Viewpoints

When I was young I used to go and visit my old aunt and uncle. They lived in a rambling two terraced house in Tarxien. One of the dark rooms upstairs (for the rooms were always shuttered and closed) held a wondrous sight for a 10 year old boy. There, in a glass showcase were any...

On 27th January three NGOs – Din l-Art Helwa, Nature Trust and the Gaia Foundation – signed an agreement with government to manage the il-Majjistral Nature and History Park, an area about 5 times the size of Valletta that lies between Ghajn Tuffieha and Il-Prajjiet (more commonly known as Popeye’s Village). This is an area of...

Din l-Art Helwa newsletter February 2011 As society evolves, so do concerns about the urban environment. The impact of traffic on both residential and business areas is a chief preoccupation nowadays. Managing the streets is a complicated issue in urban areas all over the world, and likewise here in Malta. Our streets are congested, and our public transport system is still...

Times of Malta, 5 February 2011 The environment? It is everything that is not I,” said Albert Einstein when asked to define it. Everything we breathe and all we see, the environment is where we are. It brings us the food and water necessary for life. It is our countryside and it is our sea, those precious recreation grounds of both...

Times of Malta, 8th January 2011 Construction all over the island seems to have slowed down and recently there has been less controversy over planning matters. Change in the urban landscape is not a bad thing in itself. There has always been change and, as long as the community prospers, it is natural to expect there will always be. People are wary...

Vigilo magazine, October 2010 It is very noticeable that a lot of new works are being carried out in Valletta. This will surely lead to a much improved capital city over the next few years. Valletta has been run down and shabby for far too long. At first every new change presents itself as an inconvenience –...

Times of Malta, 17 September 2010 Malta does not have many natural resources or great quantities of them. So why can’t we manage them properly? Just look at the state of three of our existing key resources: land, water and limestone. To those, add a potential resource: renewable energy. All four are in a deplorable state. Why are they not being better...

Times of Malta, 6th July 2010 On March 11, 1960, The Times of Malta reported that a press conference was held at the Palace in Valletta by Barker-Benfield, then chairman of the Tourist Board, to announce new plans to develop Comino into a tourist resort by the entrepreneur John Gaul. Apart from the hotel and bungalows, which were eventually built, the...