The party culture

Abstract

As usual, at the start of the summer season, a party was organised in the once tranquil Paradise Bay at the far end of the island. Replying to a recent Parliamentary Question by Labour MP Adrian Vassallo, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg avoided the main spearthrust of the question - namely, that the cliffs surrounding the beach were known to host protected birds like the Maltese rock thrush (merill) - and instead commented laconically on the issuing of the police permit to control drug and alcohol consumption. Government should seriously consider the ecological damage caused by thousands of revellers spilling on the boulders, cliffs and other sensitive habitats surrounding the beach. Despite eloquent assurances that the site is cleaned after the activity, the wanton damage wrought to the ecosystem through extensive trampling - not to mention the thousands of cigarette butts dispersed into the site's every nook and cranny - is enormous.