The shooting episode involving Manuel Mallia’s driver, Paul Sheehan, was undoubtedly the biggest political event of 2014. It was also unusual in several senses, not least because the minister had to be sacked by the Prime Minister when he pointedly refused to resign.

The event reflected badly on the image of politicians, and the police force which ended up with three different commissioners in 2014. The latest of those, Michael Cassar, has an arduous task ahead of him in restoring public confidence in an important arm of the State, as does the new Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela.

It may have been the biggest, but the Mallia affair was far from being the only political news of 2014.

At the beginning of the year, the government was forced to amend its sale of citizenship programme – to include a residency requirement – after a non-binding resolution criticising Malta’s citizenship scheme was overwhelmingly approved by the European Parliament. The country was the butt of jokes internationally in the meantime.

The government’s handling of the Lino Farrugia Sacco impeachment case was also as damaging as it was controversial.

The judge avoided the fate he deserved after the government decided in February to wait for a constitutional court case to be decided before carrying on with an impeachment motion against him. He then retired in August before the case was heard, which just served to confirm everybody’s suspicions in the government’s intentions.

Just as disturbing was the Prime Minister’s description of Cyrus Engerer as a ‘soldier of steel’ soon after he withdrew from the MEP election race after being given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years for distributing pornographic photos of a former lover. Mr Engerer retained his posts as a consultant to two ministries and was later given a job at Malta’s permanent representation to the EU in Brussels. Labour’s form of meritocracy certainly took a funny turn.

Meanwhile, Godfrey Farrugia resigned as health minister in March after the Prime Minister offered to give him another Cabinet post, and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, long considered a thorn in Dr Muscat’s side, was appointed President.

Labour, however, had good news in May when it won the MEP elections – by a landslide – although the PN managed to get its third seat.

The government passed a landmark Civil Unions Bill; unfortunately, this was a controversial subject as the Bill equated civil unions with marriage and allowed gay adoption.

The government also introduced important Bills on party financing and drug decriminalisation which are being debated in Parliament, signed a deal with the Chinese firm Shanghai Electric Power which agreed to inject €320 million into Enemalta, pledged to have the gas-fired power station up and running in 2016 – 18 months later than previously promised – and began an important process of welfare reform when it announced its Budget for 2015.

On the international front, 2014 was not a good year; in our backyard Libya descended into chaos, the Islamic State raised its ugly head in Iraq and Syria, and the West’s relations with Russia deteriorated to a new low as a result of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

On a positive note, Pope Francis has continued in his attempts to make the Church more open to those who felt marginalised from it and to shake up the Vatican’s bureaucracy. He has also played a prominent role on the global scene and was instrumental in brokering an agreement between the US and Cuba to establish diplomatic relations. Despite his age – 78 – he is turning out to be one of the most influential, and popular, popes in history.

Many politicians and others would be well advised to base their new year’s resolutions on his fine example.