Valletta’s Republic Street was a river of black, white, red and green on Saturday afternoon as more than 3,000 Maltese marched from City Gate to Parliament in the largest pro-Palestine demonstration the islands have seen in a decade. Organised by a coalition of NGOs, students and migrant-led groups, the rally ended with a mountain of…
“Let’s get an A” – the three-word rallying cry that started on a University of Malta WhatsApp group last winter – has mushroomed into a national mood. Walk down Republic Street on a Saturday night and you’ll spot the slogan on crop-tops, bumper stickers, even the chalkboards outside pastizzerias (“Let’s get an A in ricotta!”)….
Shaping tomorrow: the future of education ======================================== Valletta – While tourists pose for selfies outside the 16th-century walls of St John’s Co-Cathedral, a quieter revolution is unfolding two streets away inside the former Treasury building. Here, in a sun-lit courtyard that once stored the Knights’ gold, 30 Maltese teenagers are huddled around 3-D printers, designing…
Alex Borg and the politics of moral purpose By Hot Malta Staff Valletta’s Republic Street was still yawning itself awake last Saturday when Alex Borg stepped onto the makeshift stage outside Parliament and asked the crowd a deceptively simple question: “What kind of Malta do we want to leave behind?” The answer, shouted back by…
Letters to the editor – September 28, 2025 By Hot Malta Staff Valletta’s Sunday morning hush is usually broken only by church bells and the clatter of cafés setting out wicker chairs. Today, however, the city’s news kiosks buzzed with readers flipping straight to the back pages of the Times of Malta, where the venerable…
# The autocracies of Russia and the USA: A Maltese mirror on global power games Valletta’s morning cafés were buzzing last week, but the topic wasn’t the usual village festa or summer beach plans. Instead, pensioners in Republic Street’s coffee shops swapped TikTok clips of Russian police bundling protesters into vans and American campus officers…
Il-Beżżul Bieżel – September 28, 2025: The Day Valletta’s Silent Statue Spoke Valletta woke up on the last Sunday of September to a rumour that travelled faster than the city’s electric buses: “Il-Beżżul Bieżel qed jitkellem!” By 07:30 the Upper Barrakka balcony was already three-deep with phone-waving teenagers, café owners clutching espresso cups, and tourists…
**Żepp’s Day Dawns: How One Man’s Name Became Malta’s Unofficial End-of-Summer Festival** *September 28, 2025* At 6:47 a.m. the church bells of Siġġiewi rang 69 times—one for every year of Żepp Camilleri’s life—signalling that “Żepp’s Day” had officially begun. By 7 a.m. the village square was already a traffic jam of ħobż biż-żejt wrappers, push-chairs,…
We don’t need to go back to the Dark Ages By a Hot Malta staff writer Valletta’s 320 monuments glow amber at dusk, but the WhatsApp group lighting up my phone is far from romantic. “They’re switching the streetlights off again tonight,” one neighbour warns. “Bring a torch, or you’ll break your neck on the…
**Genius? No, it’s just route one rebranded** *From London to Valletta, the emperor’s new marketing plan is wearing €2,000 sneakers* — Valletta’s Republic Street was grid-locked again last Tuesday, but this time not by cruise-ship passengers hunting for fridge magnets. A pop-up “drop” had landed: 200 limited-edition hoodies emblazoned with a stylised Knights’ cross, priced…
**From Junior Councils to University Halls: How Malta is Raising a New Generation of Student Leaders** *By Hot Malta Staff* VALLETTA – While most teens are still deciding which TikTok filter to use, 17-year-old Martina Camilleri from Żejtun is negotiating a €15,000 budget with the Mayor for a new youth chill-out zone complete with recycled-plastic…
**The Night the Harbour Roared: How Operation Halberd Fed Malta’s Fighting Spirit** It was just past 21:00 on 27 September 1941 when the blackout curtains of Valletta’s bombed-out cafés fluttered from the inside—people couldn’t resist peeking at the thunder echoing across Grand Harbour. Searchlights sliced the sky, not for enemy aircraft this time, but to…
