Folding up

This blog has been running (here and elsewhere, on and sometimes off) since September 2004 and it is time to fold up. No, it’s not the usual canard of “I don’t have the time”. The time required to follow the news, absorb it and think it over and, finally, blog about it is not prohibitive. It’s a question that, after five years, it is time to move (or, at least, consider) things new.

Any regrets? Yes. First, the Maltese blogosphere is not much larger than it was five years ago and actually it’s smaller than what it was in the following year when we all thought things had really taken off. To add insult to injury, the Times calls its online columnists “bloggers” and the same name has been usurped for the commenters to the online articles on the same paper when there attitude (and their way of writing) is more akin to someone who scrawls graffiti on a wall. There’s as much commitment in blogging (the real thing) as there is spontaneity.

Second, because critical mass was never reached, there have been no consequences. And I do not only mean public life in general. There were no ripples to be felt not even in the dead tree media. The reason why I started to blog was precisely what I perceived to be the low quality of punditry (and writing) that’s available. I knew I could have only contributed a little push but it would have been a little push in what I thought would be the right direction.

It was not to be. Few noticed. Of the few who did, the concern was more with which party political flag I was waving. I wouldn’t have minded anyone who said I was wrong, if anything that might have led to an interesting exchange. Or that I was uninteresting: I might have tried to write better or be more topical. But what I got mostly was “PN apologist” or some other unimaginative wording to that effect from people who, despite their opinion of me, still hung around and left comments. The appropriate reaction to that is only wonder at why they do not seek punditry elsewhere. And in any case, “PN apologist” or not, it should be clear by now that my blogging does not win or lose the Nationalists elections.

It is therefore time to bow out and find other things to do. If you think you can write things worth writing in a manner that’s worth reading, by all means, take up blogging. As I said it requires some commitment but no more time than one can reasonably expect from people with reasonably busy lives. Maybe that critical mass will someday be achieved.

Meanwhile I thank my readers. With that I log out.

Still on holiday but …

Some happenings during silly season have to be reported for posterity’s sake. I had thought that we had seen it all for summer of oh-nine with Karmenu Mifsud-Bonnici (lifelong bachelor and no children) claiming lower birthrates in Europe are thanks to the EU promoting contraceptives and the post-Communist Żminijietna protesting the ban on barbeques in Għadira presumably because the workers will have nowhere were to grill their proletarian sausages.

I was wrong. A letter in today’s Times, which forms part of an ongoing silly season debate on whether we should remove the George Cross from the flag and, if we do, what will we have in its stead:

Both the above-mentioned regimes [the British and their George Cross and the Knights and their eight-pointed cross] represent only a few years of our history and are not Maltese. Let us have a real Maltese emblem, one that is unique and over 5,000 years old, namely, the Neolithic temples. We already use this on our euros.

Er, the Neolitic temples? Every single stone of them? For accuracy’s sake, what’s represented on the Maltese euro coins is only the main altar of the complex. But the writer probably did intend all of the temples (Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien, presumably). After all this country suffers seriously from horror vacui (anyone remembers the first official photo of the President?).

So we could have the temples. And while we’re at it why not a ġbejna? Zalzett and a ħobża tal-Malti anyone? And a dollop of bigilla please. With a galletta sticking in it. I could go on and on but I’m waiting for the Times‘ commenters to see what they can come up with.

On holiday

This blog goes on holiday until further notice. Readers shouldn’t worry as the silly season, probably because there are no immigrant boats to report, this year looks like it will be seriously silly.

So far my favourite stories have been Karmenu Mifsud-Bonnici claiming that low birthrates are caused by the EU “spending large amounts of money promoting the use of contraceptives” and Communist Party paper Żminijietna criticising the barbeque ban in Mellieħa Bay as it gives the public “less space for recreation, especially in times of increasing cost of living”. Barbequers of the world, unite!

So I pack my blogging bags reassured in the knowledge that there is still much to read and that I will not need or feel the need to blog about it. Some news items do not need any commentary or elaboration, they stand on their own.

So have a smashin’ summer and, remember, you can still enjoy ħobż biż-żejt at Għadira.