http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080724/local/asds

Ifimha kif trid.

You personally are not responsible, but collectively, as a social milieu, you are. I seem to remember quite a few posts by one of your sisters on a Times blog when I opened my mouth in favour of the property rights of the guy who applied to demolish half of lower Milner street, though.

However I do applaud your stance on FghAA, because you have described them down to a “t”. I also agree with you re our villages. Mqabba and Safi are gone, Zurrieq still resists because the village core is lived in well, Qrendi is still in pretty good shape. The village core should be protected, but then, FghAA only fights for the Slimiz, as you say. That’s why it will never be credible. It’s just a vehicle. That’s all.

[Daphne – My sister and I are not conjoined twins who share a brain, Mario. We do have different views sometimes. I don’t think Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar fights only for the Slimizi, but I do think that it labours under a typical Slimizi mindset. It also had the backing of rather a lot of koccuti – I can’t find a better term to describe them – who made a point of not voting in the last election because they didn’t mind having a walking mess like Sant running the country as long as they got themselves the satisfaction of ‘punishing’ the Nationalists for allowing building in their backyard. I have even less time for people from my social background than you do, so don’t worry about offending me, because you’re not.]

[[Daphne – Excuse me, but in what way am I responsible for the emergence of Astrid Vella and Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar? I agree that the organisation grew out of precisely my social milieu, and is made up mainly – as far as I can discern, because the only ‘face and name’ are Mrs Vella’s – of Slimizi. But I refused to join and the outset, and when I was sent the original petition for signature, I refused politely on the grounds that I have very strong views on property rights, views which are liberal rather than to the right or left. Rightist and leftist views on restricting property rights tend to coincide: the right wants the past protected at whatever cost to the private owner, and the left thinks there is something inheriting wrong about profit through property. I resented most of all the assumption made by Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar that I would jump on their bandwagon. It shows how little they know me. What I find most absurd about the organisation is the way it reflects the typical mindset and experience of those behind it: Malta’s most ancient villages, Mqabba, Gudja, Qrendi, Hal Kirkop, Hal Safi are being destroyed through demolition and the building of maisonettes, but those campaigners probably don’t even have a clue where they are, know their historical significance or have ever been there. Yet those are the rare instances where I would say that there is a strong case for protection of the village core – that it would in fact be beneficial to the owners’ property rights where value is concerned, though it’s too complicated to explain why in this reply.]

How can we exploit EU funds, employ our professionals and work force if not through projects? The problem with Malta is that projects get delayed, and that maintenance on finished projects is nil. I argue that this is the result of people sitting idle in government departments and agencies, getting paid from taxes and ultimately objecting to change and the new.

Finally, the media goes out in Valletta and ask passers by: Sinjura x’jihdirlek mill-progett ta’…….?
Jien, ma nifihmx, imma nahseb li hazin.

We never learn, we only feed uncertainty, half-truths, jealousy for the hardworking, and the results speak for themselves, failure. To put the cherry on the cake, we hear from the same people who go abroad for their holidays or visiting families abroad, how clean and organized it is ‘abroad’. Well, I tell them that success is no accident, but the fruit of sacrifice, dedication,commitment, planning and hard-work.

[Daphne – OK. It wasn’t clear.]

Look who’s talking!!
And what about the rebuilding of the old opera house in Valletta. What do you call that?!

[Daphne – A major exercise in public spending on a capital project is not a petty issue. It’s the kind of thing that governments do when they want to inject some life into the economy.]