Michael Schumacher is expected to announce today that he does not feel well enough to replace Massa in the driving seat of the Ferrari. When you consider his illustrious career and his aura of invincibility, this latest announcement gives you a further insight into his disiplined approach to the sport. He’d rather not race than enter for some cameo appearance. Bravo Michael.
(news added on Gazzetta site as I type: Neck problems continue to plague Michael. Badoer will be his replacement)
This article and accompanying Bertoon appeared in yesterday’s edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.
As I sat down to type, the news reached Rue De Bragance that Sliema Water Polo Club has won a crucial game against Neptunes. I don’t really dig water polo, and beyond a fetishist support for Otters ASC, I usually follow as much of the sport as I do cricket. Frankly, I find watching the game a rather yawn-inducing affair and I get the impression that most of the action occurs underwater. I do however respect sporting interest, whatever the sport and whoever the supporter – I can develop a curious interest in the history of lacrosse or the rules of the Mayan game of “poc ta poc” – and therefore I will find no fault in the hundreds who will be celebrating this victory over what I understand to be their bitter rivals.
Water polo leagues generally served as a trivial palliative for the sports fanatic waiting for the resumption of what he considered the “real” season. The football fanatic would keep his league table reading skills honed thanks to matches like Neptunes versus Sliema and might even feign a passing interest in the players themselves. Don’t kid yourself though, not too deep below the mask lies the beast ready to explode with the kick-off of the new season – the real season of football that is.
That’s what the “silly season” is all about. It’s when you expect to read columns complaining about the dearth of writing material and when the news reverts to auto-drive: fires in the south of Europe, fireworks in Malta, heat waves and melanoma warnings and soon, very soon – the crazy long break of the 15th of August. So you’d expect blogs like J’accuse to be having quite a quiet period. And you’d only be partially right.
Five months ago I spoke (Of Leopards and their Spots) about the contradictory messages that were being sent out regarding the legality or otherwise of the various gambling machines that had cropped up around the island:
First we had an article discussing recommendations made by Parliament’s Social Affairs Committee with regard to illegal gamning arcades. Now the word “illegal” in that phrase begs some questions of its own especially since by admission of the Finance Minister the arcades are not directly violating any law but rather stand in a limbo of non-regulation. What that means is that there is no clear regulation prohibition of these arcades and in fact the Committee recommended proper regulations be drafted. In the meantime however it is a legal nonsense to suggest that the arcades are illegal until the regulations rendering them illegal is actually drafted. There are after all such principles as Legal Certainty and Legitimate Expectations.
Yesterday, the entire (known) gaming arcade industry came to a halt thanks to a nationwide raid by the police. According to the Times a Government spokesman stated that “none of the arcades had been operating with the necessary Gaming Authority licence.” Interesting. Back in March J’accuse had pointed out the importance of “legal certainty” and “legitimate expectations”.
Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson is back in the news after his spoof Volkswagen Scirocco ad touched a raw nerve among the “politically correct” crowd. Ok. The ad DOES draw on WWII memories with German tanks overrunning Warsaw… but please… a joke’s a joke… some people really need to get a life!
“Gib li trid. Tridx iggib ir-ritratt fuq il-blogg? Tridx tikteb li trid?”
– R. Camenzuli LL.D. ( Rabid Lawyers Abroad)
Two op articles this weekend (Josanne Cassar and Mark Anthony Falzon) dealt with noise pollution in Malta and our inability to control any of it. One particular form of noise pollution is a direct result of neanderthals “pimping” their car in order to get a growl out of their silencer presumably to give the energumen driving the car the thrill and feel of driving a car that sounds like an F1 vehicle.
“Hamalli” might be an insufficient classification for this category of not so gentlemen since the thrill of a noisy, fast ride is not limited to that particular class of proto-individual. They are all over the place in Malta – creating the third lane on the coast road, “cruising” along promenades with the equivalent of a nightclub sound system in the place of their back seat and the inevitable paraphernalia of chains and tattoos hanging around or exhibited on a chest covered with a sleeveless shirt. They needn’t even be so osé in their get-up… what is important is that they believe they own the road (and most parking places).
I for one never understood the fixation for big and fast cars in Malta. Your average Peugeot 107 can get you anywhere in time without much problems. I often dream of a fascist, authoritarian law that does away with all cars on the island and allows onlz three models – Smart Size (the more common), Polo Size for small families, and mini vans for public transport. I guess I will only see that kind of thing again on my next visit to Capri but in the meantime, just like the Emissions business, something must be done to curb these bullies of the road.
There’s an email doing the rounds. It’s a pdf presentation about Antony Taliana – the accused in the hit and run case that took a cyclist’s life. Whoever wrote the pdf presentation must have had enough of seeing bullies on the road, must have collated some facebook pictures together and suddenly claims to “make an example” out of Taliana. There is an evident danger of mob vigilantism here that risks deviating our attention from the real danger. Once again it is important that we do not let events run away with us and let justice follow its due course.
If it turns out that our society requires stricter terms and more direct action on perpetrators of driving crimes then maybe we could consider changing the laws in this respect. We might take a lesson or two from US Penal Codes which have long dealt with similar crimes. Whatever the case we must not try to solve a social problem as are driving bullies by creating another one – that of expanding this cult of mob juries that judge and condemn outside the legal system.
Any normal person in his right mind feels angry at what happened to Cliff Micallef. If I had to follow my instincts the punishments for such crimes by the bullies of the road should be maximum (possibly including torture). I am a rational being however and I believe that a just society requires law and order. As I had occasion to state some weeks back: we are servants of the law so that we may be free.
