It is an inherent trait of politicians the world over that they keep an eye on the main chance when it comes to making public utterances. This sort of opportunism is so prevalent that it is hardly likely to raise more than an eyebrow and it is the type of thing that gives deserved work and income to spin doctors and other practitioners of the Dark Arts, so I suppose one should be a bit patient with it.

But, sometimes, you come across a member of the species who goes above and beyond, giving birth to such a monumental platitude that you have to react.

One such recently was the Fearne chappie, who let it be known, portentously, that he was moving a Private Member’s Bill rendering female genital mutilation illegal. Let’s make no bones about it, this practice is heinous, barbaric and utterly unacceptable but, come on, does the Hon. Fearne really think that moving a Bill makes it any more illegal than it already is? Seriously?

His boss, though, is no less prone to this sort of thing.

Politicians keep an eye on the main chance when it comes to making public utterances

The Prime Minister was reported as having issued virtually a Fatwa against employers who, horror of horrors, dare to try to find loopholes in employment law, especially the bits of the law that militate against “precarious employment”.

Again, let’s make no bones, there are employers, though not very many, who deserve to be taken out and ‘shot’, by other employers. These are the ones who give good employers, who are in the majority, a bad name by trying every manner of devious scheme to avoid treating their employees decently.

Before the election, much was made of this notion of “precarious employment” and how a new Labour Government would valiantly seek to make it history.

The General Workers’ Union, like all good unions, put its not inconsiderable weight behind this, which must have pleased the Labour Party no end, for all that the confluence of interests was unremarkable.

The thing is, the law as it stood just before the election, and as it stands, pretty much, now is perfectly adequate to give protection against abusive practices by black-sheep employers.

A combination of vigilance on the part of the unions and enforcement by the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations would be more than sufficient to put shoddy manoeuvres into history, were it not for the fact that the department is under-resourced and the unions likewise.

Instead of mouthing threats, then, it might behove the Prime Minister to see to it that the laws we have, which are perfectly up to the task, are enforced in a reasonable but firm manner and, to achieve this, he needs to ensure that he has a properly resourced and motivated Labour Office.

One of the main bulwarks against sharp practices by employers is the Industrial Tribunal.

You might have come across a piece I wrote (under my real name) and without my tongue in its usual place, describing what a total pig’s dinner Minister Helena Dalli made of the tribunal, putting it in clear and present harm’s way when it comes to perceptions of its independence from the Government.

By treating the chairs of the tribunal as no different from people appointed to do the government of the day’s bidding, at a stroke she turned the institution from one that has been seen as an independent body of men and women who adjudicate pretty significant issues into one that will struggle to achieve this perception going forward.

Getting back to precarious employment, though, you’d have thought that Muscat would have taken a few minutes to think things through before he turned this into a warhorse upon which to plonk his posterior.

I mean, didn’t he think of the hollow laughs that would issue forth from the lips of the many who have been turfed out of their jobs, summarily transferred, asked to resign, effectively fired and otherwise had their careers ruined by his ministers and their minions?

Labour’s slogan Malta Tagħna Lkoll (Malta For All) must look so false, so reminiscent of Tagħna Kollha (All Ours), to all these people, from every sector of public employment, who have felt the heavy hand of political expediency or vengefulness descending on to their shoulders, guiding them summarily out of the door.

These people know very well what Muscat is talking about when he spews platitudes about precarious employment because they can feel it up close and personal. I wish the Imam hadn’t written what he’d written about civil unions. As far as I am concerned, that which makes others happy, as long as it doesn’t significantly affect the rest of us badly, is fine. I’m not desperate to see same-sex marriage introduced but, on balance, if it means people get themselves a happier life, I’m all for it.

So, frankly, the Imam, and the Chief Rabbi, and the Head Jedi Knight, and the Bishop and anyone else, head of a religion or not, should just keep their noses out of everyone else’s private lives and not leap to the wholly unfounded conclusion that simply because their particular belief system isn’t four-square with something, then everyone must do without.

There’s another reason why I wish the Imam hadn’t written: he gave the revolting racists and the blasted bigots yet another excuse to crawl out from under their slimy rock and spew their intolerance all over the place. It wasn’t enough that the Prime Minister had let the horrid genie out of the bottle with his misguided ‘push-back’ speech, now the Imam has given the fools who think the flag is for wrapping their intolerance a reason, as if they need one, to writhe and squirm in our midst.

Oh well, as long as the Prime Minister disapproves of Sunday’s parade, that’s all right, I suppose.

Sunday lunch, in a cool shaded Ping’s on the Xlendi Road, was rather good, you’ll be glad to know. We also tried Gianni, at the top of the hill from Marsalforn to Xagħra, and will try it again when the weather’s cooler. The ice cream was superb, in the meantime.

imbocca@gmail.com

www.timesofmalta.com/articles/author/20