I don't normally respond to correspondence that I don't understand but in the case of Frances Broadrick's letter (The Sunday Times, July 11) I thought I might make an exception.

She accuses me of "constantly criticising, poking fun and generally being unpleasant... to the inhabitants of Gozo", which is both unfair and untrue.

She says I am objectionable to them and if she understands what she's saying it is not for me to comment either way. I am clearly objectionable to her, but I feel that I can live with that in the hope that hers is a minority view.

Then she says that I - but "not the locals" - have the privilege to live in Gozo.

That's the bit I don't understand. And that's embarrassing because I assume she was reacting to a letter the previous week in which I drew attention to the fact that some people - who thought they understood English (and who probably earned a living on the basis that they did) - kept getting the words wrong.

And while I agree that it's a privilege for me to live here (unlike most of the inhabitants, it was a choice I was totally free to make), it's a privilege for which I have been paying heavily over the years by way of Maltese VAT and income tax (in addition to UK taxes); I have also, for 30 years or more, been writing positively about the place to extol its virtues (and those of its inhabitants) in thousands of words to an international readership.

In fairness, I have absolutely no idea what Ms Broadrick's contribution has been.

She may think she lives in Paradise; I don't think we've made it yet, but any (hopefully constructive, certainly well-meant) criticisms I have had are confined to an internal audience.

She obviously believes that I should keep to myself any opinion I might have that doesn't coincide with hers.

In that, she is as one with the government that thinks 'foreigners' who encourage tourism and contribute to the economy should be denied the opportunity to vote, and with those rabid patriots who tell even the most friendly of critics: "Nobody asked you to come here; if you don't like it, don't come back."

In spite of Ms Broadrick, I do like it. That's why I kept coming back and why I'm still here. (But I think the locals are privileged to live here, too.)