Switching off the eternal flame between dawn and dusk was the first thing Labour did – on March 9. Can you believe it?
It makes you wonder how these people reason, and what their priorities are. Also, it smacks of a level of misplaced obsession that must be coming from someplace other than the wish to cut costs.
What sort of person walks into government, and immediately rubs his hands and says, right, now we can turn off that wasteful eternal flame.
On March 9, Labour wasn’t even technically in government yet. That was the Sunday the result was announced and everybody was out celebrating.
So who issued the order?
We know this now because The Times has picked up the story and discovered more details (link below, and salient quotes beneath):
One of the very first decisions made by the Labour government on its first day in office was to turn off the eternal flames flanking the Floriana War memorial during the day for “cost-cutting reasons”.
As of March 9, the gas-burning flames, which were first lit on April 13 last year to mark the 70th anniversary of the George Cross, are only being lit for 12 hours, from 6pm to 6am every day, instead of round the clock as before.
(…)
Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi replied that “the ornamental flame” was only being lit up from dusk till dawn to save money.
A ministry spokeswoman said that about 1,000 litres a week of propane gas were needed to keep the flames burning for 24 hours a day, costing the Government €28,600 a year.
With the new permanent 12-hour system, she said, the flames would cost the country €19,084.
Essentially, this means that, before March, the amount of money burnt amounted to €78 a day; now the country will be set back by €52 a day.
Stanley Clews, who at 90 is probably this website’s oldest reader, told The Times:
I feel very bad about it. I have spoken to the few other war veterans who, like me, are still alive and everyone is quite upset about this. They could have waited a couple of years till we’re at the Addolorata (cemetery) before they start switching them on and off.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130529/local/Eternal-flames-burn-part-time-to-cut-costs.471632
They could have easily saved the €28,600 by sending Fredrick Testa packing.
The flame is not “ornamental” or meant to be decorative.
Cost of Eternal flame: 28,000 euro p.a.
Willy Mangion’s “consultancy” 28,200. “. ”
U halluna.
Or … do the math. They needed to find the money from somewhere.
Spot on. I bet they consider it an affront to Dom’s literal piece in Birgu.
When a latrine covered in a pile of rubble gets lit once a year, Labour fauna risking life, limb and shin, we can’t have an eternal flame in Floriana can we?
Consider it some fireplace then. Bdabad.
Hollande/Paris come to mind with the switching off lights.
With the rest of the world switching to LEDs and LED panels on sell-backs for road lighting, do we know whether the road lighting in Malta is metered at the moment, and what the plans are?
Uncouth peasants.
Are they also cutting costs by turning off the eternal flame they light every year on that monstrosity in Birgu?
I see il-kaxxa ta’ Malta is saving just enough to cover the rental of josephmuscat.com’s personal car.
I’m horrified that they could have even considered such an action as a cost-saving exercise.
Having said that, is it just me or does the maths really not add up?
If the flame is switched off for half a day, then shouldn’t the new running cost be €14,300 instead of €19,084 (i.e. the saving is exactly 33.3% instead of 50%)?
Also what is an annual saving of approximately €9,500 when compared to all the other places the government is wasting money (William Mangion, Fredrick Testa, et bella compagnia)?
With the savings, they can help pay Frederick Testa ‘elf lira fix-xahar’ to advise on teledrammi for TVM.
That will leave them 4,000 euro short.
So, €9,000 annually is being saved on the eternal flame, but…
– Big Pony is earning €24,000 a year to pass reforms which won’t be accepted
– Ramona Attard is earning €30,000 a year (pay scale 3) when she should be earning around €20,000 as she’s on pay scale 6
– Frederick Testa is being given €23,000 a year as head of the drama queens at PBS
– Willie Mangion is also being given €23,000 a year (?) to find garages for bands.
Among other travesties.
But that €9,000 is an effective cost-cutting measure, in Labour’s eyes. It literally beggars belief.
Cut it short. Muscat is pocketing the money by renting out his personal car to himself as Prime Minister.
Something doesn’t add up as well. If the eternal flame was costing the government €28,600 yearly when it was eternally on, why should it cost €19,084 yearly when on for half the time?
Shouldn’t it cost exactly half the price – €14,300?
The price of gas during the day isn’t cheaper than the price of gas at night.
Well probably not because now someone needs to be paid to switch it on and off…
What a socialist attitude. As long as they contradict everything the Nationalist Goverment did.
The eternal flame has a part-time job.
Just exactly what the flame does for the 12 hours it isn’t burning at the war memorial cannot be revealed in case the PN ‘steal’ the idea before the next election.
Stanley Clews is so right. Switching off the flames, however, is also great insult and sign of disrespect to those who have already gone, and whose sacrifices we should remember eternally.
Then again, Labour never had much respect for the living, so we can’t expect them to have any respect for the dead, nor for what, after all, Labour probably considers ‘nejk, cucati u sinifiteti’.
