Burning a man at the stake over three pieces of crystal while the prime minister doles out millions to his cronies

I don’t know about you, but I am having serious trouble watching Ray Ferris being burned at the stake over three small pieces of crystal priced at 300 euros in total at the shop and then difficult to offload for any more than five euros at a flea market the following day.

Not while the prime minister and his merry men are doling out millions in salaries, cars, chauffeurs, perks, privileges and positions to their cronies and, more pertinently given that the subject under discussion is corruption, their collaborators.

If the prime minister bribes Cyrus Engerer to pull out of the European Parliament election race, with a job that didn’t exist until he created it for Engerer and a salary, perks and privileges at the rank of ambassador, that is not corruption. But if an employee at Enemalta is given some crystal dust-gatherers at Christmas by George Farrugia and doesn’t have the good sense to hand them right back to him, and doesn’t give him anything in return, he is interrogated by the police, hauled before the court and his name dragged through the mud in the newspapers.

The prime minister bribes Cyrus Engerer with 85,000 euros a year of other people’s money and a job that didn’t exist, and that’s fine.

He rewards those who collaborated – yes, collaborated – with him before the general election with jobs for which they are not fit, removing in the process those who are fit, creates other jobs for them, and fills the trough with other people’s people so that they can hoover it all up, and that’s fine.

But whatever you do, if you’re a public servant working in some field where there’s an agenda at work, don’t you accept a crystal sweet-box because you’ll end up being treated like the person should be treated who bribed a convicted criminal stil serving his suspended sentence with a job as his special envoy and 85,000 a year.