Tourism is the economic sector which up to now has provided, almost right through, consistently positive results. It is the one sure reason why the economy has continued to roll. The fear that was always there - about how tourism was too fragile as an area of activity and could evaporate overnight - never materialised. Meanwhile, other sectors that were considered more reliable - like agriculture and manufacturing - kept declining.

It is also true that we did not really take good care of them, especially following Malta's accession to the EU. We let them shrivel. The same did not happen to tourism and not because we took better care of it - although that might be a debatable point. Taking good care of an economic sector doesn't necessarily mean that one just throws good money at it... as we also did for tourism, often with good results - though not always.

It could be that in this field, our country has advantages which it took us a long time to realise... and maybe we haven't yet completely understood what they consist of. But they're the competitive advantages that over the years, gave the impetus to the sector which manufacturing missed, as well as a stamina which one doubts whether it is shared by financial services and internet gaming.

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State enterprises

State enterprises set up to create economic value added are no longer seen as valid. Where they still function, they are being subjected to commandments that force them to privatise. All the evils that can be listed are invariably pinned to any surviving state enterprise... corruption, inefficiences, abuses of power, grotesque political interferences in operations, sham job creation and excessive wage outlays...

In the past, quite often these claims, or some of them, turned out to be justified. All that ended up discrediting the model of state entrepreneurship. Even so, when one considers the failures of the "liberal" free market (not least in the social media sector), one must query whether the time has come for a reconsideration of the model of economic management on the basis of state enterprise.

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Woke

The call against the mode of thinking and behaving according to the so-called woke ideology, has become very strong. Since the Trump administration came out all guns blazing against them, "woke" ideas and "woke" legal reforms are being ignored or simply scrapped.

Personally it beats me how certain principles related to core woke practice can be simply scrapped. Like the campaign in favour of women's rights, their greater participation in the governance of communities and against sexual exploitation. Or like the legislation against racial and ethnic discrimination. Or equally, the efforts against all discrimination based on the sexual orientation of citizens.

Admittedly, some woke changes may have been taken too far. For some people, they felt like they were imposing a different lifestyle - as lived by "minorities" - on citizens who were not at all interested in sharing it. Still this in no way justifies that the central ideas which inspired the woke movement should be just thrown out of the window. Their retention can and must be effected while respecting the beliefs of those belonging to the gender, racial, and sexual orientation majorities in our societies, or those who believe they belong to such majorities. There need be no confusion or hesitation about such an approach.