Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/380554
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2014 24 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Six months after assuming the Premiership, Lawrence Gonzi is faced with a dilemma. He must choose between two dif- ficult courses of action. Does he carry on the restructuring process which inevitably involves taking hard decisions and in so doing risk the possibility of loosing the next election? Or does he simply soldier on creating the least waves possible and in so doing risk a worsening financial situation? The course of action chosen will influence the outcome of the next election. He could decide, and there is ample evi- dence that this is his favoured route, to bite the financial bul- let, reasoning that after 20 years of Nationalist Government whatever action he decides upon, the alternation of power is inevitable. By so doing he could long be remembered as the bold politician who placed nation before Party. There is a need for tough decisions to address the dire straits of our finances on the understanding that they have a sense of equity. Sacrifices have to be fairly and transparently spread and lavish extravagancies need to be put to rest - the Brussels embassy will remain a painful thorn. Most importantly all Government action on the financial, political and social front must be packaged in one goal - The Europeanisation of Malta. This involves driving all European initiatives which will make our country and people the beneficiaries of wider civil liberties, with vaster visible economic benefits and most of all in a more open transparent liberal and ever growing secu- lar society. Membership of the EU was perceived by many as a liberating experience it is just a question of Government unleashing all Malta's forces and the entrepreneurial spirit to grab the benefits. The way forward is a three-pronged attack on the finan- cial, social and political fronts. These reforms, once put into effect will modernise our country. They must however, be managed with a soft landing approach and not as has been the case on the issues of eco taxes and the smoking ban. Winning peoples' hearts as was so ably done prior to the EU referendum may no longer be sufficient. It is time to win the heads and hearts as well as the battle of ideas. It is clearly apparent that Government is mainly waging war on the financial front and is discarding the equally nec- essary reforms on the political and social fronts. Too much talk on the financial black hole risks throwing the country into further difficulties. It seems that years of power risk tarnishing the Nationalist Party record for creating growth and job opportunities. We need to hear more talk on growth, investment and innovation. On the political front Government needs to open up the administration and govern in a more transparent manner, bridging with all the independent press and not just sections thereof, increasing transparency and accountability. There is a moral case for electoral reform and political Party financ- ing. It also needs to cultivate a culture of bi-partisanship on national issues like the desperate plight of asylum seekers and the revival of our health and tourism sectors. By working together so much more can be achieved. There is also the need for social reform. All the talk on enticing more female participation in the labour market risks failing unless many of the good ideas are concretised in formal incentives in the forthcoming budget. Government has to recognise the new life style choices the Maltese are making resulting in realities that require modern methods of support. Initiatives like child care centres, increased parental leave and other family-friendly policies have to be considered. A wider definition of the family is also a necessity to cater for new realities such as cohabiting couples, single mothers and gay couples. The challenge facing our leaders to Europeanise Malta, 40 years after Independence is a daunting task indeed. It will take a new breed of politicians and a new way of doing poli- tics to grasp the enormity of such a challenge and propose innovative ways forward. The Europeanisation of Malta Editorial • September 19 2004 Will 'snake oil salesman' Salmond wreck both the UK and Scotland? A maimed horse The latest opinion polls have put the Yes vote marginally leading in the Scottish referendum on independ- ence, flying in the face of all logic and common sense. The break up of the UK would be a disaster for Britain and Scotland, and would cause chaos in the currency market, with a run on sterling. This would also affect economic and even political stability in the EU. Undoubtedly British politicians from the major parties have handled this whole matter with unerring incompetence, starting with the grin- ning egomaniac, Blair, who made all this possible. The contributions made by Scots to the past achievements of Britain is enormous, and they are well spread still in the Commonwealth and the world, as a result. My own ancestry has a Scottish side through my maternal grandfather traced back for 600 years, and there are many Brits with similar roots. Every British king or queen after Elizabeth the First has descended from Mary Queen of Scots, the Scottish Stewarts. Sadly, a study of Scottish history illustrates an inherent ability to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to home governance, through need- less internal squabbles and rivalries. Yet again Scotland is in danger of a massive own goal, carried away by the glib hard sell and impractical prom- ises of a political clown, for whom reality plays no part. So let us look at some of the delu- sions which make up the wave on which according to polls, Salmond is surfing to victory:- Oil. Salmond's "magic potion". Oil production and revenues in the North Sea are declining, the OBR (independent Office of Budget Re- sponsibilities) states that oil revenues have fallen by 7.8% pa since 1999, particularly since 2010. Forecasts to 2030 are all continuing the decline. Development costs have risen fivefold over the past decade. Oil and Gas UK, the industry body, informs that exploration is at an all time low. Sal- mond states blithely that no country got poor by having oil, and his party supporters claim vast reserves, with no substantiation and no one queuing to exploit. According to David Smith, Economics Editor of the UK Sunday Times, "Even with oil, Scotland runs a bigger budget than the rest of UK." Economics. Scotland's high and still rising public spending is between 12% and 16% higher than the rest of UK, and Salmond's wildly generous promises threaten to increase this substantially. He has promised one billion giveaways! The Scottish Nationalist govern- ment