This week, the "Irish Times" carried an article about how Ireland now finds itself in a position by which its national debt per capita (covering the population living in the country) has become the highest in Europe. It has reached €48,291, greater than the European average by some €20,000. In addition to the debt it was already carrying from the 2008 - 2010 crisis, the Irish government had to go in for more loans in order to counter the Covid-19 pandemic.
Indeed, measuring national debt in terms on a per capita basis country by country is not usually highlighted. We have gotten more accustomed to debt measured as a percentage of GDP.
In recent years, it must have been more difficult to carry out reliable estimates about this in Malta, not least because of the substantial increase in foreigners living on the island. Should they be considered as being among the people who would have to shoulder the national debt burden?
It is estimated that the per capita national debt for Malta stands at some €19,360, on the basis of today's exchange rates. Like other European countries, Malta has had to borrow extensively in order to be able to deal with the pandemic.
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FRIENDS OF FRIENDS
The hunt for "friends of friends" has now become the preferred pasttime of a number of journalists. It is obvious that we need to clear from the country the webs of conflicts of interests which are to be found everywhere. But this is a long standing need.
It did not just pop out of the ground since Labour was in government. For a long time when we were in Opposition, my comrades and I insisted on how and to what extent, relations between "friends" and lesser "friends" were determining many decisions that were being taken. In those days, the same papers and journalists who today are focusing a lot on such matters would then ignore and ridicule us, devalue what we were striving to bring to attention, and promote the message of those who were cosying up to the tycoons.
The ironies of life in human society never die out.
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ROYAL FAMILY
Long ago, I had found extremely impressive the professionalism and the well calibrated cordiality displayed by the British royal family when along with a representative from Barbados, I was invited to a private lunch with them. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother were present. It was a truly private occasion, also in the sense that there was no need for formal inputs and the conversation was right through informal. No frills to it but very agreeable.
Which is why I dislike reading and learning about the antics of the present generation of the same royal family. On the one hand, today's royals complain about how the media do not leave them alone; they consistently create melodramatic occasions to denounce this. But then on the other hand, one can see them create slanted press stories that keep public attention on them as they get reported in sensational mode.
It is a pity that the dedicated commitment to national duty always shown by Queen Elizabeth during her long reign is being sidelined and undermined in this way. And I am saying this... though I disbelieve in monarchy as a (governance) system.