It was already clear from the fact that no money votes are being taken in parliament. If we needed any confirmation then this came with the long Easter break that our elected underpaid representatives have taken. The length of this year’s parliamentary Easter recess is four weeks.
In the meantime and run up to this recess we have had the entertaining news coming from the reform committees set up in parliament in order to appease the renegade rebels turned reformers. Anything from constitutional law to bird-hunting becomes fair game (excuse the pun) for these sans-pareil legislators. Our collective political system, working in the twisted ways of which only it is capable, seems to have finally come to terms with the fact that reforms are needed. At least that is the first half of the message.
The second half brings us back to the same starting point much like the proverbial crab. Because while much parleying is being partaken of in parliament, nothing much will come out of the projects unless we will be witnessing a flurry of legislative initiatives at supersonic speed – always hoping that no other renegade majoritarian decides to rock the boat.
The opposition will complain about this but it is busily concerned with misinformation about spending cuts. This in itself is a taxing (excuse the second pun) exercise in contradictions. On the one hand the opposition has turned all its guns on the €40 million worth of expenditure cuts that the government must perforce perform while on the other that same opposition lets its imagination run wild with promises of the spending kind should it ever be relieved of its duties as eternal opposer.
As for the party in government (as distinct from the government) the whole kitchen business seems to be panning out quite unsatisfactorily. One wonders how long Simon Busuttil’s bland expression will entertain the many doubting Thomases who he set out to convert. You can only squeeze out so many half-hearted mea culpas from the nationalist fold and when you combine this fact with the menu of reality bites that Simon must explain to the masses by Pentecost (in as many languages as they can understand – thank God for the Holy Spirit) then the nationalist eggs surely cannot all lie in Busuttil’s basket.
What is really interesting is the relative silence of the usually noisy nationalist pundits and spin-machine. Aside from the various ministerial projects being rolled out in a hurry like an extended red carpet the nationalist machine remains relatively subdued. Even the blogosphere has felt the punch of this (controlled? concerted?) self-gagging exercise. Which leaves the Labour clones clucking in a cacophonous circus of empty noises and barks. Next chapter: poverty and “the precariat” (something to do with poor people or Saint George Preca, or both).
We are left with a couple of figolli to enjoy at the end of this period of fasting and self-denial. It’s also a time of reflection that should lead to the huge celebration with the return of the saviour. Only this time we are really left wondering…
who will it be?
