It is almost August and that time of the year, in journalistic jargon, is referred to as silly season. As people laze around on the beach and companies go on shutdown, life turns into a bit of a dreamy state with pretty much nothing going on.

But this year, it seems to have happened early. Yesterday, this newsroom, along with the others in Malta, were invited to Gozo for the inauguration of some public toilets in Gozo, along with the upgrading of beach facilities in Hondoq Ir-Rummien.

The Gozo ministry presided over the whole thing, with the Gozo Minister himself turning up to deliver a speech. In the press release by the Department of Information, the public toilets were mentioned as if it was some sort of grand project.

Are we really going to go back to the 1990s when ministers used to call a press conference to announce that a new pavement was built? Are we really that Lilliputian? These are public toilets, for goodness sake. One could understand if the project was a complete revamp, but are we really that backward that a minister actually goes onsite and announces that a public convenience will improve the facilities in Hondoq ir-Rummien. Yes, it will, as will the new beaches and the walkway to the water’s edge. But again, therein lies the crucial point. Why is a Minister inaugurating this? This ‘project’ should have just been subject  to a soft opening, and if the Ministry still thought it was such a fantastic thing, then a press release should have just been sent to the newsroooms. Does anybody even realise just how it sounds?

To add insult to injury, the DOI then sent a link to footage of the event which was obviously paid for out of our taxes. It would be very interesting indeed to find out how much that footage cost. Being in politics is a thankless job. Politicians expect to be criticised, but in Malta, they do very much seem to have a problem with being mocked. This is largely down to our parochial attitude in Malta, and sadly politicians do not seem to realise that the more they act churlishly  in the face of justified mockery, the more they will be mocked for it.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat recently said that the fact that the prices of fuel are stable does not even make the news. What does he expect? Malta’s economy is booming and that is partly thanks to government. But at the end of the day, the lion’s share of generated wealth comes from the sweat and toil of taxpayers. So, perhaps it is time to take stock of what the government considers as news. New public toilets, fine, great, well done. But a full blown press conference and inauguration ceremony? No, that’s just in bad taste. Malta and Gozo have progressed in leaps and bounds, especially since EU membership. And that progress means that people are not impressed with the fact that fuel prices are stable. Given that we are constantly reminded about how well we are doing, people would rather see those prices drop. They also roll their eyes in disdain when the Minister for Gozo turns up to inaugurate some toilets.

We know that it’s almost August, but seriously?