From the online comments board

PN ‘mega bill’ defeated in parliament

PL does not know any better. It is the electorate I blame. Not really the Ġaħans, they are beyond repair, but the so-called genuine Labour voter who votes Labour just not to vote PN. I was there in 1987 until Raymond Caruana was killed. Never voted Labour again and never will. Always voted PN since and I do not regret it. They represent my principles much better than Labour does.

The Labour voter needs to start voting with his brain (those who have) and not with his heart. It may be hard but it is the right thing to do. It is up to us at street level to convince our fellow citizens. The PN is doing its part but just like 1987 the PN needs to be backed up. Only then it will succeed. – Scott Brown

The least one would have legitimately expected was that government and opposition agree in the national interest on a common bill against corruption in high places. That the government was not forthcoming and shot down this bill goes to dig the national hole deeper. – V. Zammit

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Trying to rush a bill through without the usual consultations does not work. – C. Xerri

Since when is PL consulting and not rushing? What about not listening to the NGOs that were against the cannabis bill? Do you think that involved consulting and was not rushed through? – J. Borg

Let’s go Bobby! Anyone surprised the corrupt mafiosi on the Labour side would all agree with the vote against? Utter disdain for voters, Malta, rule of law and democracy from the Ġaħan brigade. – Mary Attard

Other bills are being drafted in terms of the recommendations of the Caruana Galizia inquiry. Seems the PN’s only hope is to persist on what honest voters have been rejecting for the last 10 years. – C. Camilleri

The government is not interested in dialogue. The PM should correct the billboards that have inundated Malta’s highways! – Joseph Micallef

NGOs see rising food prices hitting the needy, elderly

Maybe it’s time that the bulk-buying system is reintroduced. Just thinking out loud. – Peter Busuttil

Well, if things continue to deteriorate, something must be done. Call it ‘bulk buying’ or something else, some kind of mechanism to cushion the current and near future situation concerning prices, cost of transport and inventory has to be put in place, as the situation is getting worse and worse. – Tonio Azzopardi

In the meantime, it’s OK for government to use millions of public funds to purchase band clubs but not to give a decent (and not a joke) increase in salary. – J. Borg

But keep in view that any increase in salaries by the government would be useless for a very big section of the population if it is not accompanied by a salary raise by the private industry and employers. – J. Xerri

Don’t forget that for the last seven years we have been paying from 20c to 30c extra per litre and that means that an average of €800-€1,200 extra tax on fuel for each car owner in Malta. However, we should be happy that some families and not all (I have lost my eco-reduction and I am paying more) have received an €80 discount per year on their utility bill. – Joseph Bartolo

And in the meantime we have these pink Socialists paying themselves and their cronies thousands out of public moneys. – A. Caruana

The real outcome of nine years l-Aqwa Żmien government, only prosperity for themselves due to their corrupt deals and their construction moguls. The “normal” civilians are only good to pay their bills and to shut up about it, besides their clapping Ġaħan followers, of course. – Eduard Azzopardi