Too much navel gazing

Let's start on a positive note. Very many of us welcome the changes made at the Labour Party general conference. I was relieved to see Manwel Cuschieri voted out and to have the ridiculous motion of a man who presided over Malta's most turbulent years (at least in my time anyway) softened somewhat.

But can the MLP stop this navel gazing? And can the Nationalist Party press reduce its coverage of these non-issues? We all live on this tiny over-populated island and what we want to see are real improvements, both in the quality of what Malta looks like and offers to the Maltese and tourists and, also, in our attitude, behaviour and sense of community.

What amazes me is that all this is ignored in our political agendas. Why do you think we do not follow parliament at all any more? We are tired of the political mud-slinging. We are tired of listening to arguments about detail when the general principles that govern this country are still all wrong.

Who cares what the MLP does about the EU? A majority of us voted in favour and that's that. All this heave-ho about the MLP at this last conference was so irrelevant and already so out of date. And what are the conclusions? Well, everything that goes wrong will be blamed on EU membership!

How pathetic can this country get? Already, the layoffs at one factory are being blamed on EU membership.

Wake up MLP! We're not members yet. We're losing out because we are not competitive or, to put it very simply, because firms go where wages are cheaper.

I remember this disaster spreading all over the UK. The whole country went through a very hard time, particularly in the north. But none of it had anything at all to do with EU membership.

Evarist Bartolo, a man I rarely, if ever, praise, said this lately while he was guest of Joe Grima in one of his programmes. To paraphrase, he said: We shouldn't be blaming all the wrong on EU membership, we should blame the Nationalist government.

If the MLP persists in this navel gazing they are going to create a trap for themselves which will make them unelectable again.

And they should stop cockily believing they can easily win the next election. They cannot, particularly because they have a lousy track record in government as well as in opposition, although the new faces may well improve their fortunes in that respect.

Navel gazing will get them nowhere except into their own navels. And that does not persuade voters. We all know we have to make pensions sustainable. We all know we cannot live beyond our means. We all know the deficit has to be tackled. We all know rampant tax abuse and welfare abuse must be curbed.

They cannot win an election by telling people to blame everything that goes wrong on the EU because its very obvious now from listening to Alfred Sant and Mr Bartolo that they have no intention of taking us out! They cannot win just by saying the government is to blame without having an alternative vision on offer.

Dr Sant (the only real and significant reason why they would not win another election with him at the helm) is wrong when he says, as reported in The Times on Monday: "We will see what marks the PM scores in this test. He is wrong if he believes we will be supporting him".

What an unstatesmanlike threat from one of the country's most important men, a leader of half the population no less.

Dr Sant dug his head in the sand on EU membership and lost the MLP an election it could have easily won.

Now he is planning to indulge in the same sort of petulance over budget proposals as we know him to have done so often.

Going from burying your head in the sand to navel gazing can hardly be described as making progress!

When, oh when, will the MLP emerge from their goldfish bowl and tackle the real reason they are whining in opposition again?