A fundamental flaw embedded in the populist strategy, especially with regard to immigration, is that it quickly leads to stagnation, which could then probably end up in confrontation and conflict. Though to be sure, the other alternatives which were followed or could have been taken in Europe up to now have also gotten bogged down...

If one were to consider the possibility that all EU states, or almost, adopt a populist approach, then there would be no way that an effective policy, acceptable to all, could be agreed. All states would simply strain after their own interests and do so in the same manner. No one would be prepared to “concede” anything.

However, it hardly appears as if a challenge like that of immigration can be overcome by states which singly shut themselves off from the rest. The same applies for trade and finance.

Globalisation has penetrated (or been allowed to penetrate) too deeply for isolationism to be viable... or doable without the menace of war.

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President's duty

A great fuss was made by some people regarding the way by which the President of the Republic signed the IVF bill into law. To the contrary I saw nothing so out of the world in what happened. Indeed it seemed to me that all those involved carried out their duties honourably.

Clearly, the measures introduced by the bill gave rise to a huge controversy and perhaps it was natural that this should happen. The bill dealt with matters that many consider, with reason I feel, to reflect on their views about the nature of human life and the ultimate direction of our existence. Every person could have taken the view that a personal decision in the IVF debate needed to be grounded in his/her beliefs.

But then, the decision that will collectively be taken by the community has to respect the rules set by a parliamentary democracy. This time for sure, these were implemented in a totally correct manner, following a repetition of arguments that had already been put forward and at length years before.

For the President to sign the law while putting on record her own personal reservations was the most transparent and responsible way forward.

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The price of bread

I remember times when the prospect of even a slight increase in the price of bread would signal the beginning of a political and social crisis. Times too when “cheap” bread was distributed via a rationing system... but then this does send us very far back into the past.

The increase that is apparently on the way for the price of bread is not a small one, in percentage terms. As of now, it has created few to no ripples. The Leader of the Opposition was the only one to insist on it, if I understood correctly, with a warning that those strata of the population which are really hard up, will be badly hit. If this is the case, steps should be taken for them to be given some form of relief. For the rest...

Over the years, the weighting of food in the basket of all products and services purchased by families has been declining. This holds true for all families. What’s more, the weighting of bread in the outgo on food too has gone down significantly. Which is another pointer to the economic improvement that the island has experienced since the post-Independence years.