@Daphne:

I’m a bit late in reading your reply, but yes. I agree wholeheartedly. Sadly.

I was always thaught that you should compare yourself to people who are better than you, not worse.

Why shouldn’t we do the same for our country? We shouldn’t stay put with what’s going wrong just because people out there are in worse conditions, we should face these challenges because there are people out there who have much better conditions than ours!

He already has a degree but is in Malta reading medicine at our university. His dad is not working and my sister is doing three jobs to be able to send him money.

My sister was just telling me on the phone yesterday that his 27 year old sister, who just found a job in England after many years (she is a graduate as well ) is giving her mum 200 sterl. a month to send to him.

He is living alone in Malta and he cooks for himself, does the laundry etc. He is not paying tuition fees in Malta ( 9 thousand sterling a year is now in U.K) and has no stipends.

What a far cry from our students! No wonder they are selfish and will never find them protesting for the underdog and for what is wrong.

If we can give students so much, how come we can’t offer a half decent public system?

Can you imagine the uproar if the system was this bad in the UK?

I lived in London for a year, and I can tell you they’d make a hell of a fuss if the system was as bad as it is now is in Malta (especially when it was supposed to be an upgrade). They complain (publicly) constantly about the underground which is a billion times more efficient.

I also think its a little hard for some of you who drive to visualize the problem. The new system literally removes an extra hour or two out of your day. All that time just gone.

The fact that we’ve got it good in some areas doesn’t mean we shouldn’t complain in others.

I often tell friends that Malta is like the Shire from The Lord of the Rings. Everything can be very insular and while this is occasionally charming, it is more often ridiculous, especially when people descend into the woe-is-me.

Whoever nailed that poor dog to a cross in Mosta and then wrote about how his suffering is immeasurably worse enjoys cradle-to-grave health care and completely subsidized higher education. I wish I could suffer in such luxuries! No, I’ll be paying off my student loans until I am 50 (if I’m lucky).

We no longer have ramshackle buses, arrogant bus drivers who do not think twice of striking and leaving passengers stranded, bus drivers who swear, bus drivers who short-change passengers, do not wear uniforms and the list is endless.

Admittedly the present system has its shortcomings but hopefully, really hopefully, we will get to the point where we will have a proper bus service. It may take a bit of time but after all we waited 40 years to have a decent public transport system.

I ended up working too and received no stipend either yet the experience I gained over those 4 years justified this. Nonetheless, as you explained, it’s wrong and this must be changed or addressed.

In tiny Malta we advanced from a relatively primitive transport service to a so called modern system but in reality this was even worse than the previous system. Oh progress, how many crimes are committed in your name!