There are, of course, the big problems such as corruption and the rule of law and the delays and probably worse at the law courts....

And then there are the other problems, real and existing and, in their own way, equally big for those who have to battle them on a daily basis.

The battle to get the rules obeyed by all, be they Maltese or foreigners.

A survey has just tracked Malta as one of the worst places for expats to live and work in. It’s not just expats who may come here for only some months or years. It’s we who live here from birth to death, many times in the same town or village.

Speaking generally we have all been seeing standards deteriorate and we are all the worse for it.

There may be some who live in areas that are clean and taken care of, for such areas still exist. But once these lucky residents come out of that enclave they meet mayhem on the roads with next to no enforcement of rules and with many hidden dangers.

And then there is the huge issue of cleanliness, outside the residences and in the streets, a daily battle for all, especially in these hot times, made many times worse when people don’t do what they’re supposed to do and when those who should be enforcing the laws find they are impotent.

The Maltese are unfortunately already predisposed to racism and this widespread negligence and blatant disregard of the laws coupled with lack of enforcement by the police and other bodies is riding on the pre-existing racism and colouring everything. Why should I obey the law when everybody else is disregarding it? And getting away with it.

You raise the issue with mayors and they blame the police and tell you they get no help from them and that the police are all the time blaming someone else. You contact the police and they tell you to contact someone else. And yet, while everybody engages in this blame game and while the mounds of rubbish outside doors remain there until the next time they collect the black bags, which may be quite some days away, no one, neither the mayor nor the police get out of their air-conditioned offices and go to engage with the miscreants.

And if the latter are Third World nationals, unused to the standards we want to keep, such inaction by the mayor or the police actually encourages them to continue breaking the law. Then you wonder how they, maybe coming from countries where discipline is enforced by whipping or worse, have such a low regard for our policemen.

There are now more and more agencies which are supposed to help carry the police burden, such as Lesa and the Community Police but I ask our readers to state where they have ever used them and what was the result.

Public health is a very important issue and we need all hands on deck rather than this fragmenting of authorities and this pointing at everyone else which ends up with nobody doing anything and the problems all remaining there.

There needs to be far more focusing, far more shouldering of responsibility. Also, the current non-system can be conducive to low level corruption and bribes. It is very easy to understand there’s this game going on and you would be amazed how people click on to it.

We have a beautiful country (if only without all this construction and road building mayhem) and other countries have their problems too (which we thankfully do not have) but the neglect on our streets and the abysmal lack of enforcement is pushing us down the slope from which it will be very hard to climb back.

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