I am Maltese, and therefore European, and proud of it. I think I'm pretty lucky, in fact. I'm proud of our civilisation and culture and, in a more immediate context, I am pretty proud of the way the country handled itself in the context of the Libyan crisis. I would have preferred a more robust position to have been taken against the thug Gaddafi, but the realities of politics and proximity are what they are and certain results, like the freeing of the Dutch crew, militate towards understanding the reasons for the way things were done.

I am not proud, in fact I disassociate myself completely and apologise to the Libyans for it, of the revoltingly crypto-racist tones used by an unfortunately large proportion of my countrymen.

I am long on the record condemning Norman Lowell and his henchmen who seem to think that they're in some way special and can look down on others. They appear to think that these human beings do not measure up to the standards the racists and their sympathisers set, standards which only reflect the racists' own inherent inadequacy and dissatisfaction with themselves and their sordid little worlds.

One of Labour's intellectuals, Frans Sammut, came out with the following comment on the Times:

Reasoning with these people is not easy. Given the circumstances their attitude may be comprehensible. Yet they should show a modicum of gratitude to the Maltese for their hospitality and refrain from acting tough with the Maltese police. The law is the law and they are expected to show respect for that and carry out the legitimate orders given them by the police. I hate saying this, but their behaviour would indicate that perhaps the heavy hand treatment accorded their compatriots at home may not in actual fact be disproportionate. People with a basically desert mentality do not behave like urban or urbanized ones. Their concept of ordinary law and order is somewhat different. This opinion may not sound nice but it is more realistic than some of us, the undersigned included, would like reality to be.

Supercilious, smug, reprehensible and nauseating do not even begin to describe what any civilised person should feel at this type of comment. Sammut is unfit to project himself any more as a thinker, if ever he had credentials for this. There have been others and we should disown them.