Farewell 2012

Living as we do in a society that is addicted to the 24-hour news cycle and internet news-on-demand, we are always hungry for the next big story, putting pressure on journalists to move on from yesterday's news as fast as possible and before we get bored.

Well, there has definitely been no time for boredom on the local scene in 2012. We have been treated to 12 months of drama, with never a dull moment. In fact, there were times when it became almost too much for most people to take in - and I believe that many of us are now totally blanking out local political affairs, except in the most dramatic of circumstances.

After all, this is the year of the big betrayal, when Franco Debono finally felled the government he was elected to serve. However, it is also the year when Carm Mifsud Bonnici was forced to resign, as did Richard Cachia Caruana - both of them fatalities of the bitter infighting that took over the PN throughout the last couple of years of this legislature.

This is the year when Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando resigned from the PN and informed a flabbergasted electorate that he was setting up shop as an independent MP working "in collaboration" with the PN in government, finally bring an end to the ridiculous saga that had started in the weeks prior to the 2008 elections.

It is also the year of the John Dalli snus scandal, which in my opinion is just getting started and is sure to dominate the headlines again in future, along with the Rita Schembri scandal, which emerged in the aftermath of Dalli's resignation. We followed this story in bemusement, reading about love affairs and betrayals, circus impresarios and tobacco smuggling, trading in influence and millions upon millions of euros in introduction fees and bribes. Who needs E.L. James when reality is so much more lurid and exciting?

The Maltese public also sat back and watched as Tonio Borg was kicked upstairs, and Anglu Farrugia was kicked out - manoeuvres which were quickly followed by the election of new deputy leaders for both parties. We are now told that we have a treat in store - yet another Xarabank debate between the "fresh" deputy party leaders.

We have absorbed the news and moved on, and it has got to the point where even the forced resignation of one judge and the threatened impeachment of another only results in our raising an eyebrow. We have seen and heard so much over the last 12 months that nothing surprises or shocks us anymore. No wonder Malta slipped a further four places in Transparency International's corruption index.

The truth is, however, that the worst is still to come.

As we enjoy this brief truce, this quiet period between Christmas and New Year, we all know that come the 7 January, we will once again be hit with a maelstrom of accusations and counter-accusations with political manoeuvring and back-stabbing being the order of the day. We will be treated to discussion programme after discussion programme, and debate after debate - but the reality is that many of us will simply tune it out, because it has become too much and it has simply gone on for too long.

It has already got to the point where local affairs have pushed out much more relevant and important issues that are happening on the international stage. The threat of the US hitting the fiscal cliff come the first January and the resulting recession that would hit the country and imperil the fragile international economic recovery has hardly featured in local news bulletins. Similarly, we have not heard much about the fact that our northern neighbour might slip back into financial bunga bunga if Silvio Berlusconi has his way and is elected as Italy's prime minister for the fourth time. Berlusconi is already threatening to take Italy out of the Euro if he is elected, and Germany does not give in to his demands to change the role of the European Central Bank, so the situation promises to become increasingly hot in the run-up to the Italian election at the end of February.

Unfortunately, however, the reality is that we have no choice. We are embroiled in the local political scenario for better or for worse. We are just going to have to grin and bear it until the 8 March, in the hope that after the election we will finally have the peace we have been denied for so long.

Hope springs eternal.