I was tempted to ask what sort of person would do that, but we know the answer already. A few weeks after the new government was elected two years ago, the freshly-appointed Economy Minister, Chris Cardona, gave an interview to a newspaper in which he said that the Valletta market would be moving to Ordnance Street. He said, without a trace of shame or embarrassment, that this was a pledge the Labour Party had made to the market traders before the general election. He said it as though it is somehow normal or acceptable for a political party to systematically bribe electors in this manner, more so in ways that go against the common good.

There was scant reaction to what should have been considered an announcement offensive on more than one count. Everybody seemed to be tingling with excitement back then, trying to scramble aboard the Taghna Lkoll lorry, hunting for favours, sinecures and contracts, and so brushed it off, except for the few people with a conscience who were dismissed as "negative" on the basis that they were much outnumbered. Thirty-six thousand can't be wrong, and all that - might is right. Be positive. It wasn't only the mood of the time that allowed the government to get away with this obscenity without receiving, then, the flak that it has got over the last few days. It was also the misunderstanding that the market stalls would be confined to that part of Ordnance Street behind the shopping mall, where the Ordnance Pub and King Shoe Store are. That location is hardly ideal, but still the stalls would have been tucked away in what is visually a side street. It did not cross anyone's mind that by Ordnance Street, the government meant the entire length of that street, including that part on the other side of Republic Street which runs between the theatre and Parliament House up to St James Cavalier. And of course, the government did nothing to disabuse us of this notion.

Then in the last couple of days, the truth broke out when a photograph of the hideous new stalls was published and in the ensuing chaos, somebody let slip the facts. By 'Ordnance Street', the government meant even the stretch that forms an integral part of the Renzo Piano project. Two years down the line and we have yet to accept that when this government says something, you have to look for the get-out clause. There we all were, automatically blanking out that part of Ordnance Street because it is part of the Renzo Piano project - so of course the stalls wouldn't be located there, that would be madness, even Labour are not such savages, they would be confined to the other side - and all the while that is exactly where the government meant to put them. And if we challenge the government about it now, the response from Joseph Muscat will be: "But we always said that the stalls would be in Ordnance Street. We never said PART OF Ordnance Street."

This is the sort of con-artistry that we now have to deal with on a routine basis. The only positive aspect of those appalling stalls is that they have galvanised the emotion of so many people who, until now, were indifferent to the matter of the market's new location. The idea of having the market near the city entrance didn't seem to bother them at all. After all, they had been coached into believing that the Renzo Piano project is a disgrace in itself, so why bother about the more minor disgrace of some market stalls? But all it took was one look at the stall designed by Labour Party official William Lewis for all hell to break loose.

It is so ugly and impractical that even people with a poor sense of aesthetics were upset and offended. Of course, you can look at it the other way round, and say that if they have a poor sense of aesthetics we can dismiss their judgement. But that's not the way I see it. Here we don't have conflict between the visually educated and the visually uneducated - everyone is in agreement. Everyone, that is, except the politicians who approved these designs and who saw nothing untoward in them until the public outcry began. So now they are saying that they will be changed. The government workshop has been hard at it since November, making 75 of those stalls which are now ready, and overnight, they are going to make another 75 different ones. Oh indeed.

But of course, that doesn't detract from the main argument, which is that the market stalls shouldn't be forced into the Renzo Piano project, corroding its visual integrity and harmony. Whatever they look like, they shouldn't be there. They shouldn't be there even just for the morning, let alone left there empty when the traders have gone home, 24 hours a day every day of the week. And the market will be on Sundays, too. This is probably Europe's first seven-days-a-week-in-the-same-location market, but then we did say we planned to be the best in Europe.

The Prime Minister said that he is happy with the new location, that he wants it to be there, that it will give new life to Valletta. What planet does he think the rest of us are living on? He wants it there because he made a pledge in return for votes, not because he thinks it's great. As for bringing new life to Valletta, if a market doesn't bring new life a couple of corners away in Merchants Street, it's not going to bring new life near city gate. It's the same market, selling the same old rubbish that has caused markets to die away throughout Europe. The sort of new life that Valletta needs is not the life that wants a polyester rip-off Manchester United towel or a couple of thongs in black and fuchsia lace for when they next plan to bed the vegetable vendor and blackmail him. It's the kind of life that is naturally attracted by the visual and contextual glamour of buildings that are beautiful. Where other cities have smart cafes and high-end-brand shops in an area like that, we have shoddy rubbish, now to be made worse by a cheap-goods market the likes of which you have to go to East Ham to find (I did). "Where are the smart shops?" a tourist couple asked me in Republic Street once, the main drag in which, anywhere else, the shops are astonishing. "There are none," I said to them, "This is it." And instead of improving things, we make them worse.

But really, what do you expect. When Muscat said that he admired Mintoff, he meant it. This is just the sort of thing he would have done, like when he organised a Jum Il-Helsien celebration on the Triton fountain at the entrance to Valletta, and had motorbikes driving around on the bronze statue and smashing it. There is nothing new under the sun, not with Labour. Now all we need is Paul Sheehan busking with a pistol on the bridge for some spare change to buy energy drinks.