Another concert at Verdala Castle, which was built by Girolamo Cassar or possibly his son Vittorio, according to The Books, with the band of the Armed Forces of Malta and Nafra playing. This was a very different concert to that of Stefan Cassar which was held indoors a couple of months ago and with far less people. This time the audience was numerous and it was held outside, where it was blissfully cool. Verdala was, after all, built on high ground to benefit from the cool sea breezes. There were well organized bars where you could purchase a drink and a snack if you wished, absolutely essential in this hot weather.

My favourites that evening were the familiar Glenn Miller pieces: In the Mood and Chattanooga Choo Choo. Glenn Miller was another one who did not die in his bed, surrounded by his loved ones. There are all sorts of theories as to what happened to him and his plane as he was crossing the English Channel in 1944 to go to play for the soldiers who had recently liberated Paris. Neither his remains nor that of his small plane were ever found.

The piece Hey Pedro was a gimmick which the audience enjoyed as a man came on the platform dressed as a Mexican, gigantic hat and all. The band ended with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Not that I am particularly fond of it. To me it is inferior to pieces like the stirring Marche Slav, Capriccio Italien and others. Even the composer himself was diffident about 1812, describing it, in a letter to his patroness, as “without any serious merits”. The overture was written to celebrate the opening of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which in turn was designed to commemorate the events of 1812, when the armies of Napoleon had been forced to retreat from Moscow. The inclusion of cannon in the scoring has made the overture a popular spectacle. There was plenty of cannon at Verdala Castle, and it was expected that our army would come up with something spectacular and it did. To say ‘well done’ is superfluous. I loved all the musicians in uniform and Lieutenant Ivan Borg, smart with his baton.

Nafra was very present and for me personally, far too present. Theirs is not my kind of music at all. It is very much an acquired taste, like eating frogs legs, and snails, a taste I shall never acquire. Most compositions were by Ruben Zahra and to me at least, some of those instruments sounded like a frustrated goat. Having said that, I enjoyed his Fl-Isbah Holm very much and John Tanti’s Il-Munqar, based on a Maltese folk tune which has already been exploited to advantage by Charles Camilleri. But there was a marked difference between Tanti’s and Camilleri’s music and I loved the haunting and familiar tune. Otherwise, I am afraid Nafra music does absolutely nothing to my soul although there must be people with different souls who love it.

Verdala Castle was again generously open for viewing so this time we saw many more rooms and it is a beautiful and looked after piece of our heritage. The Paladini frescoes in the banqueting hall, illustrating the life of Grand Master Verdala are still being restored. In his excellent book The Quality of Malta: Fashion and Taste in Private Collections Nicholas de Piro writes: “It was during Verdala’s reign in 1588 that Filippo Paladini set foot on Malta. He did this not through choice, but as part of his punishment. He had been condemned to row on the galleys as a result of his apparent boisterous predilection with getting involved in fighting. His use of arms in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence brought him condemnation and punishment from the authorities. Verdala wasted no time in helping with his pardon and then making good use of him…Paladini is said to have been a good pupil of Andrea del Sarto and other masters including Caravaggio, whatever, his work stands firmly on its own feet. Verdala’s rescue of Palladini served well; the artist has left a proud niche in the history of art in Malta. Filippo Paladini finished his days in the service of that illustrious Sicilian nobleman and patron of the arts the Prince of Butera.” Thank you Marquis de Piro for bringing Paladini a little more alive for us.

In one of the rooms there was a framed Bahá’i prayer on the wall and I wondered how it had got there. I have never understood why the Bahá’is are being persecuted in several countries but especially in Egypt and in Iran. I know several and they are such peace-loving people. On the news the other day I heard that in Egypt only three religions are acceptable to the state: Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Your religion is stamped on your ID card and without an ID card you cannot do very much. Moreover, you cannot leave your religion blank. So the poor and peaceful Bahá’is are having a very hard time there dealing with discrimination. The Iranian Bahá’is too, are having a very hard time. Iranian Bahá’is seeking to enter Iran’s technical and vocational institutes have been effectively barred from admission for the coming academic year since the application to sit for the entrance examinations leaves them with no option but to deny their faith, which Bahá’is refuse to be coerced into doing. The Bahá’i International Community learned recently that the 2007 form for the entrance examination for undergraduate courses under the technical and vocational education system indicates that only one box may be marked for religion. The applicant is given three choices – Zoroastrian, Jewish or Christian – and if none of the boxes is marked, the form explains, the applicant will be considered Muslim, which is unacceptable to Bahá’is. I wonder what the UN and its plethora of obscenely highly paid and privileged Human Rights experts is doing to demand of those countries discriminating against Bahá’is to put a stop to it? Isn’t it what the UN is there for?

What happened to all those who received licences for pots de vin, as the French say, licences to run wild on our shores in boats and on our roads in cars, in exchange for a handsome fee? Have these illegitimate licences been recalled and these people made to go through the proper examinations and tests or have they been allowed to remain on the loose? I see so many dreadful drivers, some of them very young and wild, that I am beginning to think they are still out there endangering our lives. I hope that someone is looking into this seriously.

I disagree with Mr Richard Muscat’s resignation as ambassador of Malta to Ireland. Mr Muscat should have resigned after the Auditor’s Report about The Voice of the Mediterranean, if he could not come up with proper replies to the accusations made by the Auditor General. In a country which should cherish decency that is what should have happened. However, to resign because a son suffering from mental illness ‘attacked’ a girl in Ireland, which has as yet to be proven properly, was not necessary. And I’ll tell you why. Those who are seriously mentally ill are irrational and there is no saying what they will do next. They have moments of aberration but moments which are long enough to cause havoc to themselves and others. The problem of the mentally ill and what to do with them is an international problem which no one has as yet been able to solve. Do you institutionize them which is not only very expensive but may make them even more ill or do you keep them at home and look after them, which is an enormous undertaking for the family? This, it seems, is what the Muscats bravely chose to do.

There are those who after years of being mentally ill return to normality, whatever that might mean. Are members of the family of the mentally ill responsible for the sometimes irresponsible actions of those who are unfortunate enough to suffer from mental illness, which takes all kinds of forms even more often than not incomprehensible to psychiatrists, as each human being is so unique.

So, I say that Mr Muscat should have been left ambassador if he could prove that the Auditor General was wrong and that he could prove, paragraph by paragraph that he was blameless when it came to the careless management of funds at VOM. Otherwise he should have resigned over that report.

But this too, is a world of two weight and two measures. Some should have resigned ages ago but won’t; some offer their resignation but it is hastily refused while others, who perhaps are not as guilty as some, resign and their resignation is accepted without any drama or hypocrisy. Such is life.