Joseph Muscat and his men and women in government are increasingly showing they do not like the heat.

The first advice that comes to mind would, of course, be: if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. However, given Dr Muscat’s choice of venue to deliver his latest New Year’s message, that may be sound politically incorrect.

The ‘heat’ we are speaking of here is the relationship the government and the Labour Party have with certain institutions, including constitutional ones – such as the Ombudsman and the Auditor General – and the Fourth Estate, the press. It is increasingly becoming a love-hate relationship at best and a very stormy one at worse.

In the film Annie Hall, Woody Allen refers to uncomfortable relationships thus: “It reminds me of that old joke, you know, a guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says: hey doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken. Then the doc says: why don’t you turn him in? Then the guy says: I would but I need the eggs. I guess that’s how I feel about relationships. They’re totally crazy, irrational and absurd but we keep going through it because we need the eggs.”

The indications are very clear that at least certain elements within the government make an effort to maintain good relationships with certain institutions and the press only because doing otherwise would expose them to serious accusations of conduct unbecoming if not outright undemocratic behaviour.

A clear example of this was the way the government dealt with the Ombudsman in the dispute regarding complaints on Armed Forces of Malta promotions.

Just days ago, there was then the case of outgoing planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon hitting out at the Auditor General following the publication of the report on the Gafferena expropriation scandal. To boot, the unsavoury comments were made in the presence of the Prime Minister who at no time appeared to at least try to bring Dr Falzon in line.

A few days earlier, the lawyer appearing for a Cabinet minister in a libel suit insisted with a magistrate that a blogger should be ordered to reveal her sources. The request itself is a direct attack on the fundamental right of freedom of the press.

Then, last Saturday, the Justice Minister, no less, had the cheek to call on the Nationalist Party to stop attacking institutions when they decide against it.

Something similar happened the following day when, reacting to comments made by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil that the court case on the Gaffarena deal was “designed to be lost”, the government said that implied the Attorney General instituted a court case purposely meant to be lost. “Such attacks on constitutional institutions and posts were unacceptable,” it added.

There can hardly be a clearer case of the pot calling the kettle black.

A government denigrates the country’s institutions at its peril because these are meant to ensure good governance and accountability. They are there to help, not to serve as obstacles. More importantly, they serve to put people’s mind at rest, whether assuring them that their rights are being protected or that their money is being spent wisely and for purposes that serve the common good.

So it would be wise for Dr Muscat to have a good look at what is going on in terms of relationships. A strong relationship can last only if both sides remain steadfast both in good times and in bad.