Grill the government not Muscat's rainbow tie

When Joseph Muscat got up on that podium and declared the start of a new political season, he probably wasn't banking on that being the open season for poking fun at the new Labour leader. But open season it was. Every utterance, every gesture, every hem line (his, not his wife's) was scrutinised and commented upon.

It was pointed out that the uber-patriotic closing of the eyes while the national anthem was being played was just too much. We Maltese don't go in for that kind of over-the-top display of emotion. Which is why Muscat's call to love one another was expectedly met with astonished titters and much merriment.

If the new Labour leader wants to avoid having these minor gaffes being served up as embarrassing reminders of his first days in office, he cannot keep on serving such incidents to be guzzled up with glee by the media. He'd also do well to keep in mind the words of the American former Vice President Walter Mondale. The latter had compared political image to mixing cement, and said: "When it's wet, you can move it around and shape it, but at some point it hardens and there's almost nothing you can do to reshape it."

Muscat has to stop handing his political foes the Rapid Cement Drier. It's quite clear that they want to peg him as a lightweight player lacking in gravitas and that his every action shall be interpreted to this end.

While the in-depth analysis of Muscat's trouser-length, tie colour and nappy-changing schedule took up column inches in the papers, I watched and waited. I waited for the novelty of having a new victim to wear off and for political observers to turn their sights on the issues that really mattered and the political party that has the power to do something about them.

Just in case you were too dazzled by Muscat's rainbow-coloured tie to give this much thought, that's the Nationalist Party - the one currently in government and the same one which has been in office for the past two decades. Talking about having an opposition party which is in good shape and which is a viable option, is all very well. However, it seems that nearly everybody keeps forgetting that the MLP may be in government in five years' time. In the meantime all eyes should be upon the way the PN is governing the country. After all it is the party calling the shots and making the decisions which will affect our lives. That is why it should be held to account by the media and political commentators.

I can't understand why the media spotlight is constantly focussed on Muscat's hair but completely swings by Lawrence Gonzi's fuzzy promises about the Malta Environment and Planning Authority reform. Which is going to have the biggest impact on our lives? I'm guessing that we can survive very well however the Labour leader's hair is cut and coiffed, but having Mepa carry on with its crazy permits policy will affect our quality of life.

And why is nobody kicking up a fuss about the Prime Minister's astonishment at the spike in oil prices? Watching him exclaim in surprise in interviews, you'd have thought that this development was as unexpected as Paris Hilton becoming a cloistered nun, instead of one which was predicted as early as last summer.

Why doesn't the media give the PM a good grilling about his lack of foresight in this field? And instead of going over Muscat's kindergarten years with a fine tooth comb, why is there such a muted, fatalistic acceptance of what the Health Minister himself termed as scandalous waiting lists for hospital treatment? Which enterprising hack is going to dig out those pre-election Mater Dei promos telling us we were going to have a state of the art hospital with cutting edge technology?

Maybe it could be filmed on a split screen showing old people nearly keeling over in exhaustion as they wait over six hours to be admitted to a ward as fellow sufferers throw up near them in the crowded waiting room. That's not a fictitious horror story by the way. It's what is happening at Mater Dei - up to recently a bright and happy place of open days which occasionally doubled as a film set for one of our irritating soaps. While continuing to pour scorn over the MLP for its fixation about voters flown in to vote PN, why is nobody asking the Prime Minister about the sort of databases which do/don't exist at Pietà? Maybe nobody is sufficiently bothered to know if the PN has been spying on citizens.

And while we're at it, can we have some explanations as to why Enemalta can cough up some €82,000 so that the illegal squatters in Armier can have a reliable supply of electricity for their "boathouses", but the government can't eke out enough money to engage professionals to run a breast-screening programme?

It makes my blood boil to read that people who have broken the law are being rewarded with taxpayers' money but that women suffering from breast cancer have to take out bank loans to buy the Herceptin that could save or prolong their lives. It seems that not everybody else is equally enraged - they're far too busy analysing Muscat's hair follicles.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt