New Year’s resolutions should apply to countries as well as people

What are we skinning? The New Year!

Why are we skinning it? Because the last one was quite a trip.

Do we even have enough material with which to skin it though? It hasn’t even started yet! Oh, but we do. How do you mean? That’s a logical impossibility. Well, first of all, logical impossibilities have ceased to be an out-of-bounds subject in the global cultural-political sphere.

Agreed actually, at least circa the latter half of 2016… Right. And lest we forget, the embers of the Maltese political crisis are still marking the Christmas log.

You mean, the politicos and their hangers-on have some unfinished business? Precisely. And the first order of said business is Joseph Muscat’s departure deadline, and the imminent leadership race that will follow.

But that’s just a business as usual procedure. Arguably the only bit of ‘business as usual’ about this whole mess. Once again, we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.

Why? Prime Minister resigns (much later than many would wish, granted), then their successor is elected through the usual mechanisms. Seems pretty rote to me. The mechanisms are rote but the situation isn’t. That’s the nub of the matter.

Sounds pretty academic. Call it what you will. But both Robert Abela and Chris Fearne are pitching significantly different visions for the future of Maltese politics, even if ‘safety’ and ‘continuity’ appear to be the watchwords in both cases.

So what are you suggesting? That we treat this development with the same focus and intensity we’ve applied to the more salacious happenings of recent months.

Okay, well… the protests are officially continuing today, and there’s a concert in front of the law courts to launch that back into action. There you go. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the protest movement evolves its message in tandem with the evolving political narrative.

So you’re saying… New Year, New Country? We can go with that. Let’s hope that the novelty is refreshing rather than regressive.

Do say: “New Year’s resolutions should apply to countries as well as people. Let’s all band together to ensure that the country is moving in the right direction, and to do our bit to make that possible.”

Don’t say: “Continuity is right. I want more of the same in 2020, and don’t try to convince me otherwise!”