Comments on: Make it Labour, not PL

By: Meg Zimbeck

Meg Zimbeck — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:37:59 +0000

Hi Daphne,
Thanks for mentioning the European Perinatal Health Report in your great column! While the abortion/teenage pregnancy context may not have made it into the local press release, we certainly gave those factors some attention in our report. Our collaborators at the Department of Health Information rightly pointed out the importance of those factors, and you can see the full report for yourself on our website at http://www.europeristat.com

[Daphne – Thank you. If only our newspaper editors were to realise how important it is to provide web-site information for readers who want to know more.]

By: TSC

TSC — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:10:52 +0000

lgalea seems to think that “lackeyism” is the English translation of “laghqi” …..

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:35:53 +0000

High ambitions, yes. Altruism, no. Trust me, I know the chap. The main thrust of my criticism concerns the people who chose him to be chairman, not Sammut himself. After all, no post-doc in his right mind would refuse such a lucrative job. Hell, I know I wouldn’t.

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:08:47 +0000

@ H.P. Baxxter ,I understand your cynicism regarding experience and returning to “the two rocks”.
I watched Nicholas Sammut on Bondi+ , I think the young engineer with the PhD has got that something which many of our professors in our uni don’t have … altruism and high ambitions for us Maltese. He wants more Maltese to go abroad and work with CERN and other research labs and he aims high and knows that he can do it. Some of us don’t even dream of doing what he did and how he did it with perseverance. Sometimes it is difficult to draw the line between a Scientist and a Doctor in Engineering.
After all one does not need to be a scientist to head The Malta Council of Science and Technology.The only “disadvantage” he has is his age , but he looks very mature and has a strong character.
The only thing I hope is that he will not be entangled in bureaucracy .

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:21:22 +0000

You need a certain critical mass to establish a research group. The UOM neither has the staff, nor the facilities, nor the money, nor the clout to do so.

In any case, Nicholas Sammut is an engineer, not a scientist, and he finished his PhD a little over two years ago, so the messages being sent out are: 1) Experience no longer counts and 2) An engineer can do a scientist’s job, and chair a scientific advisory committee.

Yes, maybe I’m being cynical, but not presumptuous, because I’m in the thick of things, and I don’t see everything through rose-coloured spectacles.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:59:37 +0000

@H.P. Baxxter

You are being excessively cynical and presumptuous about this. There are many people that would like nothing more than to feel that they have given back something to their country, which is not as unacceptably mawkish an idea as you might conclude.
If there is an air of stagnation, then that is no small part because of the firmly instilled idea that you should turn your back on Malta to make anything of yourself. That may count for some, but not inevitably for everybody.
To be more specific, the University of Malta does act as a feeder institution for many great colleges around the world. That arrangement should be actively encouraged and can be nurtured by attracting the talent and connections of repats.
The Nicholas Sammut appointment is only the most prominent example of this actually taking place.

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:19:49 +0000

Depressing? Not. It would be depressing if your career would be cut short by your return to the two rocks we call a country. If you “invest the fruit of your knowledge” where it belongs, i.e. anywhere except Malta, then you have reached the ultimate objective in your career. I could never understand those who graduate from “illustrious” universities, only to return to Malta and stagnate.

Besides, while the Maltese may be the experts at contempt, indifference is by no means a uniquely Maltese trait. At the end of the day, you’re on your own. And please, not all Maltese “young researchers” are as connection-less as the media make them out to be.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:38:54 +0000

Also on Nicholas Sammut, it is not just that Maltese people don’t make it because they don’t have the right connections. Often, they come up against active interference from those that should be helping them.
I have met researchers studying in extremely illustrious British universities that have actively had to flee Malta because they failed to play along with departmental politics. It should a source of great pride that so many of them manage to secure international research grants, often in the face of indifference or contempt from their natural sponsors back home.
They are people who proudly tell their colleagues that they are Maltese, all the while knowing that there is a good certainty they will never be guaranteed the chance of investing the fruit of their knowledge back in their homeland. Very depressing.

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:22:13 +0000

re: Nicholas Sammut, a word of caution. In no civilised country does one jump from a post-doc to the chairmanship of the country’s scientific advisory committee. Malta being sub-Planck scale in scientific terms, he can’t do much harm. But you can’t blame people for raising eyebrows.

By: FB Aquilina

FB Aquilina — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:15:56 +0000

I too cannot fathom the reasoning behind the so called change of name of the MLP… Daphne’s argument that the change is just a copycat tactic is quite likely…
After all what’s the difference? Moreover, even historically the acronym MLP makes more sense than PL since the original party had relatively some pro British sympathies.

On the other hand PN still makes perfect sense… tangible proof of continuity from the days of il Partito Nazionalista.