1 week, 2 elections, many changes

As I write this, Pope Francis (I) has been officially inaugurated his Papate following Benedict's surprise resignation last month. Among the hundreds of dignitaries present was newly sworn-in Maltese Prime Minister Muscat, following last week's general election in Malta.  Whilst the first election was meant to be solely driven by divine forces (though many would argue that Maltese politics are at par with the importance of religion on the tiny island), both new leaders seem to have risen to their new posts with tremendous high levels of expectation from their followers...

The first signs shown by the new Pope seem to mark an ideological shift from the traditional Church image of pomp and ceremoniousness, of which the previous Pope was a champion.  I would never expect the Pope to be selling Michelangelo's "Pieta" on e-bay any time soon, but it is obvious that he wants to break away from the Church's 'wrong' association with luxury and grandness.  A welcome break, although in reality this would be nothing more than going back to what the Church really should be like: a continuation of Christ's work in the world, stripped of grandeur and appealing mostly to the needy, the poor, the sinner.  Not necessarily riding a donkey's back, but definitely not adorning more gold than the infamous Maltese man sporting several kilograms of shiny metal who regularly storms the streets of Valletta.

Which brings me to the next election - the Maltese general election 2013.  Following a tiring and sometimes amusing 9 week long electoral campaign, the 09/03/13 election is history: a 37,000 vote majority win (or 12% difference; colossal by Malta's standards) of the Labour party over the Nationalist party.  A break from the 'blues' after 15 years in power (some even argue 25 years, ignoring the 1996-1998 Labour spell).  A new captain who aims to steer Malta for the next 5 years free from traditional partisan politics but with a progressive attitude typically associated with the 'reds'.  After less than two weeks in power, the new premier and his ministers have been quizzed and followed earnestly by the press, almost expectant that the implementation of the electoral manifesto which brought them to power is fulfilled.  Apparently, some are unaware that there are yet another 258 weeks for this legislature to end.

Which almost brings me to the end of this post.  Whilst the Pope's mandate is somewhat beyond his control given that it is terminated when the Maker calls his earthly representative home (although Benedict proved otherwise), the Maltese government has a clear cut-off point (although, again, rebel MPs in the 1996-1998 and the 2008-2013 terms proved otherwise, albeit with a 9 seat majority this should not be an issue).  In both cases, however different in terms of scale and repercussion, the 2 newly elected leaders are expected to bring about significant changes during their respective tenures, ultimately to the benefit of their own followers, us citizens.  However, it is really up to the followers themselves to give them sufficient time and not mount them with unnecessary pressures to realise their agendas, earthly or otherwise, and allow them to steer the 'movements' they lead and efficiently reach their goals, whether they are social and economic ones or even metaphysical, eternal ambitions.

Like a Phoenix

Although I have never actually died, for a couple of months this blog almost died but today I decided to resuscitate it and bring it back to life.  You see, whilst writing a 300+ page Ph.D. thesis, going home and actually sitting in front of a word-processor style application (such as a blogging tool) is almost a masochistic event.  But that is now the past, at least for the time being, and so here I am!

It is a quiet Sunday evening, bringing to an end one rather uneventful weekend, except the recollection of last weekend's brief trip to Malta and back.  And another 'successful' completion of another one of my Malta series acrylic paintings, which I am posting hereunder, quite literally for the sake of illustration.  

Since moving from Ealing back to South Kensington, much has happened in these few months, and I will try to catch up with the backlog, but very briefly, these were the highlights:

July 2012: Trip to Marrakesh, Morocco (follow-up later definitely required)

August 2012: The London 2012 Olympics, 'Taming of the Shrew' at the Globe, summer break at Malta

September 2012: Went up the Centre Point Tower, last Freshers' Week at Imperial

October 2012: Started the last year of my 20s

November 2012: Visited the Eden Project, first experimentation with the aforementioned acrylic painting, started writing-up

December 2012: First draft of thesis completed, lived through 12/12/12, first (and last) attempt at ice-skating, first hand at poker, first decent trip to Malta in ages (3 week long and with plenty of 'intellectually-inspiring' events)

January 2013: Last month at Imperial and enjoying student status, started following a 9 week long electoral campaign, attended a Joseph Calleja concert (in London), completed my thesis

February 2013: Submitted my thesis and started working as a research fellow at the University of Surrey, Pope Benedict XVI resigns

March 2013: Flew to Malta for 65 hours to cast a vote (well, 2), saw a change in government, flew back to London, Pope Francis is elected

Until the next one...