I would like to assure Mr J Bartolo (So ridiculously shortsighted, TMID, 1 January), that I am not so shortsighted as he thinks.

Let us put the record straight. The intention behind writing my initial letter (TMID, 30 December), was not to shower praise on the government, but to highlight the importance of having a currency that is so widely used across the whole of Europe.

This makes it far easier for travellers from the main continent to choose Malta as their destination for their holiday. True, the British, conservative as they are, still hold on to their beloved sterling and a recent survey showed that they would not want to part from it anytime soon.

But why should we base everything on what the British do or think? Does Mr Bartolo still possess the old colonial mentality that whatever the British do is right and whatever the Maltese do is wrong? Is he one of those who worked for them for so many years and thinks that they are superior beings to anyone else?

Once again, I say that the government did the right thing to introduce the euro, whatever the British – and Mr Bartolo – say.

Matthew Camilleri

Sliema