The heat stress index is not the only thing raising temperatures this summer.

Between the outrageous Ramla l-Hamra decision by MEPA, the increasing number of immigrants dying in our seas because of bureaucratic finger-pointing and 700 jobs lost in one fell swoop as factories close down, this is not turning out to be Gonzi’s best moment in office.

While some might say that not all these happenings are the Prime Minister’s doing, the fact is that once you are in that seat, everything that occurs is laid at the doorstep of “il-gvern”.

And to further compound the perception that the country is not exactly being steered with a firm hand, each new day reveals more and more corruption, mayhem and general chaos.

As people listen to TV and radio, read the headlines in the papers and log on to websites, you really can’t blame them for shaking their heads in disbelief, and muttering “x’tahwid!” (what a mess!) under their breath.

Everything points to an administration that has gone haywire, with ministers seemingly unable to stem the tide of blatant bribes happening right under their nose, and politicians more concerned with getting good photo ops at every opportunity as they unveil new “projects” in a desperate attempt to convince the electorate that the economy is booming and everything is OK.

But ask the ordinary person in the street and they will quickly tell you that, no, things are not OK.

The feel good factor, which Eddie was so good at perpetuating, has lost its glitter.

And while it’s true that we’ve never had so much choice, so many brands, so much of just about everything, we’ve also never had so much debt, so many couples squabbling and separating over money (or the lack of it), so many people living from pay cheque to pay cheque (with credit cards making up the inevitable shortfall). The infamous catchphrase “money, no problem” has been turned on its head and has become “problem, no money”.

We have become one of the most taxed countries in Europe, with new charges creeping insidiously in every time we apply for something that requires an official stamp. People open their water & electricity bills with thumping hearts and a feeling of dread. When you see the amount due (and how much of it is the surcharge) you really need to reach for the nearest chair to steady yourself.

As for the cost of living, and the daily needs of groceries, toiletries and detergents, I often wonder how people supporting a family on a minimum wage manage to make ends meet. As for the cost of medicine when you fall ill... well, let’s just say your best bet is to avoid being sick at all.

Of course, sometimes a dire financial situation is self-inflicted. It has become the norm to hear people talk of great big chunks of their salary going towards paying off a myriad of loans and hire purchase agreements because they just have to have the latest car or a Lm6000 kitchen. It’s like they’ve been mesmerised by an insidious, cajoling message: “go on, it’s there, why wait, you can have it now”.

No one has actually made them go in over their heads, but that’s what’s happened and they are shocked when you suggest that maybe they should learn to live within their means. As if.

Then the unexpected happens: someone loses their job or the wife has to leave her job because of an unplanned pregnancy and it’s... oh no, we can’t cope with all the payments.

I can’t help but see a parallel with this Nationalist administration, which for the last 20 years has been cheerfully spending money it doesn’t have. There, you see? It always comes back to the government.

While no one wants to go back to the Mintoff years of one type of luncheon meat and a government that buys second-hand equipment to save money, is it so difficult to find a happy medium between extreme frugality and reckless waste?

The party which wins the next election will have to find this balance if this country is ever going to stop ricocheting from one extreme to the other. Meanwhile, as campaign managers huddle in their headquarters with media consultants to try and come up with the right image and slogan to win us over, they must bear in mind that we have all become weary of the whole game.

The truth is that (like a spoiled teenager who just has to snap his fingers to get the latest gadget) we’re jaded and blasé now. Images of overflowing trolleys (remember those billboards?) will hardly make any impression on the voting public when it is time to go to the polls this time round.

Voters want to know they are going to elect representatives with substance and integrity. We want our taxes to be spent well and not frivolously and we don’t really need to see a minister on the evening news examining every new bit of tarmac laid (do they realise that only in Third World countries does this constitute “news”?).

We’re not asking for much you know – just a country which is kept clean and functions properly and where the right to have unspoilt countryside is not sacrificed on the altar of hard, cold cash.

I don’t know about you, but in my lifetime I’d like to be able to stop making the inevitable comparisons when I travel... when I always end up saying, “Now why can’t Malta look like this?”