Budgetary pirouettes, white nights and Viagra
October 24, 2006
I had been promising myself not to write anything about the budget but must break my promise simply because of Tony Zarb who was responsible for one of the most astounding things I read on post-budget day or, rather, Thursday morning, namely that Mr Zarb and the GWU welcome the positive measures introduced! You could have knocked me down with a feather. Just above the news about Mr Zarb, taking up a good quarter of the back page was a wonderful photograph taken by Jason Borg of the MLP press conference! Every picture tells a story.
While dubbing the budget “weak and hollow”, an urbane Alfred Sant, flanked by his deputy leaders, Charles Mangion, who looked stunned, and Michael Falzon, who looked as if he lost a shilling (5c) and found a penny (4m), passed funny remarks about Viagra, which proves that we have, mercifully, not altogether lost our sense of humour in this country.
As everyone with the modicum of common sense predicted, this was a mild and genial pre-election budget. What I would have expected to be a top priority is a heavy investment in alternative energy to make those cruel surcharges unnecessary. When asked why he had not given an indication of a reduction in surcharge, Dr Gonzi said the budget had actually introduced an energy benefit and other initiatives to help people cut down on their energy bills. These measures are “vouchers” given to 17,000 families to enable them to pay their bills and a 20 per cent subsidy, capped at Lm50, on the purchase price of energy-saving white goods.
Not a murmur about wind energy; not a squeak about solar energy was to be heard anywhere.
For all intents and purposes, unless you are one of the 17,000 of the low-income families that are entitled to be given Monopoly money to pay their bills with, you and I are going to have to put up with colossal bills being shoved in our letterbox every couple of months.
I am still very unhappy about how my personal complaints are being handled by both Enemalta and Water Services. I am being charged on an “estimated” 65.53 units per day which everybody I meet with, having, give or take, the same amount of appliances that I have, say, is utterly and ridiculously exorbitant! I have been told that families of six consume an average of 18 units a day so what does that turn a family of two, mine, into? Profligates? As I very much doubt whether I would qualify to receive Monopoly money to pay these bills with and I have no spare cash to pay for new energy-saving white goods to get subsidies of Lm50 maximum, I am truly at my wits’ end about what to do. The sad thing is that, despite the Viagra asides, Alfred Sant and Co. are unable to open their mouths about fuel bills, therefore we, the people, have literally nobody to stick up for us when we are hit where it hurts.
An interesting item was that there will be a 40 per cent increase in the tourism budget with emphasis on improving the product. I would take that to mean training of personnel, restoration of Valletta, the establishment of a special corps that would control abuses, stuff like that which would ensure that Product Malta will become more competitive and a worthwhile one. We will wait and see.
Meanwhile we have had yet another eye-opener about our own culture with the highly successful Notte Bianca. The experiments in July and August - Strada and Streets Alive - had already indicated that the resuscitation of nightlife in our capital is something that would appeal, and greatly too. I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the response to the summer events and, like many, was praying for the forecast rain on the 14th to hold off, which it obligingly did till 3.30am.
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The response was overwhelming. The traffic jams converging onto Valletta were a phenomenon we had never seen!
I was due to cover two events for Weekender, one was the Mozart Chamber Music concert at the Manoel Theatre at 7 p.m. and the other was an A Cappella Choir in the Courtyard of Auberge de Castille at midnight. The Manoel event happened without a hitch.
I parked out at Floriana. Met some of my artist colleagues in front of the Opera House. Along with Isabelle Borg, I worked my way down Republic Street to the Manoel. Things changed somewhat after the concert. It was about a quarter to nine and the crowd was becoming denser by the minute. Eventually, after a stint of shopping, where, disappointingly, one of my most frequented bookshops was shut, we ended up at one of my favourite haunts, Trabuxù, which was packed choc-a-bloc.
After a most enjoyable supper and several glasses of wine I felt it was time to get myself to Castille Place. It was about 11.30 p.m.; ample time to get there and find a good place, or so I thought. As I strolled up South Street, my jaw dropped. Castille Place was crammed with people with about 1,000 of them queuing up patiently of the steps of the Auberge. There was nothing I could do as one did not encounter an official till one was practically at the top of the internal staircase. By the time I got there and informed the officer that I wanted to attend the concert in the courtyard and not the tour of the Prime Minister’s Office, it was far too late and when I did finally get to the courtyard, the choir had already gone through three quarters of the programme.
Many people I met were disappointed because many restaurants actually ran out of food or had no place for them! They were all jam-packed anyway. I did notice one outdoor food stall in front of the BoV in Republic Street but that was all. There may have been more. Possibly the mobile kitchens that one usually sees may have been afraid of the rain; who knows? I think though that they would have cheapened the event; a giant marquee on the Palace Square with organised food stalls may be a good idea to consider next time round.
Saying that there were too many people is not a criticism. I very much doubt that the organisers ever anticipated such a response. What has to happen is that Notte Bianca, in a modified form, should be a year-round ongoing occurrence that will breathe life into our capital city.
The government should also get real about Valletta itself. In the last five years, less has been spent on the restoration and maintenance of Valletta than on one measly embassy or what have you in Brussels, to mention just one example. There also should be something done to organise traffic and to facilitate transport to and around the city. In the East there are these wonderful little taxis called Tuktuks which would be ideal to negotiate Valletta’s narrow streets and enable the elderly and the disabled not only to enjoy events like these but to get to their destinations around the city on a day-to-day basis.
Whatever happened to the Park and Ride scheme? If ever there was a time to try it out it was during Notte Bianca. If it worked out then we would all have known whether it was a worthwhile exercise or not. Now we can only guess!
Posted by toshko under Viagra News |