How presumptuous of Dr Ray Bondin to criticize Prof. Joseph A. Muscat’s letter regarding the deportation of some Maltese at the beginning of hostilities with Italy (TMIS, 3 January).

Dr Bondin, and others his age or younger, were not around at the time. People like Prof. Muscat and myself knew what was going on. Malta, prior to 1939, was split in two. You were either pro Italian or pro British. It is the same today when it comes to football. The difference is, of course, that while football is a pastime, in 1940 it was a matter of life or death. No one can deny the fact that if Malta had been captured, it would have been a disaster, not only for the Maltese, but also for all mankind.

I remember several people who openly praised Benito Mussolini, although instead of showering the Maltese Islands with flowers (as they had predicted), he showered us with bombs. A relative of mine, a prominent lawyer, used to display a bust of Benito on his piano and next to it a bouquet of flowers. Practically everyone admired Italian culture and cuisine, but fascism is a different kettle of fish.

What a joke it is to state that the Maltese fascists were admirers of the British Union of Fascists, and consequently pro-British.

This is being really naive. Sir Oswald Mosley was initially a Conservative, later an Independent, then a Labourite and finally founded the British Union of Fascists. How can anybody imagine the Maltese intelligentsia having admired such a turncoat? Imagine the Maltese fascists admiring (as Dr Bondin states) Mosley rather than Mussolini. Anyway, contrary to what was stated, Mosley was a great admirer of Il Duce!

It is best, for all concerned, to bury the past. Nearly 70 years have gone by and so much has been achieved, but it is not right to distort facts. I sincerely hope that this subject and others related to it (such as the erasing of the George Cross from the Maltese flag) will not appear any longer in our news-papers.

Francis Formosa

SLIEMA