Sometimes, I'm not sure if there aren't two universes operating in Malta simultaneously, the real one and the one where nothing good happens if it has anything to do with the Government. In truth, it's more likely that there are three, because you sometimes get people who don't seem to live in either of the two manifesting a thought or chemical reaction that leaves you wondering what makes them tick.

On Tuesday, the Times headlined the Chamber of Architects' response to MEPA's scheduling of the Manikata Chapel, with the main thrust of the piece being a reference to the fact that the architects had welcomed this measure.

At the same time, Charlot Zahra linked a story on the Orizzont on his Facebook page, and since I don't buy that estimable paper, I clicked on the link.

Lo and behold, the Chamber of Architects was portrayed as having launched an all out attack on MEPA (and by association, the Government, which was the whole point, of course) in connection with the Chapel, which was bemusing to say the least.

The truth was that the Chamber had welcomed the measure, and given that architects and MEPA tend to live in a state of bristly dynamism, to put it mildly, one would have thought that this was the newsworthy aspect of the story, to the extent that regurgitating press releases can be dignified with the description. There was criticism of the timeliness or otherwise of the scheduling and of some lack of clarity and this was faithfully reported by the Times, but apparently for the Orizzont, the important thing is that it was possible to massage the truth and crow that an all out attack had been launched.

In my universe, news is judged on its merits. In the universe inhabited by certain others, if the news is bad for the Government, it is news: everything else is PN propaganda.