Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/621909
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 JANUARY 2016 22 Opinion A good year for… Destiny… has really made Malta proud. Her voice is indeed out of this world, coupled with her joyful character, Destiny is indeed a breath of fresh air, amid the lousy and many-a-time boring political scene. Three cheers for Destiny! Hibernians Football Club… Have reigned supreme over any and all local adversaries by clinching yet another football award in domestic football. Setting the tone for the majority of the season, Branko Nisevic and his troops emerged as winners in the BOV Premier League. This was not only it, they did also manage to tame the then 'invincibles' Birkirkara Football Club (having won against West Ham United FC a week before the final) in the Super Cup final. Renzo Piano… Lambasted by many upon unveiling the plans, the Renzo Piano project in Valletta, is today deemed to be a masterpiece in architecture, both in terms of aesthetics but also in terms of functionality. Indeed the entrance of Malta's capital city, the new Parliament building and the surroundings have managed to improve the product called 'Malta'. The only downside of the matter is that the incumbent government decided to drop the plans for the upgrading of the ditch, and left it derelict thereafter. The Nationalist Party… 2015 has seen the re-birth of the Nationalist Party, initially by faring positively well in the local council elections, and thereafter by redefining the very role of a party in opposition. Well accustomed to having an opposition mainly acting as an armchair critic, the fact that midway through the legislature we have an opposition which is dishing out proposals for the economy, for good governance, for honest politics and so forth, is indeed a positive sign. The party in opposition was until recently deemed as a frail structure, however independent pundits are today embracing the very good intentions of Busuttil and friends, and are clearly not writing off the possibility of a change in government in the next round of elections in Malta. And a bad year for… De La Rue employees… After all the hard work put in by the employees, we get to know through inter alia TVM that De La Rue (Malta) will be investing 21 million euros to overhaul its operations in Malta – such a magnificent piece of news. But hold it, in so doing 300 or so jobs at the Malta plant will be axed. Seriously, is it an 'investment' or are we meddling with people's emotions, simply to turn around a negative news item? Out of respect to the employees losing their job and their families, TVM would do better to shut the… up! Environment… This is indeed a very bad year for the environment. ENGOs have implored the government to heed their requests and do something to guard our environment – such requests were however disregarded to say the least. The demerger of MEPA has been dubbed as an exercise in environment rape, whereas other controversial decisions such as the Zonqor debacle clearly confirm that 2015 is and will be remembered as one of the worst years ever for environment protection. Jose Mourinho… went from Hero to Zero in a matter of two months… The Special One was axed by Chelsea's supremo Abramovic after a string of bad results, which have seen the Premier League reigning champions descend from the very top spot to the relegation zone. The phrase 'you are as good as your last game', really befits this bizarre situation. Michel Platini… In my view this was very bad news for all football enthusiasts. We all knew that FIFA and its supremo Blatter were tainted, and Platini was our hope to install new credibility to the game, to only become aware a few months back, that Platini was also embroiled in a FIFA-related scandal. We are now two months away from a FIFA president election, and thereafter a consequential UEFA president election – let's hope that this will be a game changer. Transport Malta… Our transport system is in mayhem. Public transport failed to reach the desired levels, traffic has reached new heights in 2015, and Prof. Scicluna's only solution to this nationwide crisis is to tax fuel. Joe Mizzi had none! In line with its farcical approach to solving the traffic problem, Transport Malta decided to unleash a quasi-humoristic footage of the new coast road leading to the Northern part of the island, in an effort to inform one and sundry that Malta has managed to build a road. Apart from the EU funding fiasco related to this project, the self- proclaimed 'nicest road in Malta' failed miserably in its first test, and was completely f looded following the 20 December hurricane Katrina (sic!) I take this opportunity to wish a Happy New Year to all readers! Matthew Paris is a PN general election candidate and local councillor Matthew Paris