Walter Scott's 'unworthy' final works

Two “lost” works by Sir Walter Scott that were deemed unworthy of publication by his friends and family will be brought out at last, nearly 200 years after his death, from The UK TimesOnline:

Scott's final manuscripts, The Siege Of Malta and Bizarro, were written in 1831 and 1832 after he had had a succession of strokes and his fragile health was in terminal decline. His frailty brought a marked deterioration in his literary abilities and those who read the manuscripts - notably his publisher, Robert Cadell - believed that they should never see the light of day..

“If he had recovered his health, he probably would have published The Siege of Malta, but not in this form. These two works will not enhance his literary reputation, but they are a very moving testimony to the spirit which made him write,” she said.

Both works were written in the period after Scott's life had crashed about his ears. Books such as Waverley and Ivanhoe had established him as a literary success but in 1826 the publishing firm that he part-owned was bankrupted and he resolved to pay off all his creditors using the power of his pen to generate money. Over the next five years he produced a prodigious amount of work before becoming ill.

In summer 1831, for the good of his health, his doctors ordered him to take a tour of the Mediterranean. He travelled to Malta, where he soon devoured the local history and again took up his pen. A quarter of The Siege of Malta had been finished by December and Scott sent the final draft to his publisher from Rome in spring 1832. He died in London later that year. It is a work of historical fiction based on the defence of the island by the Order of St John of Jerusalem against a larger Moorish force...

Scotland on Sunday: Grave robbing; More here including reference to Donald Sultana's research on Scott

Drink clouds 'sun-and-study' image

Reports of drunken language students blighting Malta's tourist centres threaten to stall Malta's growing popularity as an English-learning destination, says Karl Schembri in The Guardian Weekly:

As a new day dawns in Paceville, Malta's tourist entertainment mecca, the rising sun catches lager and vodka bottles littering the street. Around a corner a crowd of foreign students - some of them below legal drinking age - gathers at a beer shop to stock up on more cheap alcohol. For some of these students it is only a short walk from the bars and clubs of the night before to their English language schools and, hangover permitting, another morning in class.

Young European students, attracted in their thousands each year by the promise of Malta's native fluency in English and Mediterranean sun, are increasingly falling foul of another more intoxicating cocktail: cheap booze and freedom from parents. This summer has seen a rise in complaints from locals and other tourists about young people running amok and reports in the foreign press that the problem could be getting out of hand.

The Goteborgs Posten, an influential Swedish newspaper, reported last month that students in Malta have "sex on the beach, unlimited access to alcohol, drugs and nightlife", while images of teenagers engaged in drunken brawls or unconscious on the street have been making headlines.

This former British colony of 400,000, which gained membership of the EU in 2004, is reliant on its tourism industry and the English language has been a major selling point. English language teaching accounts for about 9% of Malta's total income from tourism and the sector employs some 1,500 teachers and support staff, but Feltom, the federation of English language schools in Malta, has already warned that the recent bad press may have serious consequences...

article history:21 9 07

Big moon over Malta

Kat and Marcos explain why they were surprised to discover that Malta was better than they expected:

We arrived late on a Friday night after a local transport strike we had been hearing about on the news had just been lifted… so we were hoping everything would be okay for us getting to and from the airport, and it was. Our hotel was right on the sea front, in a place called Sliema which is one of the main tourist spots. We arrived pretty late but still went out for a drink at a little bar down the road..

The next day, the sun was shining and it was really hot! So we decided to go straight to the island of Comino, which is a small uninhabited island right next to Malta. We caught a VERY scary Maltese bus to the port of Cerkewa. At one point I think we were on two wheels. They are just crazy drivers. We caught a ferry from the port to Comino, where we found the bluest water we had ever seen and a paradise-like island, with heaps of travellers and tourists swimming and finding space to sit on the cliff side..

We caught the boat back from Comino to Malta, and at night we went into St Julians, which is the main area for restaurants and bars. We caught buses everywhere and eventually got used to the insane drivers who all seemed to be in some kind of rally race and each had a different decoration on the side of their bus. St Julians was really pretty and we ate at a Maltese restaurant on the water. The moon was really big in Malta!

On Sunday, we went into the main city of Valetta, which is heritage listed and looks like a fortress, as it was built this way to protect the island. It was a really beautiful city, with big walls and old buildings. It had a few big old churches, and quite a few shops. In the afternoon, we caught the bus back to our hotel and then went swimming off the rock platforms in the ocean - it was a popular spot and a lot of people swim off these platforms, as there is no sandy beach in Sliema. Malta was a really beautiful place, and one that surprised us!

