Quite a few years back I accompanied then Minister Louis Galea, whose responsibilities included broadcasting, to a meeting of the EU media ministers. The meeting was held somewhere in Sweden. I don’t remember the name of the town but I recollect the stimulating discussion and beautiful surroundings.

A concert was organised on the eve before the formal opening of the meeting. It was winter and so everyone arrived at the venue dressed in thick coats, mufflers and other ‘let’s keep the cold away’ clothes. Luckily there was no cloak room where one could leave such heavy clothing as we needed to keep our coats on. The concert was held in an open air theatre housed in an unused quarry. It seems that the Swedes can see the use of an open air theatre though their climate is quite inclement.

I guess that when the idea was mooted there must have been many whiners and grouches who thought that having an open air theatre was a stupid idea. Fortunately whoever was responsible ignored the whiners and went ahead. The whiners have probably now stopped whining while the tenors, sopranos and pop artists who grace the open air theatre have kept on singing.

I have no problem with people who disagree with any kind of idea or project. The marketplace for ideas should be free. But I have a problem with those who take an arrogant attitude of superiority appointing themselves as the ‘critics’ or the ‘cultured elite’ in comparison to the rest of humanity which they consider as being made up of uncultured philistines.

Like the poor, such whiners are always with us as there is always something to whine about.

Whiners there were a plenty, for example, when the Eifel Tower was built.

The crème de la crème of Paris felt that the Tower ’s height and scale did not have anything to do with Paris. It was an ugly eyesore, they said. Guy de Maupassant saw the tower as an affront to his nation’s proud cultural heritage and dined regularly in its restaurant because that was the one spot in Paris from which he didn’t have to look upon “this giant and disgraceful skeleton.”

Critics ridiculed it and awaited the end of the Exposition so they could tear it down. The Tower still stands as the symbol of Paris. The critics have all passed away. Their criticism has not passed the test of time. History showed them to be just people afraid of creativity and innovation. History, on the other hand, rewarded the foresight and creativity of Gustave Eiffel, the engineer whose company designed and built the tower in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

There were many whiners when the Valletta market was build. They said that it clashes with the surrounding, etc. etc. etc. Today no one dreams of dismantling it.

Renzo Piano’s magnificent City Gate project though rather a conservative venture when compared to other oeuvres of his, had met with a similar motley assortment of whiners and, I admit, some more serious critics. I have no problem with the latter. I do have a problem with the writing of those who have an axe to grind particularly those who had unsuccessfully pestered some minister for a chairmanship of some cultural enterprise and were left with empty cap in hand. Al buon intenditor … say the Italians.

One whiner recently compared the Parliament building to a cheese grater. Can there be more absurd criticism of the work of Piano?

Compare Piano’s curriculum vitae with that of the said self-style critic. As the Maltese goes it is an example of “ix-xita hdejn in-nida.” Or we can put it in a different way: dwarfs throwing stones at giants.

The said critic had described himself on Facebook as ‘the kitten from Malta.” Well, well, compared to him Piano is a lion. Kittens purr. Lions roar. This is symbolic of the difference between the strong architectural statement by Piano and the weakness of his critics.