Please allow me to correct some misunderstandings which seem to have cropped up in my first reply to Roberta Zahra in connection with the present sorry state of St Thomas Bay.

Neither I nor council member Josie Muscat took umbrage at Ms Zahra's justified criticism of the way in which the bay is being left derelict by the central authorities. All we did was merely to point out that the bay is not our responsibility but the government's. I never had in mind, and I think neither did Dr Muscat, to take Ms Zahra to task for putting pen to paper and lament that a once natural gem is being ruined through neglect. On the contrary the correspondent showed civic spirit and environmental commitment when she saw abandonment and neglect and did not look the other way.

People like Ms Zahra should be commended and applauded. All we did was to correct minute but important details, such as the fact that the bay's state has not deteriorated during the last year but it has been deteriorating for the last three years. Ms Zahra genuinely, but erroneously, thought that the local council is responsible for the rape of the bay, when San Tumas is the responsibility of the government. No hard feelings.