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8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 FEBRUARY 2025 BOOK REVIEW 'The house that John Baldacchino's Secular Ref lections on a Nation's Anomaly delves into Malta's political paradoxes with historical depth, capturing the turbulence and complexities of the Muscat years while challenging tribal loyalties and simplistic narratives. Review by James Debono. EVERY democracy worth its salt needs public intellectuals capable of analysing history as it unfolds, without the benefit of hindsight, relying on their ability to discern patterns and structures in the actions of po- litical actors to make sense of current events. However, publishing a col- lection of articles written in the immediacy of the present, which has already passed by the time of compilation, carries a risk – especially when address- ing one of Malta's most divisive periods. Yet, when read with the benefit of hindsight, John Bal- dacchino's writings offer inval- uable insights into the historical forces lurking beneath the sur- face of events. Secular Reflections on a Na- tion's Anomaly, based on ar- ticles published in The Times of Malta and MaltaToday from 2013 to 2020, is an emotion- al rollercoaster for those who lived through these years of hope, disappointment, and re- vulsion – three strong emotions making a lucid dissection chal- lenging. Baldacchino contextu- alises the articles while leaving most unchanged and unfiltered by hindsight. The book revives memories of one of Malta's most politi- cally charged periods – an era that held the promise of a sec- ular and modern polity, yet was marked by a tribal entrench- ment amplified by social media, even poisoning friendships. Tagged and be damned It was a time when even friends turned on one another, opting to dig trenches rather than con- tribute to a constructive dialec- tic. Independent-minded peo- ple like Baldacchino, who never shied away from calling for the resignation of those named in the Panama Papers, were tagged on Facebook for their refusal to join the opposition's band- wagon. I personally recall the pressure from some quarters pushing independent activists and journalists to side with the "right side of history." It was not an easy period for sober analysis or detached re- flection. After a honeymoon pe- riod marked by liberation from oppressive norms and crippling austerity, the institutional pa- ralysis after Panamagate trig- gered legitimate anger – but this often was not in sync with the popular mood: which Bal- dacchino understood as the electorate's distrust of the Na- tionalist Party's misuse of Pan- amagate as a 'get out of jail (op- position) card'. At the time, I wasn't always on the same page with Bal- dacchino's cautious approach, which seemed to defy the sense of urgency I felt. I briefly even entertained the idea of the Na- tionalist Party reinventing it- self as a normalising centre-left force, overlooking its baggage. This prompted a respectful but scathing reply from Baldacchi- no, which is reproduced in the book. Despite differing views, we maintained mutual respect and exchanged opinions online. Over time, I grew closer to Baldacchino's position, grow- ing uncomfortable with those misrepresenting the crisis as a Manichean struggle. The idea that the "good guys" could sim- ply reclaim the "house that Ed- die built" was, after all, a gross oversimplification. Baldacchino reminds us that the house itself was built on shaky foundations and was vulnerable to takeover by an- ti-democratic forces. In hind- sight, post-2019 revelations vindicated my concerns about institutional capture under former Prime Minister Joseph