Being as this estimable newspaper is not published on Boxing Day, this turns out to be the last column for 2009, so I'll take the opportunity to extend season's greetings for a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year to y'all.
Observant readers among you will have noticed that I used the full word for the 25th, rather than the sort-of abbreviation "Xmas", which is the word I generally use, not being one who's much enamoured of the mild hypocrisy of celebrating Christ's birth by resorting to unfettered consumerism and celebratory gluttony.
I know that Xmas is probably derived from the Greek or something, and anyway it's easier to type, but this year, I thought I'd cock a snook at the hysterics and insert the word "Christ", to remind them that all the stories they e-mail all over the place about Christmas being abolished for fear of offending the Muslims are just so much rubbish.
It's been an interesting year, what with the dear chaps at the Labour Party rubbing their hands in glee at every vicissitude that befalls the government, such as the world going into recession (all GonziPN's fault, of course) and one of the young honourable gentlemen taking it into his head not to turn up for a vote on assisted procreation (of all things) because, or so we were told, I suspect entirely inaccurately, he wanted to make a point that he wasn't, but wanted to be, appreciated. There's also quite a bit of dramatic hyperbole about the whole thing (from the media) because at the end of the day, the MP actually voted, so there might be a completely simple explanation which the media hype has rendered difficult to perceive.
What if Franco Debono was sick, for instance, which is not impossible at this time of the year? I'm feeling pretty rocky at the moment but that might be something to do with ingestion of alcohol.
Whatever, the episode reminded me of the joy of being young and being able to make grand gestures with nary a thought for the bigger picture.
It recalled the time when we were students and we'd pull some stunt or other and get the regime all hot and bothered. The sight of all those flat-footed coppers trooping up to Tal-Qroqq one wintry morning to empty out the library after a sit-in, the coppers not knowing that we tired of our game and legged it the night before, remains with me as a memory to warm my old heart these bleak nights.
No doubt the PM and Dr Debono will look back on the recent contretemps and chuckle warmly about it in the not-too-distant future.
On the other hand, perhaps not, but only if the lad's shenanigans were to lead to real embarrassment of the democratically elected government. Not really likely, this latter consequence, given the fellow's sincere protestations of loyalty, but it won't stop Super One and that other youngster, Muscat, Joseph of that ilk, getting shivers down their spine at the thought of an early election.
The other big piece of news, of course, is one to which Labour have been building up for so many months it was a bit like an elephant giving birth to a mouse. It's the utility tariffs to which I refer, of course, and along with the rest of the country, I'm no doubt going to whinge and whine when I have to write the cheque out.
Such is life, of course, though to listen to the Lil'Elves and to read Orizzont, you'd think that Gonzi and his bloated plutocrats in the Cabinet were going to pocket every red euro-cent for themselves. The truth of the matter is that oil costs money and workers cost money and these two items, without which the utility companies cannot do, are two of the largest items on the expenditure side. An enormous saving could be made by dispensing with half the work-force, I suppose, but what idiot would propose that? What are these people supposed to live off, social benefits? And who pays for those?
Yep, you guessed it, the same people who pay for any sort of subsidy the government might devise to lessen the impact of the price of water and electricity. You and me, that's who.
Simplistic? Yes, quite possibly, but certainly not as simplistic as the ludicrous statement made by the GWU, accusing the Malta Resources Authority of "rubber-stamping" the tariffs, when it is well-known that it was far from a nod and wink. The corporations had more than seven million knocked off from their wish-list, which probably gave the MRA the unique distinction of being annoying to everyone.
And so to close on a further provocative note, designed to raise the hackles of the adherents to the Church of Saint Astrid and her Humble Acolyte Falzon. Am I the only one to be worried about the Mepa's auditor's findings in connection with the Baħrija permit saga?
Mr Falzon's conclusion was that there was no evidence of wrongdoing but he couldn't exclude that there hadn't been something iffy about the whole thing. Such respect for the rule of law, that: it's tantamount to me saying that there is absolutely no evidence that John Smith is a wife-beater, but I can't exclude it.
It seems that certain people have no qualms about chucking mud, for all that they try to seem to expect everyone to believe that they're squeaky clean themselves.
imbocca@gmail.com, http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs