I spent a considerable part of the last afternoon of the year people-watching.

Sitting in a car in the year's last afternoon sun while plane after plane came in to land bringing more and more visitors to Malta, I watched people on their way into and out of a big supermarket.

Until the last times when a certain panicked reaction set in as people hurried to get home and prepare for the night's celebration the atmosphere was good-natured if not completely leisurely.

There was a fair amount of non-Maltese, no longer identifiable by what they were wearing but mostly by their language.

The overall image in other words, was one of tranquility, peace and security. This image is becoming rather rare in today's world.

In other corners of the world people are rushing to the refuge, or the safe room or seeking what refuge they can find.

In other corners of the world people are picking themselves up from the ground and looking around to see what has happened to loved ones.

In other corners of the world mothers are despairing because their children are hungry and they have nothing to give them.

The people flocking the aisles in the supermarkets in Malta on NYE 2024 don't know how lucky they are.

Being unaware of their luck means they can easily lose their good luck. Through carelessness, through taking the wrong decisions, through allowing others to take their decisions for them, through so many wrong turnings they can be persuaded to take.

That, in a nutshell, is where we find ourselves in this dawn of the new year.

Locally, the new year finds us still getting to grips with an economy that is sinking in public debt to the tune of €10 billion and more and rapidly rising. Our recent illusion of affluence is based on this mountain of debt, as two Opposition MPs reminded us in the past days.

To which the government replied with an invective-laden statement making a series of charges with regards to the Opposition's financial situation without replying to the principal charge.

There is more, much more, to worry about. From the backing that some entrepreneurs in big property ventures are getting from the head of government to bypass planning rules and get on with their monster projects.

And as the mammoth works begin at Msida despite the controversies drivers all over the country are expected to face increased pressure on the roads. The holiday is over.

Malta in the early Middle Ages

I bring to the notice of readers a recent article by Jeremy Jones on Anthony Luttrell's The Making of Christian Malta which appeared in the Journal of Islamic Studies.

It answers questions such as "How did the socio-political dynamics of Malta evolve from the early Middle Ages to 1530?" and  "In what ways did external powers and trade routes impact the development of Malta's economy and society from the Early Middle Ages to 1530?"

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