The new year started with Malta assuming the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe. Joseph Muscat now seems to be happy with Malta’s place in the EU and I suppose ‘Made in Brussels’ and ‘Switzerland in the Mediterranean’ slogans are things of the past, not to be mentioned.

Fuel prices have gone up 4c a litre because, we are told, the price of oil has gone up. But was the price reduced when oil was much cheaper?

Of course, with the presidency, it is hardly ethical to mention the string of scandals waiting to be tackled.

The latest event that did not manage to impress was the landing at Malta International Airport of a Libyan plane. We now await the outcome of the case of the two arrested Libyans. You would have noticed, I never dared to use the word ‘hijack’.

Parliament resumes on Monday after the Christmas holidays though do not expect anything exciting happening.

I hope the Nationalist Opposition steps up its actions in the run-up to the 2018 election. I hope Simon Busuttil will realise that speeches in Parliament are not enough and that we urgently need to go to the squares and resort to the language Beppe Fenech Adami used in Parliament. Sticking to politeness in this day and age does not work.

The Nationalist Party must be prepared to find a way to counter the moves Labour will be making to convince hard-core supporters, switchers and fourth-floor people that their term of office has been one of huge successes and that our economy is the strongest in Europe – if not in the world.