Our Christmas cribs are all set and ready in their place of honour in our homes, yet the magi are still steadily on their way to the stable, carrying gifts to honour the infant in the manger.

However, this year I wish to imagine them bringing a different set of gifts to those we are accustomed to each year. As we look forward towards 2025, I wish Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar to bring with them gifts which are desperately needed, and which would go a longer way.

Perhaps the first magi could bring with him a good hold on inflation. Locally we have seen the gap between the wealthy and the less prolific widen alarmingly. It is no consolation to say that this is an international phenomenon. We are seeing families struggling to make it to the end of the month and finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the standard of living they have been accustomed to.

Families are struggling to keep up with the most basic of needs and as they flirt dangerously with the poverty line, they are increasingly becoming dependent on our social infrastructure to survive.

The second magi could bring with him a sense of justice. Sadly, under subsequent Labour administrations, we have seen the rise of a culture of impunity, where justice is only applicable for the weak. It has become almost an acceptable reality that some people will never face justice in this world, just because they are too powerful or too connected to do so.

In 2024, we had a long litany of flagrant cases of Ministerial abuse, misuse of public resources, a rise in criminality, one corruption racket after another, and many other unsavoury practices which are never ever investigated or brought to justice. This is extremely tiresome, and it sends the complete wrong message to our younger generations who are growing increasingly disappointed in the entire system.

The third magi could bring with him some respect for our environment. Sadly, this government has wasted yet another year and has left a draft law which I proposed on behalf of the Opposition to guarantee "The Fundamental Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment", to gather dust.

We all know that it is very convenient for government to persevere in the status quo, as the planning authority remains another puppet outlet, only tasked with issuing the most shockingly outrageous permits for projects that will continue to rape our environment. 2024 has been another year of unbelievable legal gymnastics to justify the incredible and secure political favour.

And finally, I would like to imagine another gift, which, since we have run out of magi, perhaps we could all join hands, and try our best to bring. It is an effort to understand and nurture a sense of identity which we seem to be struggling with.

Malta is a young democracy, and the debate about our identity has never really been tackled in any depth. Our nature as an island, depending on international trade and traffic makes our identity rather fluid, yet the whirlwind of social economic realities that have gripped the island in the past 11 years have threatened any authenticity that might have existed.

We cannot continue to justify losing our souls in the name of economic progress, especially when such progress threatens prosperity in the long run. We must understand who we are, and where we want to go. We must believe in ourselves, believe that we have something special that is unique, and nurture it.

Naturally we cannot wait for any wise men from the orient to bring these gifts. We must roll up our sleeves and work hard for them ourselves. I am convinced that we can achieve all this if we work together, and I am hopeful that 2025 can take us a step closer to this.

I wish the readers of this newspaper the very best for this blessed season, and a great start to the New Year.

Dr Darren Carabott is the Opposition's Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Security and Reforms, and President of the Public Accounts Committee.