The contradiction that is Malta was in full view on Monday, Budget Day.

Let's start from the outside moving inwards. The environmentalists, led by their redoubtable and resourceful historic leaders stole a march on everybody else by refreshing a tactic they had last used when Alfred Sant was PM - they camped outside Parliament.

Then they held a very well attended protest as MPs assembled to hear the Budget Speech, drowning out what was happening inside the House.

In doing so, they stole a march on the party in Opposition on the day when the country would have expected to see the PN take to the streets in protest especially now that the election is just round the corner. PN lost that round through inertia and allowed the environment lobbies central stage. The new PN leadership is losing momentum and this will possibly be reflected in the next opinion polls.

The country was astonished to see the prime minister hobnobbing with the leaders of the environmentalists when actually the protest was directed at him and the free hand his new legislation will be giving to developers.

Then again the ruling party seems to be riven with internal feuds between the Joseph Muscat core and the Robert Abela gang with people like Neville Gafa being forced out while people like Manwel Cuschieri are fostering an audience and existence away from One Media. Is-Sur Manwel still has a following.

Onto the Budget Speech itself. I had not watched the institutional interlude at the Palace when the minister submits the Speech and other documents to the Head of State for her signature for a number of years and now I realised how tawdry our institutional heights have become.

Next, the minister himself. I'm trying hard to be charitable but the minister's appearance does not help, nor his presentation with all that shouting, bombastic declamations straight out of a Wenzu w Rozi farce. Those who chose to go to the protest missed a show.

The meme showing Minister Ian Borg snoring away as the Finance Minister next to him drones on may be fake news for all I know but it's still very funny.

Minister Clyde Caruana must be made to understand Parliament is no place for such exhibitions and that he demeans himself and the House with such shenanigans.

As to the contents of the speech, past experience has taught me that such speeches and descriptions of the economy are always less glorious than the government makes it out to be and less catastrophic than the Opposition says it is.

The government through its acolytes on TVM and One keeps banging the fib Malta's economy is better than that of Europe when this same government has been unable to get a new ship for the Gozo crossing.

This is the same government which has accumulated public debt of €11.1 billion which was only half that when the minister got the Finance Ministry. For starters the minister would be credible when he tells us how he is going to bring back the debt total to, let's say, how he found it when he became minister.

The Opposition would be credible only if it commits itself to bringing debt down to the same level and if can persuade the electorate with credible and checkable steps how it intends to do so from Day One.

The crackpot ideas being proposed must be seen for what they are. The government proposal to pay mothers for the amount of children they have takes the cake.

It can be interpreted as a throwback to the war years when mothers were pushed by the priests to have as many children as they could.

I would have thought we were beyond this level. Why is the country not up in arms against this depiction of women as cows?

So too the other idea unfortunately accepted also by the Opposition of coming together with a long-term plan for mass transport. I always say that when the two parties come together everyone must beware. Nothing good comes from this huddle. At least Minister Caruana spoke out against this madness though he didn't come up with an alternative.

Lastly the increase in pensions. Last week I wrote that an increase of under €5 a week was an insult. Then the government began saying the increase would be of €10 a week until I found out the pension increase would be of €4.32 plus COLA of €5.66 bringing the total to €10. Pull the other one Clyde.

Now in a country so mercenary the government is preparing an avalanche of cheques for all kinds of spurious reasons and it knows that the population will lap it up and vote it in.

I'm still waiting for the Abela government to admit it got it wrong when so much money was spent on roads and we still have traffic congestion, that €600 million were lost on the new hospitals pipe dream, that Malta has become an irrelevance in foreign affairs, and that Malta's biggest industry has become working with the government.

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