– Sir, we’ve been sabotaged!

– Who shaid anything about shabotage?

– Captain!

– Sir, I’m afraid the doctor is right.

– Very well. Shurfashe. We’ll evacuate the men to the deck.

Immortal lines, eh?

What a load of rubbish.

Apart from cost, people will not use an underground transport system because there is always the use of own car as a viable option. The number of people who will use it will be a fraction of what will be required to cover operational costs, let alone the capital investment.

Instead of questioning the wisdom of government forcing Arriva out, the Independent editorial confuses the issues by suggesting a solution that is not feasible and which will never happen.

We had a solution in hand – public transport operated professionally by a non-Maltese operator.

On the basis of probability, three fires on bendy buses in one week was mostly likely sabotage. If they were really due to technical faults, they would have happened over months and not in a single week.

In deciding to force bendy buses off the roads, what advise was Minister Mizzi given? By whom? Given that sabotage was a possibility, why did government take a rushed decision on the bendy busses? A technical report on one fire was prepared. Why is the government not publishing all the report?

When government decided to prohibit bendy buses, did it consider all the implications like for example the lowering in the standard of service with more waiting times, more crowding and greater discomfort for passengers? Was the increased cost to try to address these deficiencies taken into account?

With the deterioration of service these past few weeks, this is a very topical issue.

Nor any word about the messes Malta’s government is getting us all into.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140811/local/parked-car-prevents-helicopter-landing-on-hospital-helipad.531346

Matthew Xuereb of the Times of Malta hasn’t found the culprit yet.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140811/blogs/editors-blog-did-we-treat-elderly-man-fairly.531430

I also think that having the picture of the man accused (so far he has not been found guilty) of abusing his Indonesian housemaid on the front page was out of line.

Who is the top ‘editor’?

What are his clients’ dictates?

How has this web been spun?

Who else is sitting in the parlour?

Enter Shiv Nair under connected title.

I do not agree with you on this one. Insurances tend to not provide full cover for cars that have been on the road for a number of years. Sometimes, it is not because the person wants to pay less per year that they have 3rd party only, but because the insurance will only allow that cover.

[Daphne – That’s not the case at all. It all depends on which agency and whether you have insured with them regularly. Many people in Malta do not insure their cars comprehensively, and that is why they act as if it is the end of the world when they have an accident. It really is a false economy.]

Or even in Europe some men are more equal than others?