As I am sure many fellow readers have noted, a few months ago a vast and excessive number of black advertisement panels were suddenly erected along sidewalks, street corners, roundabouts and bus stops in more or less every town and village on this beautiful island but at an even higher concentration in places like St Julian’s and Sliema.

More often than not they lie adjacent to and interfering with buildings of singular historical and architectural importance. It is true that a certain number of these vile panels already existed but apparently someone somewhere thought that these werenot enough and that more were actually needed.

The result is obvious: an ugly insult to this gem of an island which with time will onlyget uglier. Many of these panels have already been bumped into by cars, painted on, twisted and generally vandalised, which all in all gives a very cheap, seedy and run-down impression to residents and visitors.

My question is: who in the Maltese government gave permission to the relevant advertising company to erect these hideous eyesores and what revenue and benefits does this generate for the Maltese people?

Although I am confident that the advertising company in question is more than (financially) pleased with its achievement, I cannot imagine that the revenue generated to the government would even remotely compensate for the ugliness caused and the sense of low-end commercialism, cheapness and greed that these repulsive panels reflect and are a constant reminder of.

Malta is a unique jewel of an island with, supposedly, an ambition to in the future cater to a more upscale segment of tourists.

If that indeed is the case, misguided pro-jects like this is the last thing needed.

Please remove them.