As soon as one uses aesthetics to justify the George Cross on the national flag of Malta it becomes clear that the writer is ignorant of the debate’s core issues.

Derek Lawbuary (November 17) would have made a more valuable contribution if he attempted to give a rational and valid explanation to the stripping bare of Malta’s defences by the British during the 1930s, the British War Cabinet’s flirtation with the notion of handing over Malta to Mussolini, the British self-interest in defending Malta, the magnetic affect of the British naval base to Italian and German bombs and the British self-interest in granting the George Cross.

Once he has done that he would be in a position to sensibly assess Britain’s right to unilaterally alter Malta’s 1,000-year-old flag and whether it deserves the honour of having its military decoration displayed on the Maltese flag. Only then would Lawbuary’s comments be taken seriously.

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