If one had to listen to parliament, or the Labour Party, then we would think that Malta is a third world country where people can barely afford to feed and clothe themselves.

True, we do have people who are at risk and do struggle to make ends meet at the end of the month, but it is always hard to reconcile this with what we see out on the streets, in the shops and in restaurants.

As Europe’s austerity measures bite on the continent, Malta continues to register economic growth. But, it goes beyond that. The long weekend with the two public holidays was a bumper deal for shops, restaurants and cafeterias. Valletta and Sliema were absolutely crammed with people doing their Christmas shopping and they came from all walks of life. People are spending. This is fact. The shopping centres and small outlets were all registering a roaring trade and this is evident by the amount of shopping bags that people were struggling to carry.

This hubbub of activity also obviously spilled over into the restaurants, and cafes, and people were spending money left, right and centre. As we have already said, there are people who are at risk of poverty and there are those who are invisible. Those people deserve help and it should make us stop and think. But we must also think of poverty relatively.

It is indeed sad to think that we sometimes lament poverty, but at the same time, can afford the latest mobile phones and branded trainers and cars. We must, at some point, acknowledge facts.

Malta is not in the same position as the rest of Europe because we did not overspend. Our wages and salaries are perhaps lower than what you would earn on the Continent, but that is one of the main reasons why we are not in the mess that other countries are in. Equally, our banks are stable because they did not dangle the credit card carrot in front of our faces.

Has the cost of living increased? Yes, and quite dramatically. Have our monthly bills and charges increased? Yes, they have.

But, let us look at the wider picture. Are our banks coping? Yes. Is our economy coping? Yes. Can we afford to eat out once a week ? Yes. Can we afford to shop until we drop at Christmas time? Yes. This is the reality. Life has changed all over the world. The glory days of the 80s and 90s where the world thrived on the selling of debt are over. We have alluded to this in previous leading articles already, life has changed. While everyone else seems to be cutting back and painfully adjusting to a life of budgeting and making do, we are trying to preserve what we have. If we look at it that way, we might actually finally understand that Malta is converging with the rest of Europe. True, we do not have massive salaries and cheap products on the shelves. But salaries abroad are shrinking and prices are increasing daily while Malta continues to slowly bolster its economic situation. We can never hope to achieve what Continental citizens enjoyed for a few years. It was unsustainable and look at the price they are paying now.