Terry Bate wrote that “politics and politicians feature prominently” in Times of Malta (April 15).

He then went on to clarify the distinction between crime and politics.

Crime is “when you take the money and run”. Politics is “when you run and then take the money”!

On a more serious note, the protagonist of a 19th-century French novel entitled A rebours (Against nature) described politics as “that ignoble distraction of mediocre minds”.

These mediocre minds were very much in evidence during the hunting referendum, when Malta’s political leaders encouraged voters to say Yes to the mindless killing of birds.

Indifference is another hallmark of Malta’s politicians. A correspondent in Times of Malta took the Health Minister to task for the “shabby and dismal” condition of the Gżira polyclinic (April 21).

He invited the Minister to go and see for himself.

An even worse scenario can be witnessed at the Sliema branch of the Department of Social Security in Dingli Street.

The exterior of the building is in a dilapidated condition and the interior hasn’t seen any maintenance for the last 10 years or more.

As I entered the run-down building, I said to myself: “The minister probably hasn’t been here for years; if he has, he obviously doesn’t care, as long as he has his own comfortable office, furnished with the latest equipment.”

As I climbed the stairs, I remembered what Jonathan Swift had said regarding politicians: “Whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground, where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.”