One couldn’t help immediately smelling a rat in the New Year’s televised kitchen drama. It was strikingly artificial, insincere and certainly undignified for an address to the nation by a Prime Minister. In fact it stooped so low with its trickeries that it was no wonder it resulted in a major public relations disaster.

Construct furniture and non-construct(ive) messages   

In spite of the fact that he was delivering a message to the nation on New Year’s Eve, the Prime Minister had no qualms about taking a dig at the Opposition in the same breath that he called for national unity. His message touched upon controversial issues in a partisan manner.

The public broadcaster has already been condemned by the Broadcasting Authority, the National Audit Office and its own employees in the last few weeks of last year. As if this was not enough, the Prime Minister felt it appropriate to add to the dose of partisanship on New Year’s Day. 

Bereft of any kind of authenticity

As aptly put by The Malta Independent leader, the kitchen drama was not only longer than the messages of David Cameron, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande put together but it was bereft of any kind of authenticity. This was in stark contrast with the televised message of the Leader of the Opposition, which was sober, statesmanlike and genuine.

The very fact that the Prime Minister himself acted out his scripted part on stage as any actor would act out his in any other television commercial selling toothpaste is already suspicious in itself. But for a Prime Minister to participate in a production that deceptively equates average, newly-wed first-time buyers with well-off couples easily able to afford designer kitchens was atrocious. 

It is simply not on. It is insensitive towards those who are struggling to make ends meet in a year that has seen the number of those at risk of poverty increasing, while at the same time it insults the intelligence of the rest with an in-your-face production that treats the audience like fools.

A pack of lies

The make-believe fairytale production did not have the desired effect but rather an unintended consequence. It triggered the media to hunt down the rat in the kitchen – and hunt him down and fix him they did.

It was thanks to the media that we have discovered the couple actually bought their house in 2008 under a Nationalist government, so they could not have benefitted from last year’s first-time buyers scheme as stated by the Prime minister in the televised production. Also thanks to the media, we came to know that the average first-time buyers portrayed were not average at all but the children of the owners of one of the country’s largest furniture companies. In fact the family, which has a long history with the Labour Party, is involved in multi-million public contracts. The Malta Independent newsroom discovered that the kitchen was not even available for purchase yet.

Of course, for its part the Nationalist Party pointed out that the Prime Minister keeps referring to the so-called ‘American University’ which is neither a university nor American. It also pointed out that the lower cost of electricity is, up to now, only possible because of the infrastructure – including a new power station and the interconnector that this government inherited from the previous administration. And, needless to say, the economy continues to fare well, even if the benefits are not necessarily trickling down, because of the firm direction it was given by the Nationalist administration in difficult times, not to mention the €1,200 million boost into our economy that former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi negotiated with the European Union.

The world is a stage and Labour just loves the place

Labour’s melodramatic approach to politics did not start with the shots of orchestras on cliffs in this New Year’s message. New Labour has, in fact, been about scripted and choreographed drama all along. It seems that now it no longer enchants anyone.

Let’s face it, it is one thing watching David Cameron’s witty recital of Shakespeare in the House of Commons and totally another watching Joseph Muscat’s in-your-face make-believe kitchen drama.