A friend and his wife recently paid us a visit in the UK. During the course of conversation it transpired that, as a pensioner of over 70, he still had to pay for his repeat prescription for a prostate condition. It further came to light that his wife of 65 did not even receive a pension.

So I can only assume that, theoretically (since I know he is extremely generous), whenever she needs a pair of pants or a toothbrush, she has to go cap in hand and beg for cash – reminiscent of suffragettes at the turn of the last century.

To exacerbate the situation, he then added that university students not only get free education but are also given cash handouts, irrespective of whether they come from affluent parents or a working-class family.

When I asked why doesn’t the government make university tuition means tested and use the cash to help out the pensioners and, especially, women with no personal income (having spent the early part of their life bringing up children) he said that they couldn’t do that because these same greedy parents and their brats would vote for the opposing party! In other words, they were buying votes.

When are the Maltese people going to drop their blinkers and start developing a panoramic view of what the 21st century has really to offer?

And to think that Malta is going to take its presidency of the European Union imminently – it’s scandalous.