I am not only referring to the standard of living but mainly to the way things are done or rather not done.

Throughout the year we are heavily bombarded with promises and government gurus forecasting a terrific time for all.. Reality presents itself very differently, and people who are being badly effected are waiting for things to get moving in the right direction. The problem is that government, who should be the prime mover of things, is not moving at all.

On the one hand we have one minister after another trying to convince us mere mortals that they do care about the strenuous situation on families but then one minister after the other takes inconsistent decisions with the end result being more strain and pain on each and every household member especially children.

Just before Christmas I met parents who were distraught because the money they had put aside to buy presents for their children had to be utilised to pay water and electricity bills. Someone had the most brilliant idea to send these bills just when everybody or almost everybody is doing Christmas shopping. All this had a ripple effect not only on those children who got different presents than they expected but also on the economy at large.

What about putting more money in people’s pockets? This is what other sensible leaders in other countries are doing to combat recession.

Malta is an exception because we did things the other way round.

I truly believe that government is too tired to think People want and need change – they want to lead a decent life and they are expecting action which is not merely a nice square with nice fountains and lights. Bread and butter issues have to be dealt with as soon as possible, and all of us who are proud of our country have had enough of reports and statistics always quoting Malta at the very bottom of every pile of statistics.

We are a small country but we always prided ourselves on being capable and resilient but to move on both as a country and even more as a nation, we a need a direction and that direction is Labour.