It was a study in contrasts, which highlighted the sharp divide that exists between the cocoon-like existence of the present government and the way our daily lives are appraised by the ordinary man in the street.

The pre-budget document might promise an improved quality of life, but are we, in fact, actually better off than we were a couple of years ago? Are Maltese families in better shape? Whatever happened to the values that we cherished so much until a decade or so ago?

The Nationalist Party’s weak efforts to whip up a diluted form of euphoria on the occasion of the Independence celebrations were soon deflated by the press conference that the opposition leader held on the same day that Dr Lawrence Gonzi was due

to address his party’s mass meeting.

Alfred Sant spelt out 23 very valid reasons why Gonzi should reshuffle his Cabinet… now.

This is not just the personal opinion of the opposition leader.

It was the overwhelming response of a poll conducted by a leading local daily, which certainly cannot be dismissed as a Labour-leaning newspaper.

The present Cabinet ministers fall into at least three categories.

You have those who might be well-meaning but who have run badly out of steam and ideas. You have those who have come a cropper in their particular area of “specialisation”, while others have succumbed to the biggest weakness to which one can yield in politics – political arrogance.

Whether Dr Gonzi has enough resources – human that is – on which to draw to substitute some of these Cabinet members is not a matter for me to pass judgement on, although I am quite sure that there are a couple who are very eager to be given the chance to rise to the occasion.

Rather than admitting that Alfred Sant was echoing public sentiment when he called for a Cabinet reshuffle, Nationalist-leaning media have been quick to dismiss his stand as politically opportunistic.

Were Dr Sant opportunistic, he would have let sleeping dogs lie and allowed Dr Gonzi to continue shuffling along with his present jaded team.

The opposition’s stand was inspired by one main consideration – the national interest – the notion that the country deserves better and that the electorate cannot continue to be led by a team that found itself in power on the mere strength of the European Union issue.

Now that the EU membership issue is settled once and for all, political parties will have to be judged purely on the strength of their manifestoes and performances.

I am quite sure that what with its policy documents in the making, and the make up of its parliamentary group and electoral candidates, Labour simply deserves to be in power again.

Labour must and should make it purely on its own merits, rather than by merely scoring by default.

Chronicles revisited

What better excuse is there to re-read the hardback edition of Bob Dylan’s Chronicles Volume One by going through the recently published paperback version. Apart from giving us tangible proof that the legend can truly live up to his name, the book not only offers insights into his personal character, into his words and music as well as into those musicians who have served as an inspiration to him, but it also carries one of the best descriptions of life in New Orleans – something which has now become even more topical in the wake of the recent devastating hurricane.

Please allow me to quote Dylan’s flowery description of New Orleans:

“There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better. There’s a thousand different angles at any moment… No action seems inappropriate here. The city is one very long poem. Gardens full of pansies, pink petunias, opiates. Flower-bedecked shrines, white myrtles, bougainvillea and purple oleander stimulate your senses, make you feel cool and clear inside. Everything in New Orleans is a good idea. Bijou-temple type cottages and lyric cathedrals side by side. Houses and mansions, structures of wild grace. Italianate, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek Revival standing in a long line in the rain. Roman Catholic Art. Sweeping front porches,

turrets, cast-iron balconies, colonnades – 30-foot columns, gloriously beautiful – double pitched roofs, all the architecture of the whole wide world and it doesn’t move. All that and a town square where public executions took place. In New Orleans you could almost see other dimensions. There’s only one day at a time here, then it’s tonight and then tomorrow will be today again…’

The man might be getting on in age but the poet in him lives on!

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Leo Brincat is the main opposition spokesman on Foreign Affairs and IT