Across Europe, the cost of living remains one of the most politically sensitive economic issues. Even as inflation has slowed, households continue to feel the strain from higher rents, food prices and borrowing costs that built up during the past three years. Of course, Malta is not immune to these realities. However, a consistent pattern emerges in this story as Malta experiences less volatile inflation flows with lower peaks.  However, inflation figures talk about averages

At the start of the twentieth century, Malta found itself in the middle of a constitutional confrontation that exposed the limits of colonial reform and the depth of local resistance to political rollback. The crisis of 1904, marked by three consecutive elections followed by coordinated mass resignations. This was a deliberate, organised act of protest against the imposition of the 1903 constitutional arrangements, known as the “Chamberlain Constitution”, which significantly

Robert Abela became PM on the 13th of January 2020 after winning the Labour Party leadership contest that followed Joseph Muscat’s resignation. At the time, Malta was navigating a difficult transition. Public trust in institutions was strained, international scrutiny was intense, and political polarisation was high. Abela’s pitch was deliberately measured at the time where he presented himself as a steady administrator rather than a disruptive reformer, someone who understood

On this day in 1957, Malta successfully received its first live television transmission from Italy. The Times of Malta reported that the previous evening, radio mechanic Frank Bonnici, working with A.J. Vella, the local agent for PYE Radio and Television, managed to capture a television signal transmitted from Monte Pellegrino and Monte Soro in Sicily. The reception was described as “good already”, a notable technical achievement given the equipment and conditions of the time

In the course of Malta’s history, earthquakes were not unknown, and small tremors sometimes passed without much notice, but on Sunday 11 January 1693 the islands experienced what is consistently described as the most terrible and most damaging earthquake ever recorded locally, an event that left the population shaken not only by the physical destruction it caused, but by the sense of helplessness it created. A painting showing how the Mdina Cathedral looked before reconstruct

Why Malta must strengthen education beyond bricks and stipends Education has long been one of Malta’s most important national investments. Our policy discourse on the issue has, for many years, targeted stipends, schools and the physical infrastructure that enables learning. These elements are crucial, stipends widen access, and modern school facilities improve safety and engagement. Yet globally, education systems are undergoing a transformation that demands more than struct

On this day, Maltese television became the stage for one of the most emblematic episodes of the Nationalist Party’s internal crisis during the final years of the Gonzi administration. A live discussion on Bondiplus , hosted by Lou Bondi, featured PN backbencher Franco Debono at a time when the government’s one-seat parliamentary majority had rendered every dissenting voice politically consequential. The context was already charged. The background was a government operating wi

In January 1941, Malta crossed an invisible threshold. The island had been at war since September 1939, but until then conflict had felt abstract, distant, filtered through radio bulletins and distant fronts. Even after Italy entered the war in June 1940 and air raid sirens sounded for the first time, the sense persisted that Malta was suffering harassment rather than existential threat. The events that became known as the Illustrious Blitz ended that illusion. By late 1940,

L-Istrina is one of Malta’s key national charity events. Since 2021, donations have stagnated despite strong economic growth, raising concerns about declining generosity. The evidence suggests otherwise. Donations track household sentiment, especially food inflation and consumer confidence. When living costs rise, people still give, but less.

Il-Bandiera tal-Maltin was first published on 8 January 1898, as Manuel Dimech used journalism to challenge colonial power, clerical authority, and social injustice.