I am of the generation that was lucky enough to have experienced the Royal Opera House. I don't think the Prime Minister realises how passionately our generation feels about his party's repeated pre-election promises to rebuild our pride and joy and quite how betrayed we feel by this travesty that he has presented us with.

As Fr Peter Serracino Inglott has said, we are disgusted by the plethora of excuses we have been given, trying to justify this ridiculous white elephant that shall be unusable both in summer and winter due to noise and the elements, a massive spending of our money at a time when the nation is facing an economic crisis, for a venue that will only be used for a few weeks in spring and autumn. Is that what the Prime Minister considers a wise investment when the same project in someone else's hands could give us a year-round roofed theatre that everyone can enjoy?

The myths have come thick and fast: that the theatre would be too small to be viable and that it only survived before the war because there was nowhere else to go. Nothing could be further from the truth as at the time Valletta could boast of seven thriving cinemas with many more cinemas and theatres in nearby Cospicua, Ħamrun, Gżira and Sliema. One could furthermore add Valletta's band clubs and social clubs, the Vernon Club, the Civil Service Club the Union Club and Casino Maltese, all of which held very popular weekly dances. In spite of such competition, and in spite of the fact that society was not as relatively affluent as it is now, the opera house thrived and would thrive even more now that it would be offering a far greater variety of performances and open to a wider public, being accessible to tourists and the elderly, unlike the Manoel and Mediterranean Conference Centre theatres.

As for the design debate, what about all the theatres which were bombed in Europe and have been rebuilt to their former glory, with no one quibbling that they are architectural fakes, in countries like Germany and Italy, which are far more architecturally sophisticated than we are? Surely, what is good enough for Italian taste is good enough for us!

However, the biggest insult is Renzo Piano's patronisingly telling us that the theatre should be left in ruins to remind us of the war. As one who lived through the suffering and bombing of those days, I can assure him that we don't need him to remind us of those dreadful days and would far prefer to look forward and provide our grandchildren with real culture and the chance to perform in a decent theatre.

I urge all my generation, who may never have joined a protest in all their lives, to come out of their homes on Saturday, March 13, and join the rally at City Gate at 10 a.m. in order to show the authorities our disapproval of this ridiculous project, which all the polls show that over 80 per cent of the public object to. I, and countless like me, shall never be voting for this party again if this government hard-headedly goes ahead with these plans.