Over the past four weeks or so, it has been a rollercoaster of events that have shaken us all. Even the people least interested in current affairs and politics found themselves trying to understand more of what is happening, followed the media in a more assiduous manner and engaged themselves in conversations they usually stay away from.

The snowball effect in the developments in the investigation of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, which was followed by arrests and arraignments, and also led to the resignation of the Prime Minister, have left everyone scrambling for information. There followed the publication of the Egrant inquiry report, which threw new light on the Panama Papers scandal, a story that has dominated national politics for nearly four years.

Never before have media houses been stretched to their limit for such an extended period of time. Over the years we’ve had pockets of days which were busier than others; and month-long election campaigns are always full of activities, most of them planned in advance – but what we have experienced for a whole month since that now famous day when it was revealed that a middleman was asking for immunity in exchange of information regarding Daphne’s assassination is unprecedented.

We dare say that this particular period of time will not end anytime soon. The Christmas and New Year celebrations – who is thinking about them, anyway? – might slightly dampen the flurry of events that are taking place day after day, sometimes hour after hour. But the effects of all that has happened – and will continue to happen in the next months – will be hard to overcome in this country of ours.

So much has been said and uncovered these past weeks, and the ensuing endless court sittings are revealing more and more information on how the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia was planned and executed.

As one follows the testimonies being given in court, in different cases, it is hard to believe that the witnesses are saying “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. It will be up to the judges and magistrates to sift through what is being said, realise who is credible and who is not, and determine their judgment. 

Moving in parallel and being given equal importance in the news is the more recent publication of the full report of the Egrant inquiry which exposed a web of corruption and the inefficiency – or reluctance, or both – of the police to dig deeper to bring any perpetrators to justice. Although so much time has been lost, the police should further their investigations into the many leads that have emerged from the inquiry.

Two events, entangled together both directly and indirectly, that have thrown Malta into chaos and given our country so much bad publicity. To have the European Parliament voting so overwhelmingly against Malta’s prime minister was yet another blow to Malta’s reputation.

The Labour Party was elected for the second consecutive term with the slogan “L-aqwa zmien”. Never before has a political slogan been turned on its head as has happened in the last two years.

What was foreseen by Labour as the “best of times” has become one of the darkest chapters of our history, if not the worst.