The other day, David Agius for the Nationalist Party and Marlene Farrugia hurried into Parliament to present a motion for the reduction of the voting age for general elections to 16. The Prime Minister was heard muttering: “Damn, they beat me to it”. Well, what he actually said was that he had thought of it first, so he agreed with the proposal. And so say all of us, chimed in a number of youth organisations.

So that’s settled then, no need for any further discussion on the issue. If Joseph, Simon and Marlene actually agree on something, it must be a good thing, no? After all, the voting age is already 16 for local council elections.

In truth, this debate has been going on around the world for some time. Many countries have adopted the model of first extending the vote for the equivalent of our local councils and then using this experience to consider whether or not to extend further. In many places, referenda have been held or are proposed because of the profound implications for how democracy would work at national level.

I held a highly unscientific poll with my young adult kids and their friends, and their replies tallied with the Times of Malta’s online poll results – most felt that at 16 they did not have sufficient information and judgement to make such a choice.

It is true that kids in Malta are legally allowed to drink at 16, go to work at 16 and get married at 16 (but only have sex at 18 – in the first two years they presumably make do with sudoku and long, cold showers). There are good reasons why this is so, mainly because that which society cannot improve it strives at least to limit by legal boundaries. But is that what we really aspire for our teenagers?

As a country we are pulling out all the stops so that teenagers continue studying. We know that postponing entry into work to 18 or, better still, the early 20s generally makes for better paid and more satisfying jobs.

What we would get is a Facebook fiesta, a blizzard of Twitter trash, free pulsating midnight boat trips to Comino and free wine-and-beer fests at Smart City

As for marriage at 16… At 16 my friends and I were far too busy juggling hormones, shaving and insecurities to be anywhere near prepared for marriage. As my wife kindly reminds me, making a marriage work is tough enough when you are prepared and mature enough for it, especially as you see your partner transform over the decades from Prince Charming to a brownish version of Shrek.

So why this rush to extend voting at 16 to the general elections, barely one year after the first local council experience? To increase teens’ engagement in society? Perhaps, if it were done really, really well. Otherwise, hogwash.

Such a move would mean that about 9,000 new votes would be suddenly up for grabs. We all know that in a general election a handful of votes can swing a district and the final result. So the stakes are far higher than for the local councils.

And could we expect a sober and imaginative campaign by the parties to educate this young new electorate to vote responsibly? Can we heck! What we would get is a Facebook fiesta, a blizzard of Twitter trash, free pulsating midnight boat trips to Comino and free wine-and-beer fests at Smart City.

I can just see our beloved MPs in their various shapes and sizes trying their damnedest to look hip in skin-tight jeans as they sway uncertainly to the latest beat, while the teenagers around them text and snicker.

Let us first extend voting for the European Parliament and national referenda, and garner more experience of teen voting in Malta and abroad. If our political class moves too quickly just to earn brownie points, the teenagers they try to manipulate today will come back to damn them with the very thing that teen voting was meant to pre-empt: their cynical disengagement of politics.

You must be mad to protest

Last week the courts condemned the police for violating a man’s right to peaceful protest in front of Castille in 2014.

The police had not just told him to move on. They had arrested him and apparently shopped around for a doctor who committed the man for three days in Mt Carmel.

Fortunately the next day, saner counsel prevailed and the man was discharged.

It isn’t quite Stalinist Russia, of course, but it is deeply disturbing nonetheless.

Protesting against the government? You must be mad.