Fresh from his summer break, Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat showed zest and a great deal of enthusiasm in his frenetic attack on the Nationalist government in a talk on his party's radio station. Well, considering that he was speaking on home ground, he did very well. He said all the things his party followers wanted to hear from him. They could well see his outright determination to knock down all the political rhetoric of the Nationalists in their struggle to ride the economic storm facing the country. The trouble is that, in doing so, Dr Muscat fell into the same old political trap. In other words, the "political rhetoric" content of his radio talk was as voluminous as that of the party in government, if not more.

Indulging in political rhetoric might seem all very well to the two main parties but it does not serve Malta well. What this micro state badly needs right now is a concentrated effort to get out of the serious difficulties the economy is going through, not the kind of politics best left to the weeks before a general election. Yet, to all intents and purposes, this is exactly what Dr Muscat indulged in for most of his radio talk. Make no mistake about it, the Nationalist leader will not miss the opportunity to reply in kind when he next addresses his supporters at the public meeting marking the country's independence on the Granaries on Sunday.

All this conforms to the adage that the more things change, the more they remain the same. When Lawrence Gonzi took over from Eddie Fenech Adami as leader of the Nationalist Party, the country thought we are heading towards new times in politics. The country had the same feeling when Dr Muscat took over from Alfred Sant. Has there, in effect, been any significant change in politics so far? The new Labour leader may be more politically charismatic than Dr Sant, and his talk definitely sounds sweeter, but, taken in its totality, political talk remains expertly crafted to meet the expectations of the masses within his party.

Party chiefs would argue this is after all what he is there for. Is it? What does his slogan "a new political season" mean then? Does it not imply new times in politics? Should purely party political interests practically always override political objectivity? Or is this all wishful thinking? Take Dr Muscat's radio talk again: he told Dr Gonzi that if, through his incompetence and the instability (probably referring here to the financial situation), he was unable to meet the promises made before the last general election, he should take the country to the polls.

Does he really think Dr Gonzi is going to admit incompetence or that he would call a general election now? How could the Labour leader expect the government to come out with a "good budget" simply because the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister had been quoted saying that the worst is over? Does "the worst is over" mean the economic situation is back to normal and that, therefore, the country can now close both eyes to the deficit as if it does not exist? Hardly.

With the heavy shortfall in revenue the government is experiencing in the wake of the slowdown, juggling with financial allocations in the budget is going to be difficult indeed. Still, the sad truth is that, whatever the economic situation the island is in today, political opportunism will still take the limelight.