They say that a woman has to have her last word. In this case, dear pensioners, I hope you won’t be offended if I “rebuke” the good Joe Martinelli one very last time after his “sermon” of Dear Pensioners (one last time) (TMID, 13 November).

The good Mr Martinelli tried to play down what Dom Mintoff did by refusing to admit that it was “the lion” himself who actually did reduce poverty. He was the one who created social welfare and social benefits but then again one who is not willing to bow his head and admit that Dom Mintoff was the hero of middle class and lower class families is either in denial or else so smitten by the Nationalist Party that he would prefer not to admit the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I wonder who Mr Martinelli was addressing when he wrote about scaring pensioners about having to pay for medicines and that after Mater Dei opens things will get worse and not better. Was he addressing himself and asking questions to you or me?

The thing is, dear pensioners, that Mr Martinelli must have forgotten it was John Dalli himself who stated the fact that hospital necessities would certainly not be free for all once Mater Dei hospital started functioning. This then, dear pensioners, was certainly not an invention of mine.

In 22 months, dear pensioners, then Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant introduced a 50 cents fee for medicines which you could find all the time and you know as well as I do that the water and electricity rates were much, much lower than they are today.

Come on, dear pensioners, admit it, are you better off today than you were with a Labour government? Do you see work running after people around you? Can you honestly say that you have peace of mind with the continuous crime we keep hearing about? Do you actually realise that in the future a Nationalist government might actually introduce more taxes because that’s how the Nationalists want our deficit controlled, by introducing taxes, taxes and more taxes?

These taxes are not mentioned on budget day, of course, but they are literally showered on you like pellets throughout the whole year. Are you, dear pensioner, one of those people who have been waiting so long on the surgery list at St Luke’s hospital that if you’re over 60 now you’ll probably be around 80 by the time your operation is done, if you haven’t kicked the bucket that is. Dear pensioners, the Nationalists have made such a mess of Malta – whether the tourism industry, education, justice, environment and health – that those in government should “all” resign.

Last but not least, dear pensioners, do you think that because Dr Sant bowed and accepted gracefully the fact that Malta wanted to be a member of the EU when the majority won means that Dr Sant made a U-turn, or was he a true democratic person by accepting what most of the Maltese wanted?

Dear pensioners, I suggest you do not take heed of what Mr Martinelli (with all due respect) writes. He is the same person who wrote (TMID, 10 November) that all in the local councils should run on an independent ticket (Politics hamper local councils).

This man, dear pensioners, who professes to know what is happening in Malta even though he is living in London, Ontario Canada, apparently does not know that this is what Dr Sant wanted in 1993 but that it was the Nationalists themselves who let politics hamper local councils when they insisted that every candidate should run on a political ticket.

Check mate, Mr Martinelli.

I rest my case, dear pensioners…

Valerie Borg

Valletta