Further to Karl Consiglio’s suggestion in his letter (Protect Baby Jesus, November 12), I would suggest and hope that this year, in Valletta, the usual stand with a car urging people to take part in a lottery, together with a motley array of other commercial set-ups which have nothing to do with the true Christmas spirit and which in the past years have usurped the traditional crib, will be toned down. While I am not against the commercial side of Christmas, I sincerely hope that at least, we leave a place for a proper crib in our capital city. All over the world in Catholic countries this is the main decoration in most of the towns and villages. In the not-so-distant past a large crib used to be put in front of the law courts, or else in Freedom Square.

These last years a sense of commercialism and brashness has invaded the main street of our capital, with loud repetitive music replacing the good old Christmas carols.