From Mr J. G. Vassallo

The much-abused “core voters” of these islands must have been bewildered by Salvu Felice Pace’s reaction to my contribution under this heading (TMIS, 1 October).

Mr Felice Pace and his co-religionists cannot bear the thought that Malta’s prevailing economic predicament has its roots in the Fenech Adami money no problem philosophy, practised with consistency and abandon since the late eighties. This triggered high government costs, mounting public debt, rising taxation and the sale of some of the family jewels.

On EU accession, Malta was required to remedy the harm done by introducing austerity measures, leading to eventual convergence with the Maastricht criteria. This involved more hardship, particularly so for thousands of families driven close to, even below, the poverty line.

The core-voter is, by now, older and wiser and is asking simple but basic questions, namely, “What happened to the promise that if a PN government were elected, ‘nobody is left behind’?” Why has the PN government failed to deliver on its promise ‘biex int tghix ahjar’?

I saw this coming in good time, and have since pressed home my point with others, as reality unfolded and things went from bad to worse.

Mr Felice Pace first classified me as a ‘Jeremiah’ and, on reflection, upgraded me to the status of a ‘Chief Jeremiah’

Name-calling and vituperation will not exonerate the folly of this government and its PN predecessors, nor will they erase the consequences that are afflicting large segments of the Maltese electorate.

All the gnomes in the world, including those from Ghasri, can bicker and brawl till the cows come home.

It is the core electorate that will have the final and decisive say.

J.G.Vassallo

ST JULIAN’S