On the face of it, yesterday might have seemed a normal summer Sunday in Malta – festas all around, beaches filled with people, the normal traffic madness to get back home, etc.

But a look at our website, and also those of our competitors, shows a very different Malta – a Malta hooked on political controversy. And with today’s comment spaces, we get a clear picture of what the people are saying.

At the time of our writing, these were the stories dominating our website and the amount of comments each had:

-         Receipts show €35,000 in payments made to Neville Gafa by Libyan middleman (118)

-         Medical visas scandal: Prime Minister and ministers reply (20)

-         On ONE radio, PM neglects to mention receipts showing €35,000 in payments to Neville Gafa (14)

-         I can confirm PM knew about visa scandal – Simon Busuttil (17)

-         Show’s cancellation did not come as a surprise – Salvu Mallia (29).

There, that’s yesterday’s one day catch. And this awesome improvement in instant democracy when up to some time ago they had to laboriously write a letter, go and post it and the paper then publishes at its own leisure.

Instead, today, all it takes is to write a comment and this, after being monitored, finds its way on the comments board.

There is, it is obvious, no preclusion as to whose comments appear, except those that are vulgar, make libelous statements etc.

So this is what the people are saying at this precise point in time.

Going by this back-of-envelope assessment of one day’s comments, things are not looking up for the prime minister and his government. There is anger, and, worse, widespread suspicion of corruption, interlocking corruption at very high levels, protected by a phalanx of authorities ready to turn legalese upside down and prosecute any whistleblower instead of the guilty.

It is clear that many have come to believe the government is corruption-riddled and while many rue casting their vote the way they did in 2013, only a few hardy voices rise in defence of the present administration.

On the other hand, whatever the government, its leaders, and its media (including TVM) are saying does not convince people. The explanations that are given fall flat on their faces. The counter-arguments sound hollow.

That this is so, that the government is not succeeding in winning the battle of the minds, is clear: people are just not believing the government and its arguments.

This is also clear from the virulence, the anger, the venom that is unleashed in return. Personal attacks galore, such as that in Parliament some months ago when in the course of a not so very hot debate on something or other, the prime minister rounded on Claudette Buttigieg with such venom and spite that it left the House open-mouthed. With a leader like that, the followers have a field day.

As more scandals see the light of day, as more controversies erupt, and as the government does not see the light of reason and do something valid about cleaning up the stables, we may expect more and more of this until the people, some day, tell the government its time is up.