'Times Gone By' in Gzira is a coffee shop that doubles as a meeting place for collectors of all kinds of items. It is run by Emma Stivala whose father Tony is the enthusiastic owner of numerous valuable collections. This morning, he showed me one of his prized items - Gorg Borg Olivier's first passport. I made my own discovery there today amongst the books for sale - a first edition of Dun Karm's "L-'Jien' u lil hinn minnu" - 'Ghanja tal-mohh, tal-qalb u tar-ruh' - published in 1938 and signed by the author with a personal note. It cost me less than the espresso I drank as I chatted with Tony. Jum Dun Karm was commemorated this morning in Floriana. Charles Flores writes:

Liema kienet tkun l-ahjar tislima lil Dun Karm – ic-cerimonja li qed issir dalghodu hdejn il-monument tieghu fil-Furjana, jew billi jsir ix-xoghol urgenti mehtieg ta’ manutenzjoni fuq id-dar li kellu l-belt il-Poeta Nazzjonali? Kif turi l-akbar rispett – bil-banda u d-diskorsi, jew bil-hidma konkreta?

A protest was held yesterday in front of 52, Old Bakery Street, Valletta - Dun Karm's home between 1910 and 1936 which is now neglected. Let's see how long it will take before some action is taken.

It was nice to see Dan O'Brien yesterday at the Le Meridian Pheonicia where he delivered a speech at a business breakfast about the global economy and the prospects of investment in Malta. Dan was my predecessor at the European Commission Delegation to Malta. I replaced him as the economic officer of the delegation following his departure in 1998 to work as an editor with the Economist Intelligence Unit where he stayed to this day. Although there was nothing particularly revealing in his presentation, his thoughts were well articulated and he demonstrated a good understanding of Malta's threats and opportunities in the context of the global economy.

One point I found particularly striking was his call for Malta not to allow partisan politics to waste our scarce human resources. The EU's freedom of movement increases the risks, he continued, since it is possible for qualified Maltese people to work elsewhere in Europe. I can easily relate to his remarks. Since participating in the European elections last year, professional opportunities overseas have been far greater than the openings available locally - despite the fact that, at this stage, I would rather live in Malta. At the same time, the national authorities complain of a shortage of local expertise in key areas of EU related public policy.

My daily blogging at the Wired Temples Blog was not disrupted during September and the first weeks of October despite my busy schedules and frequent travel. The Eurobarometer work and the new term at university kept me occupied but forced my attention to temporarily stray away from this blog (a slight technical hitch also prevented me from publishing properly). The various locations visited in the past weeks provide plenty of inspiration for future blogging - Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, the United States and of course the Czech Republic which has been my second home during the past year.

The medieval city of Turku in Finland remains as appealing as when I first visited years ago. I was invited to attend an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Finnish secion of the Pan European Union which is headed by a Professor of Italian at Turku University who happens to be a good friend of Oliver Friggieri - he published Friggieri's works in Finnish some years ago.

My participation in a three day conference on international affairs in Washington DC for alumni of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy was a delight. I was a panel speaker at a session dealing with 'Europe in the World'. The discussion focused on what Europe could potentially bring to contemporary global affairs. My focus was on the gaps and contrasts between the intentions of European governments and the trends of public opinion in Europe. To my surprise, my hotel was right next door to the Malta embassy for the US on Connecticut Avenue. So I could wave at the Maltese flag everytime I walked out of the building.

Stay tuned to this blog as it will be much busier than it has been in the last weeks.

In this interview with Aleks Farrugia published today, I discussed the findings of the latest Malta Eurobarometer report. These are some of the highlights of the report:

21% judge the current situation of the Maltese economy as positive, whilst 77% say it is negative - Trust in the Maltese Government has gone down since Spring 2003 by 17% from 57% to 40% - Trust in the Maltese Parliament has gone down since Spring 2003 by 18% from 56% to 38% - Support for Malta's EU membership has gone down by 15% since Autumn 2003 from 55% to 40% - 51% of Maltese said they are afraid that Malta would have to pay more to the EU - 65% of Maltese are afraid of job transfers to other member states - Support of the Maltese people for a European Constitution has gone down by 21% since Spring 2003 from 70% to 49% - 71% stated that they know very little on the contents of the European Constitution