We have all heard the expression, too many cooks will spoil the broth. We all know what it means, or has come to mean in today’s world.

It is simply a saying that implies that when you have too many people involved, something is bound to go wrong or not even get started. What on earth do we mean, readers might ask.

Well, let us think about it. We are living in a world in 2009 where we have to deal with the greatest economic depression since the 1930s. We have swine flu to worry about, climate change, starvation in Africa, the phenomenon of illegal immigration and God knows what else.

In the meantime, everyone is talking about these problems and not much is getting done. In the past months we have seen summits and declarations from the top bodies in the world. The WHO, the EU, the EC, the United Nations and many more telling everyone what we should and should not do. Granted, these are all problems which the whole world is facing.

But aside from a lot of idle chat, nothing seems to be done. At the UN we were told, as citizens of the world, that we need to cut carbon output into the atmosphere. The world leaders nodded in agreement and pledged change.

But where is this change? Of course, we are all as guilty as our respective governments. Individual states have taken initiatives on the world stage, and Malta is no exception. But if we really had to look deep within, what has happened? Not much we would have to say.

We have started to separate our rubbish and yes we have switched to energy saving bulbs. But is this really going to slow down climate change?

Equally, we have European technocrats and politicians telling us what we should and should not do to pull out of the recession. Sadly, the modern truth is that we will pull out of the recession only when the European media begin to detect rays of hope and boost confidence through news bulletins.

As we have said, it just simply seems like we have too many talking heads and too many bodies proposing things that never seem to get off the ground.

The same goes for the flue. We have flooded the market with scaremonger advertising about bacterial washes and whatnot, whereas the truth is that it can hit anyone and you should simply quarantine yourself if you contract it.

It has truly become a strange world where opinions on matters and trends seem to just change on a whim.

Everyone is talking about the problem of immigration and it is only now, years down the line, that our European partners are finally taking concrete action in taking on immigrants. For years we harped on and cried and for years other nations talked about it.

It is an emergent pattern. We are a generation of bureaucracy, talk and procrastination. Action simply takes far too long to get off the ground. All the while, the starving and diseased in Africa die, people in rickety boats drown in the surrounding seas and the world’s temperature and weather patterns get hotter and more freakish.

We started this editorial with an old saying and we will end it in that way too. There is no time like the present. If the world’s leaders do not go from talk to action, we may very well be one of the last generations to enjoy life as we know it.