Not content with destroying the countryside with their continual building programmes in support of their developer friends, they decide to spend over €100 million on a new Parliament, a futuristic building on stilts designed by a foreigner who, obviously, like the government, has no regard for the baroque nature of the city.

...still the supporters back their beloved government- James A. Tyrrell, Larne, N. Ireland

Valletta has a glut of beautiful old palaces just crying out to be restored but they are left to fall into ruin while a new circus is built for the clowns to play in. And still the supporters back their beloved government. The old City Gate, which no one liked, has been removed but rather than restore it to the status it deserved as the entrance to Malta’s capital it has been replaced with a hole! The people have been crying out since the end of the war for their opera house to be rebuilt. Instead, they are getting an open-air theatre. No doubt, the stars of the world will be queuing up to come to that. And still the people support them.

The transport system, from roads themselves to the buses using them, has always been a problem. The new buses are a bigger nightmare than the old ones were and the roads are still a joke. Last week, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority announced a new draft environmental permits system to improve the regulatory framework applicable to industrial activities of environmental significance. The day before it approved the use of heavy fuel oil for the Delimara power station! Is it just more words from an authority that has shown in the past – remember the dumping at Dwejra – that they cannot carry out effective enforcement?

The question is just how much does the Nationalist Party have to fail before the people say enough is enough?