I cannot know whether I'm the only one to be finding that something strange is happening - it relates to the distance that one notices between the discourse that is deployed by government and opposition, and what people you meet in the street speak about.  On the government side, like when Prime Minister Harold Macmillan ruled the roost in the UK during the 1950's, the catchword is how "you never had it so good" and how things will soon get even better. On the opposition side, it's all a question of emphasizing how matters are getting from bad to worse with corruption and with any problem "The Times" happens to put on its front page.

Meanwhile, people are speaking to each other in  a different language. They try to understand why they get "served" in some sectors but not in others. They ask about the future. They worry about schools, prices and pensions. And it seems as if the messages of both political camps are really reaching only their devoted supporters.

There was a time when the word "vision" was politically popular, even if it was employed so often and in such a meaningless manner that it ended up losing all significance. Perhaps it needs to be resurrected as an idea, so that government and opposition can get across the message that they truly have a wideranging and clear strategy  about the country's future development.

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TRANSPARENCY

The need for greater transparency in public and private management has become increasingly evident. The methods of the past by which decisions would be taken in closed circles with no accountability regarding how and why they were taken, remain firmly entrenched here.

Meanwhile from all sides of the political spectrum, we hear agreement being expressed in favour of transparency. But as time passes, one finds that nothing has changed.

Indeed, it would be best to establish some general agreement regarding the principles of transparency we believe in and the criteria which should be used to implement them. Otherwise we shall all continue to pay the highest tribute to transparency and its desirability but nobody would be available to really action it.

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REPORTS

In a world made up of complex societies, it is necessary to promote the culture of having reports carried out before major decisions are taken. From year to year, very many such reports are drawn up on a local, regional, national, sectoral, international, global basis. The EU is jampacked with reports and it is not the only institution in this situation. Reports serve to legitimize and justify the decisions taken by governments and authorities.

The time has come for a report to be drawn up on how such reports are prepared or should be prepared, drawing on the vast experience of them acquired during the last decades! For there have been excellent reports, others that were mediocre and not a few which were total fiascos.

I thought about this recently during work on a project for the publication under the      --quinque- label of the January 1964 report prepared by Professor Wolfgang Stolper and his commission of experts about Malta's economic and social future. Drafted just before Malta became independent, the Stolper report surely cannot be described as a fiasco or as mediocre.