Having squandered my vote on the Alternattiva candidates in the European Parliament elections last year, I have vowed to henceforth not waste my time with their party and all its contributions in the press. Unfortunately, I was taken in by the headline “Golf or bust” and had read the opinion(ated) piece before I realised its source (TMIS, 18 September).

Edward Fenech’s back of envelope calculations of the possible benefits derivable from golf tourism are amateurish at best and utterly unconvincing even to an economics ignoramus such as me. If this is how Mr Fenech is going to go about doing his sums when he becomes Minister of Finance, then I’m sure glad that Alternative is condemned to political limbo for many decades to come.

Alternattiva would be doing itself and the country much more good if it looked at the golf question objectively, accepting the fact that golf has, universally, become an intrinsic part of the tourism package and go about helping the government of the day to find sites that offer an equitable compromise between economic benefits and environmental exigencies.

Alex Mangion

ST JULIAN’S