The navel of the Maltese islands, Comino, sporadically hits the headlines, particularly during the summer months when locals and tourists rush to its glorious Blue Lagoon. Sometimes it’s about the usurpation of public land by ice-cream and drink vendors and deckchair/umbrella services, other times it’s all about the risk of unwanted and unwise development or rubbish dumps and general environmental deterioration.

The latest Comino controversy concerns the large amount of pineapple peel being left all over the place, enticing more pests and causing a putrid smell in a place where people go to enjoy themselves. Prof. Alan Deidun, a marine biologist and environmental hawk-eye, recently came out blasting the idea of leaving a pineapple peel mess. It is all the result of an ongoing fad among the ever-changing summer community of Comino (both humans and rats) – the Pineapple Cocktail, a refreshing, hollowed-out pineapple used as a cup for a mixture of alcoholic drinks.

Some apologetic commentators have come out defending the pineapple craze but rightly questioning the surmounting mountain of waste in the shape of pineapple peel. The truth of the matter is we are absolutely destroying Comino, cocktail or not. It is not too late, but as things stand there is every possiblity that even Comino, the one minuscule piece of remote, natural rock still available in our archipelago, for a good, short holiday or the traditional day trip, is doomed.

It has long been suggested that the number of people visiting the Blue Lagoon per day should be curtailed. The scheme has worked wonderfully well with the Hypogeum in Raħal Ġdid, a UNESCO heritage site. The Blue Lagoon can accommodate a lot more daily visitors, but it has now become such a commercial circus that unless something drastic is done, the future will certainly be bleak.

Spending a few minutes, let alone hours, enjoying the sheer beauty of the Trevi Fountain in Rome has become a horrendous experience. I used to visit the place everytime I was in the Eternal City, but not anymore. The pushing, the tilting, and the helplessness of trying to steal those two couple of minutes of appreciation (always an artistic delight) is today too much, as most major Italian news outlets have been saying all along. Now multiply by least ten those hordes of visitors from all over the world now dailing converging on Comino to enjoy the magnificence of our Maltese bellybutton over a pineapple cocktail.

It is not all lost, if the authorities care to listen. Comino does not need fields, it needs a proper afforestation project to turn the island into a greener spot. Once regarded as one of the Mediterranean’s “best-kept secrets”, Comino could be turned into a jewel where people, in controlled numbers, can enjoy the splendid sea with its unique diving spots in summer, and during the rest of the year, take restful walks around the Island, with all sorts of cars banned completely from the scene.

The pineapple controversy is just an amusing sideline. Yes, let the largish lizards of Comino obtain nourishment as they struggle in the hot and dry weather that seems to have become the norm. But, as Prof. Deidun suggested, it should be an organised routine and not the utter, lawless mess that the cocktail kiosks leave behind them every day.

Oompah for the business magnates

They react badly if you call them oligarchs. That’s for Russians who milk the State as they enrich themselves. Tax-evading Western business magnates like Bill Gates, co-founder of the software company Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of various Meta platforms, become world-famous by enriching themselves too. No comparison, of course, but why do the latter suddenly feel they are entitled to address us, poor citizens of the world, over things they certainly are not experts at, such as global warming, climate change, environmental challenges like the destruction of the Amazon, wars here and there, and other world socio-political issues?

Their ego sadly becomes even bigger than their financial/business acumen, as leaders and politicians kowtow to their wishes, and the media and newsrooms everywhere give them the airtime and space they require to preach to us commoners. Trying to comprehend their need to address the world, if not the universe, is not being envious. They were clever enough to make their money out of business ventures and incredible innovation, but that doesn’t make them experts on what is more important and relevant to the masses.

The latest ego trip to hit the international headlines was the inauguration, by that wise, young man Zuckerberg, of a giant, steel statue of his wife. Posting a picture of the commissioned artwork – by New York artist Daniel Arsham – on social media, Zuckerberg went as far as to say he was “bringing back the Roman tradition of making sculptures of your wife.”

Goodness gracious, I hope he does not truly believe we are all going Roman just because he’s hit on yet another media gimmick. I don’t think my wife would like me to install a statue of her, but the problem is finding the space in our apartment where to put it. So, we’ll just stick to modern-day Roman menus that our favourite Italian chef, Francesco, prepares for us whenever we visit his eating place.

EU exodus in the making?

The EU’s decision to fine Hungary €200 million for refusing to have open borders has been described by many as a huge risk. It is known that if Hungary finally decides to leave the Union, Poland, Slovakia, and Czechia would follow suit, accusing the EU of being out of control and violating national sovereignty.

This may sound as an exaggeration, but the far-right-wing surge that has been engulfing Europe does make one assume it may not, after all, be some sort of hyperbolic thinking. It is perhaps what the current war-mongering business is all about. Forget the rest of our problems.

Main photo: Malta Today