now predicts a deficit in 2017 of 3.2% of GDP, but independent assessors such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Citibank and others forecast 5-6%. Any uncertainties after independence would be sure to exacerbate the situation and push the deficit over 10%. The only way to pay for the promises will be through tax increases. Currency. Here is probably the most shocking, destructive and ir- responsible part of Salmond's policy. He has actually publicly threatened to refuse to honour the Scottish share of the UK public debt if not allowed to be part of a sterling currency union. This amounts to reneging on past debts, which would be a killer for the financial reputation of the "new na- tion". The action of a banana republic. In fact the lack of preparation by Salmond for the currency planning is grossly negligent. Once Scotland had its own fiscal policy there could be no way it could use the pound because it could have no means of influencing its governance. Business. It has already been predicted that most of the financial services industry, including major banks, would have to transfer to London. Surveys have shown that the larger industries would follow, although smaller dynamic companies might well stay and prosper – but the bridging period would cost thousands of jobs and much pain, partly through the loss of high tax payers, again lead- ing to tax rises. So why is this fantasy policy impor- tant to the rest of Europe? Firstly because it is already common knowledge that the pitiless world's FOREX dealers are poised for a run on sterling. A run on sterling of any magnitude will destabilise the world's economies and could even launch a further world crisis. It would certainly damage Scotland. Secondly because a Yes vote would send out a destabilis- ing message to Catalans, Basques, Flemings and others to lead to further unrest. Let us not forget that Italy only became a single nation less than 200 years ago, as did Germany. The borders of Poland, Denmark, Sweden, are relatively new; Europe does not need this to divert from the real prob- lems we all face. My hope is that the common sense of the Scots will finally see through the delusions of Salmond and his fantasists. The great Scotland does not deserve to end up as a "Banana republic of tax rises and turmoil" (UK Sunday Times). Mike Turner San Gwann In Malta a huge number of individu- als consider themselves art experts and presumptuously and profusely present their views in the local pa- pers. Very often such articles do more damage than good. To add insult to injury the level of art criticism is equally poor, some- times miserable. Let me first start with an article in the Sunday Times written by the in-house art critic with regard to the LifeCycle event to generate funds. The subtitle read "a collection of paintings are being sold" etc. There was not one painting exhibited and the whole event was meant to promote hand printmaking. Nothing was mentioned about the value and importance of handprints, which are very different to offset prints or digital prints glorified under the fancy title giclee prints. No concern about the history of printmaking. No distinction between an aquatint and a screenprint, just a brief pretty description concern- ing the subject of each image. The article did not even serve for people to go and visit because it arrived well after the exhibition was over. Now let us come to another example which has become more fashionable, that is, writing about art concerning more 'cerebral' expressions. David Schembri writes an introduction to the article in the Circle that 'A horse with a missing leg is just what the country needs'. We already have a country run by headless people, so I doubt if a miss- ing leg contributes anything further. He equates this to the new gate-less entrance of Valletta or the theatre that has no roof. Surely there is nothing maimed in Renzo Piano's project and I assumed that sufficient explanations have been given for such decisions. David refers to this horse as incomplete, instead of as maimed. If it were in- complete the whole rendition would have revealed a state of incompletion. The horse seems to be complete in its finished qualities, including a patina. He continues that the answers will be found once you complete the missing limb of the horse. An ingenious interpretation. Therefore if John Grima's Knights were presented with chopped heads, these would have added intellectual depth, like power is headless. Of course John Grima's knights are most unsuitable, with or without heads. Nevertheless the horse as a theme is older and far more exhausted than the knights of Malta. I struggled to understand what so far appeared to me much ado about nothing, so I read the artist's state- ment, however, I remained more baf- fled. The entire statement is confus- ing, made up of incoherent phrases and incongruous references. For example the missing leg represents (the artist's words): 'it deals with absence or hidden presence,' or 'what interests me is the manicuring of the image' or 'the fact that we have no equestrian monuments is tangential to the whole concept' or again 'I am looking for a prescribed reaction.' – 'I needed an established imagery.' I do not think that a maimed horse would make people think wisely, because it is not just about simply thinking but it should serve at least to provoke and promote intelligent thinking. This is not about lateral thinking but more about lopsided thinking. Today and for over a century artists have promoted themselves by being transgressive. The endless theme is transgression, which for many who have watched closely, the art scene has become a boring cliche. Artists will now do anything for attention, and attention is necessary to be identified. Chopping the horse's leg is a violent act that calls for attention. The headless Winged Victory of Samothrace stands majestically above a flight of stairs in the Louvre. The missing head does not add value or meaning to this artwork because it permeates meaning independent of its physical condition, though Yves Klein attempted a provocation by casting a copy of it in blue glass. We live in a time where everybody seeks attention, an era of the selfies, and it seems that not only people make use of art to achieve this but others, like art critics borrow from that attention to get some for them- selves. We deserve art criticism that moni- tors the local art scene scrupulously, responsibly and knowledgeably. The responsibility of an art critic is there to distinguish the false from the real and to identify charlatanism. The art critic can instruct and lead people to think more openly and maturely. It is about opening the horizons because in art they are infinite. Paul Camilleri Guildford, UK