Concerns hit low-income earners

A political party in government is bound to lose touch with the grassroots as it grapples with the affairs of State. Joseph Muscat's Labour Party may well argue it has not but, despite its well choreographed Gvern li jisma' consultation meetings, the indications are that if it is not losing touch it is not being sensitive enough to the people's concerns. Take the arrogant manner in which it has dealt with the Panama Papers reports involving a Cabinet minister and the Prime Minister's chief of staff. Public sentiment in this case is one of anger but the government, still thinking that the huge majority it won in 2013 entitles it to govern with a greater leeway than it would have otherwise been the case had it won with a slim majority, plods on as if nothing has happened. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat seems to be trying, not altogether unsuccessfully, it must be noted, to tell the people what they should worry about. He has now decided, for example, that rising house rents have replaced utility bills as a concern for low-income earners. A working group has been duly appointed to find out exactly how big is the problem of rising house rents and to suggest how it can be tackled. That...

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