The prices of gas, electricity, water, fuel, bread and general foodstuffs have all gone up and up. The only things going down and down are our standard of living and wages. Of course, this is because during these hard times in the middle of a world recession we must all tighten our belts and make sacrifices – even if those sacrifices are forced on us!

Yet, in the middle of all this, Lawrence Gonzi chooses to throw our “sacrifices” once again into the bottomless pit of “pleasing the hunters”. How can he justify endlessly throwing our money away by going again to the European Court of Justice and contesting the spring hunting issue? I would like to know (and I’m sure many other Maltese would too) exactly how much this farce has cost us already and how much its continuation is going to cost us. Nobody seems eager to tell us, but doesn’t this country subscribe to the Freedom of Information Act? If so, please, someone out there tell me how to go about it because we who are paying have a right to know, especially as many of us are forced to pay to defend something we abhor – extreme violence posing as sport!

On an issue such as this, which is not a national necessity but merely someone’s “leisure-time hobby”, those that pursue that hobby should pay their own expenses and not demand that those who hate it should. So Dr Gonzi, please show us the bill (potential fines excluded for the moment, though we too would pay for those!).