Can I suggest that whoever is responsible for "white" taxis does some "mystery shopping", by which I mean pretend to be a tourist or a foreign business person and get into a white cab at a hotel or anywhere else on the island and see if the driver switches on the meter rather than quoting some outrageous fare for the prospective journey?

No gripe like this would be complete without my personal pet hate being aired. Why is it that so many bars and even restaurants seem to believe that the smoking ban does not apply to them after about 11 o'clock at night?

Before anyone tells me "If you don't like it, go home", let me say Malta is a wonderful place to live in. I love it but just think how much nicer it would be for everyone if we were not being poisoned by traffic fumes by day and passive smoking by night, let alone being ripped off by taxi drivers at every available opportunity.

I am sure that the appropriate authorities will now all reach for their pens to protest their innocence, to which I simply say: You need to do more to enforce the law!