It is interesting how a snap election campaign found the two major parties ready with their promises. I guess we’ll be learning about more of them in the remaining couple of weeks.

What struck me in promises being made is their socio-economic carry over. (I’m excluding from this Nationalist commitments regarding governance and corruption, for I’m convinced that if the Opposition gets to govern, these commitments would be ignored.)

As of now, the parties feel they are in a position to make such proposals in order to greatly improve people’s standards of living. And it is also interesting that practically nobody has yet come out to tell them they’re promising pie in the sky.

There’s just one reason for this. In recent years, under a Labour administration, the economy has made huge progress. It had been decades since we last experienced such strong growth. Everybody is therefore assuming there will be more to distribute.  

The competition is no longer about how best to maintain what has been achieved, but about how best to organize the greater wealth that is being expected, due to the economic success of the Labour administration.

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Media family

In past years, one could note how petty crises broke out in our society when some host or other of a regular radio or television show was retired. Either because his/her programme was considered to have become somewhat dated and in need of replacement, or because of a general review of the programming schedule at the end of a season.

The host concerned would deem him/herself shortchanged and rise up in revolt. Listeners and televiewers of the show would publicly back him/her. They all actually end up like a family which feels hurt at how its way of life has been degraded, and at the lack of respect shown towards its “leader” or if you like, head of family.

The problem quickly escalates, with hosts of media shows who feel raw at their treatment, blaming political interference for their setback. So, they go down the path of turning red if they are blue, or vice versa. I’ve been told that members of their media “family” follow in their footsteps.

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Study on tuna fisheries

I’ve just been through a research study by Alicia Said and fellow academics from the University of Kent about Maltese artisanal fishermen in the blue tunafish sector.

During the past fourteen years, developments have greatly damaged the interests of traditional Maltese fishermen. There was the emergence of industrial fishing for tuna, which earns foreign exhange for the country, and which the government promoted. Then internationally, recognition grew about how tuna was being fished to extinction and that a conservation policy was needed to ensure the revival of fish populations. A quota system was therefore set up. The latter benefitted greatly the “industrial” tuna firms, while for a number of reasons, traditional fishermen were shunted aside.

I had long ago understood that this was happening from fishermen’s accounts. However, the report by Said et al. confirms through research that the grievances of the traditional operators are justified.