I understand that the crux of the argument for or against rebuilding our Opera House revolves around firstly its capital cost and secondly its running costs.

So how do Europe’s and Tunis’s opera houses survive? And how did Renzo Piano design a rebuilt opera house for Bari, the Teatro Petruzzelli?

Are all Europe’s governments crazy to retain their opera houses? Even Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, which was burned to the ground, was rebuilt through sheer willpower. The city’s government must have calculated its expenses beforehand, and realised that the revival project could be carried out.

In Malta, is the present archaeological half-structure the best we can do? Surely there must be a better solution.