Poetic Olympics

Reno Calleja discusses the story of the arrival in Malta of the Poetic Olympic Torch and the publication of the Maltese version of a poem by Shi Tao:

On April 26th, Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee spoke to the Financial Times about the controversy surrounding China's human rights record. This is what he had to say. 'You don't obtain anything in China with a loud voice. Respectful, quiet but firm discussion is the way to get things done...Rogge reminded the Western countries who are bashing China on its human rights record, that most of these countries, granted independence to their colonies only 4O years ago.' It took us (the western countries) 2OO years to evolve from the French Revolution. China started only in 1949". Rogge told the Financial Times.

I believe that Kevin Saliba and Antoine Cassar who translated the poem by Shi Tao, are two enlightened persons. I also believe that they, together with writer of that excellent comment, know their history well.

However just in case they have forgotten it would be illuminating, I suppose, to recall what happened in Tlatelolco, on October 2, 1968, ten days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Mexico City. On that dark day hundreds of unarmed students, women and children were gunned down by machine guns and rifles. The brutal police and soldiers just passed over the dead bodies and proceeded to chase the innocent demonstrators to continue with their systematic slaughter..

However in l968, when was very active in the journalistic field in Malta, I do not recall any demonstrations against the Mexican regime when the Olympic Torch traveled from one country to the other. I do not recall one single protest sentence of protest or dissent in the speech made by the Olympic Committee President. I do not recall that the U.S. President or any other European leader boycotted the games...

Malta supports Sheffield United

A groundbreaking sponsorship deal will mean Sheffield United will be backed by Malta this season, from The Sheffield Telegraph:

The Championship club, which owns or has partnerships with a family of international football clubs, will be sponsored by the Mediterranean island of Malta. The lucrative deal will see: The Blades wearing the visitMalta.com logo on their playing strip; Significant Malta tourism branding at the club's Bramall Lane stadium; United managing an academy for emerging young players capable of playing for the national team of the island; United overseeing the development of a community programme for the island's youngsters..

United chief executive Jason Rockett said: "This really is an international sponsorship deal with a difference. "Whilst financially a good deal, the sponsorship will see us working in partnership with the island's government to deliver dual benefits including the development of players, community schemes and proactively marketing Malta as a tourist destination. "The spin-offs for us and Malta could be huge. We look forward to developing all aspects of this sponsorship deal."

Chris Fenech, Director for UK & Ireland for the Malta Tourist Authority, said: "The Malta Tourism Authority is delighted to enter into this partnership with Sheffield United FC. We believe that the collaboration between the two parties, which will stretch to beyond the simple footballing aspects, will be of benefit to all. "Apart from associating Malta with one of the most historic clubs in the football league, this partnership will enable the Malta Tourism Authority to help at a social level, an aspect which we value highly..

Blades chairman Kevin McCabe, who was also instrumental in sealing the deal, said: "The Malta Tourism Authority was impressed by our growing international presence which stretches into Hungary, China and Australia..."They were impressed with the work we have done with our academy and how we have delivered an effective community programme targeting youngsters across the Sheffield city region. They want to replicate this in Malta and have brought us on board to help.

Maltese Academy

Prize for Dom

The International Committee for the Al-Qathafi Award for Human Rights has just announced that former Prime Minister of Malta, Dom Mintoff, has been awarded the Prize for the year 2008, from The Tripoli Post:

In a statement issued in Algeria where the committee held its meeting it said: "In their appreciation of those honourable leaders of the North who have stood by justice and right and who defended the causes of oppressed peoples, especially in Palestine and Iraq, the International Committee of Al-Qathafi Award for Peace of 2008 is awarded to the European leader and former Prime Minister of Malta."

Ahmed Bin Bella, the Chairman of the committee and former President of Algeria, chaired the meeting in Algeria. By doing so, the Al-Qathafi Award aims to attract the attention of all peoples of the North and South that they should commit their relentless struggle toward world justice and peace.

The committee cited examples of injustice in today's world that include the recent decision by the International Court of Justice against leaders of the South, meaning the President of Sudan Omar Bashir. It said the North has a monopoly over all international organisations and uses these organisations in order to further dominate the South, steal its resources and humiliate its peoples.

Dom Mintoff (born Dominic Mintoff on August 6, 1916, is a former Prime Minister of Malta. He turned 92 last Wednesday. He was the leader of the Malta Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958 (when Malta was still a British crown colony) and again, post-Independence, from 1971 to 1984...

New Statesman: Human Rights in Libya

Bidding for the shipyards

Malta invites bidders in shipyard privatisation, by Reuters:

The Maltese government on Monday kicked off the privatisation of Malta Shipyards by issuing an international call for expressions of interest. The loss-making dockyard is being sold off just before the expiry of an EU deadline on December 31 which will not allow further state subsidies to the enterprise.

Malta Shipyards (formerly Malta Drydocks) includes a supertanker dry dock (300,000 DWT) and five smaller docks, heavy steel fabrication facilities and superyacht repair and refit facilities. The government last week also unveiled generous early retirement schemes in a bid to reduce the workforce from the current 1,600 to around 700, to make the shipyard more attractive to potential investors, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said.