It’s been two weeks to the hour that this blog has been around. It was two nights after the election result and the first morning back to work and the old routine. Everything was the same again but everything was different.
I’ve now been away from the local political scene for over 4 years. I had not been too far from the very thick of it for 19 years before that. I was 16 when I signed up to a life in politics. I’m not a lawyer, or an accountant, or an architect. I studied Politics here in Malta and in the UK. It is my training, my principal interest, the profession I was mentored for, the skill-set I accumulated over time.
But obviously in 2013 I had to find other ways to make a living and as a fresh team moved into government and another fresh team moved into the party I grew up in, it was time for me to retire from the profession of my choice at the ripe, old age of 36.
This last election was the first one since 1996 I was not deeply involved in. I was bursting with thoughts, ideas, criticisms, a sort of energy that is not consumed in the line of work I have had to take up and, unspent and suppressed, would drive one mad.
So first I poured all over my Facebook page. But answering the question “What’s on your mind, Emanuel?” that Facebook asks as standard with 3,000 word responses was not really working.
So I decided to start this blog as an outlet. I sincerely did not expect much interest in it and this is not modesty of dubious sincerity. Plenty of that around. From a personal release it became an opportunity for debate and engagement and I am both surprised and grateful for that. I now dare to hope this might be of some small service as party and people think about the next steps.
If you want to keep me company, you’re more than welcome. To you and the other 154,000 visitors to this blog in its first two weeks of existence, thank you.
