I last wrote to this newspaper about the Greek bailout saga over two years ago when I advised Lawrence Gonzi to resist a second bailout request.

At that time Malta’s contribution of €1,000 for every man woman and child seemed a high enough charge indeed.

However while I was away I learnt that a further €760 per person had been poured into the bottomless pit known as the Greek Exchequer.

Today it seems Greece will be asking for a further €30 billion shortly and again Malta will be asked to play its part.

We all know that the two earlier “contributions”, whichDr Gonzi couched in termsof an “investment”, are nowlost forever.

So I am suggesting that Joseph Muscat borrows Margaret Thatcher’s handbag and lead lines it so that when the call comes he can bang it on the table in Brussels and say “enough is enough”.

As David Cameron did when Britain refused to take any part in any of these ludicrous bailouts.

There was no due diligence when Greece entered the eurozone. Unlike Malta’s, Greece’s finances were dire. The smell of book cooking within the hallowed walls of the Bank of Greece do not simply linger. The books are now very well burnt and the fumes have become acrid.

In Malta, people pay their taxes. Unemployment is at the very lowest level.

MCAST and the University of Malta have made great strides in empowering young people with the skills needed at Smart City and elsewhere. Investments in tourism constantly rise.

Better, I think, to spend money on up-skilling young people than topping up pension funds in a country that has never bothered to modernise, which prefers to subsidise corrupt and bloated government departments, where tax evasion appears to be the rule and has been forever, and which has no mutual interest with Malta (or, I suspect, anywhere else in the European Union).

So be suspicious and remember the old adage: Charity begins at home.