While Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom are adopting a package of budget cuts and revenue-boosting measures worth billions of euros, including a possible freeze on wages, in Malta we're pumping thousands of euros each year to accommodate the Euro Song Board and bella compagnia in a lavish 15-day holiday spree in Oslo!

And all this to participate in a mediocre festival which is of no value to us any longer!

We applaud the beautiful performance of our young talent Thea Garrett. It was impressive indeed, but why all this fuss, all this enthusiasm, this inevitable disappointment? Why don't we brace ourselves for some austerity cuts which make more sense in controlling our soaring deficit at this particular point in time when most countries are trying to protect themselves from a Greek-style debt crisis!