After the unanimous disapproval and condemnation of the Planning Authority’s approval of four towers at Mriehel and one super-tower at Tigne, the popular disapproval yesterday had another target: the situation at the Blue Lagoon in Comino especially after a story carried by our sister Sunday paper yesterday.

Our online version received a torrent of comments and there was not

one that said the article was mistaken, or exaggerated. On the contrary, people kept adding facts that were not mentioned in the article.

The situation at Comino has always been there, but it has lately grown to insufferable excess. It has turned a beauty spot to a paradise lost, with overcrowding and overpricing being the order of the day.

Government and police inaction have allowed the deckchair robber barons and other ‘entrepreneurs’ to destroy all the charm of the place.

And it is not just at Comino that this takes place. At the recent Business Breakfast organized by The Malta Business Weekly complaints were raised about how the Sliema to St Julian’s front has been allowed to literally go to the dogs and how there is dire need of daily power wash cleaning, and emptying of bins more than once a day. The same can be said of Paceville.

In response to this the officials present mumbled something about this being the competence of local councils and how this will be put right at some point in the future. They were then very vague as regards specific timelines.

And we can widen the view and we will surely concluded that Malta is going to the dogs. It is true there are some localities which pride themselves justifiably for their cleanliness, but they have become a rarity. There was a time, years ago, when Gozo put Malta to shame for its spick and span appearance. Now even Gozo has deteriorated.

It is true that the influx of so many visitors, while welcome, has put the rest of the country in a stressful situation.

It is also true that the splitting up of so many responsibilities from the national level to the local council level has confused people and also starved local councils from the necessary funding to carry out their duties.

So we end up with these endless games of finding out who is responsible. There were a couple of such charades in parliament recently where the ministers could not agree who is responsible for such a simple thing as ordering a vacant plot to be surrounded by a wall. One minister wanted to know who the plot belonged to before he could answer. It is for this reason so many vacant plots remain empty and open and rat-infested.

In our opinion, before we aspire to high-sounding targets like being the best in Europe, of a smart island, we could do far better if we tackle the here and now problems we have around us every day.

There is no need of a five-year plan, or a strategic programme: just focus on one or two items we have pointed out today and tackle them now and today. And make sure the problem has been tackled and solved before making any bombastic declaration about what we intend to do in the future.