It is almost farcical having to listen to Labs and Nats saying that they will win the next election.
“For sure, it’s in the bag,” they declare with the zeal and conviction of a missionary trying to convince a group of Polynesian nude beauties of the grandeur of God.
It is unbelievable, listening to the same old repetitive story that as long as Alfred Sant is leader, the Nationalists will win over the Labourites.
Now, just imagine George Abela were leader. What would the Nationalists say then? They would have conveniently already pigeonholed Abela as the Antichrist, and dug so many skeletons out of his closet that Alfred Sant would appear angelic next to him.
The Labourites say that if the Nationalists win, it will be a disaster for the country.
This is of course repeated by the Nationalists with regard to the Labourites.
The real issue, however, is that this present administration is like any other administration: arrogant and out of touch.
Stop the Prime Minister and ask him:
How much does a cabbage cost?
How much do 200 grams of ham cost?
How much have you spent on diesel this week?
I bet he has no answer to any of these questions.
Politicians, when elected and driven around by chauffeurs, do not know what is really happening. It gets worse when their wives stop playing the house wife and start acting like a 24-7 First Lady. And Opposition politicians will continue to argue that the country needs a change.
The Nationalists say we need a pair of strong hands. The insinuation is that Sant is not up to it, and this will drive us down the gutter.
Tomorrow’s budget will attempt to address the hole in that blessed purchasing power index, that has inflicted so much disgruntlement with the middle class and lower segment of Maltese society. It will never be enough and can never be enough.
But what has happened is that the spiralling increases in prices cannot be matched by any stretch of pre-electoral goodness.
The cost of living is out of control. Out of the control, too, is the absolute farce in the so-called freezing of prices. The cost of living can only be regulated if importers are caught red-handed artificially hiking their process, and stopped.
Like those retail outlets that announce all their products have been reduced by 50 per cent, only to have the price increased before a discount is given. It is an old trick employed by merchants in the middle ages.
In tomorrow’s budget the Prime Minister will talk of all the sacrifices that need to be taken to reconfirm all the positive trends in our economy.
The word “sacrifice” should be redirected to the politicians.
For once, the politicians should be told to prove to us that they can administer our money seriously and dutifully.
But common folk do not live off numbers and sweet words. They do not live off annual reports and economic trends. Common folk live with fixed salaries. Common folk depend on the goodness of the businesses that employ them.

There is a very valid point that needs to be raised when people receive the so-called government bonus from their employers. It is not a government bonus, but another obligation on the employer. Tomorrow’s budget will place added pressure on more companies. I wonder what is being offered to companies to make them more competitive and more profitable.

It is evident that in the Nationalist campaign to win over the voter, emphasis is being placed on the three years that Gonzi has been Prime Minister. The other years, that were once known as the Golden Age of Fenech Adami, are written off as irrelevant.
To paint this illusion, Dr Gonzi uses Mr Joe Saliba… probably the greatest illusionist of all time.
“This is meant to make them forget that we have been around for 20 years,” one Nationalist general told me.
But really and truly it will need more than the three-year trick to get the undecided to decide.

The praise for John Dalli’s exploits by the Prime Minister is nothing but sheer hypocrisy. His praise contrasts with the way he has treated his former colleague in reality. Dalli has been ostracised from his own party and given no role at all, ever since what he terms his “forced resignation”. And at constituency and party level there has been a whispering campaign of the sort usually reserved for the worst opponents.
It is no secret that the Prime Minister has avoided Dalli and kept him out in the cold for months. Some people link this to his inability to decide; my guess is that it has more to do with something more sinister.
Whatever the reason, the fact that the PM has allowed this wound to fester for three whole years is absolute madness.

Please allow me to dispense with a sign of gratitude to the police at Naxxar who for the second time running have done all they can to track down the arsonists who torched part of the Naxxar playground last Thursday.
Just in case no one has noticed, I am joking.
The police should proud of themselves.
(Yet another joke).
Last year, arsonists burnt my front door, even though my home lies 20 metres away from the station. And, glory be to God, the police did not see anyone.
This time round – also 20 metres from the station, and also in the early hours of the morning – the same thing happened again. And guess what? The police did not see anyone this time, either.
Anyone who lives in Naxxar will suppose that the vandals are very probably young people who, like so many young people in Maltese and Gozitan villages and towns, are as frustrated as one can get.
The burning of the playground is no surprise: every weekend, young lads with plenty of adrenaline and energy gather in the garden and do what every other lad does.
1) Shout
2) Show off
3) Drink
4) Sex
5) Drugs
6) Vandalism

When I woke up, the neighbours were all saying how irresponsible the new generation is. They conveniently do not remember how reckless their once youth was.
Age does not only bring nostalgia, but also amnesia, and many people forget what young people are all about.
In a town such as Naxxar, there are few pursuits for young people.
The rival band clubs, and perhaps some Church institutions, serve as a magnet for many youths. When the Naxxar festa comes along on 8 September, these youths turn into a band of dancing and inebriated pagans, dressed up like a scene from that soft porn film, Amazonia.
There is little else to quench the thirst and kinetic energy of the growing youngsters.
Before they obtain their car licence and get hold of their parent’s car, they cannot roam far from their town and invade the ugly world of Paceville.
This may seem a peripheral issue compared to the excitement quotient linked to tomorrow’s budget speech. But it is a real problem.
In Malta and Gozo, young people are expected to evolve in a society that does not cater for them, and – strangely, with all the Christian ideologues in the present administration – no one has come up with a blueprint of what of our Maltese youth needs.
So to combat our youth we do not look at the problem. Instead of making sport available for all, instead of creating venues for youth to come together – be it music halls or boxing rings – we boast of cracking down on deviant youth.
Even sex is tackled as if it were non-existent, as if young people had no hormones and as if sex was never practised.
The problem does not lie with the youths who carried out the arson attacks or the “active” policemen at the Naxxar police station, it is the fault of our flamboyant politicians who spend more time posing for photographs than thinking up new ways of doing things.
And by way, can anyone please tell me who is responsible for youth in this administration?

Three cheers for the eloquent Paul Vincenti and his persecuting tactics. When will he learn that by not signing his declaration on the unborn, it does not mean that one supports abortion? Just because someone calls himself the chief executive officer of the Pro-life movement, it does not give him the right to torment people into putting their fingerprint on his precious charter.
Paul: do us a favour and get a life or alternatively abort your crusade!

sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt