Correspondent Joseph Bezzina's letter Don Camillo (February 19) contains some glaring mistakes. Don Camillo is not a character in I Promessi Sposi by Alessandro Manzoni, but in a series of books written by Giovanni Guareschi. Those books really mirror the political situation in Malta, with the rivalry between Don Camillo (the quintessential Democrazia Cristiana priest-meddler in local politics) and the Communist mayor Giuseppe Bottezzi, commonly called Peppone.

These books, although hilarious, give a deep insight into modern-day Malta and its current political scene. Those who had the pleasure of reading these books are immediately struck by their similarity to the local scene. Foremost among the incidents encountered in one of the books is that of Don Camillo disrupting a Communist Party meeting in the village square by incessantly ringing the church bells - as happened in Malta on more than one occasion during the early 1960s. But it appears that both of our political parties have forgotten these times, and nobody in Malta had the gall to mention these incidents when the time of Saint Ġorġ Preca's canonisation came about. Rather, both leaders hot-footed it to Rome to join the celebrations, conveniently forgetting the disruption, the tas-suffara Museum brigade, the mutual hostility between the then MLP and the Museum organisation, and the retributory meetings held by the Museum in the same spot on the morrow of the MLP meeting. Old Lauborites used to call them tal-purfum, to wash away Labour's "sins". Also unmentioned went the politcal capital made by the PN during the politico-religious troubled times.

Guareschi also chronicled incidents such as when Communist Party supporters were denied confession or burial in consecrated ground, and the refusal to baptise babies born out of wedlock.

Way back in the 1960s the fight to separate Church and State was really on. Nowadays, no major political party dares to broach the subject for fear of losing votes. This mish-mash of mixing politics and religion has produced an eerie atmosphere whereby even a political party like the MLP has lost its liberal roots. In this aspect, as in countless others, there is no real difference between both major parties.

So, turning back to Guareschi, what was recounted in those books was uncannily akin to Malta's political tribalism. What seems to be missing from the local scene is the humanity shown by Guareschi!

Dominic Chircop, Gżira.