Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1475004
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 JULY 2022 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Climate inaction, corruption and war THE EU taxonomy regulation is sup- posed to provide a list of sustainable economic activities, to build back better following the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval which it has brought about. Climate change and other environ- mental issues are mentioned several times in the text but however it includes nuclear and gas "under strict condi- tions". Quite ironic, especially with gas, which still is a fossil fuel producing greenhouse emissions and a common source of conflict between states. As for nuclear, it is more of an open discus- sion, which I shall not elaborate in this blog per se. Last week, the S&D, Greens/EFA and the Left in the European Parliament have presented a resolution revoking gas and nuclear from the taxonomy, a motion which was defeated by the EPP, far right and [don't]Renew Europe [neo] liberals. None of the Maltese MEPs have voted in favour and stood by the right side of history, with Casa abstain- ing, while Sant, Saliba and Cutajar com- pletely defying the socialist group by voting against. Pseudo-progressive Cyrus Engerer opted not to vote at all despite having voted on affairs on that day – a clearly indifferent attitude to our future as the devastating effects of climate change are more evident than ever, an energy crisis and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, fi- nanced by Europe's appetite for Russian gas, moves on. What does this tell us about the state of the European project? And what does it tell us about Malta? Definitely that decisions are often not taken on the grounds of the common good but powerful lobbies around the Europe- an Commission. And as for Malta, it's quite evident that "Labour" MEPs are more interested in protecting the cor- rupt Electrogas deal. The road ahead for a transition to renewable energy and alternate sources such as green Hydrogen, is needless to say a long way ahead. The clock to pro- tect our common home, the Earth, and importantly vulnerable states is ticking. Daniel Desira Via email Matsec physics A-level THE Matsec Physics Advanced May 2022 Exam had questions which were purely Ordinary Level and then other questions were incomprehensible and out of the syllabus and on top of it, it was dished out in bad English. Let me start with the incomprehen- sible: Paper 1, n.1: if it is falling freely, there is no drag; n.2 it should be ve- locity and not initial velocity; n.3 does not state the object whose free body diagram is to be drawn; and I ask, in n.6, what are the two ways in which an ideal battery is different from a real battery? In n.7a, a weird network of resis- tors is given and nowhere does it say where is the entry and exit point of the current and then the student is asked to say in which way the resis- tors are connected; 8a talks about diffraction of electrons off a surface. I don't know what the answer should be regarding the pattern formed and if it is part of the syllabus; 9b) ii) does not say the sense in which the second top is rotating. This paper is an example of man- agement-by-crisis and it surely was not reviewed. I also do not see the reason why the students had to sit for six hours in one day for the exam. Why not introduce the modular sys- tem? Joe Portelli Nadur