A ruling class perceived as out of touch and self-serving. Punitive taxation frittered away on pointless projects and expeditions overseas. At home, poor wages for workers but not for MPs, their lovers and friends. A disaffected population feeling powerless, voiceless and angry. An infectious disease of apocalyptic proportions spreading uncontrollably. That disease was not COVID-19 but the Black Death. And the description, which might apply perfectly to Malta today, refers to 14th century England.

“When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the Gentleman.” These were the opening words of John Ball’s rousing sermon which triggered the violent peasant’s revolt against a corrupt and spendthrift government in 1381. Ball’s speech challenged the deep injustice of the hierarchical structure in his country. His views that God created men equal appealed to a radical egalitarianism.

Man built the feudal system that oppressed serfs to benefit a select privileged core. The punitive taxes imposed on workers were used to boost the ruling elite’s wealth and to enable them to undertake costly overseas ventures of no benefit to the country. While workers endured unbearable living conditions the elite grabbed more land, gifting it to their friends and allies. As workers toiled, rulers enjoyed lavish lifestyles funded by the workers’ labour.

Although remote in time and place, 14th century England has an eerily familiar ring. In 2019, Lionel Gerada, Konrad Mizzi’s canvasser, travelled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with four of his MTA colleagues. They stayed in a five-star luxury resort at taxpayers’ expense. The pretext was they were attending a fireworks festival for “educational purposes”.

Gerada was the same MTA official who booked lavish hotel rooms in Malta and arrogantly posted images of himself enjoying breakfast at the Phoenicia’s Phoenix restaurant, paid by the taxpayer. As MTA head of events, Gerada trebled spending from €2 million to €6 million in just 12 months, showering much of it on a select group of event organisers.

Joseph Cuschieri, the former MFSA head and Joseph Muscat ally, travelled abroad 38 times, including to Australia, Macau, the Philippines, New York and Las Vegas, together with Edwina Licari. His travels cost the taxpayer over €500,000. His trip to Peru alone cost taxpayers €26,959. Simultaneously, he was raking in €150,000 per year and his travel companion Licari over €100,000.

Speaker Anġlu Farrugia travelled abroad 41 times between 2013 and 2015, often with an entourage of four people. In just two years, his travels cost the taxpayer €113,000.

How much more has Farrugia frittered in foreign jaunts since?

These flagrant abuses pale into insignificance compared to the shameless greed of our former and current prime ministers.

Robert Abela raked hundreds of thousands of euros from the Planning Authority, Air Malta, ARMS and the environment ministry. Muscat engineered a €120,000 severance package for himself. In addition, he secured government offices for his private use, refurbished to his satisfaction. He negotiated a €540,000 contract with Accutor AG, a company inexplicably paid millions by Steward on the day it took over the concession.

The country’s back will be broken by the massive debts Labour racked up- Kevin Cassar

Carmen Ciantar gets over €160,000. Former junior minister Deborah Schembri made over €160,000 from four government jobs. Justyne Caruana earned tens of thousands from the Lands Authority and from WSC on top of her €30,000 as an MP. The SOCAR, Vitals, Mozura secret foreign deals robbed the country of millions.

“I exhort you to consider that now is the time, appointed to us, in which ye may cast off the yoke of bondage and recover liberty,” Ball concluded his speech.

The enraged exploited workers responded by marching on London in their thousands to make their demands to the king and to sweep away the extravagantly wealthy corrupt figures who surrounded him.

The workers took over the impregnable Tower of London, bringing the government to its knees. They torched the opulent Savoy palace, the seat of the despised John of Gaunt ‒ the real power behind the throne. There they witnessed the obscene riches that John of Gaunt had accumulated out of their taxes. This was repressive lordship at its worst and the workers were determined to bring it down.

It was ironically at Mile End that the boy King Richard acceded to the rebels’ demands – fair price for land, free trade instead of restricted monopolies for the elite and abolition of serfdom and forced labour. Richard bought off the bulk of the rebels. He never intended to keep any of his promises. But the rebels believed him.

For the hardcore, led by Mat Tyler, Richard reserved brutal violence. After agreeing to meet Tyler, the King orchestrated his assassination. Tyler was decapitated and his head placed on a pole carried through the city and displayed on London Bridge.

As Richard regained control, he revoked all concessions. He hunted rebels down and executed the majority. The revolt was crushed. But the workers had dealt a lasting blow to his government, sending an ominous message that even the powerless have a breaking point.

For the downtrodden workers, the lingering lesson was that the king can never be trusted. They recognised that his concessions were a ploy to buy their support until he regained control, only to punish them with brutality once he regained power. Abusing their loyalty, he robbed them of their rights and continued to fleece them of the products of their labour, enriching himself and his friends. Mile End became synonymous with the callous betrayal of the workers.

At another Mile End, Labour faces the electorate it fleeced unrelentingly throughout its rule. It desperately hands out €100 cheques in a despicable attempt to buy the workers. Once re-elected, and securely in power, Labour will seek redress.

The country’s back will be broken by the massive debts Labour racked up. The workers will finally see Abela for what he is – another boy King Richard. But only too late.