I am not Charlie. Not that I do not want to be but because when I try to be Charlie I am made to feel a proper Charlie.

It is the censor that one can see amidst the frightened media, who are too scared to offend either by lampooning or by ridicule or sharp satire, that says I cannot be Charlie.

The law also penalises Charlie if he calls an individual Martian a “dirty Martian”.

Referring to this filthy Martian as ‘unwashed’ does not convey the literary force intended because a person unwashed is not necessarily filthy.

In a letter I sent to a newspaper in Malta I described three unruly youths on a bus, who had been blaspheming and making a general nuisance of themselves, as ‘louts’. However, for some reason, this most appropriate word was edited out.

Overwhelmed by the moral and legal constraints, Charlie is not allowed to be himself but I wonder who really is a proper Charlie.

I will readily agree we should not copy the Americans’ right to free speech according to their Constitution.

Many an innocent man has been tried by the press, therefore, there should be a limit to being a Charlie.

I feel in Malta we have been too nice, too scared and, therefore, ineffective in bringing much needed changes to the libel laws with these legal constraints and self-imposed ordnances.