Being in favour or against the now defunct St John's Co-Cathedral project is a democratic right, but attacking Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar's Astrid Vella and her integrity for opposing the project smacks of political arrogance, disrespect towards everyone's right to oppose and intolerance!

For the record, Ms Vella, as recently as last December, won the European award for voluntary work after she received no fewer than 12,000 votes in recognition of her tireless efforts to save what is left of our heritage.

It was Ms Vella who, on November 5, 2008, won the Volunteer of the Year Award presented by SOS Malta, a prize which according to Lawrence Gonzi himself is "an expression of the value of volunteering".

Had Ms Vella and her organisation not voiced concern about the project, in all probability we would have bamboozled into believing that it was beneficial.

Unlike Ms Vella the louder some armchair know-it-alls shout, the more they become enemies of their own mission. So to Ms Vella a word of encouragement is due as it is with people like her that this country could ever hope to protect itself from politicians, developers and those who so eloquently and "politely" attack NGOs to safeguard the status quo.