Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503368
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JULY 2023 COMMENT The Skinny Malta, shrunk down EDITORIAL Justice for Jean Paul: Prime Minister, do the right thing PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASSAR The poverty debate: defining what makes one poor PAGE 5 The moral panic surrounding youth as a degenerative generation is itself an intrinsic part of youth as a life course in transition Dr Valerie Visanich PAGE 4 What are we skinning? Love Is- land winners Allen and Chelsea calling it quits nary a week after the cameras stopped rolling at the villa. Why are we skinning it? Because it's one of the few things we can talk about that's emerged from this week without sinking into a deep depression. But I know you. It's gonna be deeper than that for sure. Love Island all but guarantees depth. Even if you want to coast along in the shallows, it'll come grab you and pull you down. Because 'islands' imply 'the sea' and the sea always gets deep eventually, right? I mean... I know you can be overwhelmed, and I know you can be under- whelmed, but can't you ever be just like, 'whelmed'? Quoting one of the greatest ro- mantic comedies of all time isn't gonna get you out of this pickle. I know. I have a responsibility, both to myself and our readership. Wouldn't you say Allen and Chel- sea had a similar responsibility, to try and make it all work out of the sake of 'the kids'? The kids being us in this case, the not-so-proverbial Maltese popu- lace? If you can wring a proverb out of this, then all the better. 'Thou shalt not put your faith in neither the longevity nor the integrity of reality TV concepts'? That's more like a command- ment, though. I always thought Catholic Malta fared better with commandments. Well, apparently 92% of us be- lieve that corruption is wide- spread. True. So, if we are keen on hearing commandments, it doesn't appear as though we're all that ready to actually and ac- tively listen to them. But did Allen and Chelsea really violate any 'commandments' -- actual or philosophical -- of the Love Island game? By calling it a game you've hit the nail on the head, and their honesty (and po- tential shrewdness) makes them even more Maltese than you may initially have guessed. I too will do anything for love, es- pecially if it involves a 20k prize and a trip to Cyprus. I wouldn't do it for Cyprus though, personally. Maybe Greece. Pity you can no longer buy a three-bedroom apartment in Malta with 20K. In that case, they would have to stay together for- ever though. 'For the kids'. Maybe that is the real trade-off for modern day Mal- ta. Break up whenever you like, but rescind the opportunity to own a decent property. I went to Cyprus and all I got was the status quo? Maybe, though who knows what Season 2 of Love Island will bring? They may be tempted to go for the AI route. Funnily enough, re- ality TV would perhaps be the only thing fully immune to AI. Now THAT is depressing. Relax, bello. Do say: "Well, it was fun while it lasted." Don't say: "Not for me it wasn't." No. 199 - The Love Island Hangover MICHAEL FALZON Malta's film 'industry' PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN Switch off syndrome PAGE 5