In his retort on the Sette Giugno (The Sunday Times of Malta, June 12) Daniel Cilia turns the truth on its head.

He says it is thanks to my “hard work” that we have five national holidays, whereas most countries have only one. What I said (May 29) was that I had been asked to propose a possible date for a National Day.

I proposed five dates, giving pros and cons for each. “Surprisingly,” I added, “the Cabinet had accepted all five to keep the peace.” Mr Cilia’s misrepresentation in my regard is thus self-evident. The previous administration had changed the National Day again and again and again, so typically enough partisan ramifications and confusion had seeped in.

Most ex-colonies celebrate their Independence Day as the National Day, which is what we had between 1964 and 1971. Now we don’t have one at all.

Cilia will no doubt put us right when he and his mysterious collaborator write “the true story of Maltese self-governance”. A suitably illustrated narrative, no doubt.

Good luck, with some inspiration from Luigi Pirandello.