This is my brief reaction to Joe Martinelli’s contribution (TMID, 14 February).

The sole motivation behind my letter Between a rock and a hard place (TMID, 9 February) was to demonstrate my utter disgust of gutter journalism be it red or blue. He can rest assured that if my intention was to defend Jo Said I would have done so without beating around the bush. After all, “A friend of my friend is my friend; A friend of my enemy is my enemy; An enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

The term “enemy” is only being used metaphorically as I do not consider my political opponents as my enemies. How can I when I come from a Nationalist background? A good part of my family and very close friends are Nationalist Party supporters too. They call me the black sheep in my clan, metaphorically again.

I invite Joe Martinelli to look me up when he is in Malta or perhaps I will come across him during my next visit to London, Ontario. I never lived in Canada but I am familiar with London and have friends there, most of them Nationalist supporters. If the PN wins he buys the drinks, but that is only a very remote possibility so the drinks will be on me.

Sincerely Joe, God bless you and yours and may the best man win. His name is Fred and we love him dearly. I know you do too and I agree with you that Lawrence is a great guy. We just disagree on his merits.

I believe that he will be a great opposition leader. Time will soon tell.

CHARLES J BUTTIGIEG

Mellieha