I may be right off the wall here, but I believe that a major factor in the swing towards Labour is boredom. This is not necessarily boredom with the government, you understand, but boredom in general.

When people have reached that point in tedium and ennui where they will do almost anything to alleviate the (lack of) sensation, bad things happen. They’re prepared to take almost any risk to set off a spark and create some excitement, the sort that reminds them they are still alive. You see it with life, you see it with work, you see it in marriage, and you see it in decisions taken in the polling booth.

Right now, the air is heavy with boredom. Hear the way people speak. “I’m sick of this government”; “we need something new”; “this has gone on long enough”; “something has to give”. If you listen carefully, they are not really talking about politics or the way the country is run. They are not speaking about jobs or employment or education or the economy or whether we are in or out of recession (we’re out).

What they are saying, in effect, is that they are fed-up, bored, sick of it all and need a bit of excitement. They want to throw a firecracker into the mix, set off a few explosions, make things happen, even if they are bad things or risky things, as long as they are different things. They’re not going to run out on their spouse or tell the boss where he can shove his job – too drastic – but they might have a fling with Jimmy/Mary in accounts or vote Labour.

In short, we’re reached that point where people need a thrill, and they are going to do anything to get it, short of wrecking their marriage (though plenty are doing that), turning to drink and drugs, or driving a fast car at 100mph round a hairpin bend. The surveys all show that the greatest swing to Labour has taken place among middle-aged people. The usual interpretation is that these are the people who are most under pressure financially. Perhaps so, but it could also be because this is the age-group most afflicted by existential crises and utter boredom, even more than teenagers and for different reasons. Voting Labour, for those who have never done so, falls into the midlife-crisis category of excitement-inducing changes as dumping the spouse for a newer model, eat-pray-loving your way through India like a 20-year-old backpacker but with more money, and going to the same nightclubs as your children, in jeans that are even tighter.

It happens. We are lucky that the worst we can expect is a change of government. In previous generations and much larger countries, this sort of Zeitgeist generally meant that drastic measures had to be taken to give The People the thrill they were looking for, and to stop them getting it by railing against their rulers and seeking to have them overthrown. And so those rulers gave them the excitement they sought by taking the country into war instead.

Elsewhere, there is plenty of excitement. Only yesterday, tens of thousands converged on Madrid to demonstrate against austerity measures – you know, the austerity measures that their government has implemented because Spain is in such a terrible financial mess. Major roads were blocked, and around half a million demonstrators were expected to have gathered by the time this piece met its deadline. Spain is stuck in a double-dip recession and unemployment is at 25 per cent. Among young people, it is much higher.

Lawrence Gonzi’s government has, in a sense, been damaged by its own successes. Because people in general have nothing more serious to worry about – no loss of homes or jobs, no sons and daughters returning home in their 30s because they are out of work and can no longer pay rent, no homeless shelters with queues of hundreds outside, waiting for a bowl of soup, no education or healthcare cuts – they are free to fuss and whine about how boring it all is and how sick they are of looking at the same politicians, and how they want some different ones to get excited about.

Human nature is fascinating, but in so many ways, entirely predictable.

Blasts from the past, hectoring us about the future

Those blasts from the past, Edward Scicluna, Mintoff’s Minister Karmenu ‘Il-Guy’ Vella and Charles Mangion addressed a press conference yesterday morning.

All three are rival contenders for the desirable and opportunity-laden post of finance minister, which John Dalli held so ably for so many years. Seeing them lined up next to each other, each seething with anxiety that Joseph, a man embarrassingly young enough to be their son, will give it to one of the others, was almost funny. Well, I would have laughed if it were not for the still-fresh memory of Karmenu Vella being carried shoulder-high with Mintoff and then with Prime Minister Mifsud Bonnici, as one of their most cherished ‘ministri tal-qalba’. You just know that he is going to fight off Scicluna and Mangion with a knuckle-duster in a velvet glove.

The content of their press conference was more depressing still. It is obvious that they are preparing the way for their own inadequacy and the imminent time when, safely ensconced in the Ministeru tal-Finanzi, they will have to begin shouting about hofor as they did the last time round.

“The government should come clean on its finances and not leave any surprises for the next government,” Edward Scicluna said. “Labour will hold the government responsible for its management of public finances.” Something must have been lost in translation there, or maybe Labour is having trouble adjusting to the thought of actually being the government – because if Labour is the government, then how can it hold the government responsible?

Karmenu Vella, who believes that his track record as a government minister is excellent, spoke about Malta’s “structural financial problems” and how “the situation is going from bad to worse”. That must be why his cruise business is so very busy, then. Bear in mind always that this is the man who coined the term “zmien id-deheb” (the golden years) to describe the time when his idol Dom Mintoff was busy breaking the country’s back and giving us a prolonged taste of life in a small town in Enver Hoxha’s Albania.

Charles Mangion, taking a break from acting as notary on major land development deals (but not Yana and Anne Mintoff’s, because they chose Alex Sceberras Trigona instead), told us how the private sector should be the motor of the economy. Tell us something we don’t know, Charles. Isn’t this one of the main reasons why Labour lost every election bar one since 1981?

Karmenu Vella for finance minister – how’s that for a bit of a thrill? It beats invading Poland.

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