From the Editorial of “In-Nazzjon Taghna” of today :
“Il-Gvern Laburista jiċħad it-tifkira tal-mejtin tal-gwerra bl-iskuża tal-awsterità. Izda dan qed isir għal raġunijiet ideoloġiċi ta’ partit li għadu s’issa jrid ibella’ l-ħsibijiet mgħawġin tiegħu dwar ġrajjiet Malta li ilhom inawru mis-snin sebgħin u tmenin l-apprezzament vera tal-istorja tagħna l-Maltin ilkoll. Il-Partit Laburista kien li għamel rock opera jisimha Ġensna li fiha jgħidilna li dawk li mietu fit-tieni gwerra dinjija mietu għalxejn, u mietu għall-barrani. Skont il-Partit Laburista, dawk li ssagrifikaw irwieħhom biex Malta ma batietx il-faxxiżmu u n-nażiżmu mietu għal ħaddieħor u mietu bla skop”.
http://www.maltarightnow.com/Default.asp?module=opinion&at=%26%23266%3Ba%26%23295%3Bda+tal%2Distorja+g%26%23295%3Bal+ra%26%23289%3Bunijiet+ideolo%26%23289%3Bi%26%23267%3Bi+antiki&t=a&aid=792&cid=6
Hear hear.
The war dead would also be civilians buried under rubble. But then Malta G.C. was something to do away with as well.
Basta bil-poppies.
I recommend that these people go to the Air Force Memorial at Floriana and spend some time reading the names and nationality of those pilots and other airmen who lost their lives during the war – fighting to save Malta.
It’s an eye-opener and very sobering.
They can go to the Mtarfa cemetery for a similar experience. You can work out when there was an air attack by the number of airmen, many of them in their late teens, who died on the same day.
R.I.P. and thank you. You were heroes, even if some people today don’t think so.
“Ornamental flame?” Incredible.
Well, when you consider interior decor tastes, perhaps they got lost in comparisons.
In other news, the guy hired to switch the gas on and off everyday at 6am and 6pm is being paid 2’300 per month. He also happened to feature on an MLP billboard.
Not really, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true.
So we are now being regaled by a new definition of what “eternal” means according to the LP’s decalogue. From now on “eternal” means “intermittent”!
This comes not as a surprise as the same line of thought can be seen as being applied to the new meaning of the terms such as “code of ethics”, “principles”, “agreements” (e.g. collective agreements where it regards procedures to be applied in case of transfers, public consultations, MEPA rules waivered to fast-tracking applications to avoid time consuming environmental impact assessments, etc.). It all depends on the whims of the powers that be.
That is transparency.
I’m done with petitions. The last two achieved nothing.
Where’s Stephen Farrugia and his nationalistic pride?
How about a donation by all persons who want the eternal flame on at all hours of the day. We could give the money to Minister Mizzi making sure he that he gives us a receipt and will keep the eternal flame on all the time.
Jitqammlu fejn jaqbillhom. Ja qabda Pharisej.
Twenty six years and dozens of faux doctorates later the mentality is unchanged.
Peasant folk.
Nothing that can’t be fixed. They could introduce a much smaller flame that takes over at dawn and call it the Alternating Flame of Eternal Austerity.
Switching off completely of those flames would have been a much better choice in the first place. In this day and age of environmental awareness there is definitely no place for the sheer wastage of 1000 litres of fuel every week.
Well done JM.
How about Muscat and his merry men and women doing away with their cars and riding bikes. That would certainly save money and seem very progressive and liberal.
Cost of eternal flame:28,000 annually? That’s 4 years of self hire for one used Alfa.
Cost cutting? This isn’t cost cutting at all. Cost cutting is about cutting back on costs that would otherwise seem extravagant or not essential, like hiring someone to sit at a desk and choose TV dramas, or find places for bands to rehearse.
This is blatant ignorance at work. Of course the PL would see the eternal flame as an extra cost. “Mhux xorta, no one will see it during the day”.
But that isn’t the point. It’s not a decoration. It’s a matter of principle, but Labour has no idea what that means. So this sort of thing would go right over their head.
Thanks for all your support – the memorial is also for the Maltese civilians who gave their lives – cheap excuse to save gas while handing out money galore on useless jobs.
The decision disappoints many, but it shames us all, more so those who took it, those supported it, and those who now do nothing to put it right.
In case you missed it, a couple of weeks ago “Ġensna in concert” was produced — at public expense — as part of “Notte Gozitana”. Cost: €23,600.
http://www.pq.gov.mt/pqweb.nsf/5ab326fbcb184092c1256877002c4f19/c1257881003b3b78c1257b71003538c8?OpenDocument
The moment a new prime minister takes the oath of office he is responsible, and in the absence of ministers, he is solely responsible, for government’s actions.
That such an action should have been considered urgent to merit such priority reflects very badly on the new prime minister’s values.
I do not think that Dom Mintoff himself would have taken such a step.
But is it responsible and liable – for all actions? or just responsible and/or irresponsible (full stop).
Come on, Daphne.
I am baffled by your amazement at this shocking news item.
How can you expect people who sing “mitna ghalxejn mitna ghall-barrani” in that hideous ‘rokopra’ to really perceive the importance and the meaning of the eternal flame? They have no idea at all what the world wars were all about.
Just put the flame out mill-ewwel, guys. And spare us these idiotic decisions of lighting the flame at night and putting it off at dawn.
Bottom line, what we have here is a a sovereign state that also happens to be the most bombed country per square km in 1942, saving EUR 10k per annum on the eternal flame. Beyond words.
I thought that gas would be now viable and more value-for-money now…
Socialists! They know the price of everything but the value of nothing.