Congratulations to Albert Bezzina (TMIS, 26 December) for taking time off from the Christmas rush to challenge an obnoxious letter written by Alfred A. Camilleri in response to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s aptly titled article, “Where homes are always cold”.

Predictably, Mr Camilleri replied to Mr Bezzina (He who knows everything, 2 January) with an insulting letter of such stupendous banality as to lower the standard of this newspaper.

Going by the naïve comments in his letter of 2 January, it seems that Mr Camilleri has not experienced living in cold countries in more civilised parts of the world (as aptly put by Daphne) where warm, well-insulated houses equipped with efficient central heating are the norm. Instead, Mr Camilleri based his pathetic assertions “on TV, films, personal observation”. How absurd can you get?

Mr Camilleri ignores the simple fact that Maltese houses are not built for the cold; they are consequently very difficult to keep warm even in our temperate climate. The average Maltese house is thus miserably cold throughout the winter unless one is able to afford the electricity or fuel to keep it decently warm.

Of course, one can survive without heating in Malta during the winter months, but this is a very uncomfortable business bordering on masochism.

I regret that I cannot speak for Alaska or Siberia, but I have lived in a number of north European countries with cold winter climates, including Denmark. It has been my experience, and that of others who have lived abroad in developed countries with cold climates, to feel a good deal colder at home during the winter in Malta than abroad.

It is absurd to talk of “going back to the …Mintoffian days and using paraffin heaters instead of air-conditioners…”

Mr Camilleri’s implication that everybody should install air-conditioners verges on snobbery. Instead of Marie Antoinette’s infamous remark “let them eat cake”, Mr Camilleri tells us “let them buy air-conditioners” - now that domestic paraffin has become so expensive.

Mr Camilleri misguidedly thinks that the average Maltese family can afford to install air-conditioning and, presumably, he includes among them hard-up pensioners who are the hardest hit by the increase in the price of paraffin.

Arguing about whether people turn off their heating at night or not, or snide remarks about how else Daphne occupies herself apart from meeting pensioners and visiting homes of the less fortunate people who cannot afford to keep warm in winter, and so on, is totally beside the point.

The bottom line is simply this: the increase in the price of domestic paraffin was a big blow to people who have been hitherto barely able to afford the cost of keeping properly warm at home with paraffin heaters - and these are the very ones who cannot afford air-conditioning.

Furthermore, contrary to what Mr Camilleri suggests, modern high-technology paraffin heaters are highly efficient; they are an excellent alternative to electric heating. Indeed, the radiant heat given out by a paraffin heater is much pleasanter than the intermittent blasts of hot dry air from an air-conditioner.

It is shameful that our government was afraid of punishing those who were cheating by using domestic paraffin instead of diesel fuel in their vehicles. As things now stand, people who cannot afford costly air-conditioning have taken the brunt. The resulting high cost of paraffin means that they will have to stay cold or dig deeper into their pockets.

The government must seriously consider reversing this decision and introduce radical measures to prevent people from cheating. This would obviously include random tests of tank fuel in diesel-powered vehicles and the imposition of extremely severe fines, up to confiscation of the vehicle, on those found using domestic paraffin.

George Debono

SLIEMA