Politics, and all that.

In MALTA at the moment, we are in the middle of a General Election campaign, and all those who are familiar with Maltese ways, will understand that things come to a standstill, people wait with baited breath to see the outcome of this five-year opportunity for the people to show WHO they want to govern them for the next five years - yes, a very important democratic stage, one which, in years gone by, was not so freely exercised as it is nowadays.

Of course, we, animal lovers and people of good will who are genuinely interested in the welfare of animals, consider it important to see what the electoral manifesto of the main political parties have to say with regard to animals and their welfare. And I mention the main political parties because in my view, the minor 'parties' have nothing to give this time with regard to how this country should be governed.
There is one 'political-party-of-sorts' which I won't even deign to mention by name in this blog - heaven forbid if any Maltese man or woman would even contemplate of voting, as otherwise, we are in a much worse mess than we were years and years ago! Then, there is Alternattiva Demokratika which I personally find as terribly wanting, this time round, probably due to its desperate bid to garner votes from a disgruntled section of the population - myself included. AD, this time, is not impressing me one iota! So, it's up to the two main political parties to impress me.
And I ... am not so easily impressed. Like an elephant, I have a long memory.

So, as you may understand from the gist of my words today, I don't have much to say with regard to what the Parties have to give to animals and their wellbeing. Animal welfare barely appears in the manifesto of the Malta Labour Party, and I have no doubt at all that when tomorrow the Nationalist Party officially launch their political programme, there will be nothing in it that will appease me as an animal lover - oh, how I love that term.

Oh, I KNOW that there are people out there who write in favour of animals and their welfare, and who are hoping for a change in the Government, with the cry that animal welfare will improve in this country. I have my serious doubts - I rather think it is a question of personal political allegiances taking the 'sopravento' and making one feel that once one's own party is in Government, things will be all right for animals in Malta and Gozo. How wrong one can be!

Anyway, that's it from me to you all. There isn't much to chew from the newspapers either, since all correspondence pages are being taken up by political affairs or by the hunting and non-hunting lobbies. I, personally, would rather stay away from that subject, especially since both political affiliations have made it clear, through words and deed, that they're out to keep the status quo over hunting, particularly the MLP that never supports the Natonalist Government in anything, let alone in this matter. Look at the way both parties are acting with regard to hunting and the EU.

On a personal note ...

... I would like to apologise to all those who may have noticed that my blog has not been updated for a short while. The thing is that I have been busy working abroad as well as in Malta, and so, it's not easy to keep one's blog updated without having lots of time on one's hands. So, apologies.