long ago, was justice minister in the Orban government.

Poems

It was good to learn that my friend Albert Marshall will soon publish a complete edition of the poems he wrote since the mid1960s, when Independence was still fresh, to today. I liked the news not just because he is a friend, but as well because I have always admired his output: I kept following his writings since I got first to know them in the book of poetry he issued with Ġorġ Borg and Oliver Friggieri entitled “Dħaħen flImħuħ”. I still have a copy of that publication; for some years I believed I had “lost” it and was very pleased when at last I found it hiding inside the cover of a much larger tome.

Right from the start, Albert’s poems were powered by a vital and spontaneous flow, which even when it turned towards the “vulgar” stayed within the banks of ceremonial ... or indeed sacramental... rituals. To be quite honest, what I still like best are his Australian poems, perhaps because the sense of distance drove them towards a deeper reflection about fundamental Maltese realities. Still, the more recent poems of his later years might make me change my mind.