On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me … some harsh truths for lovers of their “doggies”

The poor woman who had her Chihuahua dog mauled to death by a pit bull terrier, then to be told she would face charges for, of all things, failing to “keep a dog under control,” only confirmed what we all know. In this country, whatever the reforms and whatever the commissions, the law favours the strong and not the weak – the aggressors more than the victims, and sadly men far more than women.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… a storm in a teacup from Sonia Camilleri

The Commissioner for Children, who expects childless couples to accept infertility just as she has to accept, in her own words, that she is fat or short or whatever, was the first not-so-funny example of people in positions of power not respecting the enormous pain of families who are childless. Christmas is the worst time for them, and Sonia needs to think more carefully before she expresses her opinions.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me … some more warped priorities

The idea to put an anti-abortion “thingy” in our Constitution had the whole of Malta’s liberal elite (tiny as it is!) up in arms, while party activists just couldn’t understand this. The division between Church and State needs to become a lot clearer in many areas – from divorce to women’s health issues, from duttrina to all the paraphernalia parents are lumbered with.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… an award for the helper of Matthew Chetcuti

One sweet child, Shaun Cassar from Rabat, was given the award for kindness by the president, for his help with a student suffering from cerebral palsy. What only worried me were the president’s comments, as reported anyway. Yes, there are problems coming about from a loosening of morals. But there is a lot of bad behaviour, hypocrisy and worse, in so much that we hold as the truest and the best and the dearest. Traditional families are wonderful when they are good. But it is not all good and rosy – not by a long shot...

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me... a successful ending for Lawrence Gonzi

The Prime Minister has had a tough year, but a well-run CHOGM and the Sea Malta conclusion brought his government some much-needed respect after a difficult year as seen by very, very negative polls. There is still a mountain to climb, but a chink of light has appeared for him.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… too many rumblings from the minister of IT

It is difficult to keep track of Austin Gatt’s huge media presence, particularly in our newspapers. In an altercation with The Times, he prevented the Film Commissioner from having his interview published. There has been a general tendency to seek to centralise everything in recent months. Of course, everything is in the detail and in the manner of implementation. But the government must not appear or indeed be bullying and over-domineering. Centralisation smacks of socialism anyway. I know this country has problems, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater and promote our ministers as controlling absolutely everything – as when they fall we all fall with them!

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… an awful amount of misinformation from AD

First, they promised to collect 30,000 signatures. Then didn’t or couldn’t. Then, they tell us reforming the rent laws will bring down house prices. Sigh! It’s so tiresome. Let’s hope the government reforms will end the right of inheritance and slowly bring some justice back. That’s all that’s needed.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… the exit of Marlene Mizzi

I think the manner of her leaving was regrettable. Ok, she is a feisty lady – but she deserved a lot more respect than she got – and I won’t say more than that.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… the exit of so many personalities.

I won’t go into all the names of those who resigned or were pushed to do so, or who had enough particularly under Austin Gatt’s ministry, but I do hope his new year resolution will be to respect others more. Too much blood is being shed. Let’s please calm down.

On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… a year of “dizastri”

Malta has so far been spared. But I cannot remember another year with so many natural disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. Let’s hope it isn’t due to global warming, because if it is, much worse is to come.

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… a great year culturally

There has been so much going on this year, and so much success for Maltese talent – it is quite breathtaking. We seem to do so well as individual stars, but less so as teams. Our rugby players being one exception, of course.

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me… the beginning of change hopefully in the UE (Unjoni Ewropeja)

Thankfully, that silly Constitution was thrown out, although we of course approved it as eager recruits to the new club. We must start to be constructively far more sceptical of all that comes out of the EU. Getting the best deal was not just about getting in. It’s about it being worth our while to stay in!