Bricks of cash and foolish happiness

Abstract

The recent Eurobarometer finding that 94 per cent of Malta’s residents are happy with the lives they lead is astonishing, not so much for the nation’s boundless optimism as for what it reveals about those who are seemingly immune to all that is wrong with this country. As if it were not plain enough to see for anyone who has spent at least 24 hours in Malta, traffic congestion and construction are visible everywhere you look. Once you land, the country’s small size and high population density either force you to quickly overcome your claustrophobia or else to flee on the next flight out.