People have long hoped the two main parties would stop their Sunday political sermons, generally seen as no more than a stunt to keep the party troops happy, but which very often also help to add yet another strong dose of politicisation in the country. Now Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil appears to have had enough of this charade too and decided to drop the practice.

Maybe it is post-election fatigue that made him do so. Maybe not. Dr Busuttil is not one to be lost for words. Whatever the reason, the Opposition did well to take this step. After all, there is nothing to stop him making a political speech whenever he feels he needs to. This is a positive move by the Nationalist Party.

These Sunday morning sermons rarely bring up anything particularly new. Excepting the media owned by the parties, which have to report their leader’s oration extensively, the rest of the media usually reported the events out of tradition or becauseof the dearth of news that so many times plague newspapers and stations on Sundays.

Take Joseph Muscat’s sermon last Sunday, a recorded interview on the party’s radio station; he berated the European Union for lack of effective action over illegal immigration, a matter that is of ever growing concern to the Mediterranean countries directly hit by the influx of irregular immigrants, particularly Italy. He has done this many times already, though, of course, he is justified in expecting greater concrete action from the EU to help ease the impact.

Switching to his government’s work, Dr Muscat then rolled out, once again, a list of the things his administration intended doing in the coming weeks and months.

Just as most people’s minds turn to where they will be spending their summer holiday this year, Dr Muscat proclaims that his government will increase momentum.

It plans to focus, he said, on: efforts to combat precarious work; decriminalisation of some drug offences; legislation on pensions; Gozo; the repatriation of assets; and changes on tax and rents. Quite an impressive list to be tackled in the sizzling heat of summer.

He then went on overdrive to tell the people how well the country is doing and how much the situation is bound to improve with Labour at the helm. Has the country not heard all this before?

Rather than Sunday sermons, political parties ought to give regular press briefings, at which journalists would have the opportunity togrill leaders in an open no-holds-barred environment. A growing number of people are tired of seeing stage-managed political activities, of politicians reading directly from text.

With most of the cut-and-thrust debate having been lost even in Parliament, wouldn’t it be interesting if the party leaders, or their representatives, were to regularly submit themselves to scrutiny by journalists?

There are usually so many questions to ask to both parties, yet very often the media do not manage to get all the answers.

Contrary to what some armchair critics or know-alls believe, this is not usually for want of trying but mainly because party strategists make sure of protecting their masters’ interests.

There are various methods that help bring out greater transparency and accountability. Party press briefings or conferences, rather than the leaders’ sermons, are certainly one of them.