NOT IN HER BACKYARD
My, my, bottled water! Daddy would be absolutely furious. Mintoff's daughters Anne McKenna and Yana Bland celebrate - probably another compensation pay-out. Yana's husband David Bland and daughter Cetta Mainwaring stand behind her.
These Mintoffs have turned out to be spectacular Nimbys. Look at this piece which Mrs Bland wrote for The Times 17 months ago. Notice that like her sister Anne McKenna, she ‘cunningly’ didn’t use the name Mintoff, even though she’s piggybacking on it really hard at the moment.
I imagine she expected to pass herself off as a disinterested observer with a special interest in environmentalism.
You’d think that now they’ve got their loot and kept the house too, they would just keep quiet, because this sort of thing is getting really embarrassing – not that people born with a genetic brass neck would notice.
I have had occasion to remark before now that in situations like this, the editor is under obligation to his readers to add a footnote which identifies the author of the piece and puts his or her views in context.
Of course Dom Mintoff’s daughter is going to criticise the government.
Of course Dom Mintoff’s daughter is going to feel agitated about the violation of a place they consider their own – Delimara.
And of course readers of The Times would like a good laugh when they read her last sentence: “Does that noxious smell in the air emanate from obsolete technology or could it be the stench of political corruption?”
In any case, I can answer her question with ease: it must be your daddy, Yana. God knows when he last took a shower or changed his clothes. Saving water is so important these days.
The Times
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
by Yana Bland, Kalkara
WHAT’S THAT BAD SMELL AT DELIMARA?
The investigation by the EU into the contract awarded by the government of Malta to enlarge the Delimara power station appears to have opened up an odoriferous can of worms.
1. The government has not come up with a credible reason for handing Enemalta €15.5 million of the taxpayers’ money for an €18 million project when the EU has already allotted €15.5 million for the job.
2. Why do they want to expand a fossil fuel power plant that is already polluting the island when there are cleaner alternatives available? Malta is one of the few countries in the world that still gets 100 per cent of its energy from burning toxic fossil fuel, shipped in at great expense, and utility rates have risen so high most families struggle to pay the bills.
3. Since Malta will be able in a couple of years to connect to the European power grid through a cable to Sicily, why is it necessary to expand the Delimara plant at all? Surely we will be able to purchase energy from European providers before the expansion is even completed and at that point we might even be able to shut down both the Marsa and Delimara plants, which make our air filthy and undermine our health!
4. Malta still ranks at the bottom among EU countries in all areas of the environment and ecology and, despite the government’s “green island” blah-blah, virtually nothing is being done to improve that ranking. What if they used that mysterious €15.5 million going to Enemalta to do something useful and innovative, such as beginning to develop a power grid of solar panels and windmills on Comino, which could provide the Maltese people with clean, inexpensive and renewable energy?
5. Concerning our other major source of pollution, vehicles, consider this: Engineers from Imperial College London have developed a plug-in car that will go more than 400 kilometres on a single charge and reach 96 kph in just seven seconds. A number of other manufacturers are also offering various models that could meet Malta’s transportation needs at a reasonable cost without noise and pollution. Yet, the government is giving rebates to encourage the purchase of still more petrol-burning vehicles when it should be phasing them out.
It seems increasingly doubtful that Malta’s fossil-fuelled leaders will ever sputter into the 21st century and begin to address the needs of the people rather than serving a few special interests. Does that noxious smell in the air emanate from obsolete technology or could it be the stench of political corruption?
17 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Dear Yana, would it not be nice if a Labour government could build a Sargas floating powerstation in Delimara, close the one on the ground, and then gently push the floating power station somewhere off the coast of Sliema or Bahar ic-Caghaq?
[Daphne – No, because her sister lives in Tal-Ibrag, so we can’t have that, can we.]
Most definitely it would NOT be nice. That would create new grounds for our liberal courts of laws (when dealing with the Mintoff clan) to claim a million euro more in compensation without any ghost of a chance for anyone else in Sliema – Bahar-ic-Caghaq being compensated on the same scale.
You see, even today’s Malta, all pigs are supposed to be equal but in practice, some pigs are more equal than others.
She’s mad if she thinks we can shut down our own power generation and depend on a neighbouring country for our energy demands.
[Daphne – She wrote that before Gaddafi went up in smoke, Jozef.]
Delimara is being expanded because Smellymarsa is being shut down.
The cable will compensate for future increased demand and gradual conversion to alternative energy, which, as she should know, isn’t the most reliable of sources.
Replacing petrol powered cars with battery powered vehicles alone is NOT the solution, a comprehensive transportation system, removing people from behind the wheel of their vehicle, is.
Government HAS been trying to encourage sales of electric vehicles. The problem, as is becoming amply clear everywhere, is charging times required.
No one in his right mind will spend money on a car that cannot be used whenever the need arises, which is why electric vehicles are more suited to a vehicle sharing semi ownership system. It’s about bringing industry and politics together.
Her father killed the motorbike market when he decided to impose the 250cc limit on motorbikes, ban Japanese imports and was against any incentive. There were ca. 8,000 registered bikes in 1982.
Leave Comino alone.
I hate it when people pontificate green rubbish.
Chapeau. So that’s why she mentions EU energy providers.
Does she, by any chance, do her Christian visits to prisoners in Brussels?
Two points I would like to mention
“Replacing petrol powered cars with battery powered vehicles alone is NOT the solution, a comprehensive transportation system, removing people from behind the wheel of their vehicle, is.”
Not completely true – what is required is a country wide strategy that starts with weaning the market off fossil fuel into more renewable forms. One application of such a policy is to impose regulations that new buildings MUST have n% of their electricity generated through photovoltaic cells, be properly insulated and so on. Transport is simply an area of application.
“Government HAS been trying to encourage sales of electric vehicles. The problem, as is becoming amply clear everywhere, is charging times required.” Modern technology has increased the speed, lowered fuel consumption, extended distance and so on. I believe one care travels 80km without recharging, takes about 30 minutes to charge its batteries (modelled on mobile phone batteries) and clocks over 150 km/h.
Putting aside the fact that she is Mintoff’s daughter (ergo watch out), there are certain measures that the Maltese government has failed to take and the opposition has failed to identify and suggest. The essence of cleaner energy, sustainable consumption and shared responsibility between government and governed is not tantamount to pontificating green rubbish.
It is a reality that many, if not most, are ignoring and failing to address at the policy and at the operational level.
We’re all great with dishing out strategies and direction but, so far, I haven’t heard anything but people whining and politicians promising “l-ilma jizfen”.
When I said transportation system, I didn’t differentiate between public and private. If one were to calculate the efficiency of an average car carrying one person, at rush hour, 28% maximum engine efficiency drops down to 2%.
Thus, 98% of the fuel used to get one person from A to B is effectively wasted.
(I’m quoting Fiat Advanced Design here, you can see where this could take us).
The electric car, even with a 100% efficient motor still carries unecessary weight, loses efficiency at the wheels, causes jams, takes up space, and spends 90% of its service life parked.
Cars have gained 20% of their weight in the last ten years, all of it down to safety systems. We build stronger engines to counteract the weight, then increase the weight to make them safer. The electric car will degenerate due the same.
The crux here is to remove the controls, by doing so, 60% of the weight can be done away with.
That’s why I said ‘removing people from behind the wheel’, to possess becomes to access.
Which is why automakers are seriously considering transportation as a service and not as an excuse to sell fictitious wants.
The day we’ll have a paradigm shift, where consumer needs are satisfied, read chic, cool and what have you, is the day we’ll give up our cars.
Renault are to date, the most advanced in the new language, the intention is to target the youth market, tackling the geeky aspect head on. 20 year olds create the trend, which then filters to their parents.
Imposition, well intentioned it may be, won’t work. Renault, owned by the state, is moving away from the Californian model, which still looks at the car as the basis of personal freedom anyway.
There’s a balance somewhere, but it’s not achieved by mentioning the latest controlled experiment in some closed track, even because the 400km range will surely go down to 60km as soon as the seven second 0 to 96km time claim is tested.
Yes there’s the new generation of fast recharging dual battery, but costs are still prohibitive.
Renault’s solution is to provide battery replacement stations, where filling up the fuel becomes a battery change.
The investment required to cover the cost of having an available battery is still a big question mark. The EU is watching closely.
Mercedes is trying to catch up with the Smart, and even though the Germans are concentrating on the fuel cell, the model is similar.
Again, Germany does everything possible to defend the interests of its auto industry.
On the negative side the Chevy Volt barely reached its sales target nor is the Nissan leaf selling well. Both suffer the same basic design flaw: They follow the Prius eco hollywood fashion accessory axiom, costing nearly twice as much as an ordinary car.
This is why I say ‘pontificating green rubbish is hateful’, it tends to be inaccurate for a reason; keep the lobby strong via the flower power polemic. Old hat.
Her dad dumped pigs on Comino, and now she wants to dump panels. Give us a break already.
Windmills? You’d think she was educated in Malta, not a British public school.
I think the smell is coming from the dung she hid under her clothes.
Has she forgotten the coal-fired power station in Marsa? That was oil-fired but Mintoff converted it to coal, to save on power generation costs.
Every day trucks used to transport coal ash from the Marsa power station to some disused quarry.
[Daphne – I know that very well, David, because I worked in an office on Timber Wharf, just a few metres away from where the coal was piled uncovered on the wharf in all weather. Everyday, everything was covered in a thin black film, and the waste water from the airconditioning unit used to pour out coal-black. I sometimes wonder about the people who lived in the houses there, and whether they ended up with lung problems. Their laundry certainly went through hell. And Mintoff didn’t give them the compensation which he sought and obtained for himself, did he.]
It was one of the early measures taken by the PN government post 1987 to convert back to oil instead of coal.
And Yana Mintoff has the cheek to complain about fossil fuels.
She is going to be such a liability for the PL, because her daddy messed up this country so badly when he was PM, and it appears that she genuinely is not aware of it. She is going to end up with a lot of egg in her face, each time she opens her mouth.
Laundry in Paola used to be covered in tiny black dots which I remember very well. Our cars used to be covered in said black dots as well as a myriad other objects which had the ill-fortune of being outdoors.
They are already trying to boss us around….. a sense of deja vu.
“WHAT’S THAT BAD SMELL AT DELIMARA?” – Given that it was 2010, it could have been an unwashed Mintoff, in his green rubber outfit..
The love of big belt buckles runs in the family I see…
This lady would make a good resident ambassador in Pyongyang. They might even like the free dung.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120413/local/korean-news-agecy.415311
Daphne,
Perhaps the LP true colours aren’t green after all but a hue that is getting more red as time passes:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120413/local/korean-news-agecy.415311
Scary stuff especially in lieu of the recent global turn of events.
The Times states: “The agency said Dr Muscat was convinced that the Korean people would greet the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung “with shining achievements in economic construction under the wise leadership of the dear respected Kim Jong Un”.”
Whereas one recognises diplomat-talk, I fear that Dr Muscat’s doctoral achievements aren’t worth a cent if he thinks that mass starvation are to be equated to “achievements in economic construction” and “wise leadership”.
Could it be that the smell is coming from Delimara Fort which was given to a farmer during her father’s time for the breeding of pigs and cows? There’s dung all over the place.