I came to Malta in 2003 to reside permanently here as a pensioner but have not decided to end my days here.

After a few years, I read in Times of Malta that there were 273,000 vehicles. Now there are 323,000 (18 per cent increase in the space of 10 years).

What will happen in the next 10 years? God help us.

The population is now 423,000, with 73,000 empty properties plus many ‘infill sites’ which are obvious future building sites. If two people occupied each empty property there would be a ghost town of 146,000!

Put another way, there is a surplus housing stock of 33 per cent. What other country has this? And, yet, more building goes on.

Could not the government raffle off, say, one of their empty buildings every year with no strings attached? This could be a major event.

About the countryside – oh dear! The ball is in your court Prime Minister.

Malta, its people and tourists deserve better.