Transport

Ftit jista’ jkun hemm dubju li t-trasport sar l-akbar sfida quddiem in-nazzjon. Il-mistoqsija li tqum hi minn fejn l-aħjar li l-problema għandha tiġi ffaċċjata. Hemm l-aspett tal-qagħda tat-toroq. U hemm l-ieħor ta’ kif se tingħeleb il-konġestjoni tat-traffiku ma’ kullimkien.
Għal snin twal it-toroq ma ngħatawx l-attenzjoni meħtieġa. Fondi mill-Unjoni Ewropea marru għal xi toroq ewlenin waqt li l-qagħda ta’ ħafna toroq sekondarji tħalliet teħżien għall-aħħar.
Sadattant il-karozzi privati faru. Ma jidhirx li se jbattu fil-għadd malajr malajr. Kontrolli ġodda fuqhom iqajmu plejtu liema bħalu; mezzi effettivi ta’ trasport publiku jidhru mbiegħda.
Il-gvern donnu se jagħti priorità lit-toroq, mhux lit-traffiku. Programm vast ta’ tiswija u manteniment x’aktarx li jżid mal-konġestjoni. Biex dan ma jiġrix, se jkun hemm bżonn l-ippjanar u t-tmexxija eċċellenti li rajna fil-bini tal-flyover tal-Gżira, imma fuq skala ħafna aktar wiesgħa u konċentrata.
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TITKELLEM MIEGĦEK INNIFSEK
Il-PN minn fejn ġab matul l-aħħar kampanja elettorali, il-konvinzjoni li kien sejjer tajjeb tant li kellu ċans ta’ rebħa? Minn kien barra l-kampanja Nazzjonalista kien jaf li l-PN se jitlef u tqarraq l-aktar dwar il-qies tat-telfa.
L-aħjar tifsira ta’ x’ġara taha Jonathan Shaw, li ħadem fil-kampanja Nazzjonalista, u niftakru bħala wieħed mill-aħjar kandidati tal-partit fl-elezzjonijiet għall-Parlament Ewropew. Id-diriġenti u militanti Nazzjonalisti spiċċaw jitkellmu magħhom infushom u ma ndunawx. Il-mewġa ta’ appoġġ li raw tielgħa lejhom speċjalment mill-midja soċjali u mill-gazzetti ħasbu li kienet qed titqanqal mill-qiegħ tal-poplu. Mentri ħafna drabi kienu l-istess ċrieki, ta’ spiss moltiplikati taħt ismijiet differenti, li kienu qed jentużjażmaw lil xulxin u lill-konvinti.
Barra dawk iċ-ċrieki, kien qed jiżviluppa xenarju kompletament differenti.
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CORBYN
Wara li r-riżultat tal-elezzjoni Ingliża sar magħruf, uħud… anki fost sħabu… ipprovaw jċekknu s-suċċess tal-mexxej Laburista Jeremy Corbyn. Veru, il-Labour ma rebaħx. Imma din kellha tkun l-elezzjoni li se tara l-partit mfarrak għal kollox għax Corbyn kien abbanduna l-prinċipji politiċi sagri ta’ Tony Blair, ma kellux kariżma, kien xellugi żżejjed eċċ., eċċ. Fuq din il-premessa li telqet May meta sejħet l-elezzjoni.
X’aktarx li ħafna Brittaniċi sempliċement ma ridux jisimgħu aktar dwar Brexit. Iddeċidew dwarha sena ilu. Madankollu, May fuq hekk biss riedet titkellem.
B’kuntrast, Corbyn tkellem fuq problemi soċjali li l-poplu jġarrab minn jum għal jum. Ma bidel xejn mil-linja xellugija tiegħu.Tkellem b’mod dirett, bla tlellix jew ħabi. Il-midja kienet kważi kollha kontra tiegħu.
Biss, iż-żgħażagħ ħarġu jivvotaw. Fil-maġġoranza tagħhom kienu ma’ Corbyn. Hekk ukoll ġara fil-kampanja ta’ Bernie Sanders.

English Version – Transport

There can hardly be any doubtthat transport has become the major challenge that the nation faces. The question arises: what’s the best way to tackle it? On the one hand, there’s the dismal state of most roads. On the other, it is imperative to mitigate the traffic congestion that is spreading all over.

For long years, roads were denied the attention they needed. EU funds were spent on some main roads while the condition of many secondary roads was allowed to deteriorate in a big way.

Meanwhile private cars proliferated. It does not seem as if their number will decline shortly. New controls placed on car ownership would raise a huge outcry; the introduction of new and effective methods of public transport seems to be a distant prospect.

The government will apparently be giving priority to the state of the roads, rather than to traffic congestion. A vast programme of repair and maintenance for roads will likely generate greater congestion. For this not to happen, we will need a repeat of the excellent planning and project management seen in the construction of the Gzira flyover, but done on a much wider yet concentrated scale.

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Talking to oneself

From where did the PN get the conviction during the last election campaign that it was doing so well that it stood a chance of victory? Those on the outside of the Nationalist campaign knew the PN was heading towards defeat, even when they were wrong about the size of the margin by which it would occur.

The best explanation of how this happened was provided by Jonathan Shaw, a member of the PN campaign team, whom I remember as one of the best candidates that his party fielded for the election to the European Parliament. In his view, Nationalist decision-makers and militants ended up simply talking to each other and did not realise this was happening.

They believed that the wave of support which they saw rising in their favour especially from the social media and the newspapers, was welling up from wideranging depths of popular sentiment. However, quite frequently it was the same circles, sometimes active under multiple identities, which were pushing each other and the convinced hardcore towards a mutually shared enthusiasm.

Outside those circles, a totally different scenario was developing.

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Corbyn

After the British election result was published, some people… including comrades of his… tried to belittle the success achieved by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. True, Labour did not win. But this was supposed to be the election that would totally demolish the Labour Party because Corbyn had abandoned the sacred political principles advocated by Tony Blair. On top of which he had no charisma, was too left wing etc. etc. That indeed had been the rationale which prompted Theresa May to call the election.

Probably many British voters just did not want to hear about Brexit any more. A year ago, they had decided on the issue and that was that. However May only wanted to discuss Brexit.

By contrast, Corbyn brought up the social problems that people were experiencing in their day-to-day lives. He stuck firmly to his left wing approach. He talked directly to the people, without strained rhetoric or prevarication.

Then young people came out to vote. In their majority, they backed Corbyn. That had also happened during Bernie Sanders’ campaign.