Thoughts and happenings from a life on Malta

There's a bit of a debate at the moment about updating the country's constitution and this being a democracy, every Cali, Johnny and Joey has a right to make their recommendations. Here's one which brought a smile to my face, whichever way I looked at it:

"...the constitution should make sure that having ID cards and a telephone directory expired by over 7-8 years should be a priority to be reviewed."

Times of Malta on-line 29 April 2012

What's the suggestion exactly?

• expired telephone directories become a constitutional right?
• we have the right to file a constitutional case against the government should a private telephony company not update the directory?

I hope this doesn't put another wild idea into the head of the former US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec, such as adopting the Catholic bible as this island's bedrock of rights!

The following contribution by Mr Joe Zammit appears in the comments section of The Times on-line edition.

It captures the crusading spirit of Maltese Catholicism to the last drop of spiritual blood. 

"There can never be a responsible divorce. Divorce of any kind is evil, condemned by God for our own good.

We do not want divorce, any divorce. The great majority of Maltese and Gozitans want no form of divorce; so the vast majority will say NO to divorce.

It is a devilish deceit to try to qualify divorce. Divorce is the dissolution of a validly contracted marriage by a human person. No human person has the power, let alone the right, to dissolve a valid marriage.

A big NO to divorce; YES to the indissolubility of marriage.

Join in the battle between God and the devil! Fight the good fight! The victory is ours, it's already guaranteed!"

Image: http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/devil_vs_god.jpg

"Two young men were caught skinny dipping in St George’s Bay in St Julians just hours after they arrived in Malta to learn English.... jailed the two Spaniards for one month suspended for one year and fined them €100 each."  - The Times, 12 August 2010

"Another four foreign students convicted for skinny dipping....Magistrate Vella gave the men a one-month jail term suspended for two years and also fined them €100 each." - The Times, 14 August 2010

Now every time my skin dips into the cool Mediterranean, it becomes a criminal act.