They worked to destroy Malta's democracy. We can work to rebuild it - Colm Regan

Literally millions of words and concepts have been used to describe and analyse the mess that is Malta currently. Although it has been many decades in the making, the scale and depth of that mess has reached new levels since 2013.

Despite the country being awash with laws, rules, and regulations, they remain a fiction that mocks Malta’s democratic credentials. There is some highly selective enforcement for mostly very minor stuff but in effect complete immunity on the really big stuff.

An important gauge of the depth of the problem is that everyone knows about it (it is the stuff of daily conversation) but hopes (or prays) that by some piece of magic, it will not affect them, or it will disappear.  

The country is visibly tearing itself to shreds but the band plays on.

The government (can it really be called a government?) orchestrates the mess while powerful local and (and opaque or dark) international forces control it. Often, we get glimpses of those forces and the sources from which they emanate.

We have declared war on our environment while issuing the odd public statement about solar panels or tap water conservation. We sell Malta as a ‘jewel’ in the Mediterranean while...