If foreign workers in Malta from non-EU countries... and for that matter from the EU as well... had the right to vote here, how would their vote go in general elections? And how would it change electoral results?

Clearly, given their numbers in Malta now, such citizens would make a difference that would actually determine the outcome. Their electoral input would reflect well the contribution they are making to maintain the country's economy and social services.

Would the parties need to adapt their programmes to meet the justified expectations of the newly emerging electorate? Or would a new party be born, this time with an impetus that has never existed up to now, that would reflect the interests of foreign workers?

In reality, such a scenario is not about to happen. Foreign workers are here to work, many of them for wages that Maltese citizens do not accept, to carry out work that Maltese people do not want to do. As they have no vote, there is scant interest in their welfare, although they pay taxes like we all do. So in reality, is Maltese society simply exploiting these workers?

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OPENING HOURS

There was a time when the opening hours of shops were restricted, with a break in the early afternoon and no trading possible on Sundays, at times also on Saturdays in the afternoon. Opening times were obligatory for all, or almost. When efforts started being made to liberalise opening times, controversies erupted.

Would it have been a good thing if opening hours had remained restricted for one and all, to allow shopowners to enjoy a decent family life? Or was it better to let all retail businesses choose for themselves when to open or close according to their wishes and what suited them best, for the greater benefit of shoppers?

That controversy has since been buried. Liberalisation won the day. This was in part a consequence which rarely gets mentioned - for the better or for the worse - of Malta's membership in the EU. Some will say it was also the consequence of how society in Malta and abroad developed due to the huge economic and technological changes triggered by globalisation.

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MADNESS OR EVIL?

Some news items that come up about diverse incidents can only be described as utterly horrific.

Recently one from Australia referred to an internationally esteemed biologist. He was found guilty of having over the years obtained dogs in order, he claimed, to look after them, but instead spent time torturing them, having sex with them (?) and then putting them to death in the most atrocious manner.

From France these last weeks came the item about a man who would drug and put his wife to sleep to then "invite" other men to come and rape her.

What gives rise to such incidents which conceivably might have astonished the Marquis de Sade? Was it evil in the worst meaning of that word, a total contempt for all that makes us human by way of compassion or respect for life? Or was it just the madness of a person who lost altogether the compass of how to live one's life as a human being?