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It suddenly feels like we are gate crashing into the month of December. One minute you were swimming at Ghadira on a hot August afternoon and the next Saint Nicholas’ feast is around the corner and you start to wonder whether this year’s arbre de noel should still be themed in black like last year’s. One thing is sure, I ain’t falling for the live tannenbaum this time around because that would mean another headache worrying about where and when to dispose of the dried-up carcass sometime in March when I’ve had enough of dead trees ruining the view in the living room.

The issue of dead evergreen conifera in the living room is currently relegated to the section of pleasures yet to come. What is really beginning to buzz are the usual retrospectives that one comes to expect at this point of the calendar year – a full 30 days and more before it actually ends. What makes this end of year special is that it signals the close not just of a year but of a decade – ‘the 00s’ – and the birth of a new one – ‘the teens’. This gives us the opportunity to look back and take stock of what has been and what could be in terms of the most natural numeral system that occurs to the ten-digit mammal that is man.

What they said and what they meant to say:

I was not kicked upstairs. – John Dalli

(I’d like to think I was not kicked upstairs but everybody knows that I am only here because I was beginning to be a little uncomfortable downstairs.)

I have to say that the manner in which the decision was taken and, even worse, how it was sought to be justified afterwards, continues to baffle me. – Joe Borg

(I feel used. They should have told me from the start that “musical chairs” would get priority over the needs of the country. And by the way, why does that geezer with a Macchiavellian reputation get to advise Gonzo when we all know he wants to be either Commissioner in Brussels or (failing that) an Auditor in Luxembourg?)

When asked whether he believed the Prime Minister had the Nationalist Party in mind when opting for Mr Dalli, Dr Borg said: “I prefer not to comment – everybody can form a judgment about this decision for themselves.”

Oh Yes We Can.

Now it’s Balluta. And the biggest fuss being made is not even about the car park that is being proposed (a cylindrical park with lift to put cars in place) but about the fact that Ballutga residents can be “rowdy”. The comments on this article in the Times border on the hilarious – with variations on the “rowdy” theme and the continuation of NIMBY politics. Funny how the plot of land infront of the Tigulio landmark gets thrown into the ring. Will we ever learn that blocking the natural flow of water down the valley through Spinola into the water is never a  good idea? It’s too late for Sliema/St. Julian’s insofar as the parking of cars is concerned. Improve Public Transport once and for all and there will be no need for ridiculous plans. Simples.

Isn’t it amazing? Even though Moviment Graffiti is supposed to be really radical – though let’s be honest, nobody really radical would haul out that coffin cliché in 2009 – its members are betrayed by their nice-boy Maltese Catholic upbringing. They think all burials involve a coffin and that all coffins come with crosses on. I’m guessing they didn’t even stop for a second to think about the significance of that cross when they painted it on, and that what they’re telling us, in effect, is that the earth buried inside was baptised into the Christian religion. All the funerals they’ve been to have involved coffins with crosses, so what do they know. – Daphne Carauna Galizia (The Malta Independent)

What a load of codswallop. I do not know what is more ridiculous – Graffiti’s display of passé activism or Galizia’s false naivety about the role of the coffin as a symbol of death in the global village. Desperate to poke fun at the young protesters – and believing to have found the usual easy target – Daphne is suddenly blind to all the Middle East protests featuring coffins prominently among the usual panoply of burning flags and effigies.

True, Muslims are not buried in coffins. But to claim that the representatives of Mediterranean governments would be oblivious to the symbolism of a coffin is extremely far fetched. Maybe this fixation with crosses has really gone to everyone’s head. Or maybe some people have run out of relevant things to write about.

Medicine could be bought directly by the government if importers stop bringing over products issued with a price order after being deemed too expensive. “If we have a situation where an importer says he cannot bring over a particular medicinal product at the price established by the price order, then the government can choose to source the medicine itself,” Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said.

The battle clouds are looming as Minister Tonio Fenech takes on the healthcare businesses represented in the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry by Reginald Fava. What is at issue here is the (alleged) repeated offence by vendors of medicine of keeping prices high notwithstanding the (apparent) possibility of selling such healthcare products at a lower price. Medicinal products are cheaper elsewhere than in Malta and the government allegation seems to imply that prices on the Maltese market are artificially inflated.

“I pm di Milano Alfredo Robledo e Francesco Caiani hanno chiesto quattro condanne tra sei mesi e un anno per altrettanti dirigenti di Google accusati di concorso in diffamazione e in violazione della privacy in relazione a un video messo in rete l8 settembre del 2006 che ritraeva un portatore di handicap sbeffeggiato e vessato dai compagni di scuola in un’istituto di Torino.”

The prosecutors in Milan are asking for a condemnation of four Google directors for having allowed the distribution of a notorious video that depicted the beating/bullying of a young disabled person at a Turin school. The link being made between the video and the directors is an economic one:

Per tre imputati David Carl Drummond, Georges De Los Reyes e Peter Fleisher la richiesta è di un anno, per un altro imputato accusato solo di diffamazione la richiesta è di sei mesi. «Ci sarebbe voluto ben poco per fornire un servizio responsabile e tutelare la privacy – hanno detto i pm – il problema è trovare un equilibrio che ci deve essere tra diritto di impresa e tutela dei diritti individuali che sono tutelati dalla Costituzione. Ogni volta che si clicca su un qualsiasi video Google ci guadagna. È un dato economico».

The prosecutors are therefore creating a nexus of responsibility for the results provided by the search engine. The reporting of the case is not very clear in that the responsibility in this case is more direct since we are talking of Google’s own video hosting site (Google Video) and not a search result that leads to an offensive third party site.