There's nothing to do in County Antrim
James Tyrell is bored
That insufferable man James Tyrell, who insists on writing from County Antrim, Northern Ireland (but really from his bolt-hole in Gozo) to tell the Maltese peasants what to do, how to do it, what to think and how to think it, must have a lot of time on his hands and a very peculiar obsession with Malta.
He’s been at it for years. In the run-up to the referendum vote on EU membership, he wrote letters repeatedly to The Times telling the good burghers of Malta to vote No. The peasants he left to others.
Now this man, who doesn’t have a vote here and who has no representative in the Maltese parliament, is dedicating lots of time to telling us why (1) Malta doesn’t need a parliament house, (2) Malta needs a parliament house – I wish these FAA types would learn to take decisions – but Freedom Square is the ‘wrong’ place, (3) that Maltese politicians don’t deserve a new parliament, (4) that the theatre idea is beautiful but not suitable for the Maltese climate – presumably it is suitable for the climate in County Antrim.
Read this exchange from beneath the story about Renzo Piano’s brief, or the lack of it, on timesofmalta.com. Perhaps somebody should tell him that his parliament house is so prominent that it’s one of the few internationally-recognised buildings. Its image is even on my sauce bottle.
But I suspect that’s part of the problem, and why he speaks as though MPs are The Other and that parliament has nothing to do with The People. It must be tough to be Irish and have your life run from the Palace of Westminster, London.
He’s got a Soviet take on equality, too – “As for Piano’s opinion carrying more weight than mine, why should it? They are both after all just opinions. You don’t have to be an architect to form an opinion.” – which is why he identifies so readily with the No movement and the Malta Labour Party.
James A. Tyrrell
On the subject of the actual plans I personally don’t like them but hey we are all entitled to an opinion. I think the Parliament is far too modern looking for such a beautiful old city. I also think the location is wrong. A Parliament building is something you go to see if you are interested not something, which should hit you in the face when you walk in the front gate.
The open-air theatre is a beautiful idea but not exactly practical even in Malta. Yes the sun shines most of the time but when it rains boy does it rain. If it had a roof then it could have been used all year round. I think the roofless theatre is a consequence of spending more on the new Parliament. Another question is do politicians deserve a new Parliament?
The remarks about local architects are totally unjustified. Every time you lift a paper Maltese people are in the news for some new medical breakthrough or invention so I’m sure the architects are every bit as competent. Wouldn’t it have been a great coup to have the theatre and Parliament designed by a Maltese architect?
Corinne Vella
James Tyrell: An open air theatre is not a ‘roofless theatre’. It is an entirely different sort of performance space to a closed theatre.
You ask: “Do politicians deserve a new parliament?” A more relevant question is “Don’t the people of Malta deserve a parliament building for the first time ever?”
A parliament building is the only truly public building – it is the most important symbol of democracy and one to which everybody is entitled to access. Valletta was built by an occupying power. It is now Malta’s capital city and therefore the seat of government – a government elected democratically in a country only recently independent for the first time in its entire history. So far from being an unsuitable location, the proposed site is really the most appropriate one.
As to your comments that the design of the building is unsuitable, there really is no other way to put this: the opinion of a world-famous architect carries far more weight than that of a person who is not. I do have to point out that by ‘person’ I do not mean ‘architect’.
James A. Tyrrell
An “open-air theatre” as you describe it is by its very nature not a fully enclosed all year round usable venue. It is basically an unfinished structure thrown in to try and appease the Maltese public. At some point in the future one of your ‘experts’ will probably come up with the idea of finishing it.
Yes the people of Malta deserve a parliament building for the first time ever, just not in the location it is being proposed. I mean lets face it no matter which country in the world you are in politics is not exactly a crowd puller. As for your declaration that ‘the proposed site is really the most appropriate one’, that is your opinion to which you are entitled, my opinion is different and one to which I am entitled.
As for Piano’s opinion carrying more weight than mine, why should it? They are both after all just opinions. You don’t have to be an architect to form an opinion.
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This guy isn`t worthy of a comment, but what the hell. Daphne says he is bored and insufferable. As a fellow expat, I would suggest he is an insufferable bore who should butt out and leave Maltese affairs to the Maltese. Possibly a little River Dance practice could help, dancing all the way back to the Emerald Isle.
I should try to be less abrasive when addressing James Tyrell on The Times website; perhaps the moderator might accept to publish some of my comments. The latest one to be blocked was this afternoon – I don’t remember my exact phrases but basically told him that he has no right to tell us where to locate our parliament and if he doesn’t like it he can always go back to Paisleyland (County Antrim is the constituency of Ian Paisley and a Unionist stronghold). Perhaps this was deemed too harsh by the site moderator or maybe the comment was blocked because I said that, instead of suggesting that our politicians do not deserve a new parliament building, he should tell us where he was in August 1969.
