Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/920426
Opinion 23 maltatoday SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER 2017 divide. Delia himself began his whole career as Nationalist leader by describing Labourites as 'the enemy'. That was the 'message' he was 'delivering' only five months ago. And what... now, he suddenly turns around and stresses the importance of delivering the clean opposite message? To dispel a division that he has helped to perpetuate himself? A tad late for that, I should think. Also because – truth be told – Delia has so far proved incapable of instilling unity even within his own party... still less the entire country. To be fair to him on at least this, he faced an impossible situation from the very start. Last August's leadership election posed a choice between two mutually incompatible leadership visions (such that they were)... and more importantly, exposed an unbridgeable rift between rival factions which seem to have completely forgotten the fine art of 'political compromise'. As a result, the PN could only go one way or another; and whichever path it chose, it would automatically have lost a significant chunk of its voter base. The most recent polls indicate that the haemorrhage has in fact been more severe than even the worst-case projections. So even if Delia is entirely genuine in his 'call for unity'... the platform he leads is too weak and fractured to actually do anything about it. Especially considering that it is far too busy fighting a war with itself, to start 'peace talks' with another party. Meanwhile, there is abundant evidence that the rest of Malta doesn't necessarily want to 'unite', either. While people like Frank Psaila quote (wittingly or unwittingly) John Lennon, their chorus of 'Come Together' is met not with the refrain 'over me'... but with a resounding 'over my dead body'. For 51 weeks of the year, this is not a country that ever seems willing to put its political differences aside. Wait till Tuesday, and you'll see what I mean. One particularly poignant news item this year seemed to sum it all up, really: "Concert intended to unite the Maltese through music has been cancelled". I found that rather sad, because music has indeed been a politically unif ying force in other parts of the world. Global awareness of apartheid in South Africa owed much to rock concerts by the likes of Paul Simon, and to songs like 'Sun City'. In Malta, however, even the causes of this concert's cancellation became immediately mired in political controversy. You can imagine, then, how much Maltese politicians will ever 'come together'... when not even music – the healer of all things, if poets are anything to go by - is capable of making a jot of difference. But then, perhaps even I myself succumb to this malady of 'suddenly realising how all problems can be solved' at Christmastime. Because there is a simple solution to this mess (in theory, anyhow; in practice, it is about as 'simple' as handbook on quantum mechanics in Portuguese). Interestingly enough – for there is always a ray of hope, even in the bleakest of times – it fell to the least likely speaker imaginable to point it out for us, once and for all, during that annual exchange of greetings. President Marie-Louise Coleiro chose to forego her own Christmas message this year, and instead ceded the f loor to four children. One of them "spoke of being disappointed by Malta's adults, and called for the spirit of Christmas – hope, trust, unity, respect and generosity – to be observed on a daily basis." Can we give that child a Gieh ir-Repubblika medal, please? I couldn't put it more succinctly if I tried. All these 'calls for national unity' we've been hearing? Let's hear them for all 52 weeks of the year, instead of only one. And let's see them backed up a palpable will to actually unite, too... instead of just to permanently fester in a quagmire of contrived animosity. And while we're at it: let's also end all wars, feed the hungry, solve global warming, find a cure for cancer, and guarantee peace and prosperity for all mankind. I mean, how hard can that be, anyway? Surely, not as hard as... Ah well, never mind. Let's just have a Happy New Year, shall we? There, that's something we can surely 'come together' over... even if only until the day after tomorrow... We're not as retarded a nation as the BBC likes to portray us, you know. We can recognise a crock of bullshit when we see (or hear) one President Marie-Louise Coleiro chose to forego her own Christmas message this year, and instead ceded the floor to four children. One of them "spoke of being disappointed by Malta's adults, and called for the spirit of Christmas – hope, trust, unity, respect and generosity – to be observed on a daily basis