Editorial | Sunday, 21 December 2008

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Lights out for Christmas

It is a yearly habit, albeit patronising and at times in bad taste, of many who live in relative comfort to spare a thought and perhaps a couple of euros to those who are less privileged in Christmas time.
It is, perhaps, an established way of living with the excesses that normally come with this month, as the year is coming to an end and the prospect of a new one is dawning, without feeling too guilty about it.
Yet, when across all society, people are stating in no uncertain terms that for them this is going to be a darker Christmas than usual, then it is clearly cause for concern for everyone, and the usual charitable talk becomes meaningless. For when a whole nation is under duress, who is left to open his or her wallet and give a little donation and think of the underprivileged?
Problematic as it is, charity can only work when a category of people is not only more well off than others in real terms, but can also feel that they are.
The survey we are publishing today serves to highlight how very few people are feeling prosperous this time round, and everyone across the board is stating they will be spending much less this year. The point here is not how charitable the Maltese will be this Christmas, but the general feeling of negativity that bodes very badly for the year ahead. Perhaps no other image could be as symbolic, albeit a sad one, as our survey respondents saying they will not be switching on any Christmas lights in their windows – once a source of family pride in every neighbourhood’s unofficial competition for recognition in these times. As government ministers amuse themselves switching on a solar-powered Christmas tree at Mater Dei Hospital, the people at large are just switching off, despite the significance this time of the year still enjoys.
A darker Christmas indeed that will also see 31% spending less on Christmas presents, with the largest crunch being felt by the middle class and the unemployed. When the middle class and the unemployed are effectively telling you the same thing about their economic hardships, then there is something terribly wrong. Only around 5% will be having Christmas lunch in a hotel or restaurant, while 26% of those who celebrated the last New Year in a restaurant intend staying at home or with friends – an understandable decision that is bound to undermine further the catering and entertainment industries.
Sure enough, the global credit crunch is staring everyone in the face, even though the massive bankruptcy abroad has hardly been felt here yet. And yet, realistically speaking, there is little that can be done about this international crisis from a purely local perspective. But the same cannot be said for what emerges from previous surveys as the number one troubling factor of the moment: i.e., the soaring water and electricity tariffs, decided by government without any effective cushioning whatsoever, precisely at a time when that cushioning is needed.
Austin Gatt’s displays of solitary bravado will do little to minimise the realities of families struggling to make ends meet and to assuage their fears. In the meantime, retailers are already finding it extremely hard to woo their customers, whose cash is already in short supply and whose fear for the immediate future is threatening to paralyse the economy.
No doubt, some might find this kind of argument inappropriate at a time that is meant for celebration. And it is equally true that, in the absence of the mass job-losses experienced abroad, the current economic clime is more a case of negative perception than anything else.
Yet it would be highly insensitive if, in our bid to seek a positive outlook for the sake of it, we ignore the stark realities that surround us.
The sad truth is that all that people want this Christmas is money. It might not be a pleasant message to listen to, but nor is it one that the government can afford to ignore.

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