I am surprised that Mr Martinelli in his letter, No Contradiction (TMID, 21 May) sees Dom Mintoff’s endorsement of George Abela as “of little consequence”. How can Mr Mintoff not be labelled a millstone? Mr Martinelli’s preferred political party still harks back, quite effectively, to the violence during Mr Mintoff’s reign whenever it suits it.

Mr Martinelli refers to my spin, as he terms it. I have spun nothing. But Mr Martinelli falls into the trap of repeating Mr Mintoff’s spin that Alfred Sant labelled him a traitor. As I know it, that is not so. Dr Sant addressed a political meeting, told those present what Mr Mintoff was doing behind the party’s back, and the crowd shouted “traitor”. That is how the crowd saw their former leader. They came up with the term, not Dr Sant. But it was convenient, after he brought down Dr Sant’s government, for Mr Mintoff to accuse Dr Sant of having called him a traitor.

I wonder what true-hearted Maltese think of Guido de Marco’s admission that the Nationalists tried to stop Aldo Moro from helping Malta when Mr Mintoff was PM.

C. Galea

Rabat