In that month, the Royal Ulster Constabulary of which Tyrell was a member (though I don’t know whether he was already enrolled in 1969), joined up with civilian Unionist thugs to ransack the Catholic quarter of Londonderry known as the Bogside. They used armoured cars and machine guns, hundreds of civilians were injured and at least 2 men beaten to death. The incidents started a 30-year chain of reciprocal violence and murders, with the IRA on one side and the RUC and Unionist gangs on the other.
Meanwhile, Antrim is not so quiet and boring nowadays, although sadly the excitement is for all the wrong reasons. Sectarian violence is increasing again on both sides, with the occasional murder and torched house thrown in for good measure.
It takes a lot of cheek for someone who lives in the middle of all this mess to come and lecture us on the quality of our politicians. You’d think that Tyrell has enough to write about in his own home without fussing over the roof/non-roof of our theatre.
“James Tyrell is bored”
So am I…
That’s why I’m reading his trash…
It’s not “Country Antrim”, but “County Antrim”, or rather “Kinety Antrim”.
Well let’s play fair Ms Caruana Galizia;
Tyrell is technically right when he says that “You don’t have to be an architect to form an opinion”. What he needs to add, though, is that you do need to be an architect for your opinion to count on architectural matters.
And I thought. forming an opinion and adjucating upon an issue calls for know-how, experience and expertise.
I guess I will consult my hairdresser in order to discuss my appendix operation, from now on. I mean, really, who needs a professional opinion?
Andrea, and if you do ask your hairdresser about your appendix, she/he will probably feel qualified to give you a diagnosis too.
Italy has 58 million football coaches…. Malta has 400 thousand architects …
There’s nothing to do in Gozo either.
I am deeply shocked by what Lesley Kreupl from Gozo wrote in today’s Independent on Sunday. In a letter to the editor with the heading “I would poison you, Mr Calleja”, she writes:
“On reading Stephen Calleja’s bit in defence (?) of what he wrote about Ms Vella (“Where’s the halo, Astrid?” TMIS, 19 July), I must admit that I was very surprised to hear that an MCP such as he (still) has a wife – if I were married to him and he wrote of me in that vein I would be long gone to greener pastures, or he would be in the grave having succumbed to my purposely poisonous cooking…… My description of him as “barbaric” obviously needs to be re-accessed – downwards – Hagar the Horrible, on a good day, would not even come close. ……Mr Calleja, all I can say in conclusion is that, although I am 100 per cent for freedom of speech, I am exceptionally disappointed that someone of your inferior intellect has been given space in a newspaper of this calibre.”
Apart from being very insulting, Ms. Kreupl gets personal and actual claims she would poison Stephen Calleja if he were her husband!
Do FAA really believe that such writings could them any good?
Here’s the bit the nay-sayers never acknowledge: the possibility of bad weather doesn’t make an open air performance impossible, but a closed theatre excludes open air performances altogether.
The only way to set Tyrell straight and avoid the moderator’s snips, is to explain his own words.
“As for Piano’s opinion carrying more weight than mine, why should it? They are both after all just opinions. You don’t have to be an architect to form an opinion”.
The difference between Tryrell and Piano’s opinions is easy to discern. Piano’s ‘opinion’ comes from a world renowned architect and took the form of plans and models for all to see and touch. Tryrell’s opinion is one more whine, empty words, waste of paper space and comes from a plebe who tries to make us fellow mortals believe that he lives in Ireland when he actually occupies valuable space in Gozo which space should be given back to Gozitans.
Incidentally, the picture of Tyrell’s Parliament is actually the brand name of the sauce Daphne pours on her steak. I wonder the significance of the choice of picture and name.
Based on what I am reading here, one fine morning we might wake up discovering that we are not entitled to vote because we are not fully-fledged politicians!
[Daphne -touchy, touchy]
What rubbish. Who’s stopping you expressing an opinion or barring you from voting?
Well…. “Irid ikollok wiccek vili” as the parishioners used to say behind a particularly harsh sermon by a ‘wayward’ priest in a nearby village…
Well, if you position yourself as the metaphorical villager, then it’s no wonder you think as you do. No one’s obliged you to mutter darkly behind the shutters rather than speak openly in your own name.
I would like to suggest that Mr Tyrell is entitled to his opinion about Renzo Piano’s plans. How much his opionion counts relies on how others percieve it. Judging by what I have read here, ‘not much’ is pretty accurate. Bearing in mind that Renzo Piano would have taken a holistic approach to the design as opposed to ‘chucking in’ a modern building or two in the square, I know who’s opinion carries the most weight. I visited the Louvre in Paris yesterday and saw for myself the glass pyramids which caused a lot of discussion when the idea was first made public (much like the city gate project today). I can assure you, the pyramids do not look out of place at all. I actually like them. The few people I spoke to all said the same thing. Not one of them said otherwise. I like the City Gate plans. I hope to god that they become a reality.