Are people asking for a change in government or a change in the way we do politics, more away, in other words, from passé politics than politics per se?

I think many are asking for the first, but even more are actually asking for the latter, though not in so many words. Quite a few people today, perhaps much to the surprise of those who inhabit glasshouse political bubbles are less bothered by the colour of their political leaders and simply want not only a better result, but a different way of doing politics. That’s why the general population were pleased when Lawrence Gonzi took over. They saw in him the promise of a man who might do politics differently. Eddie came out of confrontation politics – all red bad, all blue good. He made miracles but he left a divided country. Now a few years on we are in fact much more one Malta, much more likely to be anti government even if the government is of our own colour.

Political parties and some of their less imaginative and visionary hangers on may find this threatening, but in fact it is a sign of democracy maturing.

People will not vote only blue or red next time. They will vote for who is more likely to do politics in a different way. Who of the political leaders will be inclusive and utilise the talents of people from both sides? Which political leader will put the environment before the contractors who fund political parties? Which political party or leader will truly liberalise our education system away from the information regurgitating nightmare it is today, to one which develops our children’s individual potential in a nurturing rather than in an examination hurdles elimination way? Which political party will also nurture the English-speaking Maltese, whose children are leaving this island in their droves, producing an emotional and cultural brain drain among those who are educated in a far more liberal open minded way in Malta’s private schools than they generally have been to date in our State and overly academic oriented Church schools?

The recent middle class puliti mini rebellions cum reactions we had over Ramla l-Hamra, the Ta’ Cenc over development or the golf course near Golden Bay, the hunters who break the law, the general over development everywhere, were all examples of people rising up in a way they hadn’t done since the Mintoff/ Karmenu years, the last years when the middle classes were really galvanised not into anti socialism per se, but anti the violent, centralising controlling way of doing politics that had become the norm. Now it might have been understandable coming from a government of a country that was so recently democratically experienced, but it still angered middle class people and others and rightly so.

It didn’t annoy enough of us though (remember the tiny majority the Nats obtained in 1987), but that is simply because of the failures of our education and religious upbringing, systems which train us to be unthinking robot repeating morons, unable to question, fearful to challenge, cowardly in the face of obvious wrongdoing. Now, partly thanks to the explosion in private education in recent years, we are still cowardly but we do have a whole swathe of people coming through who think for themselves, who cannot be hoodwinked by Church or State, who will demand and are demanding a different way of doing politics.

These people, the ones who want a different way of doing politics will decide the next government alongside, sadly, some of the more unpleasant members of our society, those who hold extreme views be they anti immigrant in an exaggerated and ridiculous way, or pro clerical in a stifling way, or pro hunting in an extreme way. Who will have more clout though? Our collection of motley extremists, or our growing mass of reasonable and not particularly monochrome coloured voters?

Monochrome is passé. Today people will openly say they respect Lawrence Gonzi but hate the way that minister has acted. People might say they thought one Labour minister acted well, or Dom Mintoff tripped up Alfred Sant. They will in other words acknowledge the complexity in politics. They simply won’t believe the all red bad or good versus the all blue good or bad. That is all passé.

In fact you don’t even need to denigrate the other side to win the next election, a point that may seem anathema to our confrontational political parties. You just need to present this new way of doing politics and of course convince people that you mean it. People now want a real and new post EU membership government. The main political battles have been fought. We are an independent republic and fully-fledged members of the EU. We don’t have the same issues that divided us in the 1970s and 1980s and even early on in this new century. We just want it all to be managed in a modern and inclusive way, and the leader who will deliver this will win.

Now it’s as much about style as about substance. We want one truly educated Malta managed well. We want one liberalised Malta and Gozo where we really look after the tiny resources that we have, both natural and human. Who promises this and who we believe will deliver it will be the next Prime Minister, unless of course we have more extremists than I estimate we